This article was downloaded by: [New York University] On: 04 February 2015, At: 20:57 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK
Experimental Aging Research: An International Journal Devoted to the Scientific Study of the Aging Process Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/uear20
Thresholds of food odors in the elderly a
b
Susan S. Schiffman , Jonathan Moss & Robert P. Erickson
c
a
Center For The Study Of Aging and Human Development and Department of Psychiatry , Duke University , Durham, N. C., 27710 b
Medical School University of Miami , Miami, Florida, 33136 c
Department of Psychology , Duke University , Durham, N. C., 27706 Published online: 28 Sep 2007.
To cite this article: Susan S. Schiffman , Jonathan Moss & Robert P. Erickson (1976) Thresholds of food odors in the elderly, Experimental Aging Research: An International Journal Devoted to the Scientific Study of the Aging Process, 2:5, 389-398, DOI: 10.1080/03610737608257997 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03610737608257997
PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with
primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content.
Downloaded by [New York University] at 20:57 04 February 2015
This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions
THRESHOLDS OF FOOD ODORS IN THE ELDERLY
Downloaded by [New York University] at 20:57 04 February 2015
SUSAN S. SCHIFFMAN Center For T h e Study Of Aging and Human Development and Defiartrnent of Psychiatry Duke University Durham. N. C. 27710
JONATHAN MOSS
ROBERT P. ERICKSON
Medical School University of Miami Miami, Florida 3 3 I36
Department of Psychology Duke University Durham, N. C. 27706
Schiffman, S. S., Moss, J., & Erickson, R. P. Thresholds for food odors in the elderly. Experimental Aging Research, 1976, 2, (5) 389-398. Thresholds for nine food odors were found for two gfoups of subjects, young and elderly. Dravniek’s dynamic triangle olfactometer, which employs the forced-choice, triangle principle and controls for guessing was used. Elderly subjects were found to have a considerably reduced sensitivity to these odors compared with young subjects.
There are few reports of changes in olfaction with age. Hinchcliff (1958) examined available data on sensory thresholds and found an exponential d.ecline in sensitivity with age. Chalke and Dewhurst (1957) found that more than one half of subjects over
This paper was supported in part by a grant to the senior author AG 00443, a grant to Dr. R. P. Erickson, NSF GB 33464 and a grant to the Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development HD00164.
Downloaded by [New York University] at 20:57 04 February 2015
3 90
SCHIFFMAN/MOSS/ERICKSON
65 were unable to smell domestic gas. They reported that over 75% of the 892 deaths due to domestic gas poisoning were persons past 60 years of age. Megighian (1958) found an increased threshold for coffee and citral in elderly patients. Kimbrell and Furchtgott (1963) found increases in threshold values for n-butanol and isoamyl acetate with age. Vaschide (1904) had previously reported a marked increase in olfactory threshold to camphor with age. Schiffman (Note 1) reported that the elderly were less able to identify blended foods while blindfolded than young subjects. Schiffman, Stavros and Pasternak (Note 2) found increased thresholds to urine and musk odors with age. They also reported a large number of “false positives” (an odor was reported when none was present) among elderly subjects. Rovee, Cohen and Shlapack (1975) concluded that there was no change in olfactory sensitivity with age; however, their data suggest otherwise, with the curve relating the subjective and physical intensity of propanol being least steep f o r the elderly (i. e., the elderly were less sensitive). Liss and Gomez (1958) reported changes in the human olfactory bulb and tract with senility. They found extensive degeneration which they concluded was secondary to destruction of sensory cells of the nasal mucosa. Smith (1942) estimated loss of glomeruli and olfactory nerve fibers, and found in general a decrease of olfactory nerve fibers into old age. These results were not confirmed by Mesolella (1934) except for chronic catarrhal conditions. This study was designed to determine whether there is a difference in thresholds for young and elderly subjects, for a group of food odors. Food odors. are mixtures of numerous compounds of varying chemical structure. A methodology is employed here for determining thresholds which controls for guessing thus eliminating the problem of “false positives.”
METHOD Subjects Subjects were 20 healthy elderly volunteers, aged 78 to 90 (mean = 81.4 years) and 8 young subjects, aged 20 to 26 (mean =
THRESHOLDS OF FOOD ODORS
391
21.9 years). ‘The elderly subjects were Caucasian, non-smokers and residents of the Methodist Retirement Home, Durham, N. C. The young subjects were Caucasian, and students at Duke University, Durham, N. C. Six students were non-smokers.; two smoked occasionally.
Downloaded by [New York University] at 20:57 04 February 2015
S t i m u l u s Materials The stimuli were nine food odorants: cherry, grape, lemon, orange, tomato, bacon, cheddar cheese, chocolate and mushroom. 1- octen - 3 - 01, obtained from Compagnie Parento, Inc., Croton-onHudson, New York, was used as the mushroom st-hulus. The other odorants were commercial flavor additives supplied by Firmenich, New York. These flavors are mixtures of numerous compounds which vary in molecular structure. Firmenich does not disclose the ingredients of its food flavors. The full strength odorants, before dilution by the olfactometer, were judged to be of approximately equal intensity by 5 young college students.
Apparatus Dravnieks’ dynamic triangle olfactometer (see Figure 1) was used to measure thresholds of the stimuli. This olfactometer provides six levels of dilution. Three glass sniffing ports (arranged in a “triangle”) are supplied at each dilution level; two of these are test room air (blanks) and the other is the odorous sample diluted with test room air. The task for the subjects is to determine which of the three ports at a given dilution level delivers an odor. The subjects must make a choice (thus this is the forcedchoice triangle principle) even if they feel that none of the three glass ports exhibits an odor; in this way, the olfactometer meets the problem of “false positives” which were found in large numbers with elderly subjects by Schiffman, Stavros and Pasternak (Note 2). The six dilution factors are 3600x, 1200x, 400x, 135x, 45x and 15x for levels 1 through 6 respectively. Each successive level delivers a concentration 3 times higher than the preceding one. The flow rates are approximately 500 ml/min. The olfactomer was covered by a hood and vented by a large fan.
SCHIFFMAN/MOSS/ERICKSON
Downloaded by [New York University] at 20:57 04 February 2015
392
Figure 1. Subject seated a t the dynamic triangle olfactometer (Dravnieks, 1974) used to measure thresholds. T h e subject is holding a triangular set, consisting of three glass sniffing ports. Two of these deliver room air (blanks) and the other delivers the odorous sample diluted with room air. T h e olfactometer has six sets and thus six dilution levels.
THRESHOLDS OF FOOD ODORS
393
Downloaded by [New York University] at 20:57 04 February 2015
Procedure Subjects were tested individually. They began with the most dilute level ( # l ) , removing the triangular set and smelling t h e effluents ad libitum from the three ports. The subjects signaled the port which they considered to be odorous by pressing a button located next to that port. This button illuminated a light which was visible solely to the experimenter. One minute intervals were maintained between smelling each dilution level. The subjects were also asked to identify the odorants, if possible. The sets were rotated after testing was completed for each subject because subjects tended to replace the set so that the port they considered to deliver the odorant was most accessible to the next subject. Only one odorant was tested per day because the olfactomer had to be cleaned after each odorant. The cleansing was achieved by pumping warm room air through the tubing for a minimum of thirty minutes to a maximum of two hours.
RESULTS The threshold was taken to be the first dilution level at which the subject identified that and successive higher concentrations. The thresholds are shown in Table 1. The data so emphatically demonstrate a difference in olfactory acuity between the young and the elderly that statistical tests were considered unnecessary and inappropriate.
The mean thresholds for each odorant for young and elderly groups are shown in Table 2. The mean dilution level threshold over odorants was 3.8 for the elderly and 1.1 for the young sub-
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TABLE 1
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3 96
Downloaded by [New York University] at 20:57 04 February 2015
TABLE 2 Mean Thresholds for Young and Elderly Subjects for each of the Food Flavors.
Young Elderly
Young Elderly
Cherry
Grape
Lemon
Orange
Tomato
1.3 4.3
1.0
1.0 4.9
1.0 3.5
1.0
3.4
Bacon
Cheddar Cheese
Chocolate
1.0
1.5
1.0
1.0
3.3
2.9
4.7
4.3
2.9
Mushroom
jects. Because each dilution level is a factor of 3 greater than the preceding one in concentration, this suggests that the mean threshold concentration for the elderly is at least eleven times as great as that for the youthful group. It may be more than eleven because the lowest level of sensitivity was most likely not achieved for the young subjects due to the necessity of keeping testing conditions the same for both groups. That is, the threshold may have been lower than the concentration at level 1 for the young subjects.
THRESHOLDS OF FOOD ODORS
397
Downloaded by [New York University] at 20:57 04 February 2015
DISCUSSIQN Complaints about the taste and smell of food are very common among the elderly. Cohen and Gitman (1959) found that 38.9% of the females and 25.8% of the males in a sample from 65-94 years of age complained about taste. Most frequent complaints pertained to sourness, bitterness and dryness. This might be explained in part by the striking loss of smell acuity found for the elderly in this study. Many foods, especially vegetables, have a bitter taste but a pleasant odor ( e . g., green pepper). For the elderly, who have impaired olfactory sensitivity, green pepper would simply taste bitter. Thus the bitter taste of old age can be taken literally for many. Because the lower end of the threshold may not have been reached f o r some young subjects and several elderly subjects, no conclusions can be drawn here about which specific odors exhibit the greatest loss with age. Also, it should be kept in mind that the flavors used are synthetic and may not be exact replicas of the real food. Thus, the fact that orange was better identified than tomato may be due to the fact that the commercial orange flavor was a better replica of real oranges than the commercial tomato flavor was of real tomatoes. In conclusion, thresholds were found for nine food flavors for both young and elderly groups, using an olfactometer which controls for guessing. Elderly subjects were found to have a reduced sensitivity to these odors compared with young subjects.
REFERENCE NOTES SCHIFFMAN, S. Food recognition by the elderly. A unpublished paper, 1976. SCHIFFMAN, S., STAVROS, P., & PASTERNAX, M. Change in urine and musk odors with age. An unpublished manuscript, 1976.
SCHIFFMAN/MOSS/ERICKSON
398
REFERENCES CHALICE, H. D., & DEWHURST, J. R. Coal gas poisoning. Loss of sense of smell'as a possible contributory factor with old people. British Medical Journal, 1957,
Downloaded by [New York University] at 20:57 04 February 2015
(2),915-917. COHEN, T.,& GITMAN,L. Oral complaints and taste perception in the aged. Journu2 of GerontoZogy, 1959, (14), 294-298. DRAVNIEXS, A. Instructions for dyndmk triangle olfuctometer. .Chicago: IIT Research Institute, 1974. HINCHCLIFF,R. The pattern of the threshold of perception for hearing and other specific senses as a function of age. GeronfoZogh, 1958, (2), 311-320. KIMBRELL,G. M.,& FURCHTGOTT, E. The effect of aging on olfactory threshold. Journal of Gerontology, 1963, (18). 364-365. LISS, L., & GOMEZ,F. The nature of senile ch,anges of the human olfactory bulb and tract. A . M. A . Archives of OtoZuryngoZogy, 1958, (67), 167-171. MECICHIAN,D. Variazioni della soglia olfattiva nell'eta senile. Minerva Oforinohingologica, 1958, (9),331-337. MESOLELLA, V. L'ofatto nelle diverse eta. Archives ItaZiuno di OtoZo&, 1934, (46),
43-62. ROVEE,C. K., COHEN, R. Y., & SHLAPACK, W. Life-span stability in olfactory sensitivity. Development Psychology, 1975, (ll), 311-318. SMITH,C.G. Age incidence of atrophy of olfactory nerves in man. Journal of Compurative NeuroZogy, 1942, (77), 589-595. VASCHIDE, N. L'etat de la sensibilite olfactive dans la vielillesse. Bulletin de laryngologie,. 1904, (7), 323-333. Received September 18, 1976; accepted September 30, 1976.
Experimental Aging Research: An International Journal Devoted to the Scientific Study of the Aging Process Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/uear20
Thresholds of food odors in the elderly a
b
Susan S. Schiffman , Jonathan Moss & Robert P. Erickson
c
a
Center For The Study Of Aging and Human Development and Department of Psychiatry , Duke University , Durham, N. C., 27710 b
Medical School University of Miami , Miami, Florida, 33136 c
Department of Psychology , Duke University , Durham, N. C., 27706 Published online: 28 Sep 2007.
To cite this article: Susan S. Schiffman , Jonathan Moss & Robert P. Erickson (1976) Thresholds of food odors in the elderly, Experimental Aging Research: An International Journal Devoted to the Scientific Study of the Aging Process, 2:5, 389-398, DOI: 10.1080/03610737608257997 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03610737608257997
PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with
primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content.
Downloaded by [New York University] at 20:57 04 February 2015
This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions
THRESHOLDS OF FOOD ODORS IN THE ELDERLY
Downloaded by [New York University] at 20:57 04 February 2015
SUSAN S. SCHIFFMAN Center For T h e Study Of Aging and Human Development and Defiartrnent of Psychiatry Duke University Durham. N. C. 27710
JONATHAN MOSS
ROBERT P. ERICKSON
Medical School University of Miami Miami, Florida 3 3 I36
Department of Psychology Duke University Durham, N. C. 27706
Schiffman, S. S., Moss, J., & Erickson, R. P. Thresholds for food odors in the elderly. Experimental Aging Research, 1976, 2, (5) 389-398. Thresholds for nine food odors were found for two gfoups of subjects, young and elderly. Dravniek’s dynamic triangle olfactometer, which employs the forced-choice, triangle principle and controls for guessing was used. Elderly subjects were found to have a considerably reduced sensitivity to these odors compared with young subjects.
There are few reports of changes in olfaction with age. Hinchcliff (1958) examined available data on sensory thresholds and found an exponential d.ecline in sensitivity with age. Chalke and Dewhurst (1957) found that more than one half of subjects over
This paper was supported in part by a grant to the senior author AG 00443, a grant to Dr. R. P. Erickson, NSF GB 33464 and a grant to the Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development HD00164.
Downloaded by [New York University] at 20:57 04 February 2015
3 90
SCHIFFMAN/MOSS/ERICKSON
65 were unable to smell domestic gas. They reported that over 75% of the 892 deaths due to domestic gas poisoning were persons past 60 years of age. Megighian (1958) found an increased threshold for coffee and citral in elderly patients. Kimbrell and Furchtgott (1963) found increases in threshold values for n-butanol and isoamyl acetate with age. Vaschide (1904) had previously reported a marked increase in olfactory threshold to camphor with age. Schiffman (Note 1) reported that the elderly were less able to identify blended foods while blindfolded than young subjects. Schiffman, Stavros and Pasternak (Note 2) found increased thresholds to urine and musk odors with age. They also reported a large number of “false positives” (an odor was reported when none was present) among elderly subjects. Rovee, Cohen and Shlapack (1975) concluded that there was no change in olfactory sensitivity with age; however, their data suggest otherwise, with the curve relating the subjective and physical intensity of propanol being least steep f o r the elderly (i. e., the elderly were less sensitive). Liss and Gomez (1958) reported changes in the human olfactory bulb and tract with senility. They found extensive degeneration which they concluded was secondary to destruction of sensory cells of the nasal mucosa. Smith (1942) estimated loss of glomeruli and olfactory nerve fibers, and found in general a decrease of olfactory nerve fibers into old age. These results were not confirmed by Mesolella (1934) except for chronic catarrhal conditions. This study was designed to determine whether there is a difference in thresholds for young and elderly subjects, for a group of food odors. Food odors. are mixtures of numerous compounds of varying chemical structure. A methodology is employed here for determining thresholds which controls for guessing thus eliminating the problem of “false positives.”
METHOD Subjects Subjects were 20 healthy elderly volunteers, aged 78 to 90 (mean = 81.4 years) and 8 young subjects, aged 20 to 26 (mean =
THRESHOLDS OF FOOD ODORS
391
21.9 years). ‘The elderly subjects were Caucasian, non-smokers and residents of the Methodist Retirement Home, Durham, N. C. The young subjects were Caucasian, and students at Duke University, Durham, N. C. Six students were non-smokers.; two smoked occasionally.
Downloaded by [New York University] at 20:57 04 February 2015
S t i m u l u s Materials The stimuli were nine food odorants: cherry, grape, lemon, orange, tomato, bacon, cheddar cheese, chocolate and mushroom. 1- octen - 3 - 01, obtained from Compagnie Parento, Inc., Croton-onHudson, New York, was used as the mushroom st-hulus. The other odorants were commercial flavor additives supplied by Firmenich, New York. These flavors are mixtures of numerous compounds which vary in molecular structure. Firmenich does not disclose the ingredients of its food flavors. The full strength odorants, before dilution by the olfactometer, were judged to be of approximately equal intensity by 5 young college students.
Apparatus Dravnieks’ dynamic triangle olfactometer (see Figure 1) was used to measure thresholds of the stimuli. This olfactometer provides six levels of dilution. Three glass sniffing ports (arranged in a “triangle”) are supplied at each dilution level; two of these are test room air (blanks) and the other is the odorous sample diluted with test room air. The task for the subjects is to determine which of the three ports at a given dilution level delivers an odor. The subjects must make a choice (thus this is the forcedchoice triangle principle) even if they feel that none of the three glass ports exhibits an odor; in this way, the olfactometer meets the problem of “false positives” which were found in large numbers with elderly subjects by Schiffman, Stavros and Pasternak (Note 2). The six dilution factors are 3600x, 1200x, 400x, 135x, 45x and 15x for levels 1 through 6 respectively. Each successive level delivers a concentration 3 times higher than the preceding one. The flow rates are approximately 500 ml/min. The olfactomer was covered by a hood and vented by a large fan.
SCHIFFMAN/MOSS/ERICKSON
Downloaded by [New York University] at 20:57 04 February 2015
392
Figure 1. Subject seated a t the dynamic triangle olfactometer (Dravnieks, 1974) used to measure thresholds. T h e subject is holding a triangular set, consisting of three glass sniffing ports. Two of these deliver room air (blanks) and the other delivers the odorous sample diluted with room air. T h e olfactometer has six sets and thus six dilution levels.
THRESHOLDS OF FOOD ODORS
393
Downloaded by [New York University] at 20:57 04 February 2015
Procedure Subjects were tested individually. They began with the most dilute level ( # l ) , removing the triangular set and smelling t h e effluents ad libitum from the three ports. The subjects signaled the port which they considered to be odorous by pressing a button located next to that port. This button illuminated a light which was visible solely to the experimenter. One minute intervals were maintained between smelling each dilution level. The subjects were also asked to identify the odorants, if possible. The sets were rotated after testing was completed for each subject because subjects tended to replace the set so that the port they considered to deliver the odorant was most accessible to the next subject. Only one odorant was tested per day because the olfactomer had to be cleaned after each odorant. The cleansing was achieved by pumping warm room air through the tubing for a minimum of thirty minutes to a maximum of two hours.
RESULTS The threshold was taken to be the first dilution level at which the subject identified that and successive higher concentrations. The thresholds are shown in Table 1. The data so emphatically demonstrate a difference in olfactory acuity between the young and the elderly that statistical tests were considered unnecessary and inappropriate.
The mean thresholds for each odorant for young and elderly groups are shown in Table 2. The mean dilution level threshold over odorants was 3.8 for the elderly and 1.1 for the young sub-
5
6
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Level Delivers a Concentration 3 Times Higher than the
Thresholds and Guesses regarding the Identity of the Odor for Young [Y] and Elderly [El Subjects. Each Successive
TABLE 1
Downloaded by [New York University] at 20:57 04 February 2015
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TABLE 2 Mean Thresholds for Young and Elderly Subjects for each of the Food Flavors.
Young Elderly
Young Elderly
Cherry
Grape
Lemon
Orange
Tomato
1.3 4.3
1.0
1.0 4.9
1.0 3.5
1.0
3.4
Bacon
Cheddar Cheese
Chocolate
1.0
1.5
1.0
1.0
3.3
2.9
4.7
4.3
2.9
Mushroom
jects. Because each dilution level is a factor of 3 greater than the preceding one in concentration, this suggests that the mean threshold concentration for the elderly is at least eleven times as great as that for the youthful group. It may be more than eleven because the lowest level of sensitivity was most likely not achieved for the young subjects due to the necessity of keeping testing conditions the same for both groups. That is, the threshold may have been lower than the concentration at level 1 for the young subjects.
THRESHOLDS OF FOOD ODORS
397
Downloaded by [New York University] at 20:57 04 February 2015
DISCUSSIQN Complaints about the taste and smell of food are very common among the elderly. Cohen and Gitman (1959) found that 38.9% of the females and 25.8% of the males in a sample from 65-94 years of age complained about taste. Most frequent complaints pertained to sourness, bitterness and dryness. This might be explained in part by the striking loss of smell acuity found for the elderly in this study. Many foods, especially vegetables, have a bitter taste but a pleasant odor ( e . g., green pepper). For the elderly, who have impaired olfactory sensitivity, green pepper would simply taste bitter. Thus the bitter taste of old age can be taken literally for many. Because the lower end of the threshold may not have been reached f o r some young subjects and several elderly subjects, no conclusions can be drawn here about which specific odors exhibit the greatest loss with age. Also, it should be kept in mind that the flavors used are synthetic and may not be exact replicas of the real food. Thus, the fact that orange was better identified than tomato may be due to the fact that the commercial orange flavor was a better replica of real oranges than the commercial tomato flavor was of real tomatoes. In conclusion, thresholds were found for nine food flavors for both young and elderly groups, using an olfactometer which controls for guessing. Elderly subjects were found to have a reduced sensitivity to these odors compared with young subjects.
REFERENCE NOTES SCHIFFMAN, S. Food recognition by the elderly. A unpublished paper, 1976. SCHIFFMAN, S., STAVROS, P., & PASTERNAX, M. Change in urine and musk odors with age. An unpublished manuscript, 1976.
SCHIFFMAN/MOSS/ERICKSON
398
REFERENCES CHALICE, H. D., & DEWHURST, J. R. Coal gas poisoning. Loss of sense of smell'as a possible contributory factor with old people. British Medical Journal, 1957,
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