iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Tara Fischer

NIH Vigils @nihvigils.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

Today we honor and commemorate the thousands who were illegally RIFed a year ago today. Most are still unemployed. Many have suffered major mental health consequences. Some have died by suicide. We see you. We value you. We remember.

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Travels with Darwin @robertmdawley.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

If you’re an immigrant, if you’re first generation, if you’re a woman, a scientist of color, trans, or gay, you belong in science. - Maya English, PhD student, GETUP UAW #standupforscience #philadelphiascienceaction

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Kaitlyn Hajdarovic, Ph.D @khajdarovic.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

NIH HR deleted our CBA off the website. Luckily for us, even if the agency says there is no CBA in ba sing se, the union still exists.

Screenshot of the NIH website page for the NIH fellows CBA, showing the page has been deleted. Superimposed over this is the “there is so war in ba sing se” woman

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I-270, Exit 1 @i270exit1.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

Podcast Jay continues to attack the very people he promises to support, early career investigators. Now he wants to rip up the collective bargaining agreement with the NIH Fellows Union (illegal, BTW). Who's next, the NIH police union? The firefighters? www.notus.org/health-scien...

notus.org

NIH Says It Will No Longer Recognize the Research Fellows’ Union

NIH leadership said the union “should never have been certified,” in an email to the union’s leadership.

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Adrienne Roeder Lab @roederlab.bsky.social · 14/02/2026

A Postdoctoral Associate position is available in the Roeder Laboratory at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY with a focus on researching Polyploidy. Apply by March 1. Please spread the word. apps.hr.cornell.edu/recruiting/f...

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Harmit Singh Malik @harmitmalik.bsky.social · 17/01/2026

Getting asked about how academics can continue to do science & inspire trainees even in the midst of a continued (escalated) assault on science, reason, truth, & human rights. I don’t have great answers. I would love to hear from mentors about advice they’re giving to trainees/ colleagues.

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Fromme Lab @fromme-lab.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

Calling all GTPase enthusiasts! The 2026 Regulation and Function of Small GTPases FASEB conference will be held June 22-24 in Florida, USA. events.faseb.org/event/Small-...

Conference flyer listing confirmed speakers and attendees

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Tara Fischer @tarafisch.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

Perfect time to announce that we are hiring for 1 postdoc and 1 tech to start in the Spring-Summer! If you are excited about organelle quality control, innate immunity, and/or neurodegeneration, join us at Cornell in beautiful Ithaca, NY! More info coming soon fischer.wicmb.cornell.edu pls share 🙏

fischer.wicmb.cornell.edu

The Fischer Lab – Researching fundamental organelle biology in cellular health and disease.

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Tara Fischer @tarafisch.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

So excited to be a part of the team - now time to do some awesome science! 🧫 🔬 💡 🦠

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The EMBO Journal @embojournal.org · 20/11/2025

Is there a convergent mechanism for triggering PINK1-Parkin-dependent mitophagy? Derek Narendra and coworkers find that diverse forms of mitochondrial damage are all sensed by a loss of mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....

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Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽 @needhibhalla.bsky.social · 15/11/2025

It’s not hard to read this and see this as a blue print for what they want to do for all federal granting institutions, including the NIH

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Rosa Lafer-Sousa @rosalafersousa.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

🚨🚨 @jenna-m-norton.bsky.social is a force. Her voice carries power, truth, and courage—threats to the regime. The only thing authoritarians fear more than a voice they cannot control is a chorus. So let’s give them one: speak up, speak loudly, and don’t stop. Stand with Jenna. ✊🇺🇸

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Claire Deo @clairedeo.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

New preprint 🥳! We made photoclickable HaloTag ligands to precisely control protein labeling on living cells. With it, we can do some cool multicolor stuff. Huge congrats to Franzi and all co-authors! Check it out 👇 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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Jenna Norton @jenna-m-norton.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

Trump’s HHS put me on “non-disciplinary” admin leave today. This was retaliation for speaking up. Moves like this are designed to silence us. Let’s not let. www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8Dteoop/

tiktok.com

I guess I am hitting a nerve, because they just put me on admin leave.

TikTok video by Jenna

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Sheryl Gay Stolberg @sherylnyt.bsky.social · 14/11/2025

NEW: Jenna Norton, an NIH employee who is openly critical of Trump & RFK Jr, has been put on "non-disciplinary" administrative leave. She says the administration is trying to "scare and silence me." An HHS official, asked to comment, called her a radical leftist. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/13/u...

nytimes.com

N.I.H. Worker Who Criticized Trump Health Policies Says She Is on Administrative Leave

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Catherine Dulac @dulaclab.bsky.social · 12/11/2025

An remarkable new undergraduate course conceived and taught by our amazing colleague and Dean of Science Jeff Lichtman: "Genuinely Hard Problems" I wish I was an undergrad again!... 🤣🧪🧬🧠 @harvardmcb.bsky.social @harvardbrainsci.bsky.social @harvard.edu news.harvard.edu/gazette/stor...

news.harvard.edu

No one knows the answer, and that’s the point — Harvard Gazette

“Genuinely Hard Problems” pilots novel approach to scientific education.

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Mark A. Hanson @hansonmark.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

We wrote the Strain on scientific publishing to highlight the problems of time & trust. With a fantastic group of co-authors, we present The Drain of Scientific Publishing: a 🧵 1/n Drain: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820 Strain: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/... Oligopoly: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...

A table showing profit margins of major publishers. A snippet of text related to this table is below.

1. The four-fold drain
1.1 Money
Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for
whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who
created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis,
which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024
alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit
margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher
(Elsevier) always over 37%.
Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most
consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial
difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor &
Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American
researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The
Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3
billion in that year.

A figure detailing the drain on researcher time.

1. The four-fold drain

1.2 Time
The number of papers published each year is growing faster than the scientific workforce,
with the number of papers per researcher almost doubling between 1996 and 2022 (Figure
1A). This reflects the fact that publishers’ commercial desire to publish (sell) more material
has aligned well with the competitive prestige culture in which publications help secure jobs,
grants, promotions, and awards. To the extent that this growth is driven by a pressure for
profit, rather than scholarly imperatives, it distorts the way researchers spend their time.
The publishing system depends on unpaid reviewer labour, estimated to be over 130 million
unpaid hours annually in 2020 alone (9). Researchers have complained about the demands of
peer-review for decades, but the scale of the problem is now worse, with editors reporting
widespread difficulties recruiting reviewers. The growth in publications involves not only the
authors’ time, but that of academic editors and reviewers who are dealing with so many
review demands.
Even more seriously, the imperative to produce ever more articles reshapes the nature of
scientific inquiry. Evidence across multiple fields shows that more papers result in
‘ossification’, not new ideas (10). It may seem paradoxical that more papers can slow
progress until one considers how it affects researchers’ time. While rewards remain tied to
volume, prestige, and impact of publications, researchers will be nudged away from riskier,
local, interdisciplinary, and long-term work. The result is a treadmill of constant activity with
limited progress whereas core scholarly practices – such as reading, reflecting and engaging
with others’ contributions – is de-prioritized. What looks like productivity often masks
intellectual exhaustion built on a demoralizing, narrowing scientific vision.

A table of profit margins across industries. The section of text related to this table is below:

1. The four-fold drain
1.1 Money
Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for
whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who
created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis,
which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024
alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit
margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher
(Elsevier) always over 37%.
Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most
consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial
difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor &
Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American
researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The
Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3
billion in that year.

The costs of inaction are plain: wasted public funds, lost researcher time, compromised
scientific integrity and eroded public trust. Today, the system rewards commercial publishers
first, and science second. Without bold action from the funders we risk continuing to pour
resources into a system that prioritizes profit over the advancement of scientific knowledge.

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Cat Hicks @grimalkina.bsky.social · 08/11/2025

We are in the midst of an all-out attempt to exclude the global majority from science. Watson was clear about where he fell on that. I would trade every single dinner, meeting, seminar, fancy campus, and prestigious donor for my incredible friends to be safer. Their science is worth far more.

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Cat Hicks @grimalkina.bsky.social · 08/11/2025

Jeremy, I have followed your science advocacy on this platform with respect, but I find this thread deeply hurtful and sad and I am going to tell you why. While my wife did her postdoc at CSHL, she and our many dear friends had to endure the racist rhetoric of this man, which did constant harm

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Luke Lavis @rhodamine110.bsky.social · 27/10/2025

A new, nerdy paper. We figured out (some) of the rules underlying cell-permeability of probes and designed ligands that light up, grab, and move proteins around. Awesome @hhmijanelia.bsky.social x @uwmadison.bsky.social x @stjuderesearch.bsky.social collaboration! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

pnas.org

PNAS

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...

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Drug Monkey @drugmonkey.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

The cut rate labor business of grant funded academic science revealed in one tweet.

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@LaBonneLaB @labonnelab.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

Dear all, A scientist from UNC Chapel Hill, Paul Maddox, is running for congress in NC for a seat currently held by a republican. If you care about science (and democracy) please consider donating to his campaign #Standupforscience secure.actblue.com/donate/paul-...

secure.actblue.com

Donate to Paul Maddox for Congress in NC 11

Paul is running for Congress because there’s a sickness in Washington, and no one is working to cure it.

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Phyllis Hanson @pihanson.bsky.social · 19/10/2025

Collaborative. Creative. Impactful. Come join us in Ann Arbor! For more information and application link see jobs.sciencecareers.org/job/675674/f...

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ALLSTRIKE @allstrike.bsky.social · 16/10/2025

IT'S ALMOST HERE!! #NoKingsDay is around the corner. Gonna be a BIG event at @nihvigils.bsky.social and @27unihted.bsky.social We're going to play TWO SETS - one at the beginning and one at the end. #fucktrump #punk #punkrock #resist #FightFascism #AntiAuthoritarian #FuckICE #FightTheNazis

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Angie Rasmussen @angierasmussen.bsky.social · 11/10/2025

I don’t know who needs to hear this but the CDC is being eviscerated right now. America is not going to have any kind of outbreak response capacity after tonight. Americans’ health data is no longer secure. Say goodbye to federal public health in any capacity. It’s a disaster. We won’t recover.

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Feds Work For You @fedsworkforyou.bsky.social · 11/10/2025

NO TO ILLEGAL RIFS TRUMP AND VOUGHT ARE HURTING AMERICA Gather at the Office of Management and Budget (near WH, exact location to come) Monday, October 13, 2pm DM us if you were RIFed (or had coworkers who were RIFed) and would like to speak

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NPR @npr.org · 07/10/2025

Some federal workers support the government shutdown, even as President Trump threatens to use this moment to lay off employees and cut funding to programs.

n.pr

Why some federal workers aren't scared by the threat of shutdown layoffs

Some federal workers support the government shutdown, even as President Trump threatens to use this moment to lay off employees and cut funding to programs.

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Tara Fischer @tarafisch.bsky.social · 03/10/2025

I signed @uthealthhouston.bsky.social alum! Are you an alum outraged by Trump's attacks on universities? Defend your school now by signing this alumni petition in support of these 9 universities as well as campus communities across America. alumni.controlshift.app/petitions/tr...

alumni.controlshift.app

Trump attacks 9 universities: Sign the alumni petition to defend your school now

Are you an alum outraged by Trump's attacks on universities? Defend your school now by signing this alumni petition in support of these 9 universities as well as campus communities across America.

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Victor Tatarskiy @greenrat.bsky.social · 02/10/2025

Neat trick if you polycolonal ab's suck. Incubate them with fixed cells with a KO of your protein of interest, then spin. Protocol here: www.med.upenn.edu/markslab/ass... I was amazed how well it worked on first try (I'm sure that I can completely eliminate unspecific bands) #WesternBlot #cellsky

On the left - western blot of B16F10 cells wt and KO for CDK8. Our in house produced antibodies give a lot of unspecific bands. On the right same probes with antibodies preincubated with fixed CDK8 KO cells - there is a specific band and faint unspecific bands, which can be probably eliminated with increase of amount of KO cells.

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Jenna Norton @jenna-m-norton.bsky.social · 03/10/2025

That’s a lot of science we left on the table.

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Julian Sanchez @normative.bsky.social · 02/10/2025

This is sort of a classic prisoners' dilemma: If nobody defects, nobody has "priority". Which makes it essential that universities coordinate a united front.

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Gregg Gonsalves @gregggonsalves.bsky.social · 02/10/2025

This is extortion. Faculty, students, staff, alumni across the country need to get to their Presidents & Trustees today. Just say no. This blackmail only works if most everyone folds. Capitulation now means the end of American higher education for a generation. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/u...

nytimes.com

Trump Administration Asks Colleges to Sign ‘Compact’ to Get Funding Preference

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Kate Cavanaugh @katecavanaugh.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

See this? This = implanting mouse embryo. Usually this happens inside its mother and is invisible to us, but we can actually watch implantation ex vivo with the hope of understanding why implantation goes awry in embryos of older women. A 🧵...

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AAUP @aaup.org · 30/09/2025

BREAKING: WE WON!!! 💥 💥 💥 Federal Judge William G. Young ruled today in our lawsuit against the Trump administration that the policy of arresting, detaining, & deporting noncitizen students & faculty members for their pro-Palestinian advocacy violates the 1st Amendment. Full ruling here:

courtlistener.com

Findings of Fact & Conclusions of Law – #261 in American Association of University Professors v. Rubio (D. Mass., 1:25-cv-10685) – CourtListener.com

Judge William G. Young: ORDER entered. FINDINGS OF FACT AND RULINGS OF LAW, PURSUANT TO FED. R. CIV. P. 52(A)(Sonnenberg, Elizabeth) (Additional attachment(s) added on 9/30/2025: # 1 Main Document) (J...

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Alt USAID/ USAID Forever @altusaid.altgov.info · 29/09/2025

More than 5,000 federal workers (current and former) have now signed this letter urging "Congress to pass nothing less than a continuing resolution (CR) that reasserts Congress's constitutional powers, upholds our democracy and protects the American people."

actionnetwork.org

Civil Servants Demand an End to Executive Overreach

Join federal workers from across the federal government as we urge Congress to pass nothing less than a continuing resolution (CR) that reasserts Congress's constitutional powers, upholds our democrac...

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Asher HELLbein @asherelbein.bsky.social · 29/09/2025

This is absolutely ridiculous, would devastate numerous academic fields, and would destroy the lives of people I love very much. Please, please join me in sending a comment in on this telling them so

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Alt U.S. Department of Labor @alt-dol.altgov.info · 25/09/2025

FUN (@fedworkersunited.bsky.social) is calling out the OMB memo threatening mass layoffs as a pressure tactic to get Congress to keep the federal government open. Read the release: www.federalunionists.net/press/statem...

Not New Policy: The Feb. 11 and Feb. 26 “Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)” orders already required RIF planning. The Sept. 24 memo just recycles those threats.

Fear Tactic: By framing layoffs as “shutdown planning,” OMB is trying to pressure Congress into a bad budget deal.

Lockout, Not Shutdown: Workers want to serve — but the administration is dismantling agencies and public services to advance an extremist, unpopular agenda.

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Theresa Kim, PhD, MS @tyk314.net · 25/09/2025

The end of FY 2025 is coming, and #OMB appears perfectly content to use us as targets. We are not their chess pieces. We serve our PIs. We are here in our personal capacities. Follow the #NIH.

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Rockefeller University Press @rupress.org · 24/09/2025

In @jcb.org, @lysoluis.bsky.social, @markrcookson.bsky.social et al. show how two distinct pRAB effectors and RHD members, JIP4 and RILPL1, provide antagonistic motor force to regulate #lysosome tubulation. rupress.org/jcb/article/...

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Itay Budin @ibudin.bsky.social · 15/09/2025

Very excited to share new work out today in @natchembio.nature.com on a new approach - FACES - for selectively imaging of phospholipids and other biomolecules at spatial resolutions down to individual membrane leaflets (1/n) www.nature.com/articles/s41...

nature.com

Leaflet-specific phospholipid imaging using genetically encoded proximity sensors - Nature Chemical Biology

An approach combining bioorthogonal chemistry with genetically encoded fluorogen-activating proteins enables subcellular imaging of phospholipids and glycans, as well as the visualization of lipid tra...

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Dr. Rabbithole @drrabbithole.bsky.social · 25/09/2025

Wow. This administration really must be afraid of a shutdown to make these threats. @schumer.senate.gov - You have the power to restore some semblance of balance to government. You mustn't squander it. #fightingcr If you don't, Vought will fire everyone anyway. 🤷🏻‍♀️ www.politico.com/news/2025/09...

politico.com

White House to agencies: Prepare mass firing plans for a potential shutdown

In memo, the Trump administration says the Reduction-in-Force plans would go beyond standard shutdown furloughs.

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Jenna Norton @jenna-m-norton.bsky.social · 24/09/2025

Beyond proud of my federal colleagues who continue to risk their careers by speaking up about the waste, fraud and abuse from the Trump admin. Thanks to the brave heroes at VHA! actionnetwork.org/petitions/li... lincolndeclaration.org

actionnetwork.org

The Lincoln Declaration: a Statement of Alarm about the Future of Veterans' Healthcare

America's veterans deserve a VA that keeps Abraham Lincoln's promise: to care for all who have served our nation, their families, caregivers, and survivors. For most of the last century, the Veterans’...

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Jenna Norton @jenna-m-norton.bsky.social · 22/09/2025

It is extremely disingenuous to compare this to prior shutdown negotiations. This isn’t mere policy debate. This isn’t Dems “spoiling for a fight, damn the consequences.” This is the fight of our lives to save our democracy and shutdown authoritarianism. www.politico.com/news/2025/09...

politico.com

Tables turn for Democrats as they use shutdown for leverage

The current standoff is a nearly precise inversion of the 2013 showdown over health care that closed government agencies for 17 days.

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AAUP @aaup.org · 21/09/2025

The AAUP & @aft.org are fighting back to remind our elected leaders that higher education & public health research are transformative public goods. We must keep life-saving NIH research fully funded & stop the Trump admin’s devastating funding cuts that are halting medical breakthroughs.

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Feds Work For You @fedsworkforyou.bsky.social · 19/09/2025

Check out our trip to Capitol Hill yesterday with @fedsagainstdoge.bsky.social and @safa-science.bsky.social -- and sign the petition at bit.ly/FIGHTINGCR. It's up to 2️⃣5️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ signers! #FightingCR

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