instruction:
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.
question:
Pulmonary artery hypertension (PAH) is characterized by vascular remodeling, high pulmonary blood pressure, and right ventricular hypertrophy. Oxidative stress, inflammation and pulmonary artery remodeling are important components in PAH. Ellagic acid (EA) is a phenolic compound with anti-oxidative, anti-inflammatory, and anti-proliferative properties. This study aimed to investigate whether EA could prevent the development of monocrotaline (MCT)-induced PAH in rats.', 'Male Sprague-Dawley rats received EA (30 and 50mg/kg/day) or vehicle one day after a single-dose of monocrotaline (MCT, 60mg/kg). Hemodynamic changes, right ventricular hypertrophy, and lung morphological features were assessed 4weeks later. Activation of the NLRP3 (NACHT, LRR, and PYD domain-containing protein 3) inflammasome pathway in the lungs was assessed using Western blot analysis.', 'MCT induced PAH, oxidative stress, and NLRP3 inflammasome activation in vehicle-treated rats. EA reduced the right ventricle systolic pressure, the right ventricular hypertrophy and the wall thickness/external diameter ratio of the pulmonary arteries compared with vehicle. EA also inhibited the MCT-induced elevation of oxidative stress, NLRP3, and caspase-1, IL-β in the lungs and the elevated levels of brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) and inflammatory cytokines in serum.
answer:
Does ellagic acid prevent monocrotaline-induced pulmonary artery hypertension via inhibiting NLRP3 inflammasome activation in rats?


question:
To investigate B7-H4 expression and its correlation with the number of infiltrating T lymphocytes and cytokine production by those lymphocytes in human cervical cancer and to determine the effect of recombinant B7-H4 on the active peripheral blood T cells of the patients in vitro.', 'B7-H4 expression was detected in 67 cases of cervical cancer using immunohistochemical staining. Tumor-infiltrating CD8(+)T, CD4(+)T, and FOXP3(+) (Forkhead Box P3) T lymphocytes and their levels of IFN-γ and TGF-β₁ production were determined by immunofluorescent double-staining. After the peripheral blood T lymphocytes of patients were co-cultured with B7-H4, proliferation, apoptosis, and cell subtypes were analyzed using flow cytometry. Cytokines in the supernatant were detected by ELISA.', "B7-H4 was expressed in 46% (31/67) of the cases of cervical cancer. The number of infiltrating CD8(+)T lymphocytes and their IFN-γ production in positive B7-H4 expression cervical cancers was significantly lower than in negative B7-H4 cases (P<0.01, P<0.05), but there was no significant difference between cases positive and negative for B7-H4 with respect to infiltrating FOXP3(+)T and CD4(+)T cells or TGF-β1 production. After co-culture with B7-H4 for 48 h, the patients' activated T lymphocytes were arrested at G1/G2 phase. The Ki67 positive rates of CD4(+)T and CD8(+)T cells were 2.13 ± 0.13% and 1.03 ± 1.33%, and they were lower than in the blank group. The proportion of CD4(+)T and CD8(+)T cells decreased, but CD4(+)T/CD8(+)T and the proportion of CD4(+)CD25(+)Foxp3(+)T cells increased. In addition, concentrations of IL-10 and TGF-β1 in the supernatant of co-cultured T cells increased significantly (P<0.05, P<0.05), but that of IFN-γ decreased. B7-H4 had no significant effect on apoptosis of the T cells.
answer:
Does b7-H4 overexpression impair the immune response of T cells in human cervical carcinomas?


question:
Alternative splicing is an important mechanism for generating functional and evolutionary diversity of proteins in eukaryotes. Here, we studied the frequency and functionality of recently gained, rodent-specific alternative exons.', 'We projected the data about alternative splicing of mouse genes to the rat, human, and dog genomes, and identified exons conserved in the rat genome, but missing in more distant genomes. We estimated the frequency of rodent-specific exons while controlling for possible residual conservation of spurious exons. The frequency of rodent-specific exons is higher among predominantly skipped exons and exons disrupting the reading frame. Separation of all genes by the rate of sequence evolution and by gene families has demonstrated that rodent-specific cassette exons are more frequent in rapidly evolving genes and in rodent-specific paralogs.
answer:

Are rodent-specific alternative exons more frequent in rapidly evolving genes and in paralogs?