TASK DEFINITION: Given a passage classify if the passage has a definite objective/aim/goal or not. Output '1' if the passage has a defininte objective/aim/goal and output '0' if the passage does not have a definite objective/aim/goal.
PROBLEM: Bilateral lower extremity venous duplex scanning for acute deep venous thrombosis (DVT) has been advocated because of the high incidence of occult contralateral leg involvement. We investigated the clinical necessity of such a policy.', 'The results from 2996 venous duplex studies performed during the past 2 years were retrospectively reviewed. A total of 1694 of these scans were performed on patients with symptoms, of whom 248 (15%) were found to have an acute DVT. Symptoms were limited to one side in 198 patients, whereas bilateral complaints were noted in 50 patients.', 'Among the patients with symptoms of acute DVT, 72 (29%) had bilateral involvement. Bilaterality was more likely in patients with bilateral symptoms than in those with only unilateral symptoms (56% vs 22%; p < 0.005). Of the patients with unilateral symptoms and bilateral DVT, all of them had either acute (80%) or acute and chronic (20%) thrombosis in the symptomatic leg. The contralateral asymptomatic limb had fewer acute and more chronic DVT (41% and 55%, respectively). No patient from the entire group admitted with symptoms had an acute DVT in the asymptomatic limb without a concomitant acute DVT in the symptomatic leg. Unilateral scanning would decrease the examination time by 21% and potentially increase total reimbursement for symptomatic venous scans by 9% compared with routine bilateral duplex scanning.

SOLUTION: 1

PROBLEM: The Mediterranean diet, rich in polyphenols, has shown to be cardioprotective. However the mechanisms involved remain unknown. We investigated whether supplementation with a pomegranate extract rich in polyphenols renders beneficial effects on coronary function in a clinically relevant experimental model and characterized the underlying mechanisms.', 'Pigs were fed a 10-day normocholesterolemic or hypercholesterolemic diet. Half of the animals were given a supplement of 625 mg/day of a pomegranate extract (Pomanox; 200 mg punicalagins/day). Coronary responses to escalating doses of vasoactive drugs (acetylcholine, calcium ionophore, and sodium nitroprusside) and L-NG-monomethylarginine (endothelial nitric oxide-synthase inhibitor) were measured using flow Doppler. Akt/endothelial nitric oxide-synthase axis activation, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 expression, oxidative deoxyribonucleic acid damage in the coronary artery, and lipoprotein resistance to oxidation were evaluated.', 'In dyslipidemic animals, Pomanox supplementation prevented diet-induced impairment of endothelial relaxation, reaching vasodilatory values comparable to normocholesterolemic animals upon stimulation with acetylcholine and/or calcium ionophore. These beneficial effects were associated with vascular Akt/endothelial nitric oxide-synthase activation and lower monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 expression. Pomanox supplementation reduced systemic oxidative stress (higher high-density lipoprotein-antioxidant capacity and higher low-density lipoprotein resistance to oxidation) and coronary deoxyribonucleic acid damage. Normocholesterolemic animals elicited similar drug-related vasodilation regardless of Pomanox supplementation. All animals displayed a similar vasodilatory response to sodium nitroprusside and L-NG-monomethylarginine blunted all vasorelaxation responses except for sodium nitroprusside.

SOLUTION: 1

PROBLEM: Tracheal immunogenicity has been controversial. Although replacement of allotracheal epithelia by the host epithelia has been reported in rat orthotopic tracheal grafting, the immunological effect of epithelial replacement is still uncertain.', 'We performed orthotopic tracheal grafting of nine cartilage rings in the following groups: 1, Lewis --> Lewis (n = 30); 2, ACI --> DA (n = 25); 3, Lewis --> F344 (n = 23); 4-A, DA --> Lewis (n = 41); 4-B, DA --> Lewis with tacrolimus therapy (1 mg/kg/d for 10 days) starting from the day of the operation (n = 31); 4-C, retransplantation of DA allografts to secondary naive Lewis rats 10 or 15 days after primary grafting (n = 11); 4-D, DA --> Lewis with tacrolimus therapy starting from postoperative day 10 (n = 6). Survival times and histopathology were assessed. Epithelial replacement was evaluated by immunohistochemistry.', 'All rats survived in groups 1, 2, and 3. Even in the fully histoincompatible group 4-A, survival ratio on day 120 was 15%. Epithelial replacement was in progress on day 10 in this group. However, all tacrolimus-treated rats died by day 54 and epithelial replacement did not occur on days 30 and 50 in group 4-B. In group 4-C, retransplantation after complete epithelial replacement increased the long-surviving rats. In group 4-D, all rats receiving tacrolimus therapy after complete epithelial replacement survived over 120 days.

SOLUTION:
0