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Dr.

Frank Shallenberger’s

Vol. 8, No. 1 January 2009

Do Away With Shoulder Pain


Permanently — No Surgery Required
Does your shoulder hurt? Is the pain Michael came to me three years ago. He
severe when you move your arms? Is it complained of chronic pain in his right shoul-
unbearable when you try to do anything der. He said it started when he fell while ski-
above your shoulder? Is it agonizing to reach ing. After Michael’s shoulder failed to
for something in a top cabinet or throw a respond to several months of physical thera-
ball? Is it impossible to put your hand behind py, his doctor suggested surgery.
your back? The problem was that Michael was the
If so, you can probably relate to Michael. CEO of a large entertainment corporation.
He just didn’t have the time to be off work
that long. And, because he didn’t need to use
his shoulder for work, he felt that he could
In this Issue just live with the condition.
Q The life-threatening disease But living with it turned out to be hard-
you can get from a common er than he bargained for. The pain never
doctor’s test ................................ p. 3 relented even a little. He found that it was
Q Prevent heart attacks for free. impossible to get a good night’s sleep. Every
It has nothing to do with time he would roll over on his shoulder, it
exercise, diet, or supplements .... p. 4 would immediately wake him up. He found
himself regularly taking pain pills before bed.
Q Why you soon may need a
prescription to buy supplements p. 7 Even though he didn’t need his shoul-
der at work, he found that his injury was
Q The often overlooked cause still a big problem for him. He couldn’t go
of hair loss — and what you skiing anymore. He couldn’t play ball with
can do to stop it .......................... p. 8 his grandchildren. He couldn’t even hug his
Coming Next Month wife without pain.
Michael had a torn rotator cuff. The
• Why depression in those over 50 is
rotator cuff refers to the muscles, ligaments,
usually different than depression in the
young — and what you need to do to treat it and tendons that surround the shoulder
effectively. joint. It’s the combined action of these differ-
ent parts of the rotator cuff that hold the
• A great-tasting way to improve your
brain function — but you have to take shoulder joint together when you use it.
it this way. A rotator cuff injury occurs when one or
more of the parts of the rotator cuff are torn.
It’s much worse than a strained shoulder.
With a strained shoulder, the rotator cuff Medical grade ozone is a gas. It’s a nat-
has been overworked, but not actually torn. urally occurring molecule that consists of
Your body can heal a strained shoulder in a three atoms of oxygen. Because oxygen
matter of days, simply with some rest and atoms usually combine in pairs, the third
physical therapy. But a rotator cuff injury atom of oxygen present in ozone makes it
will require weeks or months to heal. In fact, highly reactive. It’s much more reactive
many rotator cuff injuries never heal. They than even pure oxygen. And this enhanced
just leave you with chronic shoulder pain. reactivity is what causes it to dramatically
If you watch football or baseball, you’ve stimulate the healing process.
probably heard of torn rotator cuffs. Once injected into the rotator cuff,
Professional athletes, such as pitchers and ozone causes a mild inflammatory reaction.
quarterbacks are very prone to these injuries In the body, inflammation attracts cells
because they overwork their shoulders. called fibroblasts to the area that’s inflamed.
But torn rotator cuffs can happen to Fibroblasts are specialized cells that repair
anyone. People over 40 usually injure them injuries like tears. They do this by produc-
by falling. ing collagen, which can then form new liga-
ment, tendon, and muscle tissue. In this
If you suspect your rotator cuff is torn, way, Prolozone therapy stimulates the
your doctor will probably want to do an body’s own natural healing processes. The
expensive magnetic resonance image (MRI) result is a rapid healing of even the worst
scan of the shoulder. If the MRI comes back rotator cuff injuries.
positive, he’ll want you to have surgery. The
surgeon will open the shoulder joint and All it takes is an injection every one to
repair the tear with needle and thread. The two weeks. Each case is different, so the doc-
recovery time for this type of surgery is very tor has to decide how often you need it. The
long. It can take three to six months before worse the tear, the more treatments you’ll
the shoulder heals. And you’ll have to need. Most cases require just four to five
endure grueling and extensive physical ther- treatments. The good thing about Prolozone
apy and shoulder rehabilitation. All of this is therapy is that the results actually fix the
expensive, time consuming, and very painful. tear — and the pain — permanently.
Like I said, Michael was a very busy
Fortunately, there’s man. Getting him to come in for one treat-
a much better way ment much less several was really difficult.
But he was really getting tired of the pain.
You can avoid the MRI, the surgery, And he didn’t want to have surgery. So he
and the rehab. And you can heal your shoul- decided to make time for the treatments.
der and get rid of the pain quickly and at a
fraction of the cost. After his first treatment, Michael’s
shoulder was immediately better. This was
Remember Michael? He was trying to because I always add a local anesthetic, such
tough out the pain, but he just couldn’t tol- as Novocain, in with the Prolozone treat-
erate it anymore. Then one day, a patient of ment. The Novocain takes all the pain away.
mine who worked for him told him about I do this because ozone is very painful when
Prolozone® therapy. injected by itself. Injecting it along with
Prolozone therapy is a form of therapy Novocain makes the treatment painless.
I discovered about 15 years ago. It involves There is one other advantage to adding
the injection of medical grade ozone directly the Novocain. I can immediately tell if I
into your rotator cuff. This might sound injected the ozone in the part of the rotator
pretty strange because most people think of cuff that was injured. If I miss the injured
ozone as something that is in air pollution. area, then Michael would not have had such
But medical grade ozone is something very immediate pain relief.
different from pollution.

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I told Michael that the pain would cuff becoming injured again. He was smart
return after the Novocain wore off in three to stop and come in for a third injection.
to four hours. I also reassured him that the Michael now has a fully functioning
injection was successful, and that his body shoulder. To be fair, he may have had a simi-
was already starting to heal his rotator cuff. lar success story after shoulder surgery. But
He was very impressed, and promised to Prolozone therapy was so much easier and
return in two weeks for another injection. safer. It required no general anesthesia, no
When I saw Michael two weeks later, it casts, no physical therapy, and no down time.
was hard to erase the grin from his face. He
told me that the pain in his shoulder was Why didn’t my doctor tell me
“at least 50% better.” It was the least pain about prolozone therapy?
he had felt for over three years. He was very
happy. I repeated the same treatment as Like many alternative therapies,
before, and scheduled another visit. Prolozone therapy is not taught in medical
schools, or in orthopedic training programs.
Michael never made that third visit. This is probably because the overall cost of
Instead he called me from Cleveland and Prolozone therapy is very small compared to
told me that his shoulder was now complete- surgery, and there simply is not enough
ly healed. He didn’t think he needed more profit incentive.
treatments. I was not all that surprised
because occasionally I see such quick recov- There’s no doubt that there are always
eries. But I did remind him to take care of those cases which will require surgery. But
his new shoulder because the healing it’s remarkable how often even severe rota-
process would not be fully complete for tor cuff injuries will respond to Prolozone.
another six to eight weeks. I have been teaching doctors Prolozone
I saw him once more about a year later. therapy for 12 years. So far there are well
He told me that he had been skiing aggres- over 500 doctors using it. You can find a list
sively down some deep slopes and had start- of the doctors I’ve trained at www.oxygen-
ed to notice a return of his shoulder pain. He healingtherapies.com. It’s great for shoulder
was not going to take a chance at the rotator injuries — and any other joint injury. Q

The Dangerous Side of CT Scans —


And How to Protect Yourself
CT scans, especially scans of the head mal mutations. The second way is that ion-
after trauma, have saved many lives; there’s izing radiation converts the water in the
no doubt about that. But there’s a cost. And exposed cells to hydroxyl radicals. Hydroxyl
I’m not talking about the kind of cost that’s radicals are the most potent of all free radi-
covered by insurance. cals. And when they’re in excess, as they are
A recent article, one that should be after radiation exposure, they damage DNA.
read by all doctors, especially radiologists, Although repair enzymes can repair most of
points this cost out. The article appeared in the DNA damage, they can’t repair all of it.
the New England Journal of Medicine. The And un-repaired DNA damage leads to the
cost I’m talking about is ionizing radiation. chromosomal mutations that cause cells to
And it’s a significant cost, because ionizing become cancerous.
radiation causes cancer. “Not medically necessary”
It causes cancer in two ways. First, it
directly damages the DNA of the cells it Even with this huge problem, doctors
comes into contact with, causing chromoso- rarely hesitate to use CT scans. As a result,

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Clinical

An Extremely Effective Way to Prev


What if I told you that there was a way to Viscosity refers to how easy a fluid flows
decrease your overall risk of having a heart through a tube. Fluids that have a high viscosi-
attack? And what if I told you it’s possible to ty flow more slowly through the same size tube
reduce your risk by at least 18 times? Then, than ones with lower viscosities.
what if I told you it was safe, effective, and free? Here’s a good example of what I mean.
I bet the first thing you’d think of is exercise. Ever try to suck a milk shake through a straw?
While exercise can do all these things, there’s It’s hard, right? That’s because a milk shake is
something even easier. very thick and viscous. On the other hand,
And not only will this remarkable therapy when you suck up water through a straw, it’s
help you, it will also help others. In fact, you easy. That’s because water is hardly viscous at
might even save lives. all. So the less viscous a fluid is, the more easily
What can possibly do all this? Simply it will flow through a straw, or in the case of
donating blood. This is a proven way to dramat- blood, though your blood vessels.
ically lower your heart attack risk. The Your blood has a viscosity rating just like
American Journal of Epidemiology published any fluid. And the more viscous it is (the thicker
the first proof in 1998. The researchers followed it is), the less well it will flow through your
a group of men aged 42-60 for an average of blood vessels. That’s where donating blood
nine years. In the study, 153 of these men regu- becomes healthy.
larly donated blood at least once every two Blood is a mixture of the fluid part called
years. Of course, some donated blood much serum, and the actual red blood cells, called ery-
more often than that. throcytes. The part of the blood that makes it
Of this group, only one man had a heart the most viscous are the blood cells. When you
attack in that entire time. That’s a 0.7% occur- donate blood, your blood is losing both the
rence rate. Then the researchers compared serum component of blood, as well as the red
these results with a group of 2,529 men who blood cells.
never donated blood. In this group, 316 men But here’s what happens. Your body will
had heart attacks. That’s a heart attack rate of almost immediately replace the serum, but it
12.5%. The ones who did not donate blood had will take it up to six to eight weeks to replace
a 17.8 times greater chance of having a heart the red blood cells.
attack than the donors. I call that very amaz- So for at least six to eight weeks after you
ing. Lowering cholesterol isn’t even one-tenth donate blood, your blood viscosity will be much
that effective! lower than it was before. How much you ask?
But how does this work? Part of the Another study took a look at the answer to
answer lies in the concept of blood viscosity. this question. In this study researchers looked

they are over used. Doctors perform more children are, to use the words of the
than 62 million CT scans every year in the authors, “irradiated unnecessarily.”
United States. And that’s just on adults. And to make matters worse, CT scans
They perform at least another four million use much larger doses of ionizing radiation
on infants. A recent article in the journal than regular x-rays. For example, the aver-
Pediatric Radiology estimates that about age CT scan of the abdomen uses over 200
one-third of all of these CT scans are not times the radiation of a chest X-ray. They
medically necessary. That means that use about 100 times the radiation of a stan-
around 20 million adults and 1.3 million dard abdominal X-ray. And they use about

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l Pearls

vent Heart Attacks — And It’s Free!


at 12 men and 18 women who donated one unit important if you have high blood pressure, since
of blood every day for four days. The researchers this places you at greater risk for heart attacks.
took blood viscosity measurements before and I routinely check my patients’ blood viscos-
after the four sessions. Donating blood reduced ity by looking at their hematocrit. This is a stan-
diastolic blood viscosity by a whopping 32% on dard blood test that’s very inexpensive. It will
average. So one of the obvious ways that donat- tell you what percentage of your blood is taken
ing blood results in fewer heart attacks is that it up by red blood cells.
decreases viscosity, and allows the blood to flow
Obviously, the higher your red blood cell
much more easily through the coronary arteries.
percentage (i.e. your hematocrit), the higher
But there is a second and perhaps even more your blood viscosity. A healthy hematocrit for
important way that regular blood donation works. men is between 40-42%, and for women between
As I said, every time you donate blood, you 36-38%. So do yourself and someone else a favor,
lose some red blood cells. This, of course, will and make sure that you donate blood on a regu-
stimulate your body to make more cells to lar basis. The higher your percentage hemat-
replace the ones that were lost. But these new ocrit, the more often you need to donate blood.
cells are not at all like the ones that were lost. I recommend men and postmenopausal
These newer, younger cells have more flexible women start by donating once every eight
cell membranes. Did you know that the diame- weeks. The donation centers will check your
ter of a red blood cell is about four times larger blood each time to make sure you’re not getting
than the capillary it needs to flow through? This too low. If your blood count is in the high nor-
means that in order for a blood cell to flow
mal range, then you can give more often. It
through a capillary, it has to compress itself
would be unusual for someone to need to give
down into a very tight tube. In order to do this
blood more than once a month. Usually, once
it must have a very flexible cell membrane.
every six to eight weeks is plenty.
And that’s just what the younger red blood
REFS:
cells that your body makes after donating blood
have. In fact, a 2002 study showed that young Solonen, J., et al. “Donation of blood is associated with reduced
risk of myocardial infarction.” American Journal of
red blood cells are 30% more flexible than their Epidemiology, 148 (1998) 445-451.
older colleagues. The increased flexibility of
Cliville, X., et al. “Hemorheological, coagulative and fibrinolytic
these younger red blood cells means that donat-
changes during autologous blood donation.” Clinical
ing blood improves circulation. Hemorheology and Microcirculation, 18 (1998) 265-272.
Donating blood is especially beneficial if Muravyov, A.V., et al. “The microrheological behavior of young
you have already had a heart attack, or if you and old red blood cells in athletes.” Clinical Hemorheology and
have a family risk of heart disease. It’s also Microcirculation, 26 (2002) 183-188.

20 times the radiation of screening mammo- accumulates radiation over time, the more
gram. These numbers are based on two CT studies you have, the greater your risk
passes for each CT procedure, which is stan- of cancer. Let me give you an example.
dard protocol.
Lori’s case
However, studies show that 30% of
patients receive three to four passes. And 4% A few months ago I saw a 54-year-old
of these patients receive a whopping nine or woman named Lori. She decided to have a
more passes. The more passes, the greater “virtual colonoscopy.” This is a CT scan of
the radiation exposure. Also, since the body the abdomen that looks for possible cancers.

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Although I don’t think they are nearly as than adults from a given dose of radiation.”
accurate as a real colonoscopy, many people There’s good news in all this: In gener-
use them because they consider them to be al, the older you are when you have a CT
safer. But are they? scan, the less dangerous it becomes.
Lori’s scan used three passes. But it
didn’t end there. On one of the passes, the So exactly how dangerous is it?
radiologist saw a blip that he could not be The estimated lifetime risk of death
sure was not a cancer. So a few days later, from cancer for a person older than 35 who
she had another exam, with three more receives a one pass CT of the head is one in
passes to resolve the controversy. The sec- a thousand. That means that for every 1,000
ond CT failed to show the blip, and she was CTs performed, one person will die from
pronounced free of cancer. Of course, she cancer as a result of the exposure.
was happy about that.
The estimated lifetime risk of death
Then I had to break the news to her from cancer for a person older than 35 who
about how much ionizing radiation she receives one pass CT of the abdomen is twice
received from those two scans. I told her she that high — one in every 500. The risk is
received more than twice the average greater in CTs of the abdomen because the
amount of radiation that the survivors of digestive organs are more sensitive than the
the atomic bombs received in Japan in 1945. brain to radiation-induced cancer. Now you
Her jaw dropped open. But the number of might think that these risks sound rather
passes in a CT scan is not the only thing small, but there’s much more to the story.
that determines how much radiation you
receive in a CT scan. The risks become much greater when
higher doses or more passes are used, or
The other factor is the dose used in when more than one CT scan is performed
each individual pass. You see, how much in a lifetime. Remember that over 30% of
actual radiation you receive is up to the CT scans use three passes, not one. In the
radiologist or the radiology technician. The case of a three-pass CT of the abdomen, the
problem here is that it’s difficult to keep the risk would be up to three times greater, or
dose low. That’s because lower doses reduce about one in every 150.
the test’s accuracy. So there is a tradeoff –
the higher the dose, the more accurate the In Lori’s case, since she had two, three-
examination. But the higher dose increases pass CTs, the risk that she will develop can-
your risk of excessive radiation. This dose cer sometime in her life as a result of her
issue is an even greater concern in young virtual colonoscopy was one in 75. I don’t
people and children. know how everyone feels, but I call that a
very significant risk. And it even gets worse
According to the New England Journal for young people and children.
of Medicine article, “The situation is even
clearer for children, who are at greater risk For an abdominal CT, kids between the
ages of 15-25 years have three times more
Real Cures (ISSN 1062-4163) is published monthly by risk than those over 35. For a three-pass CT,
Soundview Publishing, LLC. Publisher: Wallis W. Wood; that amounts to a one in 50 chance of can-
Editor: Frank Shallenberger, MD. Subscriptions $49 per
year; foreign addresses add $13 U.S. per year. Send new
cer. And those younger than five years old
subscriptions or changes of address to our Business Office: have 10 times the risk, or a one in fifteen
P.O. Box 8051, Norcross, GA 30091-8051, 800-728-2288 or
770-399-5617. Real Cures is a newsletter containing gen-
chance! For a CT of the head the risks are
eral comments on health, nutrition, and medicine. Readers less, but are still scary.
are advised to consult with their own physician before
implementing any health idea they read about, whether
here or in any other publication. Copyright © 2009 by
The safest approach
Soundview Publishing, LLC. All rights reserved.
Unauthorized reproduction of this newsletter or its con- So what’s the moral of this story? If
tents by xerography, facsimile, or any other means is illegal. your doctor recommends a CT scan, ask if

—6—
it’s absolutely needed. Many times the hydroxyl free radicals, take the antioxidant
information they obtain from a CT can be supplements that destroy them. If possible,
seen just as well with imaging procedures take the following every six hours for at least
that don’t use radiation, such as an MRI or 24 hours before and after your scan: vitamin
an ultrasound scan. C (1,000 mg); lipoic acid (400 mg); n-acetyl
But if your doctor says you must have cysteine (200 mg); and melatonin (3 mg).
one, make sure the radiologist knows your Scientific studies have shown these supple-
concerns, and ask for the minimum dose ments will neutralize hydroxyl free radicals.
and number of passes possible. REFS: Brenner, D.J. and E.J. Hall. “Computed Tomography –
An increasing source of radiation exposure.” N Engl J Med,
And, finally, take some measures to pro- 2007; 357:2277-84.
tect yourself. Since a lot of the cancer-caus-
Slovis, T.L. and W.E. Berdon. Panel discussion. Pediatric
ing damage from ionizing radiation is from Radiology, 2002; 32:242-4.

The Attacks on Supplements Get Fierce — Don’t Be Misled


If you supplement your diet by taking a Commission. These special interests come pri-
multivitamin, you are not alone. A little more marily from the pharmaceutical, pesticide,
than one-third of all Americans take multivit- biotechnology, and chemical industries. And
amins regularly. For most, it just makes good the last thing on their mind is your health
sense. As for the rest, they know that there’s and well being.
a very significant amount of medical science What Codex wants to do now is to make
that shows how beneficial multivitamins are. all vitamins, herbs, minerals, and any other
Both the Journal of the American supplement that you currently use available
Medical Association, as well as the New only when produced by drug companies. And
England Journal of Medicine have published that means only when your doctor writes a
lead articles recommending the routine use of prescription for them.
multivitamins. So why am I telling you some- Codex Alimentarius is scheduled to go
thing you already know? It’s because those into effect all over the world by December 31,
articles were written several years ago. Since 2009. And unless we the people avert it, buy-
then, there’s been a concerted attack on vita- ing supplements here in the good ole USA
mins. And this attack is getting worse. will be just like buying them in Europe —
You may have heard about it already, but impossible!
something called Codex Alimentarius is get- The rationale that Codex backers are
ting ready to change your life. Briefly put, going to use for this gross injustice is that
codex is Latin for “book,” and alimentarius these nutrients are harmful to your health,
refers to “food.” The Codex Alimentarius and the government needs to protect you from
refers to a book of standards, codes of prac- them. I can promise you that you’re going to
tice, guidelines, and other recommendations see a continuous influx of magazine articles
relating to foods, food production, and food and press releases talking about all of the sup-
safety. This book of standards comes from a posed risks from taking natural substances.
joint effort of the United Nations and the The bottom line is this. You are going to
World Health Organization. hear more of this nonsense for the next year, as
In 1963, these two organizations estab- the powers that be work to convince Congress
lished the Codex Alimentarius Commission. to sign on to Codex. Please write letters to
The Commission’s stated aims are to protect your congressmen and women and tell them
the health of consumers, and ensure fair prac- to vote against Codex. This is vital for your
tices in the international food trade. Sounds health. I’ll have more on Codex in future issues.
good doesn’t it? And while that may have REFS: “Multivitamins and your health: a reappraisal. “
been why it was initially created, things are Harvard Men’s Health Watch. March 1, 2008.
very different now. Some very powerful spe- http://read.health.harvard.edu/user/user.fas/s=784/fp=3/tp=7
cial interests have taken over the 6?T=open_summary,966418&P=summary.

—7—
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Q. Are dementia and Alzheimer’s the ments are not improving the patient’s condi-
tion do I conclude that he has Alzheimer’s.
same thing? — Henry F., via e-mail
Hi Henry, Q. Do you know anything about the
Dementia is a general term that refers new baldness treatment that creates
to loss of memory and mental confusion. new hair follicles? If so, can you
Alzheimer’s is a serious form of dementia. explain and give your thoughts on it.
In fact, it’s the worst form of dementia What do you recommend for thinning
because there’s nothing that has been hair? — Jack K., via e-mail
shown to reverse or improve it. The best we Dear Jack,
can do is slow it down.
I must say that I’m really skeptical
Other forms of dementia are different. about baldness treatments. I’m not aware of
We can often cure or significantly improve any treatment that would actually grow new
these forms. That’s because they are often hair follicles. That seems impossible. But so
caused by low hormone levels (particularly did landing on the moon! If you can give me
thyroid hormones), poor nutritional status, more information, I will investigate it for you.
poor circulation to the brain, or any combi-
There are two forms of hair loss. One is
nation of all of these.
the typical male pattern baldness. I know of
So it is very important for doctors to no natural treatment that can alter this
make sure that when they diagnose problem. The other is generalized hair loss
Alzheimer’s they have checked for and associated with aging. This is simply when
treated these other conditions. Now this your hair begins to thin once you’re in your
brings us to a very important question: How 60s or beyond. Very often, you can correct
can we determine if a case of dementia is this kind of hair loss with proper hormonal
caused by Alzheimer’s, or has one of these replacement. I would look specifically at
other causes? Sadly, the answers so far are a growth hormone and the sex hormones. The
lot less than desirable. best way to analyze growth hormone is with
Currently, the only diagnostic tech- a blood test called IGF-1. If the IGF-1 is less
niques that are conventionally used to sepa- than 100, hair loss could be a result. The
rate out Alzheimer’s from other forms of best way to diagnose sex-hormone deficien-
dementia are neuropsychological testing and cies is with saliva testing. For this I recom-
standard brain scans. And both of these mend that you see a doctor experienced with
techniques are far from being completely diagnosing and treating hormonal deficien-
reliable. However, there are some very cies. A good source would be the doctor
bright spots emerging in the specialized use referral section at www.worldhealth.net.
of both MRI and PET scans that are able to
not only diagnose Alzheimer’s, but also to
diagnose it up to 15 years before there are
any signs of memory impairment. I will Got a Question?
have a complete review of this subject in a
Do you have a question for Dr.
future issue of Real Cures. Shallenberger? If so, please send it (typed
When I first see a patient that may only) to him c/o Soundview Publications,
have Alzheimer’s, I always approach the P.O. Box 8051, Norcross, GA 30091-8051 or
case as if the patient has a treatable cause feedback@RealCuresLetter.com. While he
for his memory loss. This means an aggres- won’t be able to respond personally, he’ll try
sive trial of hormone replacement, nutrition- to answer as many questions as he can in
al therapy, chelation therapy, and ozone these pages.
therapy. Only when I see that these treat-

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