TASK DEFINITION: In this task, you are given a passage which has a question and the context. You have to generate an answer to the question based on the information present in the context.
PROBLEM: Context: Poor decision-making is a hallmark of addiction, whether to substances or activities. Performance on a widely used test of decision-making, the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), can discriminate controls from persons with ventral medial frontal lesions, substance-dependence, and pathological gambling. Positron emission tomography (PET) studies indicate that substance-dependent individuals show altered prefrontal activity on the task. Here we adapted the IGT to an fMRI setting to test the hypothesis that defects in ventral medial and prefrontal processing are associated with impaired decisions that involve risk but may differ depending on whether substance dependence is comorbid with gambling problems.', '18 controls, 14 substance-dependent individuals (SD), and 16 SD with gambling problems (SDPG) underwent fMRI while performing a modified version of the IGT.', 'Group differences were observed in ventral medial frontal, right frontopolar, and superior frontal cortex during decision-making. Controls showed the greatest activity, followed by SDPG, followed by SD.\Question: Is prefrontal cortex activity reduced in gambling and nongambling substance users during decision-making?

SOLUTION: Our results support a hypothesis that defects in ventral medial frontal processing lead to impaired decisions that involve risk. Reductions in right prefrontal activity during decision-making appear to be modulated by the presence of gambling problems and may reflect impaired working memory, stimulus reward valuation, or cue reactivity in substance-dependent individuals.

PROBLEM: Context: Cardiac mass and volumes are often elevated in athletes, but it is not known whether moderate physical activity is also associated with cardiac dilatation and hypertrophy in a healthy adult population.', 'In total, 1096 adults (54% female, median age 39 years) without cardiovascular disease or cardiomyopathy-associated genetic variants underwent cardiac magnetic resonance imaging to determine biventricular volumes and function. Physical activity was assessed using a validated activity questionnaire. The relationship between cardiac parameters and activity was assessed using multiple linear regression adjusting for age, sex, race, and systolic blood pressure. Logistic regression was performed to determine the effect of activity on the likelihood of subjects having cardiac dilatation or hypertrophy according to standard cardiac magnetic resonance normal ranges. Increasing physical activity was associated with greater left ventricular (LV) mass (β=0.23; P<0.0001) and elevated LV and right ventricular volumes (LV: β=0.26, P<0.0001; right ventricular: β=0.26, P<0.0001). Physical activity had a larger effect on cardiac parameters than systolic blood pressure (0.06≤β≤0.21) and a similar effect to age (-0.20≤β≤-0.31). Increasing physical activity was a risk factor for meeting imaging criteria for LV hypertrophy (adjusted odds ratio 2.1; P<0.0001), LV dilatation (adjusted odds ratio 2.2; P<0.0001), and right ventricular dilatation (adjusted odds ratio 2.2; P<0.0001).\Question: Does moderate Physical Activity in Healthy Adults be Associated With Cardiac Remodeling?

SOLUTION: Exercise-related cardiac remodeling is not confined to athletes, and there is a risk of overdiagnosing cardiac dilatation or hypertrophy in a proportion of active, healthy adults.

PROBLEM: Context: We hypothesized that atherosclerosis inhibits NO-mediated endothelium-dependent dilation of coronary arterioles through interaction of ox-LDL with its receptor, LOX-1, through the production of O2ÿ- in endothelial cells.', 'We assessed the role of ox-LDL in endothelial dysfunction in a murine model of atherosclerosis (ApoE KO mice). Coronary arterioles from WT control and ApoE KO mice were isolated and pressurized without flow. Although dilation of vessels to endothelium-independent vasodilator SNP was not altered between ApoE KO and WT mice, dilation to the endothelium-dependent agonist, ACh was reduced in ApoE KO versus WT mice. Impaired vasodilation to ACh in ApoE KO mice is partially restored by NAD(P)H oxidase inhibitor, apocynin or DPI. Messenger RNA expression for NAD(P)H oxidases was higher in ApoE KO mice than that in WT and anti-LOX-1 treated ApoE KO mice. Anti-LOX-1, given in vivo, restored NO-mediated coronary arteriolar dilation in ApoE KO mice, but did not affect the endothelium-dependent vasodilation in controls.\Question: Does anti-LOX-1 rescue endothelial function in coronary arterioles in atherosclerotic ApoE knockout mice?

SOLUTION:
These results suggest that ox-LDL impairs endothelium-dependent NO-mediated dilation of coronary arterioles by activation of a signaling cascade involving LOX-1 and NAD(P)H oxidase expression.