instruction:
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.
question:
Context: The effect of inhalational anesthetics on sensory-evoked unit activity in the cerebral cortex has been controversial. Desflurane has desirable properties for in vivo neurophysiologic studies, but its effect on cortical neuronal activity and neuronal responsiveness is not known. The authors studied the effect of desflurane on resting and visual evoked unit activity in rat visual cortex in vivo.', 'Desflurane was administered to adult albino rats at steady-state concentrations at 2%, 4%, 6%, and 8%. Flashes from a light emitting diode were delivered to the left eye at 5-s intervals. Extracellular unit activity within the right visual cortex was recorded using a 49-electrode array. Individual units were identified using principal components analysis.', 'At 2% desflurane, 578 active units were found. Of these, 75% increased their firing rate in response to flash. Most responses contained early (0-100 ms) and late (150-1000 ms) components. With increasing desflurane concentration, the number of units active at baseline decreased (-13%), the number of early-responding units increased (+31%), and number of late-responding units decreased (-15%). Simultaneously, baseline firing rate decreased (-77%), the early response was unchanged, and the late response decreased (-60%).\Question: Does desflurane selectively suppress long-latency cortical neuronal response to flash in the rat?
answer:
The results indicate that visual cortex neurons remain responsive to flash stimulation under desflurane anesthesia, but the long-latency component of their response is attenuated in a concentration-dependent manner. Suppression of the long-latency response may be related to a loss of corticocortical feedback and loss of consciousness.

question:
Context: ANGPTL8 (betatrophin) has been recently identified as a regulator of lipid metabolism through its interaction with ANGPTL3. A sequence variant in ANGPTL8 has been shown to associate with lower level of Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL) and High Density Lipoprotein (HDL). The objective of this study is to identify sequence variants in ANGPTL8 gene in Arabs and investigate their association with ANGPTL8 plasma level and clinical parameters.', 'A cross sectional study was designed to examine the level of ANGPTL8 in 283 non-diabetic Arabs, and to identify its sequence variants using Sanger sequencing and their association with various clinical parameters.', 'Using Sanger sequencing, we sequenced the full ANGPTL8 gene in 283 Arabs identifying two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) Rs.892066 and Rs.2278426 in the coding region. Our data shows for the first time that Arabs with the heterozygote form of (c.194C > T Rs.2278426) had higher level of Fasting Blood Glucose (FBG) compared to the CC homozygotes. LDL and HDL level in these subjects did not show significant difference between the two subgroups. Circulation level of ANGPTL8 did not vary between the two forms. No significant changes were observed between the various forms of Rs.892066 variant and FBG, LDL or HDL.\Question: Is aNGPTL8/Betatrophin R59W variant associated with higher glucose level in non-diabetic Arabs living in Kuwaits?
answer:
Our data shows for the first time that heterozygote form of ANGPTL8 Rs.2278426 variant was associated with higher FBG level in Arabs highlighting the importance of these variants in controlling the function of betatrophin.

question:
Context: It is known that large dogs who are fed lamb and rice diets are at increased risk to develop taurine-deficiency-induced dilated cardiomyopathy. Since dogs obligatorily conjugate bile acids (BA) with taurine, we determined whether rice bran (RB) or other fibers (cellulose; CL, beet pulp; BP) would affect BA excretion and/or the taurine status of dogs.', 'Eighteen medium/large mixed-breed dogs were given purified diets containing CL, BP, or RB for 12weeks. Taurine concentrations in plasma and whole blood were significantly decreased at week 12. The BP group, compared to the CL or RB groups, showed significantly lower taurine concentrations in plasma (6.50.5 vs 20.43.9 and 13.12.0mol/L, respectively, P<0.01, meanSEM) and in whole blood (7910 vs 14314 and 12714mol/L, respectively, P<0.01), lower apparent protein digestibility (81.90.6 vs 88.80.6 and 88.11.2%, respectively, P<0.01), and higher BA excretions (5.60.1 vs 3.40.5 and 3.40.4mol/g feces, respectively, P<0.05) at week 12.\Question: Does dietary beet pulp decrease taurine status in dogs fed low protein diet?
answer:
These results do not support the hypothesis that RB is likely to be a primary cause of lamb meal and rice diets, increasing the risk of taurine deficiency in large dogs. However these indicate that BP may contribute to a decrease taurine status in dogs by increasing excretion of fecal BA and decreasing protein digestibility, thus decreasing the bioavailability of sulfur amino acids, the precursors of taurine.