TASK DEFINITION: You are given a background paragraph that describes one or more causal or qualitative relationships such as a relationship in economics or a scientific law and a story that makes use of the concepts or the relationship described in the provided paragraph. You are also given a question about the story that requires an understanding of the relationship described in the background paragraph and the story. You need to come up with an answer to the given question; the answer will be a span from either the question or the story. In order to correctly answer the given question, you need to understand the relationship mentioned in the background paragraph and should be able to use it to understand that in the story. Your answer can not consist of any word that is not mentioned in any of these: the background paragraph, the story, or the question. You can directly copy and paste a span from the story or the question while answering the given question.
PROBLEM: Background Paragraph: The Human Immunodeficiency Virus ( HIV ) is the virus that causes Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome ( AIDS ). Most researchers believe that the HIV originated in sub-Saharan Africa during the 20th century. HIV is transmitted by sexual contact and by contact with infected bodily fluids, such as blood, semen, breast milk, and vaginal secretions. It is also passed from mother to fetus. HIV is now a pandemic , with an estimated (as of 2008) 38.6 million people now living with the disease worldwide. It is estimated that AIDS has killed more than 25 million people since it was first recognized in 1981. 
Story: Monica and Jill are two friends. They study and party together most of the time. One day Monica shared a needle with a drug addict at a party. She later found out that she'd been infected with HIV. Jill was scared and helped her as much as she could. 
Question: Which friend has a virus that is transmitted by sexual contact?

SOLUTION: Monica.

PROBLEM: Background Paragraph: For example, a radioactive isotope of iodine (I-131) is used in both the diagnosis and treatment of thyroid cancer. The thyroid will normally absorb some iodine to produce iodine-containing thyroid hormones. An overactive thyroid gland will absorb a larger amount of the radioactive material. If this is the case, more and more radioactive iodine can be administered, where it will cluster in the diseased portion of the thyroid tissue and kill some of the nearby cells. Cancer treatments often cause patients to feel very sick, because while the radiation treatment kills the unwanted cancer cells, it causes damage to some healthy cells in the process. 
Story: John is a doctor in a local hospital. Today, he is seeing two patients, patient A and patient B. Patient A has thyroid cancer, but patient B does not have thyroid cancer. John is trying to see the difference between these two patients' reports. 
Question: Which patient would have an overactive thyroid gland, patient A or patient B?

SOLUTION: patient A.

PROBLEM: Background Paragraph: A baby is born with zones of cartilage in its bones that allow growth of the bones. These areas, called growth plates , allow the bones to grow longer as the child grows. By the time the child reaches an age of about 18 to 25 years, all of the cartilage in the growth plate has been replaced by bone. This stops the bone from growing any longer. Even though bones stop growing in length in early adulthood, they can continue to increase in thickness throughout life. This thickening occurs in response to strain from increased muscle activity and from weight-lifting exercises. 
Story: John was a relatively thin and bone-y child when he was younger. He would often get bruises and was prone to breaking bones. As an adult however he does lots of weight lifting and hasn't broken a bone yet. 
Question: Will lifting weights likely increase or decrease bone thickness?

SOLUTION:
increase.