Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
First principles exploration of NiO and its ions NiO+ and NiO-.

We present a high level ab initio study of NiO and its ions, NiO(+) and NiO(-). Employing variational multireference configuration interaction (MRCI) and single reference coupled-cluster methods combined with basis sets of quintuple quality, 54, 20, and 10 bound states of NiO, NiO(+), and NiO(-) have been studied. For all these states, complete potential energy curves have been constructed at the MRCI level of theory; in addition, for the ground states of the three species core subvalence (3s(2)3p(6)∕(Ni)) and scalar relativistic effects have been taken into account. We report energetics, spectroscopic parameters, dipole moments, and spin-orbit coupling constants. The agreement with experiment is in the case of NiO good, but certain discrepancies that need further investigation have arisen in the case of the anion whose ground state remains computationally a tantalizing matter. The cation is experimentally almost entirely unexplored, therefore, the study of many states shall prove valuable to further investigators. The ground state symmetry, bond distances, and binding energies of NiO and NiO(+) are (existing experimental values in parenthesis), X(3)Σ(-)(X(3)Σ(-)), r(e) = 1.606 (1.62712) Å, D(0) = 88.5 (89.2 ± 0.7) kcal/mol, and X(4)Σ(-)(? ), r(e) = 1.60(? ) Å, D(0) = 55 (62.4 ± 2.4) kcal/mol, respectively. The ground state of NiO(-) is (4)Σ(-) (but (2)Π experimentally) with D(0) = 85-87 (89.2 ± 0.7) kcal/mol.
Comparison of new bone formation in the maxillary sinus with and without bone grafts: immunochemical rabbit study.

PURPOSE The aim of this animal study was to evaluate, through immunochemical analysis, new bone formation in rabbit maxillary sinuses with and without bone grafts. MATERIALS AND METHODS Bilateral sinus augmentation procedures were performed in rabbits. Bony windows were created with a piezoelectric surgical device with a saw insert. In the first group, the bony window was repositioned after careful elevation of the sinus mucosa without bone grafting. A miniscrew was inserted into the bony window to support the elevated sinus membrane. In the second group, anorganic bovine graft (Bio-Oss) was grafted after very careful elevation of the sinus membrane. Collagen membrane was placed over the bone graft. Rabbits were sacrificed after 1, 2, 4, 6, and 8 weeks. The augmented sinuses were evaluated by immunochemical analysis of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), type I collagen, and osteocalcin content. RESULTS Immunochemically positive cells for PCNA were present along the floor of the replaced bony window and the elevated sinus membrane from 1 to 4 weeks in the graftless group. In the grafted group, immunochemically positive cells for PCNA were not present after 1 week. In the ungrafted group, the expression of type I collagen was present from week 1. However, the expression of type I collagen was present after 2 weeks in the grafted group. Osteocalcin was observed in both groups after 1 week. Osteocalcin was observed along the floor of the replaced bony window in the graftless group but was not observed along the collagen membrane in the grafted group. CONCLUSION According to this immunochemical study, faster and greater new bone formation was observed in sites that received no grafting material. The repositioned bony window may accelerate new bone formation earlier during healing versus the placement of a collagen membrane grafting material in the sinus.
Antigenic diversity of lipooligosaccharides of nontypable Haemophilus influenzae

The lipooligosaccharides (LOS) of nontypable Haemophilus influenzae are an antigenically heterogeneous group of macromolecules. Immunodiffusion and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay inhibition studies with phenol-water-extracted LOS and absorbed antisera specific for the oligosaccharide portion of the LOS identified six LOS strain-specific antigens. To facilitate screening large numbers of strains to search for LOS antigenic heterogeneity, a system utilizing proteinase K whole cell digests in Western blots was developed. Seventy-two nontypable H. influenzae LOS extracts were analyzed in this Western blot assay. Thirty-seven of these extracts could be segregated into 10 antigenically distinct LOS groups based on immunologic recognition by one or more of the rabbit antisera. Thirty-five of the strains did not contain these LOS antigens. These results demonstrate that antigenic differences exist among the LOS of nontypable H. influenzae strains, and this heterogeneity has the potential to be used to establish an LOS-based serogrouping system.
Price Fluctuation of Real Estate Industry and Financial Fragility:An Empirical Study Based on Chinese

Recent studies show that there are intimate connections between price fluctuation of real estate and financial fragility.From this perspective,by selecting six index in the two leves of economic face and micro finance measuring the financial fragility of our country,this paper establish the vector auto-regres- sive model to analysis the relationship between price fluctuation of real estate and financial fragility.The empirical results show that:there is the two-way causality between price fluctuation and financial fragility; Specifically,price fluctuation of real estate has some negative effect on financial fragility in the short term, a positive impact in later period;the banking sector has more sensitive reaction to the shock of real estate price,meanwhile,real estate market fluctuations has certain positive impact on maro-economy and banking sector in the short term,but then exacerbate their fragility and the effects on macroeconomic in relatively larger degree.
Ovum transport in pregnant rats is little affected by RU486 and exogenous progesterone as compared to cycling rats.

In cycling and pregnant rats, the eggs stay in the oviduct for approximately 66 and 90 h, respectively. The influence of progesterone in these timings was investigated. An excess or a simulated deficit of progesterone was induced with exogenous progesterone or the antiprogesterone RU486, respectively, beginning on the day of ovulation. The effect of these treatments on egg transport in cycling and pregnant rats was assessed in detail and complemented with determinations of estradiol and progesterone circulating levels and progesterone receptor levels in the oviduct. Accelerated transport of ova followed treatment with RU486 in cycling and pregnant rats but with different features. In cycling rats, acceleration began 24 h after the onset of treatment and was not associated with changes in estradiol levels; in pregnant rats, it started 72 h after treatment and was associated with a 5-fold increase in estradiol circulating levels. Thus, RU486 failed to accelerate ovum transport during the first three days of treatment in pregnant rats, in spite of the fact that no progesterone receptors were available in the oviduct as early as 24 h of treatment. Progesterone administration caused egg retention in the oviducts and a 50% reduction in circulating estradiol levels in cycling rats, whereas in pregnant rats progesterone excess did not change estradiol circulating levels and had no effect on the location of embryos on Days 4 and 5. These results demonstrate a different physiological importance of endogenous progesterone in slowing down oviductal ovum transport in cycling and pregnant rats. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Comparison of Atlas- and Magnetic-Resonance-Imaging-Based Stereotactic Targeting of the Subthalamic Nucleus in the Surgical Treatment of Parkinson’s Disease

Aims: To assess the variability of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) size, orientation and target coordinates from direct visualization on high-resolution magnetic resonance (MR) images in patients undergoing surgical intervention for Parkinson’s disease. Methods: Sixty-six patients with Parkinson’s disease were included in this study. The STN was visualized directly on high-resolution MR images, the size and orientation in both coronal and axial planes were recorded, as were the coordinates of the dorsolateral STN target in relation to the anterior-posterior commissural (AC-PC) line. The same STN target was defined in the Schaltenbrand atlas and atlas-based coordinates in proportion to the patient’s AC-PC dimension were calculated. MR-imaging-based STN target coordinates were compared with the corresponding atlas-based coordinates. Results: Marked variation of STN size and orientation was observed. A significant difference was demonstrated on comparing left- and right-sided x and y coordinates. The comparison between MR-imaging-based and atlas-derived target coordinates demonstrated a significant difference in all directions except the left y coordinate. Conclusions: This study demonstrates the substantial individual variability of STN size, orientation and target coordinates and a significant difference between target coordinates obtained by direct visual targeting on MR images and those obtained by indirect targeting based on atlases.
Hans Morgenthau and the Iraq war: realism versus neo-conservatism

Hans Joachim Morgenthau was one of the most important political thinkers of the 20th century and one of the great realist thinkers of all time. Morgenthau, along with almost all realists in the United States – except for Henry Kissinger – opposed the Vietnam war. Their opposition came early, long before it became clear that the war was a lost cause; in fact Morgenthau was warning against American military involvement in Vietnam in the late 1950s.
Effect of serum and platelet-rich plasma on human early or advanced degenerative meniscus cells

ABSTRACT Purpose: The purpose of this in vitro study was to evaluate the migratory, proliferating, and extracellular matrix (ECM) forming effect of human serum (HS) and platelet-rich plasma (PRP) on meniscus cells derived from human knees with early or advanced degenerative changes. Materials and Methods: Medial menisci from knees with early degenerative changes (n = 5; mean Kellgren score of 1) undergoing arthroscopic meniscal surgery and advanced degenerative changes (n = 5; mean Kellgren score of 4) undergoing total knee replacement were collected. Cell migration and proliferation upon stimulation with HS and PRP were assessed by migration and proliferation assays. Induction of meniscal ECM was evaluated histologically by hematoxylin and eosin, collagen type I, and alcian blue staining and by gene expression analysis of meniscus-related genes in pellets that have been stimulated with 10% HS or 5% PRP. Results: Meniscal cells from knees with early and advanced degenerative changes were significantly attracted by 2.5%–30% PRP or 10% HS. Cell proliferation was significantly increased upon stimulation with 10% HS or 5% PRP. Both cell groups showed the formation of a well-structured, meniscus-like ECM after stimulation with 10% HS, whereas stimulation with 5% PRP led to inhomogeneous, more fibrous ECM. Stimulation with 10% HS showed a significant induction of aggrecan and COMP, while 5% PRP showed no inducing effect. Conclusions: Only stimulation with HS showed the formation of meniscal ECM as well as cell proliferating and migratory effects on meniscal cells derived from knees with early or advanced degenerative changes. Thus, we suggest that the selected stimulating factor itself and not the status of the knee may primarily affect repair processes. HS may have a potential to augment in meniscal repair procedures.
Structure‐based function inference using protein family‐specific fingerprints

We describe a method to assign a protein structure to a functional family using family‐specific fingerprints. Fingerprints represent amino acid packing patterns that occur in most members of a family but are rare in the background, a nonredundant subset of PDB; their information is additional to sequence alignments, sequence patterns, structural superposition, and active‐site templates. Fingerprints were derived for 120 families in SCOP using Frequent Subgraph Mining. For a new structure, all occurrences of these family‐specific fingerprints may be found by a fast algorithm for subgraph isomorphism; the structure can then be assigned to a family with a confidence value derived from the number of fingerprints found and their distribution in background proteins. In validation experiments, we infer the function of new members added to SCOP families and we discriminate between structurally similar, but functionally divergent TIM barrel families. We then apply our method to predict function for several structural genomics proteins, including orphan structures. Some predictions have been corroborated by other computational methods and some validated by subsequent functional characterization.
A Comparison of Item- and Person-Fit Methods of Assessing Model-Data Fit in IRT

Many item-fit statistics have been proposed for assessing whether the responses to test items ag gregated across examinees conform to IRT test models. Conversely, person-fit statistics have been proposed for assessing whether an examinee's re sponses aggregated across items are congruent with a specified IRT model. Statistical procedures to as sess item fit have differed from those to assess per son fit. This research compared a χ 2 item-fit index with a likelihood-based person-fit index. Eight 0,1 data matrices were simulated under the three- parameter logistic test model. Both the likelihood- based and χ2 fit statistics were then computed for examinees and items, and Type I and Type II error rates were analyzed. With data simulated to fit the IRT model, the χ 2 test overidentified examinees and items as being misfitting, while the likelihood- based fit index held closer to the specified α levels. The two fit indices gave consistent (mis)fit-to- model results in 94 and 97 percent of cases for items and examinees, respectively, across simula tions. Under simulated conditions of data misfit, the χ2 statistic detected misfit at a higher rate than the likelihood-based statistic, indicating that the χ2 statistic was slightly more sensitive to response pat tern aberrancy. However, other considerations led to a recommendation for employing the likelihood- based index in applied fit analyses to evaluate both examinee and item model-data (mis)fit.
[Correction of complex lower extremity deformities with the use of the Ilizarov-Taylor spatial frame].

OBJECTIVES We evaluated the effectiveness of the Taylor spatial frame (Smith & Nephew, Memphis, TN, USA) in the treatment of complex lower extremity deformities. METHODS The Taylor spatial frame (TSF) was applied to 29 bone segments of 25 patients (12 females, 13 males; mean age 17 years). Indications for the TSF were congenital disorders (n=12), rickets (n=6), physeal injuries (n=4), stiff nonunions (n=3), malunions (n=3), and sequela from septic arthritis of the knee (n=1). Applications involved the tibia (n=15), femur (n=9), foot (n=4), and knee (n=1) with (n=24) or without (n=5) osteotomies. Following acute correction with the use of the TSF and internal osteosynthesis by plating or nailing, the fixator was removed in six cases. The chronic mode was used in six cases who underwent acute correction. The remaining deformities were gradually corrected using the "total residual mode". The follow-up period ranged from eight months to 42 months (mean 29 months). RESULTS The mean duration of external fixator was 24.5 weeks (range 18 to 37 weeks) in 13 tibial and five femoral segments. In all cases, correction was applied until the mechanical axis reached normal limits. Complete consolidation was achieved in all osteotomized segments, including three cases of nonunion. A plantigrade foot was obtained in all foot deformities. Recurrence was seen in one case in which knee contracture and subluxation were treated with soft tissue distraction without osteotomy. CONCLUSION The Taylor spatial frame is a safe and practical method with excellent results in the treatment of nonunions and deformities complicated especially by translation and rotation providing correct clinical data are derived and used.
Photoacoustic microscopy of electronic acupuncture (EA) effect in small animals

Acupuncture has been an effective treatment for various pain in China for several thousand years. However, the mechanisms underlying this mysterious ancient healing are still largely unknown. Here we applied photoacoustic microscopy (PAM) to investigate brain hemodynamic changes in response to electronic acupuncture (EA) at ST36 (Zusanli). Due to the high optical absorption of blood at 532 nm, PAM could sensitively probe changes in hemoglobin concentration (HbT, i.e., cerebral blood volume [CBV]) of cortical regions in high resolution. Six healthy mice were stimulated at the acupoint and three healthy mice were stimulated at sham points. Remarkable CBV changes in sensorimotor and retrosplenial agranular cortex were observed. Results showed the potential of PAM as a visualization tool to study the acupuncture effect on brain hemodynamics in animal models. (a) Schematic showing the stimulation points. (b) B‐scan images overlaid with mouse atlas. (c) & (d) Statistical results of CBV changes from cortical regions.
Preservice Teachers’ Emerging Professional Identities through Participation in a Knowledge Building Community

In Changing Teachers, Changing Times, Hargreaves (1994) argued that teaching is evolving and must adapt to the postmodern age of information. For Hargreaves, the ethos of a teacher education program was to be that of a learning community. The US National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) criteria for accreditation are reflective of this position: learning community is their first criterion. Moreover, NCATE stresses meaningful relationships between schools and universities. The above-mentioned best practices are important. However, it is our contention that, for teacher education to accomplish its mission in a networked society (Castells, 1996) and in a knowledge age (Bereiter, 2002), we need to go beyond these two best practices. Our most recent design study attempted this by applying the knowledge building principles (Scardamalia & Bereiter, 2002) and using Knowledge Forum® (KF) software (Scardamalia & Bereiter, 1994; 2006) in teacher education. It was part of a larger design research program devoted to the examination and design of knowledge-building oriented teacher communities for innovation, one in which teachers engaged in professional development activities through participation in local but interconnected professional communities dedicated to knowledge building principles and pedagogies.
Heat Shock Proteins HSP27 and HSP70 Are Present in the Skin and Are Important Mediators of Allergic Contact Hypersensitivity1

Proteomic analysis of murine skin has shown that a variety of heat shock proteins (HSPs) are constitutively expressed in the skin. Using murine allergic contact hypersensitivity as a model, we investigated the role of two heat shock proteins, HSP27 and HSP70, in the induction of cutaneous cell-mediated immune responses. Immunohistochemical examination of skin specimens showed that HSP27 was present in the epidermis and HSP70 was present in both the epidermis and dermis. Inhibition of HSP27 and HSP70 produced a reduction in the 1-fluoro-2,4-dinitrobenzene contact hypersensitivity response and resulted in the induction of Ag-specific unresponsiveness. Treatment of dendritic cell cultures with recombinant HSP27 caused in the up-regulation of IL-1β, TNF-α, IL-6, IL-12p70, and IL-12p40 but not IL-23p19, which was inhibited when Abs to HSP27 were added. The 1-fluoro-2,4-dinitrobemzene-conjugated dendritic cells that had been treated with HSP27 had an increased capacity to initiate contact hypersensitivity responses compared with control dendritic cells. This augmented capacity required TLR4 signaling because neither cytokine production by dendritic cells nor the increased induction of contact hypersensitivity responses occurred in TLR4-deficient C3H/HeJ mice. Our findings indicate that a cascade of events occurs following initial interaction of hapten with the skin that includes increased activity of HSPs, their interaction with TLR4, and, in turn, increased production of cytokines that are known to enhance Ag presentation by T cells. The results suggest that HSPs form a link between adaptive and innate immunity during the early stages of contact hypersensitivity.
Curvature contribution to the mass of strangelets.

The curvature energy is shown to give a very significant contribution to the mass of strangelets. Assuming three massless quark flavors, the energy per baryon is increased by roughly (435 MeV) [ital A][sup [minus]2/3] within the MIT bag model, dramatically destabilizing the experimentally accessible strangelets with low baryon number [ital A].
Self‐cleavage of fusion protein in vivo using TEV protease to yield native protein

Overproduction of proteins from cloned genes using fusion protein expression vectors in Escherichia coli and eukaryotic cells has increased the quantity of protein produced. This approach has been widely used in producing soluble recombinant proteins for structural and functional analysis. One major disadvantage, however, of applying this approach for clinical or bioindustrial uses is that proteolytic removal of the fusion carrier is tedious, expensive, and often results in products with additional amino acid residues than the native proteins. Here we describe a new method for productions of native proteins with original amino termini in vivo via intracellular self‐cleavage of the fusion protein using tobacco etch virus (TEV) protease. Our design allows one to simultaneously clone any gene into multiple fusion protein vectors using two unique cloning sites (i.e., SnaBI and XhoI) without restriction digestion, and then rapidly identifies those constructs producing soluble native proteins. This method will make the fusion protein approach more feasible for protein drug research.
Breast lesion characterization by parametric imaging of subharmonic signals from ultrasound contrast agents

Parametric imaging of contrast media perfusion in breast lesions may be a useful tool in determining malignancy and grade of suspected breast tumors. Traditional ultrasound contrast modes have applied this technique, but they often suffer from reduced blood-to-tissue signal due to the tissue's ability to express signal at the transmit and higher harmonic frequencies. Alternatively, it has been shown that imaging at the subharmonic frequency (transmit at f0, receive at f0/2) results in near complete tissue signal suppression. In this regard, parametric subharmonic imaging (SHI) may be an ideal tool for breast lesion characterization, because the signal is generated almost exclusively by contrast microbubbles within the vasculature. In this study, we examined the ability of parametric SHI to characterize breast lesions. Digital SHI clips of 16 breast lesions from 14 women were acquired during contrast injection and used to generate parametric maps of cumulative maximum intensity (CMI), time to peak (TTP), estimated perfusion (EP) and area under the time-intensity curve (AUC). No significant variations were detected with CMI (p = 0.80), TTP (p = 0.35) or AUC (p = 0.65), while a statistically significant variation was detected for the average pixel EP (p = 0.002). While our initial sample size is limited, preliminary results indicate parametric SHI may be a useful tool for breast lesion characterization.