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.

Input: Consider Input: The local anesthetic properties of tetrodotoxin, a potent naturally occurring sodium channel blocker, have been recently reexamined. It was found that sciatic nerve block duration could be greatly increased and systemic toxicity greatly decreased if epinephrine was injected with tetrodotoxin. The mechanism that underlies epinephrine-mediated prolongation of tetrodotoxin nerve blocks is not known, but indirect evidence suggests that epinephrine may slow the clearance of tetrodotoxin from the site of injection. The authors hypothesized that tetrodotoxin causes vasodilatation at its injection site, which accelerates its systemic uptake, and that this vasodilatation is attenuated by coinjected epinephrine.', 'The radiolabeled microsphere technique was used to measure tissue blood flow in anesthetized rats before and after perisciatic injection of tetrodotoxin alone and in combination with epinephrine.', 'Tetrodotoxin, in a dose of 0.1 ml of a 60 microM solution, significantly increased blood flow in perisciatic muscle at the injected side compared with simultaneous contralateral control and ipsilateral preinjection baseline. Tetrodotoxin did not increase blood flow in the sciatic nerve. Coinjection of epinephrine with tetrodotoxin prevented tetrodotoxin-induced increases in perisciatic muscle blood flow over time and did not alter sciatic nerve blood flow. Arterial blood pressure was maintained with this dose of tetrodotoxin, although brain blood flow decreased. Coinjection of epinephrine with tetrodotoxin prevented decreases in brain blood flow. Higher doses of tetrodotoxin produced hypotension.

Output: Does epinephrine prevent muscle blood flow increases after perineural injection of tetrodotoxin?


Input: Consider Input: Proinflammatory cytokines have the potential to activate the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis, and HPA axis hyperactivity is also encountered in depression. Therefore, the induction of depressive symptoms by interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha) may be mediated by changes in the cytokine network and the HPA axis.', 'In 17 hepatitis C patients undergoing IFN-alpha treatment, depressive symptoms were measured using the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS). In addition, serum cytokine concentrations were measured. Saliva was collected five times over the course of a day in order to assess daily average cortisol (DAC) and awakening response. Assessments were carried out at baseline and six later time points after starting treatment.', 'During treatment, the increases in the MADRS were significantly and positively correlated with soluble interleukin (IL)-2 receptor, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha), and IL-6. There were no significant associations between the DAC or cortisol awakening response with the MADRS score.

Output: Are interferon-alpha-induced depressive symptoms related to changes in the cytokine network but not to cortisol?


Input: Consider Input: Previous reports have indicated an association between blood transfusion and prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after hepatectomy. However, clinicopathological biases were not adjusted in these studies. We aimed to clarify the effect of blood transfusions in patients with HCC and Child-Pugh class A after hepatectomy by using inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) analysis for selection bias control.', 'We enrolled 479 patients with primary HCC and Child-Pugh class A retrospectively (91 transfused and 388 nontransfused patients) who underwent curative hepatectomy. After adjusting for different covariate distributions for both groups by IPTW, we analyzed the prognostic outcomes.', 'In the unweighted analyses, overall survival (OS) rate of transfused patients was significantly lower than in nontransfused patients (P < 0.0001). Recurrence-free survival (RFS) rate of transfused patients was significantly lower than that of nontransfused patients (P = 0.0024). Multivariate analysis showed that blood transfusion was an independent prognostic factor of OS and RFS. The different distributive covariates between the two groups were age, presence of liver cirrhosis, serum level of alpha-fetoprotein, maximum tumor diameter, and amount of intraoperative blood loss. After IPTW by these covariates, OS rate of transfused patients was not significantly lower than those of nontransfused patients, whereas RFS rate of transfused patients remained significantly lower than those of nontransfused patients (P = 0.038, adjusted HR 1.45; 95% CI 1.0-2.1).


Output: Is blood transfusion associated with recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma after hepatectomy in Child-Pugh class A patients?