TASK DEFINITION: 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.
PROBLEM: To evaluate the concordance between thallium-201 uptake and echocardiographic wall thickening, which are both indicators of potentially reversible myocardial dysfunction, in patients with chronic ischaemic left ventricular failure and to assess their relative contribution to predicting improvement in regional function after revascularisation in a subgroup.', '45 patients with chronic ischaemic left ventricular dysfunction (mean (SD) ejection fraction 25 (8)%) underwent echocardiography before and after dobutamine infusion (10 micrograms/kg/min). Of these, 22 patients underwent rest echocardiography at a mean (SD) of 9 (1) weeks after revascularisation. 201Tl imaging was performed during dobutamine echocardiography and at rest, 1, and 4 h after treatment with sublingual glyceryl trinitrate on two separate days. Potentially reversible dysfunction was thought to be present when a myocardial segment contained a Tl score of > or = 3 (ascending score 1-4), or showed improved wall thickening of a dysynergic segment during dobutamine stimulation.', 'Of the 201Tl protocols, the redistribution scan 1 h after treatment with glyceryl trinitrate best demonstrated myocardial viability. Concordance between 201Tl and dobutamine induced wall thickening was 82% (kappa = 0.59) for detecting potentially reversible myocardial dysfunction before revascularisation (n = 45). Regional function improved in 18 of 22 patients after revascularisation. There were 168 dysynergic segments before intervention. The sensitivity of echocardiography and 201Tl imaging for detecting "recoverable" or viable segments after revascularisation was 87% and 92% respectively and specificity was 82% and 78% respectively (P = NS).

SOLUTION: Do dobutamine echocardiography and thallium-201 imaging predict functional improvement after revascularisation in severe ischaemic left ventricular dysfunction?

PROBLEM: To investigate the inhibitory effects of adenovirus-mediated NDRG2 on the proliferation of human renal cell carcinoma cell line OS-RC-2 in vitro.', 'NDRG2 was harvested by RT-PCR, confirmed by DNA sequencing, and then cloned into the eukaryotic expression vector pIRES2-EGFP, which encodes green fluorescent protein (GFP), to construct pIRES2-EGFP-NDRG2 plasmid. OS-RC-2 cells with NDRG2 negative expression were transfected with pIRES2-EGFP-NDRG2 plasmid. The growth of transfected OS-RC-2 cells was observed under light and fluorescence microscopes. After colony-forming cell assays, cell proliferation detection and MTT assays, the growth curves of cells in each group were plotted to investigate the inhibitory effects of adenovirus-mediated NDRG2 on the proliferation of OS-RC-2 cells. Cell cycle was determined by flow cytometry. Confocal laser scanning microscopy showed that NDRG2 protein was specifically located on subcellular organelle.', 'A eukaryotic expression vector pIRES2-EGFP-NDRG2 was successfully constructed. After NDRG2 transfection, the growth of OS-RC-2 cells was inhibited. Flow cytometry showed that cells were arrested in S phase but the peak of cell apoptosis was not present, and confocal laser scanning microscopy showed that NDRG2 protein was located in mitochondrion.

SOLUTION: Does adenovirus-mediated NDRG2 inhibit the proliferation of human renal cell carcinoma cell line OS-RC-2 in vitro?

PROBLEM: In the presented study the effect of age and cytogenetics on clinical outcome in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) was evaluated. The 1225 patients with de novo AML were separated according to age as follows: A1: 16 to 49 years (n=442), A2: 50 to 59 years (n=246), A3: 60-69 years (n=333), A4: 70 years and older (n=204).', 'Patients were categorized with respect to cytogenetics into 5 groups: C1: t(15;17) (n=107), C2: CBF-AML/inv(16)/t(8;21) (n=171), C3: 11q23/MLL (n=42), C4: complex aberrant karyotype (n=130), C5: other: normal, other abnormalities, 5q-/-5, 7q-/-7, inv(3)/t(3;3), other 3q abnormalities (n=746). For each age category univariate cox regression analysis was performed using age as a continuous variable and C1 to C5 as dichotomous variables.', 'In cohort A1 all parameters were significantly associated with overall survival (OS). However, in multivariate analysis all cytogenetic parameters were independently correlated with OS, while age was not. In cohort A2 only CBF and complex aberrant karyotype were significantly correlated with OS. In A3 t(15;17), complex karyotype and age, and in A4 only complex karyotype and age were significantly associated with OS in univariate and multivariate analyses. Within all cytogenetic subgroups except AML 11q23/MLL there were significant associations between age and OS.

SOLUTION:
Does the influence of age on prognosis of de novo acute myeloid leukemia differ according to cytogenetic subgroups?