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Sullivan LF, Barker MS, Felix PC, Vuong RQ, White BH. Neuromodulation and the toolkit for behavioural evolution: can ecdysis shed light on an old problem? FEBS J 2024; 291:1049-1079. [PMID: 36223183 PMCID: PMC10166064 DOI: 10.1111/febs.16650] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2022] [Revised: 09/06/2022] [Accepted: 10/12/2022] [Indexed: 05/10/2023]
Abstract
The geneticist Thomas Dobzhansky famously declared: 'Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution'. A key evolutionary adaptation of Metazoa is directed movement, which has been elaborated into a spectacularly varied number of behaviours in animal clades. The mechanisms by which animal behaviours have evolved, however, remain unresolved. This is due, in part, to the indirect control of behaviour by the genome, which provides the components for both building and operating the brain circuits that generate behaviour. These brain circuits are adapted to respond flexibly to environmental contingencies and physiological needs and can change as a function of experience. The resulting plasticity of behavioural expression makes it difficult to characterize homologous elements of behaviour and to track their evolution. Here, we evaluate progress in identifying the genetic substrates of behavioural evolution and suggest that examining adaptive changes in neuromodulatory signalling may be a particularly productive focus for future studies. We propose that the behavioural sequences used by ecdysozoans to moult are an attractive model for studying the role of neuromodulation in behavioural evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luis F Sullivan
- Section on Neural Function, Laboratory of Molecular Biology, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Matthew S Barker
- Section on Neural Function, Laboratory of Molecular Biology, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Princess C Felix
- Section on Neural Function, Laboratory of Molecular Biology, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Richard Q Vuong
- Section on Neural Function, Laboratory of Molecular Biology, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Benjamin H White
- Section on Neural Function, Laboratory of Molecular Biology, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
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Brandon AA, Almeida D, Powder KE. Neural crest cells as a source of microevolutionary variation. Semin Cell Dev Biol 2023; 145:42-51. [PMID: 35718684 PMCID: PMC10482117 DOI: 10.1016/j.semcdb.2022.06.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2021] [Revised: 05/03/2022] [Accepted: 06/03/2022] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Vertebrates have some of the most complex and diverse features in animals, from varied craniofacial morphologies to colorful pigmentation patterns and elaborate social behaviors. All of these traits have their developmental origins in a multipotent embryonic lineage of neural crest cells. This "fourth germ layer" is a vertebrate innovation and the source of a wide range of adult cell types. While others have discussed the role of neural crest cells in human disease and animal domestication, less is known about their role in contributing to adaptive changes in wild populations. Here, we review how variation in the development of neural crest cells and their derivatives generates considerable phenotypic diversity in nature. We focus on the broad span of traits under natural and sexual selection whose variation may originate in the neural crest, with emphasis on behavioral factors such as intraspecies communication that are often overlooked. In all, we encourage the integration of evolutionary ecology with developmental biology and molecular genetics to gain a more complete understanding of the role of this single cell type in trait covariation, evolutionary trajectories, and vertebrate diversity.
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Affiliation(s)
- A Allyson Brandon
- Department of Biological Sciences, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634, USA
| | - Daniela Almeida
- Department of Biological Sciences, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634, USA
| | - Kara E Powder
- Department of Biological Sciences, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634, USA.
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Westwick RR, Rittschof CC. Insects Provide Unique Systems to Investigate How Early-Life Experience Alters the Brain and Behavior. Front Behav Neurosci 2021; 15:660464. [PMID: 33967715 PMCID: PMC8097038 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2021.660464] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2021] [Accepted: 03/16/2021] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Early-life experiences have strong and long-lasting consequences for behavior in a surprising diversity of animals. Determining which environmental inputs cause behavioral change, how this information becomes neurobiologically encoded, and the functional consequences of these changes remain fundamental puzzles relevant to diverse fields from evolutionary biology to the health sciences. Here we explore how insects provide unique opportunities for comparative study of developmental behavioral plasticity. Insects have sophisticated behavior and cognitive abilities, and they are frequently studied in their natural environments, which provides an ecological and adaptive perspective that is often more limited in lab-based vertebrate models. A range of cues, from relatively simple cues like temperature to complex social information, influence insect behavior. This variety provides experimentally tractable opportunities to study diverse neural plasticity mechanisms. Insects also have a wide range of neurodevelopmental trajectories while sharing many developmental plasticity mechanisms with vertebrates. In addition, some insects retain only subsets of their juvenile neuronal population in adulthood, narrowing the targets for detailed study of cellular plasticity mechanisms. Insects and vertebrates share many of the same knowledge gaps pertaining to developmental behavioral plasticity. Combined with the extensive study of insect behavior under natural conditions and their experimental tractability, insect systems may be uniquely qualified to address some of the biggest unanswered questions in this field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rebecca R Westwick
- Department of Entomology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, United States
| | - Clare C Rittschof
- Department of Entomology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, United States
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Medina L, Abellán A, Desfilis E. Evolution of Pallial Areas and Networks Involved in Sociality: Comparison Between Mammals and Sauropsids. Front Physiol 2019; 10:894. [PMID: 31354528 PMCID: PMC6640085 DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2019.00894] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2019] [Accepted: 06/27/2019] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Birds are extremely interesting animals for studying the neurobiological basis of cognition and its evolution. They include species that are highly social and show high cognitive capabilities. Moreover, birds rely more on visual and auditory cues than on olfaction for social behavior and cognition, just like primates. In primates, there are two major brain networks associated to sociality: (1) one related to perception and decision-making, involving the pallial amygdala (with the basolateral complex as a major component), the temporal and temporoparietal neocortex, and the orbitofrontal cortex; (2) another one related to affiliation, including the medial extended amygdala, the ventromedial prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortices, the ventromedial striatum (largely nucleus accumbens), and the ventromedial hypothalamus. In this account, we used an evolutionary developmental neurobiology approach, in combination with published comparative connectivity and functional data, to identify areas and functional networks in the sauropsidian brain comparable to those of mammals that are related to decision-making and affiliation. Both in mammals and sauropsids, there is an important interaction between these networks by way of cross projections between areas of both systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Loreta Medina
- Department of Experimental Medicine, Institut de Recerca Biomèdica de Lleida - Fundació Dr. Pifarré (IRBLleida), University of Lleida, Lleida, Spain
| | - Antonio Abellán
- Department of Experimental Medicine, Institut de Recerca Biomèdica de Lleida - Fundació Dr. Pifarré (IRBLleida), University of Lleida, Lleida, Spain
| | - Ester Desfilis
- Department of Experimental Medicine, Institut de Recerca Biomèdica de Lleida - Fundació Dr. Pifarré (IRBLleida), University of Lleida, Lleida, Spain
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Bjorefeldt A, Illes S, Zetterberg H, Hanse E. Neuromodulation via the Cerebrospinal Fluid: Insights from Recent in Vitro Studies. Front Neural Circuits 2018; 12:5. [PMID: 29459822 PMCID: PMC5807333 DOI: 10.3389/fncir.2018.00005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2017] [Accepted: 01/11/2018] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
The cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) occupies the brain's ventricles and subarachnoid space and, together with the interstitial fluid (ISF), forms a continuous fluidic network that bathes all cells of the central nervous system (CNS). As such, the CSF is well positioned to actively distribute neuromodulators to neural circuits in vivo via volume transmission. Recent in vitro experimental work in brain slices and neuronal cultures has shown that human CSF indeed contains neuromodulators that strongly influence neuronal activity. Here we briefly summarize these new findings and discuss their potential relevance to neural circuits in health and disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andreas Bjorefeldt
- Department of Physiology, Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
- Department of Neuroscience, Brown University, Providence, RI, United States
| | - Sebastian Illes
- Department of Physiology, Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Henrik Zetterberg
- Department of Psychiatry and Neurochemistry, Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
- Clinical Neurochemistry Laboratory, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden
- Department of Molecular Neuroscience, UCL Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, United Kingdom
- United Kingdom Dementia Research Institute, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Eric Hanse
- Department of Physiology, Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
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Ancestral Circuits for the Coordinated Modulation of Brain State. Cell 2017; 171:1411-1423.e17. [PMID: 29103613 PMCID: PMC5725395 DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2017.10.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 103] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/02/2017] [Revised: 08/13/2017] [Accepted: 10/12/2017] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Internal states of the brain profoundly influence behavior. Fluctuating states such as alertness can be governed by neuromodulation, but the underlying mechanisms and cell types involved are not fully understood. We developed a method to globally screen for cell types involved in behavior by integrating brain-wide activity imaging with high-content molecular phenotyping and volume registration at cellular resolution. We used this method (MultiMAP) to record from 22 neuromodulatory cell types in behaving zebrafish during a reaction-time task that reports alertness. We identified multiple monoaminergic, cholinergic, and peptidergic cell types linked to alertness and found that activity in these cell types was mutually correlated during heightened alertness. We next recorded from and controlled homologous neuromodulatory cells in mice; alertness-related cell-type dynamics exhibited striking evolutionary conservation and modulated behavior similarly. These experiments establish a method for unbiased discovery of cellular elements underlying behavior and reveal an evolutionarily conserved set of diverse neuromodulatory systems that collectively govern internal state.
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Desfilis E, Abellán A, Sentandreu V, Medina L. Expression of regulatory genes in the embryonic brain of a lizard and implications for understanding pallial organization and evolution. J Comp Neurol 2017; 526:166-202. [PMID: 28891227 PMCID: PMC5765483 DOI: 10.1002/cne.24329] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2017] [Revised: 08/13/2017] [Accepted: 09/01/2017] [Indexed: 02/03/2023]
Abstract
The comparison of gene expression patterns in the embryonic brain of mouse and chicken is being essential for understanding pallial organization. However, the scarcity of gene expression data in reptiles, crucial for understanding evolution, makes it difficult to identify homologues of pallial divisions in different amniotes. We cloned and analyzed the expression of the genes Emx1, Lhx2, Lhx9, and Tbr1 in the embryonic telencephalon of the lacertid lizard Psammodromus algirus. The comparative expression patterns of these genes, critical for pallial development, are better understood when using a recently proposed six‐part model of pallial divisions. The lizard medial pallium, expressing all genes, includes the medial and dorsomedial cortices, and the majority of the dorsal cortex, except the region of the lateral cortical superposition. The latter is rich in Lhx9 expression, being excluded as a candidate of dorsal or lateral pallia, and may belong to a distinct dorsolateral pallium, which extends from rostral to caudal levels. Thus, the neocortex homolog cannot be found in the classical reptilian dorsal cortex, but perhaps in a small Emx1‐expressing/Lhx9‐negative area at the front of the telencephalon, resembling the avian hyperpallium. The ventral pallium, expressing Lhx9, but not Emx1, gives rise to the dorsal ventricular ridge and appears comparable to the avian nidopallium. We also identified a distinct ventrocaudal pallial sector comparable to the avian arcopallium and to part of the mammalian pallial amygdala. These data open new venues for understanding the organization and evolution of the pallium.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ester Desfilis
- Laboratory of Evolutionary and Developmental Neurobiology, Department of Experimental Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Lleida, Lleida Institute for Biomedical Research Dr. Pifarré Foundation (IRBLleida), 25198, Lleida, Spain
| | - Antonio Abellán
- Laboratory of Evolutionary and Developmental Neurobiology, Department of Experimental Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Lleida, Lleida Institute for Biomedical Research Dr. Pifarré Foundation (IRBLleida), 25198, Lleida, Spain
| | - Vicente Sentandreu
- Servicio Central de Apoyo a la Investigación Experimental (SCSIE), Sección de Genómica, University of València, 46100, València, Spain
| | - Loreta Medina
- Laboratory of Evolutionary and Developmental Neurobiology, Department of Experimental Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Lleida, Lleida Institute for Biomedical Research Dr. Pifarré Foundation (IRBLleida), 25198, Lleida, Spain
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Medial Preoptic Regulation of the Ventral Tegmental Area Related to the Control of Sociosexual Behaviors. eNeuro 2017; 3:eN-NWR-0283-16. [PMID: 28083561 PMCID: PMC5220225 DOI: 10.1523/eneuro.0283-16.2016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2016] [Revised: 12/03/2016] [Accepted: 12/08/2016] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
During sociosexual encounters, different brain mechanisms interact to orchestrate information about the salience of external stimuli along with the current physiological and environmental conditions in order to process these in an optimal manner. One candidate neural system involves the potential interplay between the medial preoptic nucleus (POM) and mesolimbic reward circuitry. We present here evidence indicating that projections originating from the POM play a modulatory role on the mesolimbic reward circuitry related to male sexual behavior in Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica). First, we used an asymmetrical inactivation strategy where POM and ventral tegmental area (VTA) were unilaterally inactivated via the GABAA agonist muscimol, either in an ipsilateral or contralateral fashion. Ipsilateral injections of muscimol had negligible effects on both appetitive and consummatory sexual behaviors. In contrast, contralateral injections significantly impaired appetitive sexual behaviors but had no clear effect on consummatory sexual behaviors. Next, we labeled cells projecting from the POM to the VTA by stereotaxic injection into VTA of the retrograde tracer biotinylated dextran amine (BDA). Two weeks later, brains from males who had been allowed to interact freely with a female (15 min) or kept as controls were collected and fixed for double immunohistochemical labeling of BDA and the immediate early gene Fos. More retrogradely labeled BDA cells in POM expressed Fos after sociosexual interactions than in control conditions. Overall, these findings provide novel evidence for the interplay between POM and VTA in the modulation of appetitive but not consummatory sexual behaviors. Schematic representation of the putative role of the projection from the medial POM to the VTA in the regulation of appetitive and consummatory sexual behaviors. Unilateral inactivation of POM and VTA on (1) ipsilateral sides has negligible effects on both aspects of sexual behaviors, whereas (2) contralateral inactivation disrupts appetitive sexual behaviors.
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Joven A, Wang H, Pinheiro T, Hameed LS, Belnoue L, Simon A. Cellular basis of brain maturation and acquisition of complex behaviors in salamanders. Development 2017; 145:dev.160051. [DOI: 10.1242/dev.160051] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2017] [Accepted: 11/20/2017] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
The overall bauplan of the tetrapod brain is highly conserved, yet significant variations exist among species in terms of brain size, structural composition and cellular diversity. Understanding processes underlying neural and behavioral development in a wide range of species is important both from an evolutionary developmental perspective as well as for the identification of cell sources with post-developmental neurogenic potential. Here we characterize germinal processes in the brain of Notophthalmus viridescens and Pleurodeles waltl during both development and adulthood. Using a combination of cell tracking tools, including clonal analyses in new transgenic salamander lines we examine the origin of neural stem and progenitor cells found in the adult brain, determine regional variability in cell cycle length of progenitor cells, and show spatio-temporally orchestrated neurogenesis. We analyze how maturation of different brain regions and neuronal subpopulations are linked to the acquisition of complex behaviors, and how these behaviors are altered upon chemical ablation of dopamine neurons. Our data analyzed from an evolutionary perspective reveal both common and species-specific processes in tetrapod brain formation and function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alberto Joven
- Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Heng Wang
- Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, China
| | - Tiago Pinheiro
- Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - L. Shahul Hameed
- Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Laure Belnoue
- Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - András Simon
- Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
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Bueno D, Garcia-Fernàndez J. Evolutionary development of embryonic cerebrospinal fluid composition and regulation: an open research field with implications for brain development and function. Fluids Barriers CNS 2016; 13:5. [PMID: 26979569 PMCID: PMC4793645 DOI: 10.1186/s12987-016-0029-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2016] [Accepted: 03/10/2016] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Within the consolidated field of evolutionary development, there is emerging research on evolutionary aspects of central nervous system development and its implications for adult brain structure and function, including behaviour. The central nervous system is one of the most intriguing systems in complex metazoans, as it controls all body and mind functions. Its failure is responsible for a number of severe and largely incurable diseases, including neurological and neurodegenerative ones. Moreover, the evolution of the nervous system is thought to be a critical step in the adaptive radiation of vertebrates. Brain formation is initiated early during development. Most embryological, genetic and evolutionary studies have focused on brain neurogenesis and regionalisation, including the formation and function of organising centres, and the comparison of homolog gene expression and function among model organisms from different taxa. The architecture of the vertebrate brain primordium also reveals the existence of connected internal cavities, the cephalic vesicles, which in fetuses and adults become the ventricular system of the brain. During embryonic and fetal development, brain cavities and ventricles are filled with a complex, protein-rich fluid called cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). However, CSF has not been widely analysed from either an embryological or evolutionary perspective. Recently, it has been demonstrated in higher vertebrates that embryonic cerebrospinal fluid has key functions in delivering diffusible signals and nutrients to the developing brain, thus contributing to the proliferation, differentiation and survival of neural progenitor cells, and to the expansion and patterning of the brain. Moreover, it has been shown that the composition and homeostasis of CSF are tightly controlled in a time-dependent manner from the closure of the anterior neuropore, just before the initiation of primary neurogenesis, up to the formation of functional choroid plexuses. In this review, we draw together existing literature about the formation, function and homeostatic regulation of embryonic cerebrospinal fluid, from the closure of the anterior neuropore to the formation of functional fetal choroid plexuses, from an evolutionary perspective. The relevance of these processes to the normal functions and diseases of adult brain will also be discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Bueno
- Department of Genetics, Microbiology and Statistics, Unit of Biomedical, Evolutionary and Developmental Genetics, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Barcelona, Av. Diagonal 643, 08028, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
| | - Jordi Garcia-Fernàndez
- Department of Genetics, Microbiology and Statistics, Unit of Biomedical, Evolutionary and Developmental Genetics, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Barcelona, Av. Diagonal 643, 08028, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
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13
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Evolutionary themes in the neurobiology of social cognition. Curr Opin Neurobiol 2014; 28:22-7. [DOI: 10.1016/j.conb.2014.06.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/26/2014] [Revised: 05/28/2014] [Accepted: 06/04/2014] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
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