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Julia C Gorman

@jcgorman.bsky.social
270 followers 179 following 7 posts

math neurd 🐦‍⬛🧠🤖 | Gentner Lab PhD candidate @ UCSD Neuro | D-SPAN F99 | SeattleU alum | 🏠: Bend, Oregon juliagorman.github.io

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Reposted by Julia C Gorman
Grace Padilla, PhD @grace-padilla.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Excited to share that the preprint of my PhD work is out! A huge thank you to my advisor @mlovettbarron.bsky.social and co-authors for their contributions and feedback!
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Matt Lovett-Barron @mlovettbarron.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Our lab's latest paper on the neurobiology of collective behavior is now published www.nature.com/articles/s41... This is the work of a great team in the lab - led by Jo-Hsien Yu, with Geoff Meyerhof, Jimjohn Milan, and Julia Napoli @nature.com @danionella.bsky.social
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Krissy Lyon @krissylyon.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Super excited to share that I will start my lab at University of Oregon in Fall 2027! We will study astrocyte-neuron interactions in neurodevelopment and related disorders. Grateful to all my mentors and colleagues! I couldn’t be happier to return to the PNW! ion.uoregon.edu/research/fac...
ion.uoregon.edu
Faculty Page
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Terence Tao @teorth.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
A group of 25 Fields Medalists, including myself, have made a joint declaration on Math and AI: mathandai.org . We welcome additional signatories. See also this article in the Economist announcing the declaration: www.economist.com/science-and-...
mathandai.org
Declaration — Math and AI
Read the declaration and add your name.
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Zach Weinersmith @zachweinersmith.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Very forceful statement by Terry Tao about AI and math. terrytao.wordpress.com/2026/09/11/a... Note, he is not claiming the models aren't real and powerful. He's talking about how that power should be used. This, I believe, is what all AI discussions should center.
terrytao.wordpress.com
A Severe Misalignment of AI in Mathematics
I am proud to be among the list of 25 initial signatories — all Fields Medallists — to the declaration below, which grew out of discussions between ourselves over the last week. We have…
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I-75 Scientist @flscitriguy.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
F99/K00 Predoc to Postdoc Transition Award NOFO is published. First due date is August 8th. files.simpler.grants.gov/opportunitie...
files.simpler.grants.gov
PA-27-037: Predoctoral to Postdoctoral Transition Award (Parent F99/K00 - Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
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Drew Schreiner @schreinerdrew.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
Where, exactly, does learning happen in the brain? Out today in @nature.com, we identify a synaptic locus of birdsong learning and show that the circuit can be tuned to make birds learn faster - but at a cost. Read on👇 #neuroskyence 🧪 #prattle 💬 #bioacoustics Shareable link: rdcu.be/fiyrS
nature.com
A synaptic locus of song learning - Nature
Combining a computational framework and optogenetic and chemogenetic manipulations within and downstream of the cortico-basal ganglia circuit identifies the specific cortico-basal ganglia synapse...
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Jianna Cressy @jiannacressy.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
In this super challenging moment for science funding, receiving my first NIH NoA for my F31 fellowship today is especially encouraging. Feeling so very grateful and excited for what’s ahead 🙏🏼🥹
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Christian Cazares, Ph.D. @fleabrained.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
Last week we took the Voytek lab's analytical tools and taught a workshop completely in Spanish across the border in Tijuana! thanks to the Congreso Nacional de Psicología for the invitation
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Renato Duarte @rcfduarte.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
I tracked every keyword in 22 years of Cosyne abstracts to map how computational neuroscience evolved — from Bayesian brains to neural manifolds to LLMs — and where it's heading next.
open.substack.com
22 years of Brain Science: what CoSyNe tells us about the evolution of Neuroscience
Tracking the intellectual DNA of Computational and Systems Neuroscience through its flagship meeting
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Julia C Gorman @jcgorman.bsky.social · 06/03/2026
I’ll be presenting my work at #COSYNE2026. Stop by our poster to come learn about how the geometry of neural population activity shapes communication between brain areas during learned behavior 🐦‍⬛🧠🎶
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Laura Gwilliams @lauragwilliams.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
Soon hiring a lab manager! Looking for someone who is really interested in language neuroscience, who is organised, motivated, a great communicator, and who works well in a research team. Express interest by submitting this form: tinyurl.com/glysn-labman... Reposts appreciated!
tinyurl.com
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Governor Tim Walz @governorwalz.mn.gov · 24/01/2026
I just spoke with the White House after another horrific shooting by federal agents this morning. Minnesota has had it. This is sickening. The President must end this operation. Pull the thousands of violent, untrained officers out of Minnesota. Now.
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Nicole Rust @nicolecrust.bsky.social · 08/01/2026
Basic research matters! This paper came up in a convo with the terrific @jcgorman.bsky.social. Paz described its back story in his SFN talk. A link between the amygdala and pathological exploratory behaviors was inspired by: ⚡findings in babbling baby birds⚡. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40866711/
Rate and noise in human amygdala drive increased exploration in aversive learning

To cope in uncertain environments, animals must balance their actions between using current resources and searching for new ones1. This exploration–exploitation dilemma has been studied extensively in paradigms involving positive outcomes, and neural correlates have been identified in frontal cortices and subcortical structures2–11, including the amygdala12. Importantly, exploration is just as essential for survival or well-being when trying to avoid negative outcomes, yet we do not know whether the single-neuron mechanisms that drive exploration are shared across positive and negative environments. Here we examined the dynamics of exploration when human participants engaged in a probabilistic learning task with intermixed loss and gain trials, while simultaneously recording single-neuron activity. We show that neurons of the amygdala and temporal cortex modulate their activity before a decision to explore in both loss and gain. Moreover, we find that humans exhibit more exploration when trying to avoid losses, and that an increase in the levels of noise in amygdala neurons contributes to this behaviour. Overall, we report that human exploration is driven by two distinct neural mechanisms, a valence-independent rate signal and
a valence-dependent global noise signal. The results suggest a link between the heightened amygdala activity observed in mood disorders13,14 and higher exploration rates15–17 that underlie maladaptive and even pathological behaviours.35. Ölveczky, B. P., Andalman, A. S. & Fee, M. S. Vocal experimentation in the juvenile songbird requires a basal ganglia circuit. PLoS Biol. 3, e153 (2005).
36. Mandelblat-Cerf, Y., Paz, R. & Vaadia, E. Trial-to-trial variability of single cells in motor cortices is dynamically modified during visuomotor adaptation. J. Neurosci. 29, 15053–15062 (2009).
37. Maimon, G. & Assad, J. A. Beyond Poisson: increased spike-time regularity across primate parietal cortex. Neuron 62, 426–440 (2009).
38. Stein, R. B., Gossen, E. R. & Jones, K. E. Neuronal variability: noise or part of the signal? Nat. Rev. Neurosci. 6, 389–397 (2005).
39. Faisal, A. A., Selen, L. P. & Wolpert, D. M. Noise in the nervous system. Nat. Rev. Neurosci. 9, 292–303 (2008).
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Christian Cazares, Ph.D. @fleabrained.bsky.social · 02/12/2025
This #GivingTuesday, consider making a tax-deductible donation to @colorsofthebrain.bsky.social ! All funds are invested directly into research funding support for the 2025 cohort and the incoming 2026 cohort of scholars donorbox.org/cob-kibm-sch...
donorbox.org
CoB-KIBM Scholars Program 2025 | COLORS OF THE BRAIN (Powered by Donorbox)
Colors of the Brain colorsofthebrain.comcolorsofthebrain@gmail.comOUR MISSIONColors of the Brain is committed to diversifying STEM graduate education and academia. We support undergraduates from histo...
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Lewis Nunez Severino (he/him) @lewisnunsev.bsky.social · 22/11/2025
Extremely grateful for the opportunity to attend the Society for Neuroscience meeting in San Diego last week. I had the chance to serve on an amazing panel at this year’s ENDURE meeting alongside incredible neuroscientists, and I also presented a poster on our MDMA-assisted therapy work.
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Christian Cazares, Ph.D. @fleabrained.bsky.social · 20/11/2025
at ABRCMS 2025? Stop by our Colors of the Brain scholar posters!
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Jianna Cressy @jiannacressy.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
I'll be presenting my work on the social, neural, and hormonal effects of shared stress Sunday 8-12. Come check it out! #SFN25
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Julia C Gorman @jcgorman.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
I’ll be presenting my work on species-specific differences in neural population dynamics during singing, multi-region models of HVC and RA, and how population geometry and coupling relates to vocal flexibility. Come check it out Saturday from 1-5!
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Cat Hicks @grimalkina.bsky.social · 21/10/2025
worth noting this is the exact approach you get a lot of flak from other scientists for trying
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Science Magazine @science.org · 05/09/2025
“Just when you think you’ve seen it all, social insects reveal another surprise.” scim.ag/47sVFyS
scim.ag
Ant queen lays eggs that hatch into two species
Bizarre discovery of interspecies cloning “almost impossible to believe,” biologists say
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The Transmitter @thetransmitter.bsky.social · 01/09/2025
Neurociencias Para Todos brings neuroscience education to remote communities in Mexico. @analog-ashley.bsky.social‬ talked with founder Monica López-Hidalgo about the program’s efforts and the importance of making neuroscience accessible to all. www.thetransmitter.org/community/br...
thetransmitter.org
Bringing neuroscience to rural Mexico
Monica López-Hidalgo’s outreach program, Neurociencias Para Todos, gives schoolteachers tools to bring neuroscience to their communities.
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Crystal Fleming is on sabbatical @alwaystheself.bsky.social · 30/08/2025
Bad news for the species, to be sure, but the upside pedagogically is that the data seem to suggest that if you want to know whether a student actually wrote their paper, a fairly effective assessment is simply to ask them to talk about it and to walk you through their arguments.
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Cat Hicks @grimalkina.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
The "just learn to code" approach to society turned into "just make your own cancer medicine" faster than anyone anticipated I think
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Christian Cazares, Ph.D. @fleabrained.bsky.social · 21/08/2025
We'll be having our 3rd annual MINDS Symposium this August 29th, 1-5 pm Bonner Hall 2130! The CoB scholars will highlight their research, along with a keynote from Dr. Anne Beatty-Martinez from UCSD, special thanks to @ibroorg.bsky.social for supporting Aisha Cinar and Sasha Bikkina this summer!
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Ann Kennedy @antihebbiann.bsky.social · 20/08/2025
I wrote a Comment on neurotheory, and now you can read it! Some thoughts on where neurotheory has and has not taken root within the neuroscience community, how it has shaped those subfields, and where we theorists might look next for fresh adventures. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Theoretical neuroscience has room to grow
Nature Reviews Neuroscience - The goal of theoretical neuroscience is to uncover principles of neural computation through careful design and interpretation of mathematical models. Here, I examine...
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Kevin Wright @kevinmawright.bsky.social · 23/07/2025
This happened right down the street from my house, at the place where my kids went to after-school care. He originally came on a student visa, is employed as a doctor, married a US citizen, has a young child, and has applied for a green card. WTF. www.opb.org/article/2025...
opb.org
‘Daddy, police!’: New video shows masked ICE agents arrest father outside child’s school in Beaverton
Newly published video provides insights into the immigration arrest of a chiropractor outside of his child’s Beaverton Montessori school.
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Cat Hicks @grimalkina.bsky.social · 25/06/2025
Six months ago: get attacked in multiple executive orders that declare everything you work on in STEM education "illegal", funding pulled from your field Now: get EDI award as you continue to do the work anyway, as you always have and always will You absolute badass @analog-ashley.bsky.social
A photo shows Ashley, smiling, holding up an announcement that says University of California San Diego school of Biological Sciences EDI committee advancing EDI Group award is awarded to STARTNEURO Ashley Juavinett for the 2024-2025 academic year
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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 09/06/2025
New STAT story about NIH rescinding the institution-wide anti-DEI term and condition that had been added to Notices of Award. www.statnews.com/2025/06/09/n... 1/n
statnews.com
NIH walks back ban on new grants for universities with DEI programs or Israel boycotts
The NIH has rescinded a policy requiring recipients of new grants to certify they do not have unlawful DEI programs or boycotts of Israel.
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Stand Up for Science! @standupforscience.net · 09/06/2025
“In an unusual act of public protest, more than 340 scientists and staff at the National Institutes of Health today released a statement charging NIH officials and their superiors with politicizing science.” www.science.org/content/arti... #StandUpForScience #BethesdaDeclaration
science.org
NIH staff and biomedical community sound alarm about agency politicization, funding slowdown
In test of NIH director’s support of dissent, NIH staff sign Bethesda Declaration urging reversal of grant cuts and freezes
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Dori Grijseels @dgrijseels.bsky.social · 28/05/2025
Very proud of my latest article with @network-alba.bsky.social! I encourage all STEM researchers to check it out, we try to give practical tips whether you're working with human participants, animals, or just collecting diversity data for e.g. a conference. journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol...
journals.plos.org
Ten simple rules for queer data collection and analysis by STEM researchers
Queer people are still underrepresented both as STEM researchers and participants, partially due to a dearth of accurate data on this demographic. The lack of consideration for queer identities in dat...
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Meenakshi Asokan @meenakshiasokan.bsky.social · 30/05/2025
Stoked to share our new review on why neuroendocrinology needs a systems lens and why hormones should matter to systems neuroscience. It’s time for serious cross-talk!
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christine liu / two photon art @christineliu.art · 29/05/2025
Trump’s cuts to research programs directly harms scientists from working class backgrounds. Bridges built between the blue collar and ivory tower are collapsing in front of us.
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Christian Cazares, Ph.D. @fleabrained.bsky.social · 28/05/2025
Just got the notice for termination of my K00! add it to the pile of illegal contract termination, now if only our leaders gave a shit I'd be more hopeful
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Christian Cazares, Ph.D. @fleabrained.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
DM if you'd like to be part of our panel! Looking for a few more, if you have experience in communicating science in Spanish or other languages for your community, and believe you have lessons learned that you'd like to share to the audience, let me know!
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Shobita Parthasarathy @shobitap.org · 21/04/2025
My PhD student's NSF grant was terminated today. Her dissertation investigates why air pollution monitoring, metrics, and regulations don't properly capture the harms experienced by marginalized communities--esp in the most polluted Detroit neighborhoods. She and I are happy to talk with press etc.
nsf.gov
NSF Award Search: Award # 2240343 - Constructing Credible Knowledge and Expertise in Air Pollution Regulation and Monitoring: The Problem of Quantification Lock
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Dr. Anna Maria Valdez ( RN) 🩺 @drannamvaldez.bsky.social · 18/04/2025
RFK Jr. has me irritated for several reasons, but the premise that the sole purpose of life is to work (pay taxes) and date (procreate) demonstrates how people with disabilities are seen as defective in an extractive, exploitive, and capitalist society. #Eugenics #Ableism #Disabilism
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christine liu / two photon art @christineliu.art · 17/04/2025
Always inspired by fellow trainees like @fleabrained.bsky.social creating opportunities for the next generation. Feeling powerless lately in the context of national news but focusing on the power that I DO have to continue opening doors for undergrads www.thetransmitter.org/community/as...
thetransmitter.org
As federal funders desert mentorship programs for marginalized students, trainee-led initiatives fill the gap
Grassroots organizations, led by graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, are stepping up to provide neuroscience career training and guidance for students from marginalized backgrounds—and…
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Christian Cazares, Ph.D. @fleabrained.bsky.social · 16/04/2025
SfN reversed their decision, THE WORKSHOP IS ON, it will center around communicating neuroscience to non-English speaking communities, see you at SfN 2025!!!!
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Scott Delaney @scott-delaney.bsky.social · 15/04/2025
As someone directly affected by this, let me be clear: I'd rather lose my job because Harvard chose to fight than keep my job and see a generation of white supremacists parade its corpse around like a war trophy.
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Barack Obama @barackobama.bsky.social · 15/04/2025
Harvard has set an example for other higher-ed institutions - rejecting an unlawful and ham-handed attempt to stifle academic freedom, while taking steps to make sure students can benefit from an environment of intellectual inquiry, rigorous debate and mutual respect. Let’s hope others follow suit.
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Malinda Lo @malindalo.bsky.social · 14/04/2025
Harvard redid its whole homepage to push back against the administration’s demands. I mean, this is just a website but I think it’s kind of a great PR move: www.harvard.edu
harvard.edu
Harvard University
Harvard University is devoted to excellence in teaching, learning, and research, and to developing leaders who make a difference globally.
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Bill Wuest @wmwuest.bsky.social · 08/04/2025
NSF GRFP Awards by the Year: 2021 - 2074 2022 - 2193 2023 - 2555 2024 - 2036 2025 - 1000 Again, these funding cuts will have drastic longterm effects on the scientific future of the US....... @jeremymberg.bsky.social @altnih4science.bsky.social
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Erik Angner @erikangner.com · 08/04/2025
Here’s a Harvard student with more courage than the University President www.thecrimson.com/article/2025... via @annaekstrom.bsky.social
thecrimson.com
I’m an International Student. I Refuse To Be Silenced. | Opinion | The Harvard Crimson
As an international student, I am well aware that the opinions I express carry a certain degree of risk. Still, I refuse to remain silent. Citizens or not, we all have agency over the direction this c...
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Samuel Eckmann @samueleckmann.bsky.social · 03/04/2025
Julia Gorman @jcgorman.bsky.social highlighting that sensory processing is not static but exhibits temporal dynamics that is shaped by expectation and behaviour. www.youtube.com/live/f7cm6CU... 4/4
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Tim Sainburg @timsainburg.bsky.social · 17/03/2025
Our brains use prediction in two seemingly contradictory ways. Our latest paper, just published in @natureneuro.bsky.social, investigates how we do it. 1/n www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Expectation-driven sensory adaptations support enhanced acuity during categorical perception - Nature Neuroscience
Bayesian models explain how context biases perceptual behavior toward expected categories, but sensory neurons do not reflect this bias. Instead, expectation sharpens sensory acuity, independent of do...
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Nature Neuroscience @natneuro.nature.com · 20/03/2025
Expectation-driven sensory adaptations support enhanced acuity during categorical perception in European starlings 🧠🧪 @timsainburg.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Expectation-driven sensory adaptations support enhanced acuity during categorical perception - Nature Neuroscience
Bayesian models explain how context biases perceptual behavior toward expected categories, but sensory neurons do not reflect this bias. Instead, expectation sharpens sensory acuity, independent of do...
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Madhu Pai, MD, PhD @madhupai.bsky.social · 21/02/2025
Bravo @plos.org! US exec orders "stand in direct conflict with our core values, our mission, edit policies" "PLOS will not compromise on issues of scientific rigor & editorial integrity... we seek diversity because more expert voices make for better science" theplosblog.plos.org/2025/02/plos...
theplosblog.plos.org
PLOS statement on recent US Executive Orders and scientific integrity - The Official PLOS Blog
Since its founding over twenty five years ago PLOS has been dedicated to advancing open science, ensuring that knowledge is accessible to…
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Julia C Gorman @jcgorman.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
I think the plot has been lost a little on what DEI is and how it’s implemented. I wrote a piece about why DEI matters and how it actually allows meritocracy to thrive. neuwritesd.org/2025/02/20/m...
neuwritesd.org
Meritocracy without DEI is a Myth
JC Gorman The current American presidential administration recently signed an executive order aimed at “ending radical and wasteful government DEI programs and preferencing” [1]. The language of th…
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