TASK DEFINITION: Given a passage classify if the passage has a definite objective/aim/goal or not. Output '1' if the passage has a defininte objective/aim/goal and output '0' if the passage does not have a definite objective/aim/goal.
PROBLEM: Environmental ozone can rapidly degrade cyanine 5 (Cy5), a fluorescent dye commonly used in microarray gene expression studies. Cyanine 3 (Cy3) is much less affected by atmospheric ozone. Degradation of the Cy5 signal relative to the Cy3 signal in 2-color microarrays will adversely reduce the Cy5/Cy3 ratio resulting in unreliable microarray data.', 'Ozone in central Arkansas typically ranges between approximately 22 ppb to approximately 46 ppb and can be as high as 60-100 ppb depending upon season, meteorological conditions, and time of day. These levels of ozone are common in many areas of the country during the summer. A carbon filter was installed in the laboratory air handling system to reduce ozone levels in the microarray laboratory. In addition, the airflow was balanced to prevent non-filtered air from entering the laboratory. These modifications reduced the ozone within the microarray laboratory to approximately 2-4 ppb. Data presented here document reductions in Cy5 signal on both in-house produced microarrays and commercial microarrays as a result of exposure to unfiltered air. Comparisons of identically hybridized microarrays exposed to either carbon-filtered or unfiltered air demonstrated the protective effect of carbon-filtration on microarray data as indicated by Cy5 and Cy3 intensities. LOWESS normalization of the data was not able to completely overcome the effect of ozone-induced reduction of Cy5 signal. Experiments were also conducted to examine the effects of high humidity on microarray quality. Modest, but significant, increases in Cy5 and Cy3 signal intensities were observed after 2 or 4 hours at 98-99% humidity compared to 42% humidity.

SOLUTION: 0

PROBLEM: Thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) levels within populations do not follow Gaussian distribution, and normal limits are derived after mathematical normalization. The clinical relevance of these limits is unknown. The objective of this study was to compare upper and lower TSH limits by four data normalization methods with non-normalized data and assess their clinical relevance.', 'Results of blood samples taken by community physicians and stored in a computerized database were analysed after removing samples from patients with evidence of thyroid illness. TSH values were normalized by the Hoffmann and Tukey methods and each method with natural log transformation. Non-normalized data for TSH in the uppermost and lowermost percentile were also calculated. Clinical relevance was determined by alterations in thyroid hormone levels at, below and above the limits for each method.', 'The maximal reduction from non-normalized data for the upper normal limit (UNL) was by the Hoffman method 43% = 3·1 mIU/l). The maximal increase for the lower normal limit (LNL) was also by the Hoffman method (708% = 0·81 mIU/l). There was very limited difference in average FT3 and FT4 between patients with TSH within, below or above the normal range for all methods.

SOLUTION: 0

PROBLEM: To determine the incidence of microvascular invasion in prostatic carcinoma and its correlation with other prognostic factors.', 'Evaluation of the frequency and extent of microvascular invasion by routine light microscopy in 210 whole-mounted radical prostatectomies with cancer.', 'Microvascular invasion was identified in 111 (53%) of 210 specimens. Focal microvascular invasion (involvement of fewer than three high-power fields) was present in 42 cases (20%); extensive microvascular invasion (involvement of three or more high-power fields) was present in 69 cases (33%). Capsular perforation was present in 43% and 62% of cases with focal and extensive microvascular invasion, respectively. Seminal vesical involvement was observed in 23% and 47% of cases with focal and extensive microvascular invasion, respectively. Lymph node metastases were only observed in cases with microvascular invasion and were present in 7% and 23% of cases with focal and extensive invasion, respectively. There was also a strong positive correlation of microvascular invasion with surgical margin status, Gleason score, and cancer volume. Tumors ranged in volume from 0.14 cc to 47.25 cc (mean, 9.09 cc), and the volume in cases without microvascular invasion was lower than in those with invasion (mean, 5.4 cc and 12.7 cc, respectively); also, the volume in cases with focal invasion was lower than in those with extensive invasion (mean, 9.4 cc and 16.1 cc, respectively).

SOLUTION:
1