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Thursday, 10 March 2016

Bromelain Benefits

Bromelain belongs to a family of enzymes that contain sulfur. These enzymes are native to the pineapple plant and found near the core of the fruit. The diverse effects of bromelain are also attributed to its anti-inflammatory activity. Bromelain is therapeutic between 750 and 1,000mg, divided into four daily doses. According to the Alternative Medicine Review, in doses over 1,000mg daily, bromelain in combination with chemotherapy exhibits some anti-tumor activity. Bromelain can also inhibit blood clotting, so people prescribed blood thinners should exercise caution.
Bromelain Benefits
Bromelain is an enzyme extracted from pineapples. Photo Credit pineapple image by Maria Brzostowska from Fotolia.com

Edema

The 2001 Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences journal notes that bromelain promotes the reabsorption of fluid into the blood circulation. This action is complemented by its ability to break down fibrin, a blood-clotting protein. This is an important finding for therapeutic use of bromelain in conditions of edema. Bromelain is noted to prevent edema and significantly reduce active edema by 50 percent when taken orally. The 2001 article notes that the effects are maintained for up to 12 hours after the administration of the bromelain supplement.

Enhances Antibiotics

The Alternative Medicine Review monograph states that in several foreign countries, bromelain is used as a complementary therapy to potentiate the action of antibiotics. The 2001 article explains that bromelain increases the amount of antibiotics that are absorbed into the tissues after oral administration. The Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences article specified that bromelain was used with penicillins and tetracycline antibiotics, and while higher levels were found in the tissues and blood, overall side effects were reduced. The bromelain antibiotic combinations were used for a variety of bacterial infections.

Blood Thinning and Bruises

According to the 2001 article, bromelain has been shown to significantly decrease the formation of blood clots in abdominal arteries by 11 percent and in veins, by 6 percent. Its action as a blood thinner echoes its effect in treating edema. The Alternative Medicine Review supports these findings by noting the use of 120 to 400mg of bromelain with potassium and magnesium orotate to reduce the incidence of coronary artery occlusion and bromelain with analgesics to decrease the symptoms associated with inflammation and clotting of the deep leg veins, also known as thrombophlebitis. Its ability to digest blood clots is useful in treating soft tissue injuries, as they are commonly associated with the production of bruises and hematomas. Musculoskeletal injuries are associated with the indicators of inflammation, including edema, heat, redness and pain. The 1998 article states that pre-surgical administration of bromelain reduces the average days for complete disappearance of pain and inflammation.

Burns

Healing from third-degree burns is imminently reliant on the rapid removal of the burned and denatured skin. Topical application of an oil based, 35 percent bromelain cream was able to achieve complete removal of burned tissue within two days, compared 10 days using a different substance. Evidence of this activity was noted by both the 1998 and 2001 review articles.

Digestion

When bromelain is taken with or immediately after food, all of the systemic actions described above become diverted to the intestinal tract and the digestion of any protein-containing foods consumed. The acid in the stomach activates many naturally-produced proteolytic enzymes. The pancreas is also responsible for producing similar protein-digesting enzymes. The 1998 Alternative Medicine Review journal article states that after a pancreatectomy or in cases of low pancreatic functioning and similar digestive disorders, bromelain as a digestive aid has been used successfully.
www.livestrong.com

List of High-Protein, Low-Carb, Low-Fat Snacks


List of High-Protein, Low-Carb, Low-Fat Snacks
Tomatoes stuffed with protein are a good snack. Photo Credit gkrphoto/iStock/Getty Images
When you are looking for high-protein, low-carbohydrate, low-fat snacks, many common snack foods are off limits. Pretzels, potato chips, candy bars and trail mix can be high-fat, high-carbohydrate -- or both. You still have plenty of options for nutritious and filling high-protein, low-carbohydrate, low-fat snacks, however, to keep your hunger in check before your next meal.

Beef or Chicken Skewers

List of High-Protein, Low-Carb, Low-Fat Snacks
Beef skewers. Photo Credit Dar1930/iStock/Getty Images
Lean beef and skinless chicken breast are low-fat and carbohydrate-free, and each have 22 to 27 grams of protein in a cooked 3-ounce serving. Cut leftover cooked beef or chicken into cubes. Place them on skewers with green pepper pieces, cherry tomatoes and mushrooms. For a more substantial snack, add cubes of cheese to the skewers. An ounce of low-fat cheddar cheese has 6 grams of protein, 4 grams of fat and less than 1 gram of carbohydrates.

Lettuce Wraps

List of High-Protein, Low-Carb, Low-Fat Snacks
Lettuce wraps. Photo Credit rez-art/iStock/Getty Images
Lettuce leaves are fat-free, and you can use them as low-carbohydrate wrappers for high-protein fillings. Make tuna salad with fat-free mayonnaise or Greek yogurt, diced celery and onions, parsley, pepper and canned tuna, which has 22 grams of protein per 3-ounce serving. Store it in the fridge, then spread it on a lettuce leaf when you are ready for a snack. Or substitute diced cooked chicken breast for tuna. Fill a lettuce leaf with cooked, shredded chicken breast, low-sodium soy sauce, chopped green onions and water chestnuts.


Eggs

List of High-Protein, Low-Carb, Low-Fat Snacks
Boiled eggs. Photo Credit tycoon751/iStock/Getty Images
Eggs are fat-free and carbohydrate-free, and each whole egg provides 6 grams of protein. Egg whites are fat-free, with nearly 4 grams of protein per large white. Hard-boiled eggs are convenient snacks that you can prepare ahead of time. Or make baked egg cups by lining the cups of a muffin pan with lean turkey or ham slices. Beat together egg whites, low-fat parmesan cheese and diced chives. Pour some of the egg mixture into each muffin cup, and bake until the eggs are cooked. Make a batch ahead of time so that your baked egg cups are ready when you are.

Cottage Cheese

List of High-Protein, Low-Carb, Low-Fat Snacks
Cottage cheese. Photo Credit S847/iStock/Getty Images
A 4-ounce serving of non-fat cottage cheese has 81 calories, 12 grams of protein and 8 grams of carbohydrates. Eat it on its own, or add cinnamon or pepper and chives to season it. Dip vegetables into cottage cheese to add dietary fiber, potassium, vitamins and minerals to your snack. Try celery sticks, snow peas, cucumber sticks and bell pepper strips. Another option for a snack with cottage cheese is to spread it on turkey breast slices and roll them up.
www.livestrong.com

Healthy Low-Fat Snacks

Snacks are an important part of a healthy diet for children, teens and adults. Choosing healthy snacks can be helpful if you are trying to manage your weight, lessen hunger between meals and boost energy. Small, low-fat snacks, eaten throughout the day, may reduce cravings, hunger and impulsive eating. Eating unhealthy snacks that have simple and concentrated sugars, refined carbohydrates or high levels of trans fats can cause blood sugar levels to rise and fall quickly, which may lead to moodiness, irritability and fatigue.
Healthy Low-Fat Snacks
Fresh vegetables and low-fat dips are a healthy snack.Photo Credit healthy entertaining platter 2 image by Brett Mulcahy from <a href='http://www.fotolia.com'>Fotolia.com</a>

Vegetables

Fresh vegetables are healthy low-fat snacks you can eat instead of sugary or high-fat foods. Prepare carrots, celery, broccoli or red, green or yellow peppers ahead of time and keep them in the refrigerator so you can always grab an easy, colorful, tasty and nutritious snack. You can serve fresh, raw vegetables with dips such as hummus, low-fat cream cheese or salad dressing, or natural peanut and almond butter spreads. You can also make hot vegetable snacks, including sweet potato fries, by cutting baked sweet potatoes into wedges and tossing them with a little salt and olive oil; low-fat vegetable soup; or corn tortillas around vegetarian refried beans and light Mexican cheese mix and heated until the cheese melts.

Fruit

Some of the most nutritious snacks contain foods from two or more of the major food groups. Good examples of nutrient-rich fruit snacks are apples with peanut butter or any other fruit and nut combinations, and peaches with cottage cheese or other snacks combining fruit and a low-fat dairy food. Other fruit snacks are fresh citrus fruits, such as oranges and tangerines, or dried fruits, apple slices, grapes and strawberries. You can make fruit kabobs by skewering fruit chunks carefully onto pretzel sticks. Unsweetened applesauce and fruit sorbet are low-fat snacks, as are homemade flavored ice with low-fat yogurt and 100 percent fruit juice. You can also dip fruits, such as bananas, in nonfat yogurt.

Grains

A 2008 study published in the journal "Nutrition, Metabolism & Cardiovascular Diseases" discovered that people's heart health improves when they consume more whole grains, such as oatmeal, barley and brown rice. Researchers also found that higher whole grain intake is linked to a reduced risk for both stroke and heart disease. Some grain-based snacks include whole-grain cereal, granola with fruit, low-fat bran muffins, pita wedges dipped in hummus or pita pocket bread stuffed with tomato, lettuce, cucumber and low-fat salad dressing.

Dairy

If you want to serve or eat healthy, low-fat snacks, try to use only nonfat or low-fat dairy product such as 1 percent or skim milk, low-fat string cheese or nonfat yogurt and cottage cheese. Stock your refrigerator with these nutritious foods, so when you or your family feels hungry, you will all have a variety of tasty snacks to choose from. Quesadillas made with a corn or whole grain tortilla and shredded reduced-fat cheese are a quick and easy warm snack. For a cold snack, blend a smoothie with low-fat milk and nonfat yogurt plus one or more types of fresh or frozen fruit, including strawberries, banana, melon, peaches or apricots.
www.livestrong.com

Jose Cuervo Margarita Mix Nutrition

Jose Cuervo's traditional margarita mix is a non-alcoholic blend that you serve with tequila and ice. Although the margarita mix tastes like limes, it offers none of the citrus fruit's nutritional benefits. Like many mixed drinks, margaritas tend to be higher in calories than plain beer or wine.

Jose Cuervo Margarita Mix Nutrition

A salt rimmed margarita. Photo Credit Kesu01/iStock/Getty Images

Calories, Fat, Cholesterol and Sodium

A 4-oz. serving of Jose Cuervo Premium Margarita Mix has 100 calories, no fat and no cholesterol. The mix alone contains 3 percent of your recommended daily value of sodium, but serve it in a salt-rimmed glass and the total sodium content will rise.

Carbohydrate, Fiber and Protein

The calories in Jose Cuervo margarita mix come from carbohydrate. Each 4-oz. serving contains 24 g of carbohydrate, all of them from sugars. That's 8 percent of your recommended daily value of carbohydrate. The mix has no fiber or protein.

Ingredients

Jose Cuervo's margarita mix is a blend of water and the sweeteners corn syrup and sugar. It contains natural flavors, preservatives, FD&C yellow no. 5 and other ingredients. It has 0 percent juice.

Tequila

By adding 1 oz. of tequila to the margarita mix, you're adding 65 calories, according to the Task Force on College Drinking. Tequila is a hard liquor made in Mexico from the blue agave plant, which is a relative of the lily.

Warning

Although a basic margarita made from this margarita mix and tequila has about 200 calories, many restaurants serve much larger margaritas that contain 500 or 600 calories. Wine, light beer or sparkling water would be a smarter choice if you're watching your calorie intake.
www.livestrong.com

BAST FIBRE

Bast fibre (also called phloem fibre or skin fibre) is plant fibre collected from the phloem (the "inner bark", sometimes called "skin") or bast surrounding the stem of certain dicotyledonous plants. They support the conductive cells of the phloem and provide strength to the stem. Most of the economically important bast fibres are obtained from herbs cultivated in agriculture, as for instance flax, hemp, or ramie, but also bast fibres from wild plants, as stinging nettle, and trees such as lime or linden, wisteria and mulberry have been used in the past. Bast fibres are classified as soft fibres, and are flexible. Fibres from monocotyledonous plants, called "leaf fibre", are classified as hard fibres and are stiff.
Flax stem cross-section, showing locations of underlying tissues. Ep = epidermis: C = cortex; BF = bast fibres; P = phloem; X = xylem; Pi = pith
Since the valuable fibres are located in the phloem, they must often be separated from the xylem, material ("woody core"), and sometimes also from the epidermis. The process for this is called retting  and can be performed by micro-organisms either on land (nowadays the most important) or in water, or by chemicals (for instance high pH and chelating agents) or by pectinolytic enzymes. In the phloem, bast fibres occur in bundles that are glued together by pectin and calcium ions. More intense retting separates the fibre bundles into elementary fibres, that can be several centimetres long. Often bast fibres have higher tensile strength than other kinds, and are used in high-quality textiles (sometimes in blends with cotton or synthetic fibres), ropes, yarn, paper, composite materials and burlap. An important property of bast fibres is that they contain a special structure, the fibre node, that represents a weak point, and gives flexibility. Seed hairs, such as cotton, do not have nodes.
Use of Bast Fibre
Examples are:
Bast fibres are processed for use in carpet, yarn, rope, geotextile (netting or matting), traditional carpets, hessian or burlap, paper, sacks, etc. Bast fibres are also used in the non-woven, moulding, and composite technology industries for the manufacturing of non-woven mats and carpets, composite boards as furniture materials, automobile door panels and headliners, etc. From prehistoric times through at least the early 20th century, bast shoes were woven from bast strips in the forest areas of Eastern Europe.
Where no other source of tanbark was available, bast has also been used for tanning leather.
References

  1. ^ Mary Dusenbury (1992), "A Wisteria Grain Bag And Other Tree Bast Fiber Textiles Of Japan", Textiles in Daily Life: Proceedings of the Third Biennial Symposium of the Textile Society of America, September 24–26 1992
  2. a b Esau, K. (1977). Anatomy of seed plants. New York: John Wiley and Sons. ISBN 978-0-471-24520-9.
  3. ^ "Production of Russia Leather, (PDF). The Honourable Cordwainers' Company. 1807. p. 2.

- Wikipedia 

PHLOEM

In vascular plants, phloem is the living tissue that carries organic nutrients (known as photosynthate), in particular, sucrose, a sugar, to all parts of the plant where needed. In trees, the phloem is the innermost layer of the bark, hence the name, derived from the Greek word Ï†Î»Î¿Î¹ÏŒÏ‚ (phloios) meaning "bark". The phloem is concerned mainly with the transport of soluble organic material made during photosynthesis. This process of transportation is called translocation.


Cross-section of a flax plant stem:
1. Pith
2. Protoxylem
3. Xylem I,
4. Phloem I,
5. Sclerenchyma (bast fibre),
6. Cortex
7. Epidermis

Structure

Phloem tissue consists of: conducting cells, generally called sieve elements; parenchyma cells, including both specialized companion cells or albuminous cells and unspecialized cells; and supportive cells, such as fibres and sclereids.

Cross section of some phloem cells
Cross section of some phloem cells

Conducting Cells (Sieve Elements)

Sieve elements are the type of cell that are responsible for transporting sugars throughout the plant.  At maturity they lack a nucleus and have very few organelles, so they rely on companion cells or albuminous cells for most of their metabolic needs. Sieve tube cells do contain vacuoles and other organelles, such as ribosomes, before they mature, but these generally migrate to the cell wall and dissolve at maturity; this ensures there is little to impede the movement of fluids. One of the few organelles they do contain at maturity is the smooth endoplasmic reticulum, which can be found at the plasma membrane, often nearby the plasmodesmata that connect them to their companion or albuminous cells. All sieve cells have groups of pores at their ends that grow from modified and enlarged plasmodesmata, called sieve areas. The pores are reinforced by platelets of a polysaccharide called callose.

Parenchyma Cells
Companions Cells

The metabolic functioning of sieve-tube members depends on a close association with the companion cells, a specialized form of parenchyma cell. All of the cellular functions of a sieve-tube element are carried out by the (much smaller) companion cell, a typical nucleate plant cell except the companion cell usually has a larger number of ribosomes and mitochondria. The dense cytoplasm of a companion cell is connected to the sieve-tube element by plasmodesmata. The common sidewell shared by a sieve tube element and a companion cell has large numbers of plasmodesmata.


simplified phloem and companion cells:
1. Xylem
2. Phloem
3. Cambium
4. Pith
5. Companion Cells

There are two types of companion cells.
  1. Ordinary companions cells, which have smooth walls and few or no plasmodesmatal connections to cells other than the sieve tube.
  2. Transfer cells, which have much-folded walls that are adjacent to non-sieve cells, allowing for larger areas of transfer. They are specialized in scavenging solutes from those in the cell walls that are actively pumped requiring energy.

Albuminous Cells

Albuminous cells have a similar role to companion cells, but are associated with sieve cells only and are hence found only in seedless vascular plants and gymnosperms.

Other Parenchyma Cells

Other parenchyma cells within the phloem are generally undifferentiated and used for food storage.

Supportive Cells

Although its primary function is transport of sugars, phloem may also contain cells that have a mechanical support function. These generally fall into two categories: fibres and sclereids. Both cell types have a secondary cell wall and are therefore dead at maturity. The secondary cell wall increases their rigidity and tensile strength.

Fibres

Fibres are the long, narrow supportive cells that provide tension strength without limiting flexibility. They are also found in xylem, and are the main component of many textiles such as paper, linen, and cotton.

Sclereids

Sclereids are irregularly shaped cells that add compression strength but may reduce flexibility to some extent. They also serve as anti-herbivory structures, as their irregular shape and hardness will increase wear on teeth as the herbivores chew. For example, they are responsible for the gritty texture in pears.

Function

Unlike xylem (which is composed primarily of dead cells), the phloem is composed of still-living cells that transport sap. The sap is a water-based solution, but rich in sugars made by the photosynthetic areas. These sugars are transported to non-photosynthetic parts of the plant, such as the roots, or into storage structures, such as tubers or bulbs.
The Pressure flow hypothesis was proposed by Ernst Münch in 1930 that explained the mechanism of phloem translocation.
During the plant's growth period, usually during the spring, storage organs such as the roots are sugar sources, and the plant's many growing areas are sugar sinks. The movement in phloem is multidirectional, whereas, in xylem cells, it is unidirectional (upward).
After the growth period, when the meristems are dormant, the leaves are sources, and storage organs are sinks. Developing seed-bearing organs (such as fruit) are always sinks. Because of this multi-directional flow, coupled with the fact that sap cannot move with ease between adjacent sieve-tubes, it is not unusual for sap in adjacent sieve-tubes to be flowing in opposite directions.
While movement of water and minerals through the xylem is driven by negative pressures (tension) most of the time, movement through the phloem is driven by positive hydrostatic pressures. This process is termed translocation, and is accomplished by a process called phloem loading and unloading. Cells in a sugar source "load" a sieve-tube element by actively transporting solute molecules into it. This causes water to move into the sieve-tube element by osmosis, creating pressure that pushes the sap down the tube. In sugar sinks, cells actively transport solutes out of the sieve-tube elements, producing the exactly opposite effect.
Some plants, however, appear not to load phloem by active transport. In these cases a mechanism known as the polymer trap mechanism was proposed by Robert Turgeon. In this case small sugars such as sucrose move into intermediary cells through narrow plasmodesmata, where they are polymerised to raffinose and other larger oligosaccharides. Now they are unable to move back, but can proceed through wider plasmodesmata into the sieve tube element.
The pressure flow hypothesis proposes a mechanism for phloem sap transport. although other hypotheses have been proposed. Phloem sap is also thought to play a role in sending informational signals throughout vascular plants. "Loading and unloading patterns are largely determined by the conductivity and number of plasmodesmata and the position-dependent function of solute-specific, plasma membrane transport proteins. Recent evidence indicates that mobile proteins and RNA are part of the plant's long-distance communication signaling system. Evidence also exists for the directed transport and sorting of macromolecules as they pass through plasmodesmata."
The symplastic phloem loading (polymer trap mechanism above) is confined mostly to plants in tropical rain forests and is seen as more primitive. The actively transported apoplastic phloem loading is viewed as more advanced, as it is found in the later-evolved plants, and particularly in those in temperate and arid conditions. This mechanism may, therefore, have allowed plants to colonise the cooler locations.
Organic molecules such as sugars, amino acids, certain hormones and even messenger RNAs are transported in the phloem through sieve tube elements.
Girdling

Because phloem tubes sit on the outside of the xylem in most plants, a tree or other plant can be effectively killed by stripping away the bark in a ring on the trunk or stem. With the phloem destroyed, nutrients cannot reach the roots, and the tree/plant will die. Trees located in areas with animals such as beavers are vulnerable since beavers chew off the bark at a fairly precise height. This process is known as girdling, and can be used for agricultural purposes. For example, enormous fruits and vegetables seen at fairs and carnivals are produced via girdling. A farmer would place a girdle at the base of a large branch, and remove all but one fruit/vegetable from that branch. Thus, all the sugars manufactured by leaves on that branch have no sinks to go to but the one fruit/vegetable, which thus expands to many times normal size.

Origin
When the plant is an embryo, vascular tissue emerges from procambium tissue, which is at the center of the embryo. Protophloem itself appears in the mid-vein extending into the cotyledonary node, which constitutes the first appearance of a leaf in angiosperms, where it forms continuous strands. The hormone auxin, transported by the protein PIN1 is responsible for the growth of those protophloem strands, signaling the final identity of those tissues. SHORTROOT (SHR), and microRNA165/166 also participate in that process, while Callose Synthase 3(CALS3), inhibits the locations where SHORTROOT(SHR), and microRNA165 can go.
In the embryo, root phloem develops independently in the upper hypocotyl, which lies between the embryonic root, and the cotyledon.
In an adult, the phloem originates, and grows outwards from, meristematic cells in the vascular cambium. Phloem is produced in phases. Primary phloem is laid down by the apical meristem and develops from the procambium. Secondary phloem is laid down by the vascular cambium to the inside of the established layer(s) of phloem.
In some eudicot families (Apocynaceae, Convolvulaceae, Cucurbitaceae, Solanaceae, Myrtaceae, Asteraceae), phloem also develops on the inner side of the vascular cambium; in this case, a distinction between external phloem and internal phloem or intraxylary phloem is made. Internal phloem is mostly primary, and begins differentiation later than the external phloem and protoxylem, though it is not without exceptions. In some other families (Amaranthaceae, Nyctaginaceae, Salvadoraceae), the cambium also periodically forms inward strands or layers of phloem, embedded in the xylem: Such phloem strands are called included phloem or interxylary phloem.
Nutritional Use
Phloem of pine trees has been used in Finland as a substitute food in times of famine and even in good years in the northeast. Supplies of phloem from previous years helped stave off starvation in the great famine of the 1860s.  Phloem is dried and milled to flour (pettu in Finnish) and mixed with rye to form a hard dark bread, bark bread. The least appreciated was silkko, a bread made only from buttermilk and pettu without any real rye or cereal flour. Recently, pettu has again become available as a curiosity, and some have made claims of health benefits. However, its food energy content is low relative to rye or other cereals.
Stripping the inner bark from a pine branch.
Phloem from silver birch has been also used to make flour in the past.
References

  1. ^ Lalonde S. Wipf D., Frommer W.B. (2004). "Transport mechanisms for organic forms of carbon and nitrogen between source and sink". Annu Rev Plant Biol. 55: 341–72. doi:10.1146/annurev.arplant.55.031903.141758. PMID 15377224.
  2. ^ Collins Edexcel International GCSE Biology, Student Book (ISBN 978-0-00-745000-8) p.124
  3. a b c d e f g Raven, Peter H.; Ever, R.F.; Eichhorn, S.E. (1992). Biology of Plants. New York, NY, U.S.A.: Worth Publishers. p. 791. ISBN 1-4292-3995-6.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Raven_et_al._199_W was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Münch, E (1930). Die Stoffbewegunen in der Pflanze. Verlag von Gustav Fischer, Jena. p. 234.
  6. ^ Turgeon, R (1991). "Symplastic phloem loading and the sink-source transition in leaves: a model". In VL Bonnemain, S Delrot, J Dainty, WJ Lucas. Recent Advances Phloem Transport and Assimilate Compartmentation. ISBN 2-908261-61-8.
  7. ^ Khan, Aslam (1 January 2001). Plant Anatomy And Physiology. Gyan Publishing House. ISBN 978-81-7835-049-3. Retrieved 6 April 2013.
  8. a b c Turgeon, Robert; Wolf, Shmuel (2009). "Phloem Transport: Cellular Pathways and Molecular Trafficking".Annual Review of Plant Biology 60: 207–21. doi:10.1146/annurev.arplant.043008.092045, PMID 19025382.
  9. ^ Lucas, William, et al. The Plant Vascular System: Evolution, Development and Functions. Journal of Integrative Plant Biology. 55, 294-388 (2013) PMID 23462277
  10. ^ Evert, Ray F. Esau's Plant Anat

- Wikipedia 

Advantages and Disadvantages of Fasting for Runners

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