Given a passage with a context and an answer, 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.

Context: i ne prognostic relevance of hematological parameters in cardiovascular diseases has been well demonstrated. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the association between the hematological parameters, particularly neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR), and outcomes of aortic dissection (AD).', 'Two hundred patients diagnosed with AD were retrospectively recruited and compared with 76 subjects with ascending aortic dilatation (AAD) and 92 subjects with normal aortic diameters. The independent relation between hematological parameters and in-hospital mortality was analyzed by regression analysis.', 'The NLR was significantly higher in the AD group compared to the AAD and control groups (median 8.83 [8.13] vs. median 1.95 [1.10] vs. median 1.71 [0.77], respectively; p = 0.01). The NLR was higher in the deceased (n = 57) compared to the surviving patients (n = 143) (median 10.37 [10.86] vs. median 7.84 [8.17]; p = 0.01). Receiver operating curve (ROC) analysis revealed that a NLR measurement higher than > 8.78 predicted in-hospital mortality for patients with acute aortic dissection with a sensitivity of 67.4% and a specificity of 57.2% (AUC: 0.672; p = 0.01). In multivariate logistic regression analysis, increased aortic diameter, acute dissection, and increased levels of NLR remained as the independent markers of in-hospital mortality within the study population.
Answer: In patients with AD, NLR levels were increased compared to patients with AAD and controls and were independently associated with in-hospital mortality. This finding implicates that admission hematological parameters may have clinical importance in evaluating the mortality risk in patients with AD.
Is increased Neutrophil to Lymphocyte Ratio Associated with In-Hospital Mortality in Patients with Aortic Dissection?

Context: Interferon regulatory factor 5 is a transcription factor involved in type I interferon (IFN) secretion. This study was undertaken to investigate whether a 5-bp (CGGGG insertion/deletion) promoter polymorphism is involved in genetic predisposition to primary Sjögren's syndrome (SS) and to assess the functional consequences of this polymorphism.", 'The exploratory cohort consisted of 185 patients with primary SS and 157 healthy controls, and the replication cohort consisted of 200 patients with primary SS and 282 healthy controls. Levels of IRF5 messenger RNA (mRNA) were assessed at baseline and after in vitro infection with reovirus in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from 30 patients with primary SS and from salivary gland epithelial cells that had been cultured for 4 weeks from patients with primary SS or sicca symptoms.', 'Carriage of the IRF5 4R CGGGG allele was associated with a greatly increased risk of primary SS in both cohorts (odds ratio 2.00 [95% confidence interval 1.5-2.7], P = 6.6 x 10(-6)). The CGGGG insertion/deletion polymorphism alone was sufficient to explain the association of primary SS with IRF5. The level of IRF5 mRNA in PBMCs depended significantly on genotype (P = 0.002) and was correlated with the levels of mRNA for the IFN-induced genes MX1 and IFITM1. Cultured salivary gland epithelial cells from patients carrying the 4R CGGGG IRF5 allele showed a high level of IRF5 mRNA (P = 0.04), which was amplified after reovirus infection (P = 0.026).
Answer: Our findings indicate an association of the CGGGG insertion/deletion polymorphism of the IRF5 promoter with primary SS. Patients carrying the 4R CGGGG IRF5 allele had a high level of mRNA for IRF5 in PBMCs and salivary gland epithelial cells, mainly after in vitro viral infection. Patients with high levels of mRNA for IRF5 also had high levels of mRNA for type I IFN-induced genes in PBMCs.
Is the CGGGG insertion/deletion polymorphism of the IRF5 promoter a strong risk factor for primary Sjögren 's syndrome?

Context: Nasopharyngeal carriage of Streptococcus pneumoniae is a prerequisite for invasive disease, but the majority of carriage episodes are asymptomatic and self-resolving. Interactions determining the development of carriage versus invasive disease are poorly understood but will influence the effectiveness of vaccines or therapeutics that disrupt nasal colonization.', 'We sought to elucidate immunological mechanisms underlying noninvasive pneumococcal nasopharyngeal carriage.', 'Pneumococcal interactions with human nasopharyngeal and bronchial fibroblasts and epithelial cells were investigated in vitro. A murine model of nasopharyngeal carriage and an experimental human pneumococcal challenge model were used to characterize immune responses in the airways during carriage.', 'We describe the previously unknown immunological basis of noninvasive carriage and highlight mechanisms whose perturbation may lead to invasive disease. We identify the induction of active transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1 by S. pneumoniae in human host cells and highlight the key role for TGF-β1 and T regulatory cells in the establishment and maintenance of nasopharyngeal carriage in mice and humans. We identify the ability of pneumococci to drive TGF-β1 production from nasopharyngeal cells in vivo and show that an immune tolerance profile, characterized by elevated TGF-β1 and high nasopharyngeal T regulatory cell numbers, is crucial for prolonged carriage of pneumococci. Blockade of TGF-β1 signaling prevents prolonged carriage and leads to clearance of pneumococci from the nasopharynx.
Answer: These data explain the mechanisms by which S. pneumoniae colonize the human nasopharynx without inducing damaging host inflammation and provide insight into the role of bacterial and host constituents that allow and maintain carriage.

Is density and duration of pneumococcal carriage maintained by transforming growth factor β1 and T regulatory cells?