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| Wednesday, December 1, 2010
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6:00 PM - 7:30 PM
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6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
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Plants in New England (PINE)
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| Description: |
Plants in New England
(formerly NEAM)
When: Wednesday December 1, 2010, 6 pm.
Where: Whitehead Institute McGovern Auditorium
(http://www.wi.mit.edu/about/directions.html)
Speakers:
Mary Gehring (Whitehead Institute)
Pam Weathers (Worcester Polytechnic Institute)
Levi Yant (Kramer Lab, Harvard University)
Talks will begin a bit after 6 pm lasting about 35 minutes each with a 5 minute break in between. Pizza and beverages will be available beginning at 5:45 pm.
Please keep the following dates open for future meetings:
Feb 2, 2011 WPI
Apr 6, 2011 location TBA
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| Contact: |
chip celenza
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| Thursday, December 2, 2010
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Noon - 1:00 PM
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Clostridium phytofermentans: A novel biocatalyst for cellulosic ethanol production
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| Description: |
Location: The Forsyth Insitute
245 First St., 17th Fl., Seminar Room A
Cambridge, MA 02142
Speaker: Susan B. Leschine, PhD
Professor, Dept. of Microbiology
University of MA Amherst
Abstract: Plant biomass is the most abundant and renewable alternative to petroleum on Earth; however, the costs of converting cellulosic biomass to fuels and chemicals currently impede its widespread use. Clostridium phytofermentans is a novel microbe isolated from forest soil near Massachusetts' Quabbin Reservoir that actively and efficiently decomposes plant biomass producing ethanol as the primary product of fermentation. C. phytofermentans possesses exceptional nutritional versatility and is capable of decomposing all fermentable components of biomass, including cellulose, hemicellulose, pectin, and starch. Reflecting its nutritional versatility, the genome of this microbe includes a remarkable variety of genes encoding glycoside hydrolases and numerous ATP-binding cassette (ABC)-family sugar transporters. The genome also encodes three different polyhedral microcompartments with the capacity to compartmentalize portions of fermentation pathways that divert intermediates to various products. Whole genome expression profiles have confirmed the importance of ethanol production in the overall metabolism of the microbe. Additionally, C. phytofermentans adjusts its metabolism and the production of degradative enzymes in response to growth substrate. Facile adaptation of metabolism to different feedstocks is a major strength of this microbe for fuel and chemical production. The properties of C. phytofermentans indicate its value of as a model organism for understanding the direct conversion of cellulosic biomass to fuels and chemicals, a biomass-processing scheme in which enzyme production, plant biomass decomposition and fermentation are consolidated in a single step, yielding significant economic advantages.
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| Contact: |
Pam Quattrocchi
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2:30 PM - 4:00 PM
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The Singleton Lectures: Geometry and the Brain Series: Morphogenesis of the brain Biophysics of growth, folding and vascularization patterns
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| Description: |
Speaker: L. Mahadevan, Visiting Professor, BCS, MIT
Location: MIT 46-3002
Brain anatomy is immediately distinguished by its geometrically complex rugged landscape of sulci and gyri. Brain function is associated with how neurons are wired together and how they fire. Understanding the origins of the structure and connectivity in the brain requires the natural language of shape, i.e. geometry, combined with aspects of physics. This set of four lectures will provide a brief (and biased) introduction to some questions about the geometry of the brain and geometry in the brain. How can one describe these features quantitatively? How can one understand their origin? How might we compare brains from different organisms in a species and across different species? How can we characterize the patterns associated with sensory modalities in different cortii? And what is the current state of answers to these and related questions.
http://bcs.mit.edu/newsevents/calendar.php
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| Contact: |
Kathleen Dickey
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| Friday, December 3, 2010
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1:40 PM - 2:45 PM
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| Monday, December 6, 2010
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(All Day)
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2010 French American Innovation Day on Alzheimer's disease
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| Description: |
U.S. & France join efforts in the field of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD)
The French American Innovation Day (FAID) is the flagship seminar of the Office of Science and Technology of the French Embassy in the U.S. (Boston section). The 2010 edition of FAID will be a full-day science & innovation seminar addressing a major public health issue and devastating neurodegenerative disorder, Alzheimer's disease (AD).
The topic of this year’s edition is of particular relevance, as 2010 marks the second anniversary of the French National Plan for Alzheimer’s and related diseases (2008-2012), launched in February 2008 by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and given the implications of the two countries in the fight against this disease.
On this occasion, we will be pleased to have Professor Philippe Amouyel as scientific director of the seminar, the head of the National Scientific Foundation for Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders. The foundation was created to implement the research part of the National Plan for Alzheimer’s disease. Professor Philippe Amouyel is also President of the Lille Pasteur Institute.
His U.S. counterpart is Professor John H. Growdon, Founding Director of the Massachusetts Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, Director of Memory and Movement Disorders Units at Massachusetts General Hospital, and Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School.
Entitled “Alzheimer’s disease: The Pursuit of Personalized Medicine”, the seminar will consist of 6 interactive sessions where the latest research and innovative therapeutic strategies will be explored. 2010 FAID will gather the most prominent scientists, both from the U.S. and France, in the field of AD. A total of four corporate sponsors (Pfizer, Guerbet, EnVivo pharmaceuticals and Elan) together with two renowned Mass. institutions (Broad Institute, Mass. Life Sciences Center) partnered with the O.S.T. to organize the event.
The meeting is designed to take stock of the most recent developments in AD research and translational activities. 2010 FAID is also intended to focus and develop more collaborative joint activities between France and the U.S.
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| Contact: |
Lynda Inseque
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Noon - 1:00 PM
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Noon - 1:00 PM
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1:00 PM - 5:00 PM
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The Program in Genetics and Genomics Annual Symposium
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| Description: |
The Program in Genetics and Genomics presents its 2nd annual symposium, featuring the research of past and current students.
Joseph B. Martin Conference Center
Rotunda Room, 3rd floor
Monday, December 6th, 1:00 - 5:00 pm
Poster session with wine and cheese to follow.
Speakers:
Rachel Green, Johns Hopkins
"Quality control during translation in bacteria and eukaryotes"
Erica Gerace, Moazed Laboratory, HMS
"Linking RNAi to histone acetylation"
Sean Garrity, Hochschild Laboratory, HMS
"Behavior of a yeast prion protein in bacterial cells"
Ralph Isberg, Tufts University
"What Legionella learned from growing in amoebae...and what it did not"
David Altshuler, HMS
"Human genome sequence variation and the inherited basis of type 2 diabetes"
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| Contact: |
Leah Brault
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4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
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| Tuesday, December 7, 2010
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8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
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BU Pharmacology & Experimental Therapeutics - Pfizer Symposium, "Inflammation Breaking Out: Molecular Mechanisms for Therapeutic Discovery
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| Description: |
Featuring: Paul M Allen, PhD, Washington U Sch/Med; Melissa A Brown, PhD, Northwestern U Sch/Med; Tsuneya Ikezu, MD/PhD, Boston U Sch/Med; James G Krueger, MD/PhD, Rockefeller U; Joost J Oppenheim, MD, NCI/NIH; John O'Shea, MD, NIAMSD/NIH; Serge Przedborski, MD/PhD, Columbia U CPS; Sachiko Sato, PhD, Centre de Recherche Infectiologie du CHUL, Laval U; M Celeste Simon, PhD, U Penn Sch/Med/HHMI; Thaddeus S. Stappenbeck, MD/PhD, Washington U Sch/Med.
Registration/Breakfast at 8:00 am. Program begins at 8:30 am. Free and Open to the public. Register: www.bumc.bu.edu/busm-pm/bupfizerinflammation
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| Contact: |
Sara Johnson
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12:30 PM - 1:30 PM
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2:30 PM - 4:00 PM
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The Singleton Lectures: Geometry and the Brain Series: Patterns in the brain Cortical organization and pattern formation
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| Description: |
Speaker: L. Mahadevan, Visiting Professor, BCS, MIT
Location: MIT, Picower Room, 46-3310
Brain anatomy is immediately distinguished by its geometrically complex rugged landscape of sulci and gyri. Brain function is associated with how neurons are wired together and how they fire. Understanding the origins of the structure and connectivity in the brain requires the natural language of shape, i.e. geometry, combined with aspects of physics. This set of four lectures will provide a brief (and biased) introduction to some questions about the geometry of the brain and geometry in the brain. How can one describe these features quantitatively? How can one understand their origin? How might we compare brains from different organisms in a species and across different species? How can we characterize the patterns associated with sensory modalities in different cortii? And what is the current state of answers to these and related questions.
http://bcs.mit.edu/newsevents/calendar.php
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| Contact: |
Kathleen Dickey
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4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
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| Wednesday, December 8, 2010
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6:00 PM - 9:00 PM
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"Professional Turbocharge: Entrepreneurially Manage Your Career and Life" Panel Discussion
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| Description: |
Don't miss this special opportunity to take a more entrepreneurial approach to your career in science and technology! Gain tools and understanding for how to best evolve your professional plans so you can reach your full potential. Learn how to actively manage your career to achieve greater satisfaction, more productivity, and increased effectiveness. Topics include successful work/life balance, finding and pursuing your passion tips and tools for leaving and re-entering the workforce and effectively networking & establishing mentoring relationships for greater professional success.
Our speakers:
• Carol Fishman Cohen, Author, Back On The Career Track
• Lauren Celano, Co-founder & CEO, Propel Careers
• Joanne Kamens, PhD, 2010 Catalyst Award Winner
• Barbara Carter (moderator) Principal, Barbara Carter Consulting
http://www.westorg.org/mc/page.do?sitePageId=120435
Don't wait for new years' resolutions to be more intentional about your professional plans – jumpstart your career now!
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| Contact: |
Susan Silberman
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| Thursday, December 9, 2010
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9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
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Computational Aspects of Biological Information 2010
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| Description: |
Computational Aspects of Biological Information (C.A.B.I. 2010) is a one day workshop on challenges in computational biology. C.A.B.I. 2010 will be held at Microsoft Research New England on December 9, 2010 and will bring together experts in the Boston/Cambridge area to discuss computational and modeling challenges in biology with a focus on systems biology, phylogeny and neuroscience. The workshop is open to everyone and registration is free of charge.
http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/events/cabi2010/
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| Contact: |
Oznur Tastan
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Noon - 1:00 PM
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Interactions between Candida albicans and the commensal bacterial flora in an oral-like environment
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| Description: |
Location: The Forsyth Institute
245 First St., 17th Fl., Seminar Room A
Cambridge, MA 02142
Speaker: Patricia I. Diaz, DDS, MS, PhD
Assistant Professor
Division of Periodontology
Dept. of Oral Health & Diagnostic Sciences
University of Connecticut Health Center
Summary: Candida albicans is the cause of oral opportunistic infections. C. albicans colonization of the oral cavity is bound to be influenced by resident oral bacterial communities. Non-hemolytic streptococci are the most common commensal bacteria in the oral cavity of humans and are found in close physical association with C. albicans in oral biofilms in vivo. This presentation will summarize our current work characterizing the inter-kingdom interactions between C. albicans and oral streptococci. Our research utilizes systems that mimic conditions in the oral environment such as saliva-supplemented standard flow cells and a newly designed flow cell system, which supports biofilm growth on a 3-D oral mucosa tissue analogue. We present data that support the notion that C. albicans and oral streptococci share a mutualistic relationship in which C. albicans enhances the biofilm growth of streptococci while the bacteria increase the virulence potential of C. albicans.
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| Contact: |
Pam Quattrocchi
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2:30 PM - 4:00 PM
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The Singleton Lectures: Geometry and the Brain Series: Representation and pattern theory
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| Description: |
Speaker: L. Mahadevan, Visiting Professor, BCS, MIT
Location: MIT, Picower Room, 46-3310
Brain anatomy is immediately distinguished by its geometrically complex rugged landscape of sulci and gyri. Brain function is associated with how neurons are wired together and how they fire. Understanding the origins of the structure and connectivity in the brain requires the natural language of shape, i.e. geometry, combined with aspects of physics. This set of four lectures will provide a brief (and biased) introduction to some questions about the geometry of the brain and geometry in the brain. How can one describe these features quantitatively? How can one understand their origin? How might we compare brains from different organisms in a species and across different species? How can we characterize the patterns associated with sensory modalities in different cortii? And what is the current state of answers to these and related questions.
http://bcs.mit.edu/newsevents/calendar.php
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| Contact: |
Kathleen Dickey
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4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
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Ciliogenesis and Cell Polarity in the Vertebrate Embryo
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| Description: |
Tufts University Program in Cell, Molecular and Developmental Biology Seminar Series.
Guest Speaker: Jarema Malicki, PhD, Division of Craniofacial and Molecular Genetics, Tufts University.
Location: Tufts University Posner Auditorium, 200 Harrison Avenue, Boston, MA 02111
Wine and cheese reception immediately following in the M&V 5th floor library, 136 Harrison Avenue, Boston, MA 02111
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| Contact: |
Sharon Titus
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6:00 PM - 7:00 PM
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6:00 PM - 7:00 PM
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| Friday, December 10, 2010
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8:00 AM - 9:00 AM
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Management of Severe Lupus
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| Description: |
Management of Severe Lupus
W. Joseph McCune, M.D.
Professor, Internal Medicine
University of Michigan Medical School
Friday, December 10th, 2010, 8:00 AM
BIDMC Rheumatology Grand Rounds
3 Blackfan Circle, CLS 921, Boston, MA 02215
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| Contact: |
Betty Chase
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Noon - 1:00 PM
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| Monday, December 13, 2010
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Noon - 1:00 PM
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| Tuesday, December 14, 2010
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12:30 PM - 1:30 PM
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4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
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5:00 PM
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Abnormal splicing of RasGRPs
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| Description: |
Abnormal splicing of RasGRPs
Shinsuke Yasuda, M.D., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Clinical Immunology and Metabolism
Hokkaido University, Japan
Monthly Lupus Lecture Series
Division of Rheumatology
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
3 Blackfan Circle, CLS-921 Boston MA 02115
Tel: 617-735-4160
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| Contact: |
Betty Chase
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| Wednesday, December 15, 2010
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6:00 PM - 7:30 PM
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7:00 PM - 10:00 PM
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| Thursday, December 16, 2010
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Noon - 1:00 PM
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12:15 PM - 1:45 PM
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4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
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Engineering Strategies for Cardiac Repair and Replacement
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| Description: |
Tufts University Program in Cell, Molecular and Developmental Biology Seminar Series
Guest Speaker: Lauren Black, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering at Tufts University
Location: Tufts University School of Medicine, Posner Auditorium, 200 Harrison Avenue, Boston, MA 02111
Wine and cheese reception immediately following the seminar at Tufts University 5th floor library, 136 Harrison Avenue, Boston, Ma 02111
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| Contact: |
Sharon Titus
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| Friday, December 17, 2010
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Noon - 2:00 PM
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Symposium - Chromosome structure, gene expression and DNA repair
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| Description: |
Andre Nussenzweig, Ph.D.
Head of the Molecular Recombination Section and Senior Investigator
National Cancer Institute, NIH
“Pathways that maintain genome stability”
Job Dekker, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology
Program in Gene Function and Expression, UMass Medical School
“Folding Principles of Genomes”
Fred S. Rosen Conference Room, CLSB 3rd Floor, Room 3069, 3 Blackfan Circle
Hosted by: Gary Fleisher and Fred Alt
Department of Medicine and the Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Children's Hospital Boston
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| Contact: |
Zac DiPasquale
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