Category Archives: Alcohol recovery

Alcoholism

Drug Addiction recovery and undesirable effects

February 17, 2016

Drug Addiction recovery and the undesirable effects: Recovery is possible with the right treatment

Drug Addiction recovery

Drug Addiction recovery and the undesirable effects must be handled professionally , this way recovery is possible for a drug free society.

When we talk about drug addiction recovery and the undesirable effects of not letting go many may narrow it down to the direct victims only but this is not really the true picture of the problem. Drug addiction recovery or recovery is complex and covers a wide spectrum including the family members caring for the addict, colleagues at work stations and the society at large. Therefore according to the experts from AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center are registering that while handling addiction recovery it is important to remain focus and concentrate only on the good memories. Good memories are very helpful in the healing process because they cause sense of motivation to the victims to keep to their objectives of being whole again. Doctor Dalal Akoury who is the founder, MD and President of AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center, is equally registering that paying much attention to bad memories is not helping in the addiction recovery not just to the direct victims but also to the indirect victims too. We must therefore remain committed to letting go all our addictive substances and turn our focus into the benefits of not using alcohol and drugs. And for us to effectively do that, we must first of all be informed adequately about some of the consequences of clinging to this unproductive behavior. Such may include:

Drug Addiction recovery and the undesirable effects: Cumulative Effect

When you pile up every memory of things that went wrong, like for instance how you were hurt or how you hurt others, the losses you made whether emotionally, physically, financially, socially, legally and so on, the significance of that is practically equivalent to wearing several pieces of pajamas in the night and expect to have a comfortable sleep. It can’t just work at some point, you’ll be overwhelmed by the weight and the excess worth generated by the many clothes and definitely you will be unable to carry the burden. In the same way bad memories are like that they’re just too much weight and discomfort to bear. When they are left to accumulate and their root course not addressed, they will certainly remain in your consciousness until such a time when you will chose to deal with such memories the right way but before that, this will be a serious problem to you and your loved ones beyond your imaginations.

Drug Addiction recovery and the undesirable effects : Physical consequences

Stress can be a constant reminder of those experiences that have made you to suffer in the cruel hands of addiction. From the expert’s point of view, any stress related physical conditions are often the most immediate effects of clinging to your addictive habits. Stress is normal but when it causes you lose focus and all you do is to keep wondering about such stressful moments like being overworked and not having time for yourself, or wondering on how to deal with the financial implications arising from caring for addicted loved ones and so on, with that trend, you will certainly find that you can’t sleep through the night and add to other complications like loss of appetite and not feeding well thereby being malnourished, losing weight at an unhealthy rate, you lose your beauty by developing wrinkles besides having migraine and other headaches, physical aches and pains which are prone to coughs, colds, and infections.

Doctor Akoury expresses concern that individuals who do not deal with such bad thoughts in their minds will most likely develop serious or chronic diseases as well. It is important to note that other than what is already stated, complications like hypertension, heart attack and stroke, and some types of cancer can also be caused by continuous and unresolved stress. Muscle tension in the form of stiff neck, shoulders and lower back pain can often be traced to stress. Ulcers and rheumatoid arthritis are two more physical conditions that can result from unresolved stress or not dealing with your troubling thoughts. You can however a void all these by seeking for medication promptly with the experts from AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center, under the able leadership of doctor Dalal Akoury who is a veteran addiction experts and has offered real time addiction solutions to millions of victims globally in more than two decades of her professional practice.

Drug Addiction recovery and the undesirable effects: Emotional consequences

Our emotions can be another great threat when it comes to addiction recovery in many ways. Like for instance; if you always live a life of insecurity and this is causing you to constantly run negative situations through your mind, you’re certainly going to be stressed up. Worrying about things like losing your wealth, not being able to settle bills, unfaithfulness among spouses, sibling rivalry, the fear of facing people because you feel embarrassed over a situation and many such experiences are seriously rich in causing emotional turmoil and can be very devastating if not addressed in good time. Such feelings erodes trust and by the way it may not matter the type or nature of addiction you are involve in all of them including alcohol, prescription drugs, illicit street drugs, compulsive sexual activity, spending or gambling, it will not matter the moment your emotional roller-coaster gets moving, it will not be so easy to stop. One thing is certain: if you keep up the pace, you’ll either wind up in a wreck or fly off the rails, figuratively speaking.

Drug Addiction recovery and the undesirable effects: Recovery is possible with the right treatment

 

 

 

 

 

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Memory problems caused by alcohol addiction

February 16, 2016

Memory problems caused by alcohol and drug addiction: How forgetful are you?

Memory problems

Memory problems caused by alcohol and drug addiction can be corrected professionally

We have seen time and again how alcohol abuse is reducing highly regarded people from the societies into nothing but a laughing stock. This (memory problems) has brought with it serious embarrassment and disgrace to the value of education. We have an opportunity to stop this and bring back those lost glories to their rightful places. This way we will not only put to check the escalation of alcoholism but also create role models to our children and their children’s children. Even as we chose to bring this to serenity, we must first find out why is this happening to our people? And that now brings us to our topic of discussion which has come out in a form of concern that is “memory problems caused by alcohol and drug addiction?” According to the experts from AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center alcohol and its effects on memory and general cognitive functioning, is not new and has been the subject of investigation and currently much research has been done over the years on this single subject. We are going to look at some of the impacts alcohol has in our general life system even as we take time to dwell much on how it affects the brain. We spoke with doctor Dalal Akoury MD, President and founder of AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center where all addiction related complications are professionally addressed and this is what she had to say.

Professionally doctor Akoury is registering that alcohol acts in human body in different ways but mainly as a general central nervous system (CNS) depressant. The human brain is segmented into different parts depending on their functions and all these parts of the brain are affected by alcohol addiction with some suffering the greater consequences than others. Doctor Akoury affirms that most importantly, alcohol abuse directly leads to distraction inattention and significantly inhibits neuronal activity in the hippocampus section of the brain which impairs memory encoding since the hippocampus plays an important role in the formation of new declarative memories. Because procedural memory functions more or less automatically, retrieval of procedural memory (“remembering how”) is not as severely impaired by alcohol as retrieval of declarative memory (“remembering what”).

Memory problems caused by alcohol and drug addiction: Memory Encoding

In memory processing, encoding becomes the first crucial first step which is instrumental in allowing any other observed item of interest to be transformed into a construct for storage in the brain, primarily to be recalled later from short-term or long-term memory. This is what alcohol abuse alters significantly thereby causing memory loss. Nonetheless for a better understanding, it is important to note that encoding is a biological event commencing with perception through the human senses. When the process of laying down memory begins, it normally triggers the attention where memorable experiences react with neurons causing certain intensity that increases the possibility that the experience is encoded as memory. During encoding emotional elements has a way of facilitating memory in the future through a pathway in the brain leading to the amygdala.

Now as to why alcohol addiction is not good for your memory, experts have established that alcohol with its addictive nature impairs the encoding of episodic memory which is that part of declarative memory that relates to our personal experiences and specific events in time and especially for certain types of recall, such as cued recall the recognition of completed word fragments and free recall. The experience of blackout commonly associated with excess consumption of alcohol is a perfect example of how difficult it can be in the encoding of episodic memories. The effect is facilitated by the rapid increase in blood alcohol concentration, which in turn distorts the activity of neurons in the hippocampus, thus impairing a person’s ability to form new episodic memories. Besides the aforementioned effects, excessive alcohol consumption can also brutally disrupt the encoding and storage process of new semantic memories which is human memory of facts, meanings and acquired knowledge about the external world even though this has got nothing to do with any previously learned information.

Memory problems caused by alcohol and drug addiction: Short-term memory

Besides the known and discussed complications of alcohol abuse above, alcohol also impairs short-term (working) memory, this it does primarily by affecting certain mnemonic strategies and executive processes rather than by shrinking the basic holding capacity of working memory or by physically altering the structure of the those parts of the brain which are critical for working memory function records doctor Dalal Akoury. And even though experts are agreeing that light to moderate drinking does not appear to impair long-term cognitive functioning significantly, the same is not true with heavy drinking and chronic alcoholism which has been closely associated with long-term impairment in sustained attention and working memory function, and in particular the visual working memory.

Finally experts from AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center, are reiterating that those who are into serious over-consumption of alcohol, especially in comparison with the intake of other foods, can besides the already mentioned effects can cause a thiamine deficiency, which when not addressed in good time can lead to a much more serious form of amnesia known as Korsakoff’s syndrome. Therefore we must all pool together in this journey of eradication alcohol and other substance of abuse. If you are heavily into alcohol, you may want to consider scheduling for an appointment with doctor Dalal Akoury today for a detailed professional evaluation and treatment. This needs not to wait because alcohol and memory have nothing positive in common. Treatment of both conditions (alcoholism and memory loss) must be done immediately to salvage the situation before it is too late.

Memory problems caused by alcohol and drug addiction: How forgetful are you?

 

 

 

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Sexual intimacy beyond menopause in women

February 16, 2016

Sexual intimacy beyond menopause in women: What are your fears as you approach menopause?

Sexual intimacy

Sexual intimacy beyond menopause in women is very possible and can be most enjoyable

One of the most interesting things in life is being intimate sexually with a partner, and for the avoidance of doubt I’ am addressing the intimacy between a man and a woman. As we (women) approach the menopause, psychological preparedness is very important because this is a totally new life that may come with its own expectations for many women. Once this is done then women can embrace these changes positively and even enjoy their sexual life progressively into old age. And just to bring words of hope about sexual intimacy beyond menopause in women doctor Akoury encourages that women approaching this stage in life can share with their counterparts who have been there to get to understand and learn from their experience. Such information will be very important because it will interest you to note that many women going through menopause are in the contrary enjoying their sex life than many think. This has been necessitated by the fact that they no longer have the worry of ever becoming pregnant or worries of raising children and so they are even motivated to having and enjoying sex spontaneously.

Another motivation is that of not having to run several commitments like child care which can be very much involving and parked with endless activities. With the omission of such activities, a lot more energy is saved at the end of the day thereby causing them to be more relaxed and comfortable for the enjoyment and satisfaction with their sexual life.

Sexual intimacy beyond menopause in women: Facing women sex complications

There is no doubt that woman’s sex drive can be quite complex, and beside the emotional traits, there are certain physical changes during menopause that can further complicate things. Some of the things that may bring complications may include:

Overweight: for better result it will be necessary that you shade off those extra pounds and any changes that come with it like body shape (hello, belly fat!). If these conditions are not addressed any woman may feel uncomfortable or self-conscious about her body and may even fail to recognize it as her own. Besides that weight issues also brings with it poor self-image. And that explains why to many people if you’re carrying extra weight, physical problems like reduced energy or mobility may interfere with your sexual function.

Hormonal changes: As we get to this stage in life, hormonal changes will always take place since they go hand-in-hand with menopause. It is during this time that two things will occur; meaning that while your body is busy ushering your estrogen out, it’s also ushering in some pretty significant vaginal changes including dryness and thinning of its lining. Less estrogen equals less vaginal lubrication, leading to a less elastic vagina. And the consequences of that is pain, burning, tightness or soreness.

Other possible sex-busters: hot flashes, mood swings, night sweats, irregular bleeding, sleep problems and insomnia.

Sexual intimacy beyond menopause in women: Dealing with menopause problems

This is very important however it must be noted that not all sexual problems at this point cause frustrations. It therefore means that if they’re not bothersome to you or your partner then don’t consider them as problems. Each individual has their own normal and threshold for letting a problem get in the way of their relationship. To that effect doctor Akoury advices that before you throw up your hands in frustration, here are some ideas worth considering:

  • Take physical therapy for pelvic discomfort seriously
  • Regular sexual activity, which promotes vaginal health and blood flow. And to make it easier, you may want to consider:
    • Vaginal dilators
    • Over-the-counter vaginal lubricants (for temporary relief of dryness before and during sex)
    • Over-the-counter vaginal moisturizers (for longer-term relief from dryness)
    • Low-dose vaginal estrogen therapy in cream, ring or vaginal tablet form (reverses underlying atrophy and dryness)
    • Higher-dose hormone therapy throughout the body via pills, patches and other preparations (reverses underlying atrophy and dryness, but generally reserved for women with bothersome hot flashes. Other treatments:

Laser therapy: A new non-hormonal therapy, the MonaLisa Touch is a fractional carbon dioxide (CO2) laser specially designed to help restore vaginal health in postmenopausal women. It was recently introduced in this country after successfully treating more than 15,000 patients around the world. Performed by an OB/GYN, it works by delivering controlled energy to the vaginal tissue to revitalize the cells to make more collagen (which is an essential ingredient in vaginal cell health) and is an in-office, virtually pain-free procedure requiring no anesthesia.

Flibanserin: Touted as the “female Viagra,” the FDA twice rejected this drug, citing safety concerns like low blood pressure, dizziness and fainting. As of this writing, an FDA advisory panel has recommended approval of the drug on the condition that the drug’s manufacturer, Sprout Pharmaceuticals, try to reduce the risks of side effects.

Ospemifene (Osphena): This drug was approved by the FDA in 2013 for postmenopausal women who experience pain or discomfort during sexual intercourse. The once-a-day pill, which works by acting like estrogen in some parts of the body, helps make vaginal tissue thicker and less fragile. Any woman considering taking any medication should have a thorough discussion with her health care provider to consider the risks and benefits.

Sexual intimacy beyond menopause in women: What are your fears as you approach menopause?

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Leaky Gut definition and its possible remedies

February 16, 2016

Leaky Gut definition and possible remedies about it: The compound of illness?

Leaky Gut definition

It is not just about Leaky Gut definition, finding lasting solution requires real professional to help you through. Contact AWAREMED today.

The bodies of human beings contain a host of organs which are under consistent threats of various infections and diseases. For a better health, this should concern all of us and for a couple of weeks we are going to be looking at some of the underlying problems caused by the Gut in our bodies even as we get the clear leaky gut definition progressively. The Gut or Leaky Gut also known as intestinal sponginess which causes a host of health complications including obesity, IBS, headaches, allergies, depression, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, anxiety, and autoimmune conditions. With this information, it is amazing that quite often this escapes the experts and patients go without the real problem being addressed? The question we want to respond to in this article is why? With the help of doctor Dalal Akoury MD, President and founder of AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center, we want to get to the bottom and bring to light how Leaky Gut definition is relevant to your health for an appropriate action to be taken.

Leaky Gut definition and possible remedies about it: What is leaky gut?

From the name one will be excused to believe that the Gut has several openings dispensing substances, Leaky Gut primarily occur at a microscopic level which we cannot see with our naked eyes. To help you comprehend this, ideally Leaky Gut happens in the small intestine particularly in the section of your digestive system that lies between the stomach which is the first entry point for food and also where food is first broken/digested into usable form by the body and large intestine which is the final exit point of our food’s journey before allowing all the waste to be dispense out as feces through the anus and from the rectum. For a good health doctor Akoury notes that all the food items arriving at the small intestine must be systematically broken to allow only the food nutrients to be taken in through the walls of the small intestine and finally to the blood for circulation throughout the body.

According to the experts at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center, it is important to note that all the cells that make up the walls of the intestines replace themselves every 72 hours automatically. They are also adversely affected by external forces like stress. Therefore if you are under any form of psychological stress or your digestive tract is under stress either because of exposure to medications, antibiotics, alcohol, or caffeine etc., then the effect of this is that the intestinal walls cells will not be healthy as they should. Any unhealthy cells will allow undigested food to “leak” through the intestinal wall and into the space underneath where your immune system is on guard for enemies like viruses and bacteria. At this point your immune system notices partially undigested proteins and food and mounts an immune response to get rid of these foreign bodies putting your health at risk. This attack leads to an inflammatory response which creates more stress on your system resulting in further damage to the intestinal wall.

Leaky Gut definition and possible remedies about it: Identifying the problem

Ordinarily in many cases, the inflammation caused by Leaky Gut is associated with digestive symptoms such as heartburn, gas, bloating, diarrhea, constipation, cramping, and/or hemorrhoids. Besides that, you might also start to suspect Leaky Gut if you have any of the following symptoms un-resolved:

  • Achiness and pain including head or joint pain
  • Menstrual pain
  • An autoimmune condition like lupus, rheumatoid arthritis or M.S.
  • Weight related issues
  • Unexplained headaches
  • Anxiety, depression
  • PMS
  • Fatigue
  • Allergies or allergic reactions on your skin

Leaky Gut definition and possible remedies about it: Why is it often unidentified or misdiagnosed?

Although there has been research on Leaky Gut around for several decades, it is not well recognized by traditional medical doctors or gastroenterologists so don’t be surprised if they don’t mention it at all if you talk to them about your symptoms. Neither an endoscopy nor a colonoscopy will show Leaky Gut, so it won’t be reported there either. Nonetheless there are fairly simple tests currently being developed to help in identifying Leaky Gut however, at this point in time, one of the best ways according to AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center experts on how to identify Leaky Gut is a food sensitivity panel. Besides, this will also clarify about the healing process. And as we had noted earlier we will be discussing more about this including the types of testing for Leaky Gut in our upcoming article in this series. So keep reading and stay with us on the link to get the best from the best.

Leaky Gut definition and possible remedies about it: Can it be treated?

The correct answer to that is YES. Even though many patients have in the past been told that their health issues will never heal, this is not true with Leaky Gut because it is treatable and that is why it is the perfect example of a condition where a completely different approach to health is beneficial.

Because, as we said at the top of this article, the cells of the intestinal wall renew themselves every 72 hours, it stands to reason that all we need to do to allow Leaky Gut to heal is remove, or stop, what is causing damage to the intestines. Once we have done that, we can then add in nutrients and herbs that assist and support the process, thus speeding up the healing process. So yes, the good news is that Leaky Gut can heal. And as it does so, you are likely to feel better and better over several months or years.

Finally in this series of articles we will be talking more about Leaky Gut examining the research on what causes it, looking at how to test for it, and most importantly, how to heal it. Be the time we will be done with the series you shall have learnt about the health issues associated with Leaky Gut, and how healing Leaky Gut can reverse even those conditions that are thought to be unresolvable. It is important that if you have this problem, the action needs to be taken timely because healing is possible.

Leaky Gut definition and possible remedies about it: The compound of illness?

 

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Resisting insulin awash in a pool of sugar

February 16, 2016

Resisting insulin awash in a pool of sugar: Too much insulin

Resisting insulin

Sugar is a serious drug that is very addictive. Insulin resistance should be a daily practice meaning that we defeat sugar addiction by resisting insulin naturally.

From our previous article we listed too much insulin, cortisol and adrenaline, imbalances of sex hormones like estrogen and testosterone and insufficient thyroid hormones as being epidemic, we now want to look at each in details for a better understanding of the best action to take should you find yourself in situations like this. To start us off into this discussion, we spoke with experts from AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center, a facility that is rich in expertise and very resourceful in terms of addiction health related complications to help us put to perspective what happen when there is too much insulin in the body and how best insulin resistance can be practiced in a day to day way of life. Doctor Dalal Akoury who is the founder of this facility is going to share with us some of the practical examples to help us understand better the magnitude of the problem. This is one piece of information you don’t want to miss and therefore we invite you to stay with us and invite a friend so that together we can make a difference in our societies and defeat all complications that comes with insulin resistance or as we have baptized it resisting insulin.

A few years ago a client I will call Larry (not his real name) came to my office and his story was very interesting and I am persuaded to share with you because I believe it will help you understand the problem from the practical angle. Larry was in his early 40s an executive officer in a reputable organization. He came to me for a cardiac stress test. In his mind he knew that he was dying of heart disease and convincing him otherwise was not very easy. He explained to me how he was feeling and using his own words he said that every afternoon, he would experience sudden onset of sweating, a racing heart, anxiety and shortness of breath. With these signs Larry was convinced that he was dying of heart condition. Besides these he was also stocking some weight around the abdomen.

After listening to him narrate his story, I responded to him in a way that he felt was irrelevant by telling him that “he is not taking his breakfast meals” I also told him that “each time he is eating he feels tired and because of that he often skip meals during the day and that his reason of doing so is to remain alert and focus to his work. My provoking statements did not end there and I continued to tell him that each time he experiences such feelings he often go to the vending machine for a glass of soda to get a quick sugar fix, and that in just a few minutes he feels better and that has become his routine and way of life. In disbelief Larry looked at me shocked, wondering how a total stranger could tell his exactly how he lived his life without him disclosing.

I don’t know if this is communicating to you anything, but I explained to Larry that he was fighting with his genes and was insulin resistant or simply he was resisting insulin leading to wide swings in blood sugar that were responsible for his symptoms. Larry could not regulate his blood sugar because he was pumping out too much insulin and that is how his symptoms became easy to identify. Feeding on too much sugary food stuff like flour, and white rice, your insulin levels spike. This then causes your cells to become resistant to its effects and the consequence of that is that you will pump out more insulin, become more resistant to the ultimate effects and the vicious cycle of insulin resistance continues.

Resisting insulin awash in a pool of sugar: Energy and mood swings

From the story of Larry you realize that to a greater extent, we are the real cause of our insulin problems. While Larry suspicion may have not been accurate, but one point is very clear that insulin resistance has high potential of causing energy and mood swings. According to the experts at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center, this can come with serious health complications like high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, cancer, brain aging, dementia, and the list is endless. Another point of concern is that Larry is not alone in this problem of blood sugar control. Available statistics indicate that between 80 and 100 million people in America alone are suffering from insulin resistance. It therefore means that as this practice continues (resisting insulin) each person needs to reevaluate him/herself to be sure and avoid surprises. You can use this formula to test if you are a potential candidate. It has been established that majority of people with insulin resistance have extra fat around the middle. Therefore check your waist-to-hip ratio and the measurement around your belly button. What you get divide by the measurement around your hips. If the solution is greater than 0.8, the chances are that you have insulin resistance. Remember that this is practical irrespective of how you look like. Like for instance, you may be tall, thin, short, fat, or any combination of these and still have insulin resistance. It therefore means that the only way to know for sure is to take an insulin response test, which measures blood sugar and insulin while you are fasting and 1 and 2 hours after you consume a 75-gram sugar drink.

Resisting insulin awash in a pool of sugar: The harmful effect of sugar on our health

Having appreciated how insulin can cause energy and moods swing, let us now interrogate further the other harmful effects of sugar in our health as we come to the end of this section of discussion. The body normally produces insulin in response to food in our stomachs and in particular sugar. When we eat too much sugar we produce insulin in excess and this can result into a variety of health problems as already mentioned above. New findings are establishing that we were not accurate initially when we bought the thought that insulin’s only helps the flow of sugar into cells for purposes of metabolizing and transforming the stored energy of the sun (in plant foods) with the oxygen we breathe into the energy we use every day to run our bodies. New findings reveal many other functions of insulin that affects the body. Ideally when there is too much insulin, the results can be catastrophic and the following are some of the new findings:

  • Now we recognize insulin as a major switching station, or control hormone, for many processes. It is a major storage hormone fat storage, that is.
  • Insulin acts on your brain to increase appetite, specifically an appetite for sugar. Try as you might, as long as your insulin levels are high you will fight a losing battle for weight loss.
  • It increases LDL cholesterol, lowers HDL cholesterol, raises triglycerides, and increases your blood pressure. Insulin resistance causes 50% of all reported cases of high blood pressure.
  • It makes your blood sticky and more likely to clot, leading to heart attacks and strokes.
  • It stimulates the growth of cancer cells.
  • It increases inflammation and oxidative stress and ages your brain.
  • It even increases homocysteine because sugar consumption decreases vitamin B6 and folic acid.
  • Insulin also causes sex hormone problems and can lead to infertility, hair growth where you don’t want to grow it, hair loss where you don’t want to lose it, acne, low testosterone in men, and more. It also leads to mood disturbances.

Finally it is important to note that insulin resistance is not a genetic defect, an error in our evolution, or a mistake by God. It is just as a result of the simple fact that we have strayed from eating in harmony with our genes. In other words, we do not fit into our genes and you can consult with doctor Akoury for more insight on any concern you may be having.

Resisting insulin awash in a pool of sugar: Too much insulin

 

 

 

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