Given a passage, construct a question on the basis of the information present in the passage. Construct the question in such a way that (i) it is unambiguous, (ii) it is answerable from the passage, (iii) its answer is unique (iv) it answer uses text phrases from the passage. Avoid creating questions that (i) can't be answered correctly without actually understanding the passage and (ii) uses the same words or phrases given in the passage.

[Q]: Visceral obesity is shown to be a predictor of morbidity and mortality. We evaluated the association of measurements of generalized adiposity and visceral fat area (VFA), with abnormalities of metabolic syndrome (MS).', 'Seventy-six women (47.9 +/- 9.2 years) with BMI of 38.7 +/- 5.4 kg/m(2) underwent anthropometric measurements, laboratory procedures, bioeletrical impedance, and abdominal computed tomography (CT) scan. Diagnosis of MS was based on the presence of abdominal obesity and at least two of the following components: hypertension, dyslipidemia, and glucose intolerance and/or hyperinsulinemia.', 'BMI was correlated with both components of adipose tissue--subcutaneous (r = 0.66, P < 0.01) and VFA (r = 0.33, P < 0.02)--and leptin levels (r = 0.38, P < 0.01). In contrast, VFA was correlated with 2-h glucose and insulin levels (r = 0.32 and 0.35, P < 0.05, respectively), triglyceride, HDL cholesterol, and uric acid (r = 0.33, -0.34 and 0.24, P < 0.05, respectively). Subjects with high VFA, matched for BMI, showed greater plasma glucose area under the curve (621 +/- 127 vs. 558 +/- 129 mg x h(-1) x dl(-1), P < 0.05), 2-h insulin (804 +/- 599 vs. 579 +/- 347 pmol/l, P < 0.05), and uric acid levels (0.33 +/- 0.07 vs. 0.26 +/- 0.06 mmol/l, P < 0.05) than subjects with low VFA. In logistic regression analysis, waist circumference, VFA, and 2-h insulin were identified as independent predictors of MS. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis pointed out the values of 104 cm for waist circumference (58.1% specificity, 84.1% sensitivity), 158.5 cm(2) for VFA (78.1% specificity, 52.3% sensitivity), and 559.8 pmol/l for 2-h insulin (71.9% specificity, 69.8% sensitivity); the presence of at least two of the three variables resulted in a degree of concordance of 76%.
[A]: Does two-hour insulin determination improve the ability of abdominal fat measurement to identify risk for the metabolic syndrome?


[Q]: In mice, the farnesoid X receptor is involved in bacterial translocation, which can result in spontaneous bacterial peritonitis in patients with cirrhosis. We investigated if polymorphisms in the farnesoid X receptor gene influence the risk for spontaneous bacterial peritonitis.', 'Laboratory and clinical data of 293 cirrhotic patients with ascites and 226 healthy controls were prospectively collected. The rs56163822, rs11110390 and rs12313471 polymorphisms of the farnesoid X receptor were determined.', '115 (39%) patients had spontaneous bacterial peritonitis. Distribution of all farnesoid X receptor genotypes matched the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Patients with spontaneous bacterial peritonitis had a higher frequency of the rs56163822 GT genotype (7.0%) than patients without (1.7%, OR=4.4, p=0.02). This genotype was confirmed as predictor of spontaneous bacterial peritonitis by binary logistic regression analysis (OR=6.8, p=0.018).
[A]: Does a farnesoid X receptor polymorphism predispose to spontaneous bacterial peritonitis?


[Q]: Local invasion is a common pattern of spread in uterine cervical squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC). Although transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) facilitates invasion of various types of cancer cells, the role of the TGF-β pathway in CSCC is unclear. In this study, we analyzed the role of TGF-β signaling in the progression of CSCC.', 'Immunohistochemistry was used to examine the expression of TGF-β pathway molecules in 67 CSCC samples with clinicopathological data. Activation of the TGF-β pathway was investigated following co-culture of CSCC cells and cervical cancer-associated fibroblasts (CCAFs).', 'Clinicopathological analysis of CSCC samples revealed that prominent expression of TGF-β receptor-2 was more frequent in CSCC with lymphovascular space invasion (LVSI) than without LVSI (p < 0.01). Lymph node metastasis was more frequent in cases in which phosphorylated SMAD3 (pSMAD3) was localized exclusively at the boundary of tumor clusters (n = 9, p < 0.05). Recombinant TGF-β1 increased pSMAD3 expression and enhanced cellular invasion (p < 0.005) in CSCC cells, which was attenuated by an inhibitor of the TGF-β receptor (p < 0.005). Enhanced pSMAD3 expression and invasion was also observed when conditioned media from CSCC cells co-cultured with CCAFs were administered. Luciferase assays showed that this medium contained a large amount of active TGF-β. Along with TGF-β activation, thrombospondin-1 was upregulated in both CSCC cells and CCAFs, while thrombospondin-1 silencing in either CSCC cells or CCAFs repressed the activity of TGF-β. Thrombospondin-1 was prominently expressed in cases with pSMAD3 boundary staining (p < 0.05).
[A]:
Is invasion of uterine cervical squamous cell carcinoma cells facilitated by locoregional interaction with cancer-associated fibroblasts via activating transforming growth factor-beta?