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| 3. |
- Bernhardt, Peter, 1966, et al.
(författare)
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Model of metastatic growth valuable for radionuclide therapy
- 2003
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Ingår i: Medical physics. - 0094-2405. ; 30:12, s. 3227-32
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The aim was to make a Monte Carlo simulation approach to estimate the distribution of tumor sizes and to study the curative potential of three candidate radionuclides for radionuclide therapy: the high-energy electron emitter 90Y, the medium-energy electron emitter 177Lu and the low-energy electron emitter 103mRh. A patient with hepatocellular carcinoma with recently published serial CT data on tumor growth in the liver was used. From these data the growth of the primary tumor, and the metastatis formation rate, were estimated. Assuming the same tumor growth of the primary and all metastases and the same metastatis formation rate from both primary and metastases the metastatic size distribution was simulated for various time points. Tumor cure of the metastatic size distribution was simulated for uniform activity distribution of three radionuclides; the high-energy electron emitter 90Y, the mean-energy electron emitter 177Lu and the low-energy electron emitter 103mRh. The simulation of a tumor cure was performed for various time points and tumor-to-normal tissue activity concentrations, TNC. It was demonstrated that it is important to start therapy as early as possible after diagnosis. It was of crucial importance to use an optimal radionuclide for therapy. These simulations demonstrated that 90Y was not suitable for systemic radionuclide therapy, due to the low absorbed fraction of the emitted electrons in small tumors (< 1 mg). If TNC was low 103mRh was slightly better than 177Lu. For high TNC values low-energy electron emitters, e.g., 103mRh was the best choice for tumor cure. However, the short half-life of 103mRh (56 min) might not be optimal for therapy. Therefore, other low-energy electron emitters, or alpha emitters, should be considered for systemic targeted therapy.
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| 4. |
- Bernhardt, Peter, 1966, et al.
(författare)
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Modelling of metastatic cure after radionuclide therapy: influence of tumor distribution, cross-irradiation, and variable activity concentration
- 2004
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Ingår i: Medical physics. - : Wiley. - 0094-2405. ; 31:9, s. 2628-35
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The objective was to study the influence of tumor number and size, cross-irradiation from normal tissue, and of variable activity concentration on metastatic cure after radionuclide therapy. A model to calculate the metastatic cure probability (MCP) was developed, in which it was assumed that the tumor response was an exponential function of the absorbed dose. All calculations were performed for monoenergetic electron emitters with different energies (10-1000 keV). The influence of tumor size and number of tumors were investigated with different log uniform distributions; the basic tumor distribution consisted of tumors with 1, 10, ..., 10(11) cells. The influence of cross-irradiation was assessed by calculating MCP for various tumor-to-normal tissue activity concentration ratios (TNC). The influence of variable activity concentration between tumors was calculated by assuming that the activity concentration in tumors was an inverse power law function of tumor mass. The required activity concentration (C0.9) and absorbed dose (D0.9) to obtain MCP=0.9 was calculated in the different models. The C0.9 and D0.9 needed to obtain MCP were very high; more than 25 MBq/g and 80 Gy, respectively. The lowest C0.9 and D0.9 for equal activity concentration in the different tumor sizes were obtained for electron energies less than 80 keV. For higher energies the low absorbed energy fraction in small tumors will increase the required C0.9 and D0.9 markedly. Cross-irradiation from normal cells surrounding the tumor will cause sterilization of the smallest tumors and decrease the required C0.9 and D0.9 for higher electron energies. Assuming that the activity concentration decreased with increased tumor mass caused a marked increase in C0.9 and D0.9 in favor of higher electron energies. With the MCP model we demonstrated significant influence of the number of tumors, their size, TNC and variable activity concentration on MCP. The results are valuable when evaluating optimal choices for radionuclides for internal-emitter therapy.
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| 5. |
- Björk, Peter, et al.
(författare)
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Comparative dosimetry of diode and diamond detectors in electron beams for intraoperative radiation therapy
- 2000
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Ingår i: Medical Physics. - : Wiley. - 0094-2405. ; 27:11, s. 2580-2588
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The aim of the present study is to examine the validity of using silicon semiconductor detectors in degraded electron beams with a broad energy spectrum and a wide angular distribution. A comparison is made with diamond detector measurements, which is the dosimeter considered to give the best results provided that dose rate effects are corrected for. Two-dimensional relative absorbed dose distributions in electron beams (6-20 MeV) for intraoperative radiation therapy (IORT) are measured in a water phantom. To quantify deviations between the detectors, a dose comparison tool that simultaneously examines the dose difference and distance to agreement (DTA) is used to evaluate the results in low- and high-dose gradient regions, respectively. Uncertainties of the experimental measurement setup (+/- 1% and +/- 0.5 mm) are taken into account by calculating a composite distribution that fails this dose-difference and DTA acceptance limit. Thus, the resulting area of disagreement should be related to differences in detector performance. The dose distributions obtained with the diode are generally in very good agreement with diamond detector measurements. The buildup region and the dose falloff region show good agreement with increasing electron energy, while the region outside the radiation field close to the water surface shows an increased difference with energy. The small discrepancies in the composite distributions are due to several factors: (a) variation of the silicon-to-water collision stopping-power ratio with electron energy, (b) a more pronounced directional dependence for diodes than for diamonds, and (c) variation of the electron fluence perturbation correction factor with depth. For all investigated treatment cones and energies, the deviation is within dose-difference and DTA acceptance criteria of +/- 3% and +/- 1 mm, respectively. Therefore, p-type silicon diodes are well suited, in the sense that they give results in close agreement with diamond detectors, for practical measurements of relative absorbed dose distributions in degraded electron beams used for IORT.
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| 6. |
- Båth, Magnus, 1974, et al.
(författare)
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Determination of the two-dimensional detective quantum efficiency of a computed radiography system.
- 2003
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Ingår i: Medical physics. - : Wiley. - 0094-2405. ; 30:12, s. 3172-82
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Based on a recently described method for determining the two-dimensional presampling modulation transfer function (MTF), the aperture mask method, a method for determining the two-dimensional detective quantum efficiency (DQE) of a digital radiographic system was developed. The method was applied to a new computed radiography (CR) system and comparisons with one-dimensional determinations of the presampling MTF and the DQE were performed. The aperture mask method was shown to agree with the conventional tilted slit method for determining the presampling MTF along the axes. For the particular CR system studied, the mean of one-dimensional determinations of the DQE in orthogonal directions led to a representative measure of the average DQE behavior of the system up to the Nyquist frequency along the axes, but a deviation was observed above this frequency. In conclusion, the method developed for determining the two-dimensional DQE can be used to determine the imaging properties of a digital radiographic detector system over almost the entire frequency domain, the exception being the lowest frequencies (< or = 0.1 mm(-1)) at which the validity and the reliability of the method are low.
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| 7. |
- Båth, Magnus, 1974, et al.
(författare)
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Evaluation of the imaging properties of two generations of a CCD-based system for digital chest radiography.
- 2002
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Ingår i: Medical physics. - : Wiley. - 0094-2405. ; 29:10, s. 2286-97
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Two generations of a CCD-based detector system with lens-based optical coupling for digital chest radiography were evaluated in terms of presampling MTF, NPS, NEQ, DQE, linearity in response, and SNR over the detector area. Measurements were performed over a wide exposure range and at several different beam qualities. Neither the presampling MTF nor the DQE showed any general strong beam quality dependence, whereas the NPS and NEQ did when compared at specific entrance air kerma values. The exposure dependency for the DQE was found to be considerable, with the detectors showing low DQE at low exposures, and higher DQE at higher exposures. It was found that the second generation has been substantially improved compared to its predecessor regarding all the relevant parameters. The DQE(0) at an entrance air kerma of 5 microGy increased from 9% to 15%, mainly due to a better system gain (including optical coupling efficiency and matching of the energy of the emitted light photons to the sensitivity of the CCD camera). The first generation of detectors was found to have problems with bad peripheral resolution [MTF(muN/2) <0.1]. This problem was nonexistent for the second generation for which uniform resolution has been obtained [MTF(muN/2)=0.3]. A theoretical calculation of the DQE of two model systems similar to the ones evaluated was also performed, and the results were comparable to the experimentally determined data at high exposures. The model shows that both systems suffer from low optical coupling efficiency due to the large demagnification used. The main conclusion is that although the second generation has been improved, there is still a problem with low system gain leading to relatively modest DQE values, especially at low exposures.
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| 9. |
- Carlsson, F, et al.
(författare)
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On the use of curvature information in IMRT optimization
- 2004
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Ingår i: Medical physics (Lancaster). - RaySearch Labs AB, Stockholm, Sweden. Royal Inst Technol, Stockholm, Sweden. : AMER ASSOC PHYSICISTS MEDICINE AMER INST PHYSICS. - 0094-2405. ; 31:6, s. 1906-1906
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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| 13. |
- Georg, Dietmar, et al.
(författare)
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On empirical methods to determine scatter factors for irregular MLC shaped beams
- 2004
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Ingår i: Medical physics (Lancaster). - : Wiley. - 0094-2405. ; 31:8, s. 2222-2229
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Multileaf collimators (MLCs) are in clinical use for more than a decade and are a well accepted tool in radiotherapy. For almost each MLC design different empirical or semianalytical methods have been presented for calculating output ratios in air for irregularly shaped beams. However, until now no clear recommendations have been given on how to handle irregular fields shaped by multileaf collimators for independent monitor unit (MU) verification. The present article compares different empirical methods, which have been proposed for independent MU verification, to determine (1) output ratios in air (S-P) and (2) phantom scatter factors (Sp) for irregular MLC shaped fields. Ten dedicated field shapes were applied to five different types of MLCs (Elekta, Siemens, Varian, Scanditronix, General Electric). All calculations based on empirical relations were compared with measurements and with calculations performed by a treatment planning system with a fluence based algorithm. For most irregular MLC shaped beams output ratios in air could be adequately modeled with an accuracy of about 1%-1.5% applying a method based on the open field aperture defined by the leaf and jaw setting combined with the equivalent square formula suggested by Vadash and Bjarngard [P. Vadash and B. E. Bjarngard, Med. Phys. 20, 733-734 (1993)]. The accuracy of this approach strongly depends on the inherent head scatter characteristics of the accelerator in use and on the irregular field under consideration. Deviations of up to 3% were obtained for fields where leaves obscure central parts of the flattening filter. Simple equivalent square methods for S-P calculations in irregular fields did not provide acceptable results (deviations mostly >3%). S-P values derived from Clarkson integration, based on published tables of phantom scatter correction factors, showed the same accuracy level as calculations performed using a pencil beam algorithm of a treatment planning system (in a homogeneous media). The separation of head scatter and phantom scatter contributions is strongly recommended for irregular MLC shaped beams as both contributions have different factors of influence. With rather simple methods S, and SP can be determined for independent MU calculation with an accuracy better than 1.5% for most clinical situations encountered in conformal radiotherapy. (C) 2004 American Association of Physicists in Medicine.
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| 15. |
- Gustafsson, Helen, et al.
(författare)
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MAGIC-type polymer gel for three-dimensional dosimetry: intensity-modulated radiation therapy verification.
- 2003
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Ingår i: Medical Physics. - : Wiley. - 0094-2405. ; 30:6, s. 1264-1271
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A new type of polymer gel dosimeter, which responds well to absorbed dose even when manufactured in the presence of normal levels of oxygen, was recently described by Fong et al. [Phys. Med. Biol. 46, 3105-3113 (2001)] and referred to by the acronym MAGIC. The aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility of using this new type of gel for intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) verification. Gel manufacturing was carried out in room atmosphere under normal levels of oxygen. IMRT inverse treatment planning was performed using the Helios software. The gel was irradiated using a linear accelerator equipped with a dynamic multileaf collimator, and intensity modulation was achieved using sliding window technique. The response to absorbed dose was evaluated using magnetic resonance imaging. Measured and calculated dose distributions were compared with regard to in-plane isodoses and dose volume histograms. In addition, the spatial and dosimetric accuracy was evaluated using the gamma formalism. Good agreement between calculated and measured data was obtained. In the isocenter plane, the 70% and 90% isodoses acquired using the different methods are mostly within 2 mm, with up to 3 mm disagreement at isolated points. For the planning target volume (PTV), the calculated mean relative dose was 96.8 +/- 2.5% (1 SD) and the measured relative mean dose was 98.6 +/- 2.2%. Corresponding data for an organ at risk was 34.4 +/- 0.9% and 32.7 +/- 0.7%, respectively. The gamma criterion (3 mm spatial/3% dose deviation) was fulfilled for 94% of the pixels in the target region. Discrepancies were found in hot spots the upper and lower parts of the PTV, where the measured dose was up to 11% higher than calculated. This was attributed to sub optimal scatter kernels used in the treatment planning system dose calculations. Our results indicate great potential for IMRT verification using MAGIC-type polymer gel.
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| 17. |
- Hedtjärn, Håkan, 1964-, et al.
(författare)
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Monte Carlo-aided dosimetry of the symmetra model I25.S06 125I, interstitial brachytherapy seed
- 2000
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Ingår i: Medical physics (Lancaster). - : Wiley. - 0094-2405. ; 27:5, s. 1076-1085
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A dosimetric study of a new 125I seed for permanent prostate implant, the Symmetra 125I Seed model I25.S06, has been undertaken utilizing Monte Carlo photon transport calculations. All dosimetric quantities recommended by the AAPM Task Group 43 (TG-43) report have been calculated. Quantities determined are dose rate constant, radial dose function, anisotropy function, anisotropy factor, and anisotropy constant. The recently (January 1999) revised NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) 125I standard for air kerma strength calibration was taken into account as well as updated interaction cross-section data. Calculations were done for the competing model 6702 source for the purpose of comparison. The calculated dose-rate constants for the two seeds are 1.010 and 1.016 cGyh−1U−1 for the Symmetra and model 6702 seeds, respectively. The latter value deviates from the value, 1.039 cGyh−1U−1, recommended in the TG-43 report. The calculated radial dose function for the Symmetra new seed is more penetrating than that of the model 6711 seed (by 20% at 5 cm distance) but agrees closely (within statistical errors) with that of the model 6702 seed up to distances of 10 cm. The anisotropy function for the seed is also close to that for the 6702 seed with a tendency of somewhat more pronounced anisotropy (lower values at small angles from the longitudinal axis). Compared to the model 6711 seed, the Symmetra new seed is more isotropic. The anisotropy constants (the anisotropy function averaged with respect to angle and distance) for the three seed models are within 2%.
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| 23. |
- Karlsson, M G, et al.
(författare)
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Electron beam collimation with focused and curved leaf end MLCs - Experimental verification of Monte Carlo optimized designs
- 2002
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Ingår i: Medical physics (Lancaster). - : Wiley. - 0094-2405. ; 29:4, s. 631-637
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In general, electron beams, from conventional accelerators using applicators with lead alloy inserts are not suitable for advanced conformal radiation therapy. However, interesting electron treatments have been demonstrated on a few advanced accelerators. These accelerators have been equipped with helium filled treatment heads and computer controlled MLCs that produce clinically useful energy modulated electron beams or mixed photon electron beams in an automated sequence. This study analyzes the characteristics of different MLC designs, curved and focused leaf ends in helium filled treatment heads, with respect to their effect on electron beams. In addition, this study analyzes the effects that different treatment head designs have on the output factor due to collimator scattering and shielding of secondary sources during treatment. The investigation of the different treatment head designs was performed with the Monte Carlo package BEAM and was verified by experimental methods. The results show that the difference between curved leaf ends and focused ends is negligible in most practical cases. The results also show the importance of scattering foil optimization in the optimization of parameters such as penumbra. virtual source position, and in the reduction of the output variation. In all cases, the experimental data verifies the calculations. (C) 2002 American Association of Physicists in Medicine.
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| 24. |
- Magnusson, Peter, et al.
(författare)
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Image analysis methods for assessing levels of image plane nonuniformity and stochastic noise in a magnetic resonance image of a homogeneous phantom
- 2000
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Ingår i: Medical Physics. - : Wiley. - 0094-2405. ; 27:8, s. 94-1980
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Magnetic response image plane nonuniformity and stochastic noise are properties that greatly influence the outcome of quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) evaluations such as gel dosimetry measurements using MRI. To study these properties, robust and accurate image analysis methods are required. New nonuniformity level assessment methods were designed, since previous methods were found to be insufficiently robust and accurate. The new and previously reported nonuniformity level assessment methods were analyzed with respect to, for example, insensitivity to stochastic noise; and previously reported stochastic noise level assessment methods with respect to insensitivity to nonuniformity. Using the same image data, different methods were found to assess significantly different levels of nonuniformity. Nonuniformity levels obtained using methods that count pixels in an intensity interval, and obtained using methods that use only intensity values, were found not to be comparable. The latter were found preferable, since they assess the quantity intrinsically sought. A new method which calculates a deviation image, with every pixel representing the deviation from a reference intensity, was least sensitive to stochastic noise. Furthermore, unlike any other analyzed method, it includes all intensity variations across the phantom area and allows for studies of nonuniformity shapes. This new method was designed for accurate studies of nonuniformities in gel dosimetry measurements, but could also be used with benefit in quality assurance and acceptance testing of MRI, scintillation camera, and computer tomography systems. The stochastic noise level was found to be greatly method dependent. Two methods were found to be insensitive to nonuniformity and also simple to use in practice. One method assesses the stochastic noise level as the average of the levels at five different positions within the phantom area, and the other assesses the stochastic noise in a region outside the phantom area.
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| 25. |
- Martens, C, et al.
(författare)
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Underdosage of the upper-airway mucosa for small fields as used in intensity-modulated radiation therapy: A comparison between radiochromic film measurements, Monte Carlo simulations, and collapsed cone convolution calculations
- 2002
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Ingår i: Medical Physics. - : Wiley. - 0094-2405. ; 29:7, s. 1528-1535
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Head-and-neck tumors are often situated at an air-tissue interface what may result in an underdosage of part of the tumor in radiotherapy treatments using megavoltage photons. especially for small fields. In addition to effects of transient electronic disequilibrium, for these small fields, an increased lateral electron range in air will result in an important extra reduction of the central axis (lose beyond the cavity. Therefore dose calculation algorithms need to model electron transport accurately. We simulated the trachea by a 2 cm diameter cylindrical air cavity with the rin) situated 2 cm beneath the phantom surface. A 6 MV photon beam from an Elekta SLi plus linear accelerator, equipped with the standard multileaf collimator (MLC), was assessed. A 10 x 2 cm(2) and a 10 K 1 cm(2) field, both widthwise collimated by the MLC, were applied with their long side parallel to the cylinder axis. Central axis dose rebuild-up was studied. Radiochromic film measurements were performed in an in-house manufactured polystyrene phantom with the films oriented either along or perpendicular to the beam axis. Monte Carlo simulations were performed with BEAM and EGSnrc. Calculations were also performed using the pencil beam (PB) algorithm and the collapsed cone convolution (CCC) algorithm of Helax-TMS (MDS Nordion, Kanata. Canada) version 6.0.2 and using the CCC algorithm of Pinnacle (ADAC Laboratories, Milpitas. CA, USA) version 4.2. A very good agreement between the film measurements and the Monte Carlo simulations was found. The CCC algorithms were not able to predict the interface dose accurately when lateral electronic disequilibrium occurs, but were shown to be a considerable improvement compared to the PB algorithm. The CCC algorithms overestimate the dose in the rebuild-up region. The interface dose was overestimated by a maximum of 31% or 54%, depending on the implementation of the CCC algorithm. At a depth of I rum, the maximum dose overestimation was 14% or 24%.
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