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The Compendium February 1997 Small Animal

PERSPECTIVES IN VETERINARY MEDICINE V

Veterinary Medical Resources


on the Internet
reported that there are now phone lines. At the other end, and homes or existing cable
John J. Dascanio, VMD over 12 million Internet hosts the receiving computer trans- television lines and digital
William S. Swecker, DVM, PhD and the number is doubling ev- lates the analog signal back into satellite dishes are utilized,
Virginia-Maryland Regional ery 12 to 15 months.2 Today, a digital signal that the comput- transmission rates will in-
College of Veterinary Medicine the high-speed transmission er can read. Communication crease. This change will have
Virginia Tech backbone of the Internet is no software, usually provided with important effects on the quali-
Blacksburg, Virginia longer maintained by govern- the modem, is required for the ty and type of information
mental agencies but has been computer to communicate with transmitted.
divided into regional network the modem. Modems can Connecting to the Internet

T
he Internet is revolu- areas managed by private com- transmit information at various from a university, large corpo-
tionizing communica- panies. speeds, expressed in bits per ration, or research institution is
tions. There are now Veterinary medical electronic second (bps). The limiting fac- simple.3 Many of these organi-
entire magazines, television services, including NOAH™ tor in how fast the computer zations have local area net-
shows, and even businesses (Network of Animal Health) and communicates with other com- works (LANs) that have direct,
and organizations focused sole- VIN™ (Veterinary Information puters on the Internet is the high-speed Internet connec-
ly on the Internet. The Internet Network), have been available speed of the data connection tions. Other people can connect
has also become a source for through direct modem commu- from the computer to the Inter- to the Internet by subscribing to
continuing education and a fo- nication for several years.
rum for professional contact for These services have been limit-
veterinarians. The Internet will ed to subscribers of major on- ■ The Internet can provide convenient access to
continue to grow as technolog- line service providers, which veterinary information.
KEY POINTS

ic advance enables faster trans- operate their own private com- ■ Defining specific keywords for Internet searches
mission and improved soft- puter networks. During the past provides a manageable list of websites.
ware. few years, however, even the ■ “Bookmarks” allow the user to return to a web-
The Internet (or simply the on-line service organizations site with a single click rather rerunning the entire
“the net”) started out as a pro- have provided Internet gate- web search.
ject of the Advanced Research ways to allow their subscribers
Projects Agency of the Depart- access to expanding Internet
ment of Defense in the late services and allow Internet net service provider. Modems an Internet service provider.
1960s to allow sharing of data users to access their private that are rated at 33,600 bps are These companies offer services
between computers. In the networks. currently available. The next ranging from electronic mail
1970s, various computer sys- generation of modems will be (email) to stock quotes in addi-
tems throughout the world be- Connecting to the dramatically faster. tion to providing a gateway to
came linked in a computer web. Internet Modems are sluggish in the Internet. Several of these
In the 1980s, this web became Some minimum hardware comparison with the backbone service providers, including
known as the Internet. In the and software requirements of the Internet. The Internet’s some telephone companies, of-
early 1990s, personal comput- (Table One) must be fulfilled if high-speed transmission lines fer communications software
ers became an increasingly im- one is to take full advantage of can transmit 45 million bps that connects your modem to
portant part of the worldwide the Internet. A modem trans- (1000 pages of typewritten text the Internet through their com-
network—an estimated 5 mil- lates digital signals from the in 1 second).1 As higher-speed puter system. Some providers
lion computers were linked to- computer into analog signals lines (e.g., fiberoptic cables) will even maintain a homepage
gether.1 A survey in June 1996 for transmission across tele- are installed in communities or personal information area for
Small Animal The Compendium February 1997

a monthly fee. A wide range of called a uniform resource loca-


services is available. TABLE ONE tor (URL), serves as a personal
Many public libraries have Minimum System Requirements phone number for a website on
computer connections to the for Access to the Internet the Internet. Virginia Tech’s
Internet. By using a connected website address (http://www.
computer and a World Wide
Operating System vt.edu) follows the usual format.
Web browser, a user can locate The first section of the address
Specification Windows 3.1 Macintosh 7.0
the nearest Internet service (http) stands for hypertext
provider (Table Two). As of July Microprocessor 80386® 68040® transfer protocol. It is followed
1996, there were an estimated by a colon and two forward
3000 of these providers.4 Random-access 8 8 slashes. The next section
memory (MB)
Monthly service charges for (www) stands for World Wide
connections vary from free to Modem (bps) 14,400 14,400 Web. The sections immediately
$30. In addition, long-distance Monitor Color Color following describe the comput-
telephone charges are applied if er’s location and any associated
the connection to the provider Hard drive (MB) 100 100 directory and file names (vt =
is not a local call. Most major Virginia Tech; edu = educational
cities now have local connec- institution). There are organiza-
tions, and most commercial tions that record and register
providers have toll-free (800 or TABLE TWO the unique names or addresses
888 area code) telephone num- for web locations to ensure that
bers that charge a reduced rate
Selected Internet Service Provider Listings no duplications arise.6
($0.10/min) for individuals us- World Wide Web Site URL Address*
ing long-distance connections. Searching the World
Some cities even have their
The List http://thelist.iworld.com/ Wide Web
own network services for com- NetAccess Worldwide http://www.best.be/iap/ Finding the desired informa-
mercial purposes to provide an tion is the challenge in working
interface for business and com- TheDirectory http://www.vni.net/thedirectory/ with any data base. Because the
munity. One example is the Internet consists of millions of
Blacksburg Electronic Village Net- Internet Access http://www.herbison.com/her- computers, this search is no
work (BevNet [http://www.bev. Provider Lists for bison/iap_usa_ meta_list.html small task. Strategies have been
net/]) in Blacksburg, Virginia. the United States devised to help locate the right
Once you are connected to *URL — Uniform Resource Locator or Domain name, analogous source of information. Three
the Internet, you need software to an address on the Internet. main methods are used to locate
to allow navigation among the information on the Internet.1 The
thousands of linked computers. first method (usually the most
Each of the navigation pro- time-consuming and least pro-
grams has a unique name—and for a little over 3 years. It allows are available via hypertext links. ductive) involves simply “surf-
the name does not always de- computer users to access infor- The original information ing” the Internet—finding a
scribe the program’s function. mation through a hypertext in- screen that appears when a WWW homepage with related
These programs are constantly terface and a program called a website is accessed is called a information and then searching
being upgraded. The following web browser.5 These browsers homepage (Figures 1 and 2). It the links to other web pages. Of-
describes the general types of are commercially available or usually serves as a table of con- ten, the user becomes side-
Internet software. Specific pro- can be obtained via the Internet. tents that describes or has links tracked by interesting informa-
grams are available through In- Many new computers even to other information areas or tion on a totally different topic.
ternet service providers, on-line come with a web browser al- web pages. A more streamlined search
service organizations, directly ready loaded. With the hypertext The format of web addresses uses predefined lists of web
via the Internet, or in most com- interface, the user need only has become widely familiar be- links related to a specific sub-
puter stores. click on a highlighted word or cause such addresses have ject. These lists are usually
picture for the computer to per- been featured in so many adver- maintained by an organization
World Wide Web form a task. Many types of mul- tisements on television, in mag- that has similar interests. The
The World Wide Web timedia (e.g., graphics, video, azines, and in direct mail solici- usefulness of the websites and
(WWW) has been in existence audio, and interactive animation) tations. This addressing system, their associated web links de-
The Compendium February 1997 Small Animal

com/) and the keyword veteri- interest to veterinarians (Table


nary yielded 3812 associated Five). This column highlights a
web links! few of the most useful web
Performing a search can be links. Because of the dynamic
rewarding or frustrating. Al- nature of the Internet, however,
though a search may yield good any such list will be outdated by
information, there are many the time it is printed. New ser-
poor websites. The user must vices and organizations are
have patience and use book- continually being added. NetVet
marks for useful locations. provides a fairly complete list of
Bookmarks are created when current veterinary resources. It
the web browser saves the web is a good starting point for lo-
address (URL). The user can cating veterinary information
then simply open a bookmark because meeting schedules, or-
(or website) with a single click ganizations, and topics are sub-
rather than going through the categorized in lists.
Figure 1—Homepage of the Netscape Navigator® World Wide
Web browser (http://home.netscape.com/index.html). entire search or successive Some specific veterinary
links to return to the site. sites should be mentioned,
Although many websites are including Cornell University’s
related to veterinary medicine Consultant computer-aided di-
(Table Four), some nonveteri- agnosis web page, managed by
nary websites may also be of Maurice E. White, DVM (Figure

TABLE THREE
Some Commonly Used Search Engines
Search Engine URL Address*
Open Text Index http://index.opentext.net/
Lycos http://www.lycos.com/

Figure 2—Homepage of the Microsoft Internet Explorer® World Magellan http://www.mckinley.com/


Wide Web browser (http://www.microsoft.com/ie/). Excite http://www.excite.com/
Altavista http://altavista.digital.com/
pends on how often they are ject areas or throughout the en-
updated and reviewed. One of tire Internet, examining titles, Yahoo! http://www.yahoo.com/
the best sites for veterinarians headers, indexes, directories, or Who Where? http://www.whowhere.com/
is NetVet (http://netvet.wustl. entire documents. Most web
edu), which has an extensive browsers come equipped with a shareware.com http://shareware.com/?netscape.
list of veterinary and animal-re- link to a search engine or to a swbtn
lated websites (Figure 3). At list of search engines. Once a The Electric Library http://www.elibrary.com/id/2525/
present, NetVet is privately search is performed, the user
maintained, although plans are receives a list of related website DejaNews http://www.dejanews.com/
under way to include this site in links and can simply click on Infoseek Guide http://guide.infoseek.com/
the American Veterinary Medi- the item to view the website.
MetaCrawler http://metacrawler.cs.washington.
cal Association’s homepage Searches may return 100 or
edu:8080/
(http://www. avma.org/). more links to a request. Defin-
The third method of locating ing some specific keywords be- MedExplorer http://www.medexplorer.com/
information involves search en- forehand can yield a more man- medexplr.html
gines (Table Three). These pro- ageable list. A WWW search *URL—Uniform Resource Locator or Domain name, analogous
grams perform word or topic using the InfoSeek® search en- to an address on the Internet.
searches in either specific sub- gine (http://guide.infoseek.
Small Animal The Compendium February 1997

4). This site allows users to the same software setup. Also,
enter clinical signs for a disease the quality of the connection
in order to generate a list of di- may be poor, or the connection
agnostic differentials. Users can might break off without warning.
also view a brief description of Various corporations have asked
the disease and find recent ref- that this mode of transmission
erences. Although such diag- be regulated.
nostic tools have limitations,
they can often be helpful. Internet Relay Chat
Another interactive site in- The ability to communicate
volving neurology, also from with others in real time offers
Cornell University, contains in- certain advantages, such as the
formation from Alexander De- immediate return of information
Lahunta, DVM, PhD. This site and the ability to pose ques-
allows users to view labeled tions based on the other per-
transverse sections of a canine son’s statements. Internet relay
Figure 3—NetVet veterinary resources and The Electronic Zoo
brain, create hypothetical le- World Wide Web homepage (http://netvet.wustl.edu). chat (IRC) allows users with
sions in neural pathways for specific interests to hook their
pupillary light control, and gain computers together in a “live”
experience in localizing neuro- session (Table Six). IRC is rem-
logic dysfunction. Some orga- iniscent of citizens’ band (CB)
nizations, such as the American radio, except that participants
Association of Bovine Practi- type their transmissions on the
tioners and the Society for The- computer keyboard instead of
riogenology, offer interactive speaking. The message is
data bases allowing users to transmitted immediately to all
search for other members, of the connected users. Groups
download forms, locate new of people can set up discussion
employment prospects, or an- groups that cover special top-
nounce job openings. ics. For example, a discussion
Another searchable data on equine protozoal myelitis
base provides drug information would allow users to interact
(e.g., manufacturer, dosages, with each other, asking ques-
and adverse reactions) on ani- Figure 4—World Wide Web homepage for the Consultant diag- tions and reading answers by
nostic support system for veterinary medicine (http://
mal drugs approved by the U.S. other participants in real time.
128.253.111.20/scripts/consultant/consultant.dll).
Food and Drug Administration.
There are also many govern- Internet allow anonymous users chine is that the document can Intranet
mental, regulatory, and private to download a variety of docu- be edited and returned without The term intranet is used to
services that may prove benefi- ments and software. Special having to be retyped. describe a network that func-
cial to practitioners. Veterinari- software has been designed for tions as an internal Internet
ans should keep in mind, how- ftp. Most current web browsers Internet Phone within an organization or group
ever, that most of the veterinary allow the user to type in the ftp It is now possible to make of organizations.8 Some corpo-
websites are not peer-reviewed; address under “open new con- a phone call on the Internet rations use this sort of system
the information presented must nection” or similar command without long-distance phone to connect all of their employ-
be used with discretion. without special ftp software. charges. Several programs allow ees. An intranet can provide in-
The ftp sites are extremely im- simultaneous transmission and formation to only a select group
File Transfer Protocol portant for downloading up- reception of speech through the rather than to the whole world.
File transfer protocol (ftp) al- grades or patches of software computer.7 If the connection to An intranet uses Internet soft-
lows users to transfer files from before the release of a new offi- the Internet provider is a local ware and standards, thus de-
one computer to another. A cial version or for the transmis- call, no long-distance charges creasing the potential need for
computer that allows access to sion of documents between dis- apply. The disadvantage is that new software. Because they are
others is called an ftp site. Pub- tant sites within seconds. The the person at the other end of based on Internet protocols, in-
licly accessed ftp sites on the advantage over using a fax ma- the connection needs to have tranet applications can be used
Small Animal The Compendium February 1997

in other platforms (e.g., shared


by users of Macintosh and TABLE FOUR
IBM-compatibles).9,10 Selected Veterinary World Wide Web Sites
Web Terminals World Wide Web Site URL Address*
Instead of buying a comput- NetVet http://netvet.wustl.edu
er and all the associated hard-
ware and software, consumers NetVet—Veterinary Medicine Resources http://netvet.wustl.edu/vetmed.htm#new
can now buy a web terminal. American Veterinary Medical Association http://www.avma.org/
This piece of equipment, which
Veterinary Information Network http://www.vetinfonet.com/
costs approximately $300 to
$800, hooks up to a telephone Consultant—Computer Aided Diagnosis http://128.253.111.20/scripts/consultant/
line and the home television to consultant.dll
provide access to the World Dr. Alexander DeLahunta’s http://web.vet.cornell.edu/public/education/
Wide Web and its services. Neuroanatomy Montage neuro/index.htm

Electronic Mail Veterinary Medicine Libraries http://duke.usask.ca/~ladd/vet_libraries.html


Email is like ordinary mail in HealthyPet—American Animal Hospital http://www.healthypet.com/
that the user creates a mes- Association
sage, identifies the intended re-
American Association of Swine http://www.aasp.org/
cipient with an address, and
Practitioners
then finds a vendor to deliver
the mail.11 To use email, the The American Association of Veterinary http://www.bev.net/community/aava/
consumer must first identify a Anatomists
service provider who will issue The American College of Veterinary http://a.cvm.okstate.edu/~ACVA/
an email address and provide Anesthesiologists
the software for creating, send-
ing, and receiving messages. The American College of Laboratory http://chopin.osp.uh.edu/~rocky/aclam/
Providers may include the local
Animal Medicine hdg1055. htm
telephone company, a long-dis- American Academy of Veterinary http://netvet.wustl.edu/aavi.htm
tance telephone company, an Informatics
on-line service provider, or an
The American Association of Veterinary http://www.hsc.missouri.edu/vetmed/aavi/
Internet service provider. Immunologists docs/aavihome.html
Each email address (individ-
ual@location) is unique. The Society for Theriogenology http://informatics.vetmed.vt.edu/sft/sfthome.
following is an example of a html
mailing address and an associ- American Association of Bovine http://www.aabp.org/
ated email address: Practitioners
Daniel Shapiro’s Zoonosis Web Page http://med-med1.bu.edu/dshapiro/zoo1.htm
Postal address:
William Swecker, VA Tech, World Equine Health Network http://www.wehn.com/
Blacksburg, VA 24061-0442 OncoLink—Veterinary Oncology http://www.oncolink.upenn.edu/specialty/
Email address: cvmwss@vt.edu vet_onc/
The character string before the @ Veterinary Emergency and Critical http://www.comtecmedia.com/veccs/
(“at”) sign in the email address Care Society
identifies the individual. The FDA-Approved Animal Drug Data Base http://borg.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/vetfda.html
character string after the @ sign
U.S. FDA—Center for Veterinary Medicine http://www.cvm.fda.gov/
identifies the location. Email ad-
dresses conform to a common USDA Animal and Plant Health http://www.aphis.usda.gov/vs/
terminology and typically use do- Inspection Service—Veterinary Service
main names associated with the *URL—Uniform Resource Locator or Domain name, analogous to an address on the Internet.
user’s location (Table Seven).
The Compendium February 1997 Small Animal

Like regular mail (snail mail),


email uses mailboxes. Email is TABLE FIVE
held at a server (post office) un- Selected Nonveterinary World Wide Web Sites
til the recipient checks it. Other
kinds of information (e.g., doc-
World Wide Web Site URL Address*
uments, spreadsheets, and im- Cancer Links http://seidata.com/-marriage/rcancer.html#nci
ages) can be appended to an
electronic mail message. Medical Matrix—Guide to Internet http://www.slackinc.com/mmatrix/
Email is convenient. Users Clinical Medicine Resources
can send and receive email at
Pharmaceutical Information Network http://pharminfo.com/
any time. There is no waiting on
hold or playing telephone tag U.S. National Library of Medicine http://www.nlm.nih.gov/
with the person you are trying
to contact. There are, however, U.S. Government Printing Office http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/
several disadvantages. The U.S. Securities and Exchange http://www.sec.gov/
sender may not be sure that the Commission
recipient got the message un-
less a special receipt confirma- National Science Foundation http://www.nsf.gov/
tion feature is enabled, and
National Academy of Sciences http://www.nas.edu/
email addresses can be hard to
find. Also, junk email is becom- National Institutes of Health http://www.nih.gov/
ing more frequent. Another po-
Centers for Disease Control and http://www.cdc.gov/
tential disadvantage is that once
Prevention
a message is sent, it cannot be
withdrawn. The WWW Virtual Library:bioscience: http://www.ohsu.edu/cliniweb/wwwvl/
medicine
Listserv Groups and
Mailing Lists World Health Organization http://www.who.ch/
Listserv groups are like mag- Census Information Home Page http://sasquatch.kerr.orst.edu/index.html
azine or journal subscriptions.
An individual or group sets up a Library of Congress http://www.loc.gov/
listserv that is oriented to an ac-
Internal Revenue Service http://www.irs.ustreas.gov/prod/cover.html
tivity or interest—again, like a
magazine or journal. Members Thomas—Legislative Information http://thomas.loc.gov/
of the list send a question or
message to a common address Patrick Crispen’s Internet Roadmap http://ua1vm.ua./edu/~crispen/crispen.html
for the list. This message or Internet Learner’s Page http://www.clark.net/pub/lschank/web/learn.
question is then transmitted to html
everyone who has subscribed
to the list. The effect is like a *URL—Uniform Resource Locator or Domain name, analogous to an address on the Internet.
virtual clinic, in which you can
send a message to a group of
colleagues with similar interests
to get information from others. TABLE SIX
Some lists are open—any- Selected Internet Relay Chat World Wide Web Sites
one with an email address can World Wide Web Site URL Address*
subscribe. Examples include
Dairy-L (about 1900 sub- ChatLinks http://penn.com/~rbutter/chat.html
scribers), which is a communi-
WebChat Broadcasting System http://wbs.net/
ty of individuals in the dairy in-
dustry (e.g., dairy farmers, Chat-O-Rama http://www.solscape.com/chat/
agribusiness people, academi- *URL—Uniform Resource Locator or Domain name, analogous to an address on the Internet.
cians, and veterinarians).
Small Animal The Compendium February 1997

pher menus where the keyword exploring it. Each day, new web
TABLE SEVEN was found. An example of a go- sites and connections become
Domain Codesa pher search for fleas revealed available. The main disadvan-
over 130 articles and fact sheets tages of using the Internet are
Domain Definition
about fleas. Many could be du- slow connection times, sudden
edu Educational plicates because the same arti- disconnections, inability to con-
cle may be present on more nect to a particular site, or in-
com Commercial than one server. Information ac- ability to find particular infor-
gov Government cessed through a web browser mation in a timely fashion.
may be linked to information As high-quality web sites be-
mil Military come established, users will
from a gopher server.
net Network find the Internet an excellent
Private Computer means of remote learning, al-
org Organization
Networks lowing them to learn as time
int International Two veterinary services that permits. The only requirements
are located on private computer for successful use of the Inter-
uk United Kingdom
a networks include the VIN™ net are a willingness to explore
Domain codes are usually found at the end of an email or
World Wide Web address. They indicate the kind of institution (800-700-4636) and NOAH™ and the patience to learn Inter-
with which the user is affiliated. (800-248-2862). These mem- net terminology and workings.
bership organizations offer fo-
rums, consultation, and contin- References
1. Glownaik JV: Medical resources
Another heavily used veterinary messages per day). The better- uing education. They can be
on the Internet. Ann Intern Med
listserv is VETMED-L, with ap- quality listservs have a modera- reached by accessing a mem- 123:123–131, 1995.
proximately 1300 subscribers. tor who ensures that the posted bership-associated network. 2. http://www.nw.com/zone/
There are currently over 7975 messages are appropriate for VIN™ is located within the WWW/report.html
3. Dascanio JJ: Accessing infor-
public listservs on the Internet, the subject and that individuals America Online® environment, mation on the Internet. Proc
with a few targeted toward vet- are not misusing the listserv. whereas NOAH™ is located AAEP 41:71–72, 1995.
erinary and animal interests. A within the CompuServe® envi- 4. h t t p : / / w w w . o p e n m a r k e t .
NetVet web page (http://netvet. Gopher ronment. Users can make a di- com/intindex/96-07.htm
5. Ayre R, Mace T: Internet ac-
wustl.edu/vmla.htm) lists veteri- Gopher™ is a program devel- rect connection to either on-line cess—Just browsing. PC Mag-
nary listservs and instructions oped in the early 1990s at the service provider through their azine 15:100–148, 1996.
on how to subscribe. Other lists University of Minnesota. It per- respective regional offices. Oth- 6. http://www.yahoo.com/Busi-
ness_and_Economy/Compa-
are open only to a select group. mits viewing and transfer of in- erwise, they may make a direct
nies/Internet_Services/Do-
An example is the AABP-L, formation held on over 7000 connection to other Internet main_Registration/
which is open to veterinarians gopher servers using a menu- service providers, which will 7. Metz C: Internet phones and
who are active members of the driven hierarchy.12 The gopher then connect to America Online® videoconferencing. PC Maga-
zine 15:143, 1996.
American Association of Bovine server presents to the gopher or CompuServe®. The advan- 8. The Complete Intranet Resource
Practitioners. client a group of menus that tages of using either system [intrack.com/intranet/].
One advantage of subscrib- contain information arranged by center around hook-up and 9. Derfler FJ: The Intranet plat-
ing to a listserv is the potential topics. 13 The menus link the connection fees, which are de- form—A universal client? PC
Magazine 15:105–113, 1996.
for rapid access to answers viewer to information on the termined largely by location. 10. Cortese A: Here comes the In-
from a knowledgeable group. present gopher server or to oth- tranet. Business Week:76–84,
Listservs also promote continu- er servers across the Internet. Conclusion February 26, 1996.
11. Regennitter FJ, Johnson BE:
ing education by allowing sub- Initially, information is found by The Internet will continue to Electronic mail on the Internet.
scribers to see other people’s scrolling through the menus un- grow. Software applications, Am J Orthod Dentofac Orthop
questions and answers. Of til you find a site of interest. The such as word processors, will 108:219–222, 1995.
course, the material provided usefulness and power of gopher have or do have integrated con- 12. Schatz BR, Hardin JB: NCSA
Mosaic and the World Wide
through the listserv is not peer- servers was enhanced by the nections to the Internet. The Web: Global hypermedia proto-
reviewed; and the expertise of development of a program dream of a seamless communi- cols for the Internet. Science
the respondent may be un- called Veronica™, which allows cation system is coming closer 265:895–901, 1994.
13. Glowniak JV, Bushway MK:
known. In addition, some list- the user to perform keyword to reality. The best way to de-
Computer networks as a medi-
servs produce an unmanage- searches for pertinent informa- termine whether the Internet cal resource. JAMA 271: 1934–
able amount of traffic (10 to 100 tion. Veronica then lists the go- has anything to offer is to start 1939, 1994.

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