TASK DEFINITION: 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.
PROBLEM: Prepubertal children and early adolescents with bipolar disorders (PEA-BP) who participate in the ongoing study "Phenomenology and Course of Pediatric Bipolar Disorders" have a high prevalence of ultradian (within 24-hour periods) rapid cycling. Based on a case-control finding reported in bipolar (BP) adults of an association between rapid and ultradian rapid cycling with the low-activity allele of catechol-O-methyltransferase (l-COMT), study of linkage and linkage disequilibrium of l-COMT in the PEA-BP population seemed warranted.', "Genotypes on a subset of the larger PEA-BP sample, for whom trio blood collection was complete (i. e., probands and both of their biological parents), were used to perform transmission disequilibrium tests (TDTs). Diagnoses were established from a comprehensive battery that included WASH-U-KSADS (Washington University Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia) given to both mothers and children and from consensus conferences. Probands with PEA-BP (N = 52) were 10.9 +/- 2.8 years old at index episode; had a mean age of BP onset at 8.0 +/- 3.8 years; were severely impaired, with a mean Children's Global Assessment Scale score of 44.5 +/- 8.9; and manifested the cardinal features of BP (84.6% had euphoric mood, 76.9% had grandiosity, and 57.7% had psychosis). Ultradian rapid cycling occurred in 75%. Genotyping of the single nucleotide polymorphism at COMT was performed using automated capillary electrophoresis single-strand conformational polymorphism with detection by laser-induced fluorescence.", 'Transmission disequilibrium tests were not significant for preferential transmission of l-COMT for the ultradian rapid-cycling subgroup or for the entire PEA-BP sample.

SOLUTION: Is ultradian rapid cycling in prepubertal and early adolescent bipolarity in transmission disequilibrium with val/met COMT alleles?

PROBLEM: This study addresses the potential utility of preoperative functional imaging with magnetoencephalography (MEG) for the selection of glioma patients who are likely to benefit from resective surgical treatment regarding postoperative morbidity.', 'One hundred and nineteen patients with gliomas adjacent to sensorimotor, visual and speech related brain areas were investigated preoperatively with a MAGNES II biomagnetometer. In each patient the pre-surgical evaluation was focussed on the visual, sensorimotor cortex and/or of the speech related brain areas. A grading system was then used according to the distance of the MEG activation sources to the nearest tumour border to determine the further treatment. The therapeutic options consisted in conservative treatment, stereotactic biopsy and/or a radiation and chemotherapy, substantial cytoreduction and the gross total removal of the lesion.', 'From 119 investigated patients, 55 patients (46.2%) were not considered for surgery due to tumour invasion to functional cortex. Sixty four patients (53.8%) were chosen for resective surgery. In the surgical group only four patients (6.2%) suffered from neurological deterioration.

SOLUTION: Does magnetic source imaging support clinical decision making in glioma patients?

PROBLEM: Genes essential for bacterial growth are of particular scientific interest. Many putative essential genes have been identified or predicted in several species, however, little is known about gene expression requirement stringency, which may be an important aspect of bacterial physiology and likely a determining factor in drug target development.', 'Working from the premise that essential genes differ in absolute requirement for growth, we describe silencing of putative essential genes in E. coli to obtain a titration of declining growth rates and transcript levels by using antisense peptide nucleic acids (PNA) and expressed antisense RNA. The relationship between mRNA decline and growth rate decline reflects the degree of essentiality, or stringency, of an essential gene, which is here defined by the minimum transcript level for a 50% reduction in growth rate (MTL(50)). When applied to four growth essential genes, both RNA silencing methods resulted in MTL(50) values that reveal acpP as the most stringently required of the four genes examined, with ftsZ the next most stringently required. The established antibacterial targets murA and fabI were less stringently required.

SOLUTION:
Do concurrent growth rate and transcript analyses reveal essential gene stringency in Escherichia coli?