Portrait

Manuel F. Casanova, M.D.

Gottfried and Gisela Kolb Endowed Chair in Psychiatry

Associate Chair for Research

Department of Psychiatry
500 S Preston St Bldg 55A Ste 217
Louisville, Kentucky 40292-1702
502-852-4077
502-852-4078 (Fax)

Manuel F. Casanova

Biosketch

Dr. Manuel Casanova made his residency training in neurology and then spent 3 years doing a fellowship in neuropathology at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. During his stay at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, Dr. Casanova was in-charge of Pediatric Neuropathology, a fact which kindled his interest in developmental disorders of the brain. His clinical experience was enhanced by appointments as either a consultant or staff neuropathologist at Sinai Hospital (Maryland), the North Charles Hospital and the D.C. General Hospital. He spent several years as Deputy Medical Examiner for Washington, D.C., where he gained valuable experience in the post-mortem examination of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and child abuse. His expertise in the field was recognized by honorary appointments as a Scientific Expert for the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology and as a Professorial Lecturer for the Department of Forensic Science at George Washington University. Dr. Casanova spent 8 years helping to establish 2 of the most successful brain banks in this country: The Johns Hopkins Brain Resource Center (3 years) and the Brain Bank Unit of the Clinical Brains Disorders Branch at the National Institutes of Mental Health (5 years). At present, Dr. Casanova is well published in a multitude of postmortem techniques including neuronal morphometry immunocytochemistry, neurochemistry, and autoradiography.

Research interests

Dr. Casanova has had over twenty years of experience in the neurosciences. Although trained in the classical methods of neurology and neuropathology his interest has gradually shifted towards the study of abnormalities of cortical circuitry. His research has focused on the cell minicolumn, a vertical conglomerate of 80 to 100 neurons having a common latency of response to stimulation. Using computerized imaging analysis he has established the anatomical validity of the cell minicolumn. His earlier work has reported interhemispheric differences in the morphometry of minicolumns that could provide for the speciation of hominids. Localized in Broadmann area 22—part of Wernicke’s language region—the morphometric difference may play a role both in the development of language and in its disorders. His most recent studies have looked for the presence of abnormalities of minicolumnar organization and lateralization in the brains of patients who exhibit language disturbances, including autism, Asperger’s syndrome, and dyslexia. He has summarized his work on minicolumns and provided an overview of the field in recent reviews of the literature appearing in Brain and Brain, Behavior and Evolution.

Online resources

Cortical column article by Vernon B. Mountcastle at Scholarpedia
Alopecia FAQ and coloring book
Autism Netverse: A Literary Journey for the Autistic Mind
Created by Vandna Jerath, co-author of the article “Autistic poetry as therapy”
A summary of Dr. Casanova’s work on autism by the National Alliance for Autism Research
A summary of Dr. Casanova’s work on schizophrenia from the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill

Citations in popular press

Upcoming: Louisville Life, airing Thursday, Nov. 19 at 7:30/6:30 p.m. CT on KET2; Saturday, Nov. 21 at 7/6 p.m. CT on KET; and Sunday, Nov. 22 at noon/11 a.m. CT on KET2. (Press release)
Laura Ungar: Rising autism rate no surprise to experts, parents. Louisville courier-journal, 2009 October 5.
Virginia Gewin: Studies of brain structure boost ‘connectivity theory’ of autism. News & commentary (New York: Simons Foundation), 2009 July 21.
Kelly House: UL researcher may have found link between conditions such as autism, dyslexia. Louisville courier-journal, 2009 July 21.
Laura Ungar: U of L researcher receives autism grant. Louisville courier-journal, 2009 June 22.
Lori Lyle: UofL autism study gets additional funding. WAVE-TV, 2009 June 22.
Carolyn Y. Johnson: Magnetic field tests “reflexes” of autism. Boston globe, 2009 June 8.
Tom Paulson: “Love hormone” may emerge as a treatment for autism. Seattle post-intelligencer, 2007 May 4.
Keith Seinfeld: Autism and brain development [radio program]. KPLU, Seattle, 2007 May 4.
Michael Balter: Brain evolution studies go micro. Science 2007 March 2; 315: 1208–1211.
Ingrid Wickelgren: Autistic brains out of synch? Science 2005 June 24; 308, 1856–1858.
Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives. 2005 progress report on brain research: Arts and cognition. New York: Dana Press, 2005.
Kendall Powell: Opening a window to the autistic brain. PLoS biology 2004 August 17; 2(8): 1054–1058.
Erica Goode: Lifting the veils of autism, one by one. New York times, 2004 February 24.

Recent publications

This list only includes publications from the past five years. For earlier work, see the full curriculum vitae. Links to online content are provided when possible, but full text access often requires a subscription to the relevant journal. Additional content can be found on the Laboratory of Neuropsychiatry publications page.

In press

Ayman El-Baz, Manuel F. Casanova, Ahmed Elnakib, Georgy Gimel’farb, Andrew E. Switala. Image-based detection of corpus callosum variability for more accurate discrimination between dyslexic and normal brains. In: Biomedical imaging: From nano to macro. Piscataway, NJ: IEEE; 2010, in press.

Manuel F. Casanova. The brain in autism. In: C Haines, SJ Colletti, eds. Autism and seizures. London: Jessica Kingsley; 2009, in press.

Emily L. Williams, Manuel F. Casanova. Autism and dyslexia: a spectrum of cognitive styles as defined by minicolumnar morphometry. Medical hypotheses 2009; in press.

Vladimír Blažek, Jaroslav Brůžek, Manuel F. Casanova. Plausible mechanisms for brain structural and size changes in human evolution. Collegium Antropologicum 2009; in press.

Manuel F. Casanova, Ayman S. El-Baz, Jay Giedd, Judith M. Rumsey, Andrew E. Switala. Increased white matter gyral depth in dyslexia: implications for corticocortical connectivity. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 2009; in press.

Manuel F. Casanova, Ayman El-Baz, Eric Vanbogaert, Praveen Narahari, Andrew Switala. A topographic study of minicolumnar core width by lamina comparison between autistic subjects and controls: possible minicolumnar disruption due to an anatomical element in-common to multiple laminae. Brain Pathology 2009; in press.

Published

Manuel F. Casanova, Ayman S. El-Baz, Eric Vanbogaert, Praveen Narahari, Juan Trippe. Minicolumnar width: comparison between supragranular and infragranular layers. Journal of Neuroscience Methods 2009 Oct 30; 184(1): 19–24.

Fabián Crespo, Rafael Fernandez-Botran, Christopher Tillquist, Lonnie Sears, Meghan Mott, Manuel Casanova. Cytokine polymorphisms in autism: their role in immune alterations. In: Abha Chauhan, Ved Chauhan, W. Ted Brown, eds. Autism: Oxidative stress, inflammation, and immune abnormalities, ch 16. Boca Raton: CRC Press; 2009 Oct 14.

Estate (Tato) Sokhadze, Joshua Baruth, Manuel Casanova. Neuropathological theories and EEG gamma oscillation abnormalities in autism. NeuroConnections 2009 Aug 11; 2009(Fall): 34–37.

Manuel F. Casanova. La esquizofrenia como condición neurológica debido a una falta en la lateralización del cerebro: observaciones micro- y macroscópicas. Revista de Neurología 2009 Aug 1; 49(3): 136–142.

Sarah B. Johnson, Manuel F. Casanova. Interhemispheric connectivity: the evolution and nature of the corpus callosum. In: Timothy B. Westland, Robert N. Calton, eds. Handbook on white matter: structure, function, and changes, 3–15. Hauppauge: Nova Science Publishers; 2009 Jul 28.

Manuel F. Casanova, Ayman El-Baz, Meghan Mott, Glenn Mannheim, Hossam Hassan, Rachid Fahmi, Jay Giedd, Judith M. Rumsey, Andrew E. Switala, Aly Farag. Reduced gyral window and corpus callosum size in autism: possible macroscopic correlates of a minicolumnopathy. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 2009 May; 39(5): 751–764.

Manuel Casanova, Juan Trippe. Radial cytoarchitecture and patterns of cortical connectivity in autism. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, B. Biological Sciences 2009 May 27; 364(1522): 1433–1436.

Ratnam S. Seelan, Jaganathan Lakshmanan, Manuel F. Casanova, Ranga N. Parthasarathy. Identification of myo-inositol-3-phosphate synthase isoforms: characterization, expression and putative role of a 16 kDa γ_c isoform. Journal of Biological Chemistry 2009 Apr 3; 284(14): 9443–9457.

Estate M. Sokhadze, Ayman El-Baz, Joshua Baruth, Grace Mathai, Lonnie Sears, Manuel F. Casanova. Effects of low frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) on gamma frequency oscillations and event-related potentials during processing of illusory figures in autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 2009 April; 39(4): 619–634.

Estate Sokhadze, Joshua Baruth, Allan Tasman, Lonnie Sears, Grace Mathai, Ayman El-Baz, Manuel F. Casanova. Event-related potential study of novelty processing abnormalities in autism. Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback 2009 March; 34(1): 37–51.

Manuel F. Casanova, Juan Trippe II, Christopher Tillquist, Andrew E. Switala. Morphometric variability of minicolumns in the striate cortex of Homo sapiens, Macaca mulatta, and Pan troglodytes. Journal of Anatomy 2009 Feb; 214(2): 226–234.

A. El-Baz, M. Casanova, G. Gimel’farb, M. Mott, A. Switala, E. Vanbogaert, R. McCracken. Dyslexia diagnostics by 3D texture analysis of cerebral white matter gyrifications. IEEE International Conference on Pattern Recognition 2008 Dec 8; 19. DOI: 10.1109/ICPR.2008.4760971.

Steven A. Chance, Manuel F. Casanova, Andy E. Switala, Timothy J. Crow. Auditory cortex asymmetry, altered minicolumn spacing and absence of ageing effects in schizophrenia. Brain 2008 Dec; 131(12): 3178–3192.

Manuel F. Casanova. The significance of minicolumnar size variability in autism: a perspective from comparative anatomy. In: Andrew W. Zimmerman, ed. Autism: Current theories and evidence, 349–360. Totowa, N.J.: Humana Press; 2008 Oct 15.

A. El-Baz, M. Casanova, G. Gimel’farb, M. Mott, A. Switala, E. Vanbogaert, R. McCracken. A new CAD system for early diagnosis of dyslexic brains. IEEE International Conference on Image Processing 2008 Oct 14; 15: 1820–1823.

A. El-Baz, M. Casanova, G. Gimel’farb, M. Mott, A. Switala. An MRI-based diagnostic framework for early diagnosis of dyslexia. International Journal of Computer Assisted Radiology and Surgery 2008 Sep; 3(3–4): 181–189.

Manuel F. Casanova. Neuropathological findings in Asperger syndrome. In: Jeffrey L. Rausch, Marie E. Johnson, Manuel F. Casanova, eds. Asperger’s disorder, 155–170. New York: Informa Healthcare; 2008 Aug 12.

Noha El-Zehiry, Manuel Casanova, Adel Elmaghraby. Variability of the relative corpus callosum cross sectional area between dyslexic and normally developed brains. In: Biomedical imaging: From nano to macro, 436–439. Piscataway, NJ: IEEE; 2008 May 14.

C. Fajardo, M.I. Escobar, E. Buriticá, G. Arteaga, J. Umbarila, M.F. Casanova, H. Pimienta. Von Economo neurons are present in the dorsolateral (dysgranular) prefrontal cortex of humans. Neuroscience Letters 2008 Apr 25; 435(3), 215–218.

Manuel F. Casanova, Pawel Kreczmanski, Juan Trippe II, Andrew Switala, Helmut Heinsen, Harry W.M. Steinbusch, Christoph Schmitz. Neuronal distribution in the neocortex of schizophrenic patients. Psychiatry Research 2008 Apr 15; 158(3), 267–277.

Manuel F. Casanova, Anouar I. Konkachbaev, Andrew E. Switala, Adel S. Elmaghraby. Recursive trace line method for detecting myelinated bundles: a comparison study with pyramidal cell arrays. Journal of Neuroscience Methods 2008 Mar; 168(2), 367–372. PMCID: PMC2266875

SeelanRatnam S. Seelan, Abdelnaby Khalyfa, Jaganathan Lakshmanan, Manuel F. Casanova, Ranga N. Parthasarathy. Deciphering the lithium transcriptome: microarray profiling of lithium modulated gene expression in human neuronal cells. Neuroscience 2008 Feb; 151(4), 1184–1197.

Manuel F. Casanova, Christopher R. Tillquist. Encephalization, emergent properties, and psychiatry: a minicolumnar perspective. The Neuroscientist 2008 Feb; 14(1), 101–118.

Manuel F. Casanova. The minicolumnopathy of autism: a link between migraine and gastrointestinal symptoms. Medical Hypotheses 2008 Jan; 70(1), 73–80. PMCID: PMC2211386

Hossam Abd EL Munim, Aly A. Farag, Manuel F Casanova. Frequency-domain analysis of the human brain for studies of autism. In: ISSPIT 2007, 1198–1203. Piscataway, N.J.: IEEE; 2007 Dec 15.

Ayman El-Baz, Manuel Casanova, Georgy Gimel`farb, Meghan Mott, Andrew Switala. Autism diagnostics by 3D texture analysis of cerebral white matter gyrifications. In: Nicholas Ayache, Sébastien Ourselin, Anthony J. Maeder, eds. Medical image computing and computer-assisted intervention—MICCAI 2007, 882–890. New York: Springer; 2007 Nov.

Manuel F. Casanova, Andrew E. Switala, Juan Trippe, Michael Fitzgerald. Comparative minicolumnar morphometry of three distinguished scientists. Autism 2007 Nov; 11(6), 557–569.

Manuel F. Casanova. The neuropathology of autism. Brain Pathology 2007 Oct; 17(4), 422–433.

Sarah B. Johnson, Somnath Datta, Carlton A. Hornung, Manuel F. Casanova. Mathematical models of epigenetic influences in autism: a new perspective based on neuropathological findings. In: Paul C. Carlisle, ed. Progress in autism research, 101–114. New York: Nova Biomedical Books; 2007 Oct.

Manuel F. Casanova. Schizophrenia seen as a deficit in the modulation of cortical minicolumns by monoaminergic systems. International Review of Psychiatry 2007 Aug; 19(4), 361–372.

William H. Hoffman, Manuel F. Casanova, Cornelia D. Cudricic, Ekaterina Zakranskaia, Roopa Venugopalan, Sukriti Nag, Michael J. Oglesbee, Horea Rus. Neuroinflammatory response of the choroid plexus epithelium in fatal diabetic ketoacidosis. Experimental and Molecular Pathology 2007 Aug; 83(1), 65–72. PMCID: PMC1950467

Rachid Fahmi, Ayman El-Baz, Hossam Abd El-Munim, Alaa E. Abdel-Hakim, Aly A. Farag, Manuel F. Casanova. Robust neuroimaging-based classification techniques of autistic vs. typically developing brain. In: Jasjit S. Suri, Aly Farag, eds. Deformable models: Theory and biomaterial applications, 535–566. New York: Springer; 2007 Aug 3.

H. Abd El Munim, R. Fahmi, N. Youssry El-Zehiry, A.A. Farag, M. Casanova. Volumetric MRI analysis of dyslexic subjects using a level set framework. In: Jasjit S. Suri, Aly Farag, eds. Deformable models: Theory and biomaterial applications, 461–492. New York: Springer; 2007 Aug 3.

Manuel F. Casanova, Meghan Mott. The neuropathology of autism: a selective review. Journal of Special Education and Rehabilitation 2007 Jul; 2006(3–4), 21–35.

Rachid Fahmi, Ayman S. El-Baz, Hossam E. Abd El Munim, Aly A. Farag, Manuel F. Casanova. Classification techniques for autistic vs. typically developing brain using MRI data. In: Biomedical imaging: From nano to macro, 1348-1351. Piscataway, NJ: IEEE; 2007 May.

Ayman El-Baz, Manuel F. Casanova, Georgy Gimel’farb, Meghan Mott, Andrew E. Switwala. A new image analysis approach for automatic classification of autistic brains. In: Biomedical imaging: From nano to macro, 352-355. Piscataway, NJ: IEEE; 2007 May.

Manuel F. Casanova, Jodie Steele. Autism: an overview. Louisville medicine 2007 Apr; 54(11), 503, 505, 531.

Manuel F. Casanova, Aly Farag, Ayman El-Baz, Meghan Mott, Hossam Hassan, Rachid Fahmi, Andrew E. Switala. Abnormalities of the gyral window in autism: a macroscopic correlate to a putative minicolumnopathy. Journal of Special Education and Rehabilitation 2007 Jan; 2006(1–2), 85–101.

Manuel F. Casanova, Andrew E. Switala, Juan Trippe. A comparison study of the vertical bias of pyramidal cells in the hippocampus and neocortex. Developmental Neuroscience 2007 Jan; 29(1–2), 193–200.

Manuel F. Casanova, Juan Trippe II, Andrew Switala. A temporal continuity to the vertical organization of the human neocortex. Cerebral Cortex 2007 Jan; 17(1), 130–137.

Manuel F. Casanova. Cortical circuit abnormalities in the brains of autistic patients. In: Juan Martos Pérez, Pedro M. González, María Llorente Comí, Carmen Nieto, eds. New developments in autism: the future is today, 267–288. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers; 2006 Dec 30. [Spanish version here]

S.A. Chance, M.F. Casanova, A.E. Switala, T.J. Crow. Minicolumnar structure in Heschl’s gyrus and planum temporale: asymmetries in relation to sex and callosal fiber number. Neuroscience 2006 Dec 28; 143(4), 1041–1050.

Ayman El-Baz, Aly Farag, Asem Ali, Georgy Gimel’farb, Manuel Casanova. A framework for unsupervised segmentation of multi-modal medical images. In: Reinhard R. Beichel, Milan Sonka, eds. Computer vision approaches to medical image analysis, 120–131. New York: Springer, 2006 Nov.

M.F. Casanova, I. van Kooten, A.E. Switala, H. van Engeland, H. Heinsen, H.W.M. Steinbusch, P.R. Hof, C. Schmitz. Abnormalities of cortical minicolumnar organization in the prefrontal lobes of autistic patients. Clinical Neuroscience Research 2006 Oct; 6(3–4), 127–133.

Manuel F. Casanova. Neuropathological and genetic findings in autism: the significance of a putative minicolumnopathy. The NeuroScientist 2006 Oct 1; 12(5), 435–441.

Manuel F. Casanova, Imke A.J. van Kooten, Andrew E. Switala, Herman van Engeland, Helmut Heinsen, Harry W.M. Steinbusch, Patrick R. Hof, Juan Trippe, Janet Stone, Christoph Schmitz. Minicolumnar abnormalities in autism. Acta Neuropathologica 2006 Sep; 112(3), 287–303.

Latha K. Parthasarathy, Ratnam S. Seelan, Carmelita R. Tobias, Manuel F. Casanova, Ranga N. Parthasarathy. Mammalian inositol 3-phosphate synthase: its role in the biosynthesis of brain inositol and its clinical use as psychoactive agent. In: Aron Lahiri Majumder, B.B. Biswas, eds. Biology of inositols and phosphoinositides, 291-312. New York: Springer, 2006 Jul 21.

Manuel F. Casanova, Juan Trippe II. Regulatory mechanisms of cortical laminar development. Brain research: Brain research reviews 2006 Jun; 51(1), 72–84.

Noha El-Zehiry, Manuel Casanova, Hossam Hassan, Aly Farag. Effect of minicolumnar disturbance on dyslexic brains: an MRI study. Biomedical imaging: Macro to nano, 1336-1339. Piscataway, N.J.: IEEE, 2006 May.

Steven A. Chance, Manuel F. Casanova, Andy E. Switala, Timothy J. Crow, Margaret M. Esiri. Minicolumn thinning in temporal lobe association cortex but not primary auditory cortex in normal human ageing. Acta Neuropathologica 2006 May; 111(5), 459–464.

M. J. P. Kruesi, M. F. Casanova. White matter in liars. The British Journal of Psychiatry 2006 Mar; 188(3), 293–294.

Ratnam S. Seelan, Anthony J. Janckila, Ranga N. Parthasarathy, Manuel F. Casanova. The importance of using equimolar DNA for transfection analysis of the 5′ flanking promoter regions of genes. Analytical Biochemistry 2006 Feb 15; 349(2), 306–308.

Manuel F. Casanova, ed. Recent developments in autism research. New York: Nova Biomdical Books, 2005 Nov 30. [Table of contents]

Manuel F. Casanova. Minicolumnar pathology in autism. In: Manuel F. Casanova, ed. Recent developments in autism research, 133–143. New York: Nova Biomedical Books; 2005 Nov 30.

Manuel F. Casanova, James D. Christensen, Jay Giedd, Judith M. Rumsey, David L. Garver, Gregory C. Postel. Magnetic resonance imaging study of brain asymmetries in dyslexic patients. Journal of Child Neurology 2005 Oct; 20(10), 842–847.

Manuel F. Casanova, ed. Neocortical modularity and the cell minicolumn. New York: Nova Biomdical Books, 2005 Sep 30. [Table of contents]

Manuel F. Casanova, Andrew E. Switala. Minicolumnar morphometry: computerized image analysis. In: Manuel F. Casanova, ed. Neocortical modularity and the cell minicolumn, 161–179. New York: Nova Biomedical Books; 2005 Sep 30.

Daniel Buxhoeveden, Manuel F. Casanova. Encephalization, minicolumns, and hominid evolution. In: Manuel F. Casanova, ed. Neocortical modularity and the cell minicolumn, 117–136. New York: Nova Biomedical Books; 2005 Sep 30.

Daniel Buxhoeveden, Manuel F. Casanova. The cell column in comparative anatomy. In: Manuel F. Casanova, ed. Neocortical modularity and the cell minicolumn, 93–116. New York: Nova Biomedical Books; 2005 Sep 30.

Manuel F. Casanova. An apologia for a paradigm shift in the neurosciences. In: Manuel F. Casanova, ed. Neocortical modularity and the cell minicolumn, 33–55. New York: Nova Biomedical Books; 2005 Sep 30.

Juan Trippe II, Manuel F. Casanova. Vernon B. Mountcastle: scientific achievements. In: Manuel F. Casanova, ed. Neocortical modularity and the cell minicolumn, 15–32. New York: Nova Biomedical Books; 2005 Sep 30.

Manuel F. Casanova. Vernon B. Mountcastle: a life that transformed the neurosciences. In: Manuel F. Casanova, ed. Neocortical modularity and the cell minicolumn, 1–13. New York: Nova Biomedical Books; 2005 Sep 30.

A.I. Konkachbaev, M.F. Casanova, J.H. Graham, A.S. Elmaghraby. Automated recursive segmentation of large neocortical images using standard deviation as termination criteria. 27th International Conference of the Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, 2531–2534. Piscataway, N.J.: IEEE, 2005 Sep.

Manuel F. Casanova. Anomalías en los circuitos corticales en los cerebros de pacientes con autismo. In: Juan Martos, Pedro Miguel González, María Llorente, Carmen Nieto, eds. Nuevos desarrollos en autismo: el futuro es hoy, 345–371. Madrid: Librería Paradox; 2005 May. [English version here]

Anouar I. Konkachbaev, Adel S. Elmaghraby, Manuel F. Casanova. Recursive segmentation of minicolums using myelinated bundles. Neural engineering 2005: conference proceedings, 52–55. Piscataway, N.J.: IEEE, 2005 Mar.

Manuel F. Casanova, Leonie de Zeeuw, Andrew Switala, Pawel Kreczmanski, Hubert Korr, Norbert Ulfig, Helmut Heinsen, Harry W.M. Steinbusch, Christoph Schmitz. Mean cell spacing abnormalities in the neocortex of patients with schizophrenia. Psychiatry Research 2005 Jan 30; 133(1), 1–12.

Markus J.P. Kruesi, Manuel F. Casanova, Glenn Mannheim, Adrienne Johnson-Bilder. Reduced temporal lobe volume in early onset conduct disorder. Psychiatry research: Neuroimaging 2004 Nov 15; 132(1), 1–11.

Daniel Buxhoeveden, Manuel F. Casanova. Accelerated maturation in brains of patients with Down syndrome. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research 2004 Oct; 48(7), 704–705.

Manuel F. Casanova. White matter volume increase and minicolumns in autism. Annals of Neurology 2004 Sep; 56(3), 453.

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