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This probably won't come as news to most people following me, but research confirms that autistic people have unique brain wiring.
Some people consider autism to be a set of difficulties, characterised only by a list of behaviours in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) and similar.
Being autistic isn't a disorder or condition. The way autistic people's brains are wired exists independently of any decision to reduce it to a list of distressed behaviours and supposed 'deficits' and put these in a manual. It's a naturally occurring neurotype and autistic people have different social and communication styles and sensory experiences.
People are born autistic and that cannot be changed or cured. Nor do most autistic people want it to be. No one can become autistic at a later stage - though many autistics are only identified in adulthood or not at all.
Trauma Geek - Trauma and Neurodiversity Education has written about how being autistic or ADHD results in differences in the way synaptic pruning occurs. These differences in wiring have been found to show up in scans.
Autism research is still heavily biased towards searching for causes and cures, despite the fact that surveys of autistic people show their priority for research is mental health and wellbeing. This latest research highlights the need to stop wasting huge amounts of time and money on the former and shift to what autistic people actually want. It could also have big implications for diagnostic procedures.
Read more:
Autism research finds autistic brains are wired differently
What is a neurotype?
Trauma Geek on synaptic pruning differences in autistics and ADHDers
The research paper, TW for disorder language
Do autistic researchers focus on the things autistic people want them to?
Why I choose not to use the terms ASD or ASC
#neurodiversity#autism#actually autistic#autistic adult#actually neurodivergent#adhd#late diagnosed autistic#neurodivergent#research#synaptic pruning
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Cognitive Pruning
Definition: Cognitive pruning is a cognitive phenomenon in which the human brain selectively eliminates or weakens less relevant or less frequently accessed memories and information to make room for the retention and consolidation of more important or frequently used knowledge and experiences. It is an adaptive process that helps optimize memory resources and prioritize information based on its significance and utility.
Cognitive Pruning aligns with the concept of “Epistemic Relevance” in epistemology, the branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge and belief. Epistemic relevance explores how individuals determine which information is relevant to their beliefs and understanding of the world. Cognitive pruning can be seen as a practical manifestation of this philosophical concept, as it reflects the brain’s innate ability to discern and prioritize information deemed relevant to one’s cognitive processes.
“In the labyrinthine meadows of memory, the mind becomes an efficient gardener, trimming away the overgrown vines of trivial recollections to nurture the blooming roses of knowledge. Cognitive pruning, the brain’s art of forgetting, is the sculptor of our mental landscape, ensuring that the most meaningful and useful memories take root and flourish.”
-Me. Today. Just Now
#neural plasticity#Memory consolidation#forgetting curve#selective attention#neurogenesis#synaptic pruning#Hebbian Plasticity#Long-Term Potential#Spotify
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Thinking differently: life without an inner voice
I picked up a book “The Untethered Soul” By Michael A Singer as recommended in one of my podcasts the other day…however, I didn’t get very far before I was stopped in my tracks, forced to digest something described in the very first pages. Of course, I’m aware that so many self-help books refer to people having an inner voice, often an inner critic, that needs to be retrained in order to make…
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#articles#autism#disorganised thoughts#echolalia#executive function#hyperfocus#mindfulness#neurodiversity#no inner voice#non-linear thinking#orthogonal thinking#processing through writing#self-awareness#synaptic pruning#unsymbolized thinking#Why CBT doesn&039;t work for autism
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#ALSO autism and adhd are such an interesting case study in how to describe and categorize mental disabilities#because neither have been linked with one specific gene mutation..or one specific risk factor... or any agreed upon organic difference#(though im aware asd has been correlated with less synaptic pruning and larger brains)... or any definitive or defining symptoms#i have such a tough time categorizing people into ''autistic/adhd'' and ''allistic/NT'' because its like. wheres the cut off point#plenty of people who live neurotypically have symptoms associated with adhd but might be under the diagnostic threshold#idk i just see it as a large continuum where u could fall anywhere on the scale and i want people to understand that its completely#arbitrary where doctors have decided the cut off point/standard deviation is that warrants a diagnosis#for this reason i always encourage people not to fixate on labels if they dont NEED one and just use whatever resources or language works
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every day i find a new aspect of my biology to obsess over
#i love my friends none of them are bio nerds and every day i spam them with some whack shit like#'wish i had flatworm excretory system.. flame bulbs r so cool why cant humans have kidneys all over their bodies too'#and im not exaggerating i mean every SINGLE day they get at least a paragraph#USUALLY an essay oftentimes multiple times a day#this morning i was talking about synaptic pruning in my brain#im the king of yapping#buggie's nerd stuff#um. theres one thing abt trans genetics in there so#trans
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i think it is a product of my autistic brain that i never really “know” things, that is, i never feel that a thought i have is right, i’m never really sure about stuff; what i would describe my thoughts as instead (or my process of arriving at a conclusion or decision, which is what most thoughts are about) is having a map of information laid out and being able to access all the pieces of information about something whenever i think about it (every thought i think about has several other thoughts connected to it, it’s about perspective, if i focus on one of those other thoughts then it will have other thoughts connected to it too), but it never becomes more than that - a map of displayed information.
it’s not that i can’t connect the dots (or thoughts, or pieces of information), but there are so many dots that i can’t ever connect all of them at once, and once i’m done connecting two dots, some other connection is already undone, left behind, and i can’t make out the entire picture. medication (stimulants) helps with this, but then i’m always afraid it makes me have so much tunnel vision that i am finally able to connect all the dots available to me at the time, but i’ll miss out on dots i might otherwise know of when my brain is unmedicated (what i would describe as unmedicated “horizontal thinking” vs. medicated “vertical thinking”). in other words, it makes me able to conclude/decide, but leaves my thinking “incomplete”, which is why i prioritize thinking some things in advance before taking my meds, and think about other stuff while on it as it suits me.
#autistic brain#autism#the autistic brain IS cluttered after all#that's what autism is about#(synaptic pruning)#so it doesn't surprise me#in fact having that knowledge might inspire me to understand my brain the way i wrote here#or influence me#this should more or less answer the question of why autistic people struggle to make decisions#it's also related to executive dysfunction#but i might just have written a bunch of gibberish so i suppose it might make sense depending on each person who reads it#before taking meds i used to think of my thoughts as loops#i'd think things consecutively#and i'd feel my brain making a loop#i would know that a thought has originated from some other thought#which i've already lost#and i just took a moment to realize that and dwell on it#sort of like a deja vu sensation#oh and social cues#this is especially about social cues#the allistic brain is able to conclude without accessing all information#it intuits through emotion#if an allistic feels something then it is right#which works 80% of the time for communication#at least same species communication#of course there are a lot of other things involved as to whether someone is good at 'social cues'#but i believe this is the main component for autistic people
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uhhhhh
#I want to go back to being me when I was 15-17 years old specifically#I had this space I could go to where i could be weird and deep and creative and safe#but I don't really have that space anymore#I'm rooted in cold hard reality basically 10 years later and I hate it#existing feels like sharp angles and high contrast whereas back then it was soft and formless#revisiting my old posts on here reminds me of how that space felt#and it was good#it was peaceful#and now I feel like I've caused irreversible damage via social media and what feels like extreme synaptic pruning#sigh#also when I say space I mean mentally not like an actual physical space
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i don't quite understand what you're getting at, if both people are past the point of full brain development then what's wrong with finding connection across generations? whats wrong with wanting to try a relationship with someone with more life experience? if you're not able to make your own choices at 25 then when should you?
it's not about 25 yr olds being incapable of making choices or something man, i already said the weird part is that a 41 yr old would be comfortable dating someone that age
age gaps and wanting a relationship w someone older are not inherently bad, just when 30-40+ yr olds get involved w people in their 20s (rather than people who have had time to properly settle into adulthood like they have) it gives off the vibe they're immature or a bit of a creep
#asks#also its a myth that your brain stops changing or developing at 25#like the completion of the synaptic pruning process happens at around 25#but that doesn't mean that 25 yr olds are suddenly on the same playing field as people decades older than them and up for grabs
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The way some people act about child parts is alarming to say the least. The amount of misinformation around these parts is ridiculous. I've seen folks say that when a child part fronts, your brain "regresses" to become a child's brain.
No, sorry. A child part fronting doesn't undo decades' worth of brain development and synaptic pruning.
Did not think we'd be here in 2024 still having to remind people that all alters occupy the same physiological body and brain. But here we are, I guess.
#actually did#actually dissociative#ramcoa#ramcoa survivor#did osdd#did system#dissociation#dissociative identity disorder#dissociative system#osddid
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Cannot get over the fact that Tim saw Robin doing his backflips off of buildings and his brain connected the dots that boy has NO synaptic pruning happening
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the xina and miguel reunion does not stop being baffling because it is just... ridiculous on every single level. miguel put xina through the worst heartbreak of her life and a year later he walks into her apartment while she's not home. it looks like it always has. goes directly into her bedroom and picks up at the framed photo at her bedside (does she just ... look at it every night?) he does some mild nostalgia-induced property damage and joins her on the balcony. she looks like she always has. they sip on some soda. dead, he says, when asked how his sorry excuse of a father is.
they stare deeply into each other's eyes and you can see both their brains shut down. action potentials: zero. synaptic pruning but the shears are wrecking the entire hedge. she finally asks why he showed up. oh yeah, i actually want you to restore the only tether to you i have left. (she's the only thing that listens to me without judgement and i feel safe enough being completely honest with. and it's just an extension of you.)
(letting you go was like losing a limb, could you give me something to replace it, even if it's not the real thing? as long as it's from you. i don't want something new.)
they stare at each other some more. at some point miguel takes off his jacket and is sipping out of a mug like he lives there. he has not seen her in a year. after miguel's life spiralled because he was nonconsensually drugged with wine, and he accepts two drinks—one of which is unsealed—from her without question.
(everyone wants to hurt me. trust you anyway.)
(it's good to see you again.)
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Also preserved on our archive
By Jasmin Fox-Skelly
Microglia are the brain's resident immune cells. Their job is to patrol the brain's blood vessels looking for invading pathogens to gobble up. But what happens when they go rogue?
Historically they've been overlooked – seen as simple foot soldiers of the immune system. Yet increasingly, scientists believe that microglia may have a more directorial role, controlling phenomenon from addiction to pain. Some believe they may even play a key role in conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, depression, anxiety, long Covid, and myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), also known as chronic fatigue syndrome.
But what exactly are microglia?
There are two types of cells that make up the brain. Neurons, also known as nerve cells, are the brain's messengers, sending information all over the body via electrical impulses. The other type – glia – make up the rest. Microglia are the smallest member of the glia family and account for about 10% of all brain cells. The small cells have a central oval-shaped "body" from which slender tendril-like arms emerge.
"They have a lot of branches that they are continually moving around to survey their environment," says Paolo d'Errico, a neuroscientist at the University of Freiburg, Germany. "In normal conditions they extend and retract these processes in order to sense what is happening around them."
When performing well, microglia are essential to healthy brain function. During our early years, they control how our brain develops by pruning unnecessary synaptic connections between neurons. They influence which cells turn into neurons, and repair and maintain myelin – a protective layer of insulation encasing neurons, without which transmission of electrical impulses would be impossible.
Their role doesn't stop there. Throughout our lifetimes, microglia protect our brains from infection by seeking out and destroying bacteria and viruses. They clean up debris that accumulates between nerve cells, and root out and destroy toxic misshapen proteins such as amyloid plaques – the clumps of proteins thought to play a role in the progression of Alzheimer's disease.
Yet in certain circumstances they can go rogue.
"There's two sides to microglia – a good side and a bad side," says Linda Watkins, a neuroscientist at the University of Colorado Boulder.
"They survey for problems, looking for unusual neural activity and damage. They're on the watch for any kind of problems within the brain, but when they get super excited, they turn from being the vigilant good guys to the pathological bad ones."
"Out-of-control microglia are now thought to be behind a variety of modern diseases and conditions."
What makes them go rogue? When microglia sense that there is something wrong in the brain, such as an infection, or a large presence of amyloid plaques, they switch into a super-reactive state.
"They become much larger, almost like big balloons, and they pull in their appendages and start moving around, munching up damage like little Pac-Mans," says Watkins.
Activated microglia also release substances known as inflammatory cytokines, which serve as a beacon, calling other immune cells and microglia to action. Such a response is necessary to help the body fight off invaders and threats. Usually after a certain amount of time, microglia revert back to their "good" status.
However, it appears sometimes microglia can stay in this super-excited state long after the infectious agent has disappeared. These out-of-control microglia are now thought to be behind a variety of modern diseases and conditions.
Take addiction. This condition has historically been viewed as a disorder of the dopamine neurotransmitter system, with imbalances of dopamine being to blame for sufferers' increasingly drug-focused behaviour.
But Watkins has a different theory. In a recent academic article, Watkins and scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences argue that when a person takes a drug, their microglia see the substance as a foreign "invader".
"What we found out through our own research, was that a variety of opiates activate microglial cells, and they do so at least in part through what's called the 'toll like receptor' (TLR)," says Watkins.
"Toll like receptors are very ancient receptors designed to recognise foreign objects. They're supposed to be there to detect fungi, bacteria and viruses. They're the 'not me, not right, not okay' receptors."
When microglia detect drugs such as opiates, cocaine or methamphetamine they release cytokines, which causes the neurons that are active at the time of drug-taking to become more excitable. Crucially, this leads to new and stronger connections between the neurons being formed, and more dopamine being released – strengthening the desire and craving for drugs. The microglia change the very architecture of the brain's neurons, leading to drug-taking habits that can last a lifetime.
The evidence to support this theory is compelling. For one, drug abusers have raised inflammation and inflammatory cytokines in the brain. Reducing inflammation in animals also reduces drug-seeking behaviour. Watkin's team has also shown that you can stop mice from continually seeking out drugs like cocaine by blocking the TLR receptor and preventing microglial activation.
With ageing, glial cells become more and more primed and ready to over respond as the years go by – Linda Watkins Microglia could play an important role in chronic pain too, defined as pain that lasts longer than 12 weeks. Watkins' laboratory has shown that after an injury, microglia in the spinal cord become activated, releasing inflammatory cytokines that sensitise pain neurons.
"If you block the activation of the microglia or their pro-inflammatory products, then you block the pain," says Watkins.
According to Watkins, microglia could even explain another phenomenon; why elderly people experience a sharp decline in their cognitive abilities following a surgery or infection. The surgery or infection serves as a first hit which "primes" microglia, making them more likely to adopt their bad guy status. Following surgery, patients are often given opioids as pain relief, which unfortunately activates microglia again, causing an inflammation storm that eventually causes the destruction of neurons.
The field of research is in its infancy, so these early findings should be treated cautiously, but studies have shown that you can prevent post-surgery memory decline in mice by blocking their microglia.
"If I walk up to you and, without any forewarning whatsoever, slap you across the face, I get away with it the first time. But you don't let me get away with it the second time because you're primed, you're ready, you're on guard," says Watkins.
"Glial cells are the same way. With ageing, glial cells become more and more primed and ready to over respond as the years go by. And so now that they're in this prime state, a second challenge like surgery makes them explode into action so much stronger than before. Then you get opioids, which are a third hit."
This "priming" of microglia could even be behind Alzheimer's disease (AD). The main risk factor for AD is age, and if microglia become more ready to respond as we get older, it could be a factor. At the same time, one of the main hallmarks of AD is the build-up of clumps of amyloid protein in the brain. This process begins decades before symptoms of confusion and memory loss become detectable. One of microglia's jobs is to hunt down and remove theses plaques, so it's possible that over time, repeated activation causes microglia to permanently switch into rogue mode.
"The accumulation in the brain of amyloid induce microglia to became more reactive," says D'Errico.
We found that microglia are able to internalise the amyloid protein, and then move to another region before releasing it again – Paolo d'Errico "They start to release all these inflammatory signals, but the point is that since these amyloid plaques continue to be produced, there is constant chronic inflammation that never stops. This is really toxic for neurons."
Chronically activated microglia can engulf and kill neurons directly, release toxic reactive species that damage them, or start "over-pruning" synapses, destroying the connection between nerve cells. All these processes could ultimately lead to the confusion, loss of memory, and loss of cognitive function that characterises the disease.
In a 2021 study, d'Errico even found that microglia can contribute to the spread of Alzheimer's disease by transporting the toxic amyloid plaques around the brain.
"In the early stages of Alzheimer's there are particular regions in the brain that seem to accumulate plaques, such as the cortex, the hippocampus, and the olfactory bulb," says d'Errico.
"In the later stages of the disease there are many more regions that are affected. We found that microglia are able to internalise the amyloid protein, and then move to another region before releasing it again."
Some of the symptoms of Alzheimer's, such as forgetfulness and loss of cognitive function, are similar to those suffering from long Covid, and it's possible that errant microglia could be behind "brain fog" too. For example, one of the main factors that cause microglia to turn rogue is the presence of a viral infection.
"Abnormally activated microglia may start over pruning of synapses in the brain, and this may lead to cognitive decline, memory loss, and all those symptoms related to the brain fog syndrome," says Claudio Alberto Serfaty, a neurobiologist at the Federal Fluminense University, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, who summarised the evidence for this theory in a recent review article.
The hope is that this new way of thinking will eventually lead to new treatments.
For example, clinical trials for new Alzheimer's drugs are currently underway that aim to boost microglia's capacity to destroy amyloid. However, as with all Alzheimer's drugs, such a strategy would work best in the early stages of the disease, before significant neural death has occurred.
For addiction, one idea is to swap the errant microglia that have gone wrong with the "normal" microglia that are present in the brains of non-drug takers. This concept, known as microglia replacement, involves grafting microglia into the specific brain regions by bone marrow transplantation.
However, such an approach would prove difficult. After all, active microglia are necessary to fight off infections; in fact, they're vital for brain function.
"In theory, yes it could work, but keep in mind that you don't want to disrupt microglia all over your brain, it would need to be localised," says Watkins. "Microinjecting microglia into specific brain areas would be very invasive. So, I think we need to look for something that's safe for that kind of a treatment."
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#mask up#covid#pandemic#covid 19#wear a mask#public health#coronavirus#sars cov 2#still coviding#wear a respirator
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What Is Synaptic Pruning? (Jacquelyn Cafasso, Healthline, Sep 18 2018)
"Synaptic pruning is a natural process that occurs in the brain between early childhood and adulthood. During synaptic pruning, the brain eliminates extra synapses.
Synapses are brain structures that allows the neurons to transmit an electrical or chemical signal to another neuron.
Synaptic pruning is thought to be the brain’s way of removing connections in the brain that are no longer needed.
Researchers have recently learned that the brain is more “plastic” and moldable than previously thought.
Synaptic pruning is our body’s way of maintaining more efficient brain function as we get older and learn new complex information. (…)
This rapid period of synaptogenesis plays a vital role in learning, memory formation, and adaptation early in life.
At about 2 to 3 years of age, the number of synapses hits a peak level. But then shortly after this period of synaptic growth, the brain starts to remove synapses that it no longer needs.
Once the brain forms a synapse, it can either be strengthened or weakened.
This depends on how often the synapse is used. In other words, the process follows the “use it or lose it” principle: Synapses that are more active are strengthened, and synapses that are less active are weakened and ultimately pruned.
The process of removing the irrelevant synapses during this time is referred to as synaptic pruning. (…)
Unlike research into schizophrenia, which theorizes that the brain is “over-pruned,” researchers hypothesize that the brains of people with autism may be “under-pruned.”
Theoretically, then, this under-pruning leads to an oversupply of synapses in some parts of the brain.
To test this hypothesis, researchers looked at brain tissue of 13 children and adolescents with and without autism who passed away between ages 2 and 20.
The scientists found that the brains of the adolescents with autism had a lot more synapses than the brains of neurotypical adolescents.
Young children in both groups had roughly the same number of synapses.
This suggests that the condition may occur during the pruning process.
This research only shows a difference in synapses, but not whether this difference might be a cause or an effect of autism, or just an association.
This under-pruning theory may help explain some of the common symptoms of autism, like oversensitivity to noise, lights, and social experiences, as well as epileptic seizures.
If there are too many synapses firing at once, a person with autism will likely experience an overload of noise rather than a fine-tuned brain response."
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"Trying to explain the experience to a neurotypical person is almost a waste of time because they lack the functional capacity to truly empathize with the experience." Hey maybe don't talk about people like that because it's incredibly rude and dehumanizing
I can see I've struck a nerve, but what I'm describing here is an actual physiological difference between allistics and autistics, not a put-down. Autistic folks don't undergo the same process of synaptic pruning in childhood. We literally are processing more stimuli, and it can feel very overwhelming. Because the allistic brain is different, true empathy for the experience is very difficult.
Sympathy, too, apparently.
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Why is it that the synaptic pruning thing can't be used to diagnose autism by brain scan?
Brain scan technology is exceedingly terrible. Far worse than you would think.
Nearly all the trends we find in brain scan studies are influenced by the data cleaning procedures the analysts use. the majority of all data recorded has to be ignored by force in order for anything that makes sense to emerge. And when we ignore that much data as "noise" we are missing out on the majority of the story and sometimes creating false positives where none exist. It's a very error and bias prone process.
Furthermore, there are many ways that pruning patterns can differ, and endless reasons why differences can happen. We can't look at a brain and conclude it's Autistic, we can only take a snapshot of a brain filled with such a large mass of data that its impossible to understand, ignore 99% of that data using an algorithm, and then if we do that correctly conclude a brain has more connections than average, without any idea as to why that might be, because it can happen for thousands of reasons.
Neuroscience is in the middle ages, truly. We can't diagnose much of anything with a brain scan. All we can do is take people who have already been diagnosed with something, throw them in a scanner, and see what kinda interesting trends we find and then try to make up a convincing story about them.
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There are suspected differences in the immune system of people of high intelligence: Hyper Brain, Hyper Body: The Trouble With High IQ - Neuroscience News High IQ does correlate with immune dysregulation, but since the study was on Mensa members (a highly self-selected group) it is unknown if this is actually a widespread effect or not. What is known is that the immune cells of the brain known as microglia engage in a process of synaptic pruning during normal development and aging. This process is the basis of memory, learning, attention, etc. So, it seems likely that the immune system and its functioning plays an important role in human intelligence. Excess synaptic pruning is a consequence of at least one known viral infectious disease, HIV/AIDS, which can directly infect the microglia and cause HAND (HIV associated neurocognitive disorders): HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder - Wikipedia Microglia in HIV-associated neurological diseases - PubMed (nih.gov) Excess synaptic pruning is now increasingly suspected to be the cause of Covid 'brain fog': Why does COVID-19 cause brain fog? Scientists may finally have an answer. | National Geographic This is highly ominous as this phenomenon is also found in Schizophrenia, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. For readers of above average intelligence, my advice is better safe than sorry. You should mask strictly and protect your perhaps more delicate than average brain. It seems likely to me that after a certain amount of damage accumulates, there will be no coming back from it.
Via
#intelligence#covid#long covid#brain fog#comments#commentary/opinion#studies#research#brain fog is brain damage#reddit
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