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: Parasympathetic dysfunction is an independent risk factor for mortality in heart failure for which there is no specific pharmacologic treatment. This article aims to determine the effect of pyridostigmine, an anticholinesterase agent, on the integrated physiologic responses to dynamic exercise in heart failure.', 'Patients with chronic heart failure (n = 23; 9 female; age = 48 +/- 12 years) were submitted to 3 maximal cardiopulmonary exercise tests on treadmill in different days. The first test was used for adaptation and to determine exercise tolerance. The other tests were performed after oral administration of pyridostigmine (45 mg, 3 times/day, for 24 hours) or placebo, in random order. All patients were taking their usual medication. Pyridostigmine reduced cholinesterase activity by 30%, inhibited the chronotropic response throughout exercise, up to 60% of maximal effort (pyridostigmine = 108 +/- 3 beats/min vs. placebo = 113 +/- 3 beats/min; P = .040), and improved heart rate reserve (pyridostigmine = 73 +/- 5 beats/min vs. placebo = 69 +/- 5 beats/min; P = 0.035) and heart rate recovery in the first minute after exercise (pyridostigmine = 25 +/- 2 beats/min vs. placebo = 22 +/- 2 beats/min; P = .005), whereas peak heart rate was similar to placebo. Oxygen pulse, an indirect indicator of stroke volume, was higher under pyridostigmine during submaximal exercise.

SOLUTION: 0

PROBLEM: Despite evidence supporting the importance of breastfeeding to child health, breastfeeding practices remain suboptimal in Vietnam. There is currently little evidence on the importance of breastfeeding in the prevention of morbidity during infancy in Vietnam. In order to provide country specific data for policy makers to support breastfeeding friendly policies and programs, analysis was undertaken on a cross-sectional dataset to investigate the association between breastfeeding practices and prevalence of diarrhea and acute respiratory infection (ARI) among infants aged 0-5 months.', 'Data on socio-demographic characteristics, infant feeding practices and prevalence of diarrhea and ARI were obtained from 6,068 mother-child dyads in 11 provinces of Vietnam in 2011. Multivariate logistic regression was used to examine the associations between breastfeeding practices and child illnesses.', 'On average, the prevalence of diarrhea and ARI among infants 0-5 months was 5.3% and 24.5%, respectively. Though half of all infants were breastfed within one hour of birth, 73.3% were given prelacteal foods in the first three days after birth. Only 20.2% of children 0-5 months old were exclusively breastfed, while 32.4% were predominantly breastfed and 47.4% partially breastfed. After adjusting for confounders, early initiation of breastfeeding was associated with lower prevalence of diarrhea [adjusted odds ratio (AOR)=0.74 (95% CI 0.58, 0.93)], while prelacteal feeding was associated with higher prevalence [AOR=1.53 (95% CI 1.15, 2.03)]. Compared to infants who were exclusively breastfed, infants who were predominantly [AOR=1.52 (95% CI 1.05, 2.21)] or partially breastfed [AOR=1.55 (95% CI 1.07, 2.24)] were more likely to have diarrhea. Prelacteal feeding [AOR=1.16 (95% CI 1.01, 1.33)] and partial breastfeeding [AOR relative to exclusive breastfeeding=1.24 (95% CI 1.03, 1.48)] were associated with higher prevalence of ARI. While the protective effects of exclusive breastfeeding against diarrhea declined with child age, this effect for ARI appears to have remained constant.

SOLUTION: 0

PROBLEM: Growing evidence implicates hypothalamic inflammation in the pathogenesis of diet-induced obesity and cognitive dysfunction in rodent models. Few studies have addressed the association between obesity and hypothalamic damage in humans and its relevance.', 'This study aimed to determine markers of obesity-associated hypothalamic damage on diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and to determine whether DTI metrics are associated with performance on cognitive testing.', 'This cross-sectional study analyzed DTI metrics (primary [(1)], secondary [(2)], and tertiary [(3)] eigenvalues; fractional anisotropy; and mean diffusivity) in the hypothalamus of 24 consecutive middle-age obese subjects (13 women; 49.8 8.1 y; body mass index [BMI], 43.9 0.92 kg/m(2)) and 20 healthy volunteers (10 women; 48.8 9.5 y; BMI, 24.3 0.79 kg/m(2)).', 'measures: Hypothalamic damage assessed by DTI metrics and cognitive performance evaluated by neuropsychological test battery.', '(1) values in the hypothalamus were significantly lower in obese subjects (P < .0001). The sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values for obesity-associated hypothalamic damage by (1) < 1.072 were 75, 87.5, 83.3, and 80.7%, respectively. Patients with hypothalamic (1) < 1.072 had higher values of BMI, fat mass, inflammatory markers, carotid-intima media thickness, and hepatic steatosis and lower scores on cognitive tests. Combined BMI and alanine aminotransferase had the strongest association with hypothalamic damage reflected by (1) < 1.072 (area under the curve = 0.89).

SOLUTION:
1