The Presence of Real Food Usurps Hypothetical Health Value Judgment in Overweight People.

To develop more ecologically valid models of the neurobiology of obesity, it is critical to determine how the neural processes involved in food-related decision-making translate into real-world eating behaviors. We examined the relationship between goal-directed valuations of food images in the MRI scanner and food consumption at a subsequent ad libitum buffet meal. We observed that 23 lean and 40 overweight human participants showed similar patterns of value-based neural responses to health and taste attributes of foods. In both groups, these value-based responses in the ventromedial PFC were predictive of subsequent consumption at the buffet. However, overweight participants consumed a greater proportion of unhealthy foods. This was not predicted by in-scanner choices or neural response. Moreover, in overweight participants alone, impulsivity scores predicted greater consumption of unhealthy foods. Overall, our findings suggest that, while the hypothetical valuation of the health of foods is predictive of eating behavior in both lean and overweight people, it is only the real-world food choices that clearly distinguish them.This study was supported by the Bernard Wolfe Health Neuroscience Fund (HZ, PCF), the Wellcome Trust (NM, HZ, PCF), the Medical Research Council grant U105960389 (ALA, KMD, SAJ) and the Department of Health Policy Research Program (Policy Research Unit in Behaviour and Health [PR-UN-0409-10109]) (TMM, SEF).This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from the Society for Neuroscience via https://doi.org/10.1523/ENEURO.0025-16.201

Failure of sucrose replacement with the non-nutritive sweetener erythritol to alter GLP-1 or PYY release or test meal size in lean or obese people.

There is considerable interest in the effect of foods containing high intensity sweeteners on satiation. However, less is known about low-calorie bulk sweeteners such as erythritol. In this randomized three-way crossover study, we studied 10 lean and 10 obese volunteers who consumed three test meals on separate occasions: (a) control sucrose meal; (b) isovolumic meal with partial replacement of sucrose by erythritol; (c) isocaloric meal which contained more erythritol but equivalent calories to the control meal. We measured gut hormone levels, hunger and satiety scores, ad libitum food intake, sucrose preference and intake after the manipulations. There was a greater post-prandial excursion in glucose and insulin levels after sucrose than after the erythritol meals. There was no difference in GLP-1/PYY levels or subsequent energy intake and sucrose preference between sucrose control and isovolumic erythritol meals. In lean (but not obese) participants, hunger decreased to a greater extent after the isocaloric erythritol meal compared to the control meal (p = 0.003) reflecting the larger volume of this meal. Replacing sucrose with erythritol leads to comparable hunger and satiety scores, GLP-1 and PYY levels, and subsequent sucrose preference and intake.Wellcome Trust, National Institute for Health Research Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre, Bernard Wolfe Health Neuroscience Fund, Swiss National Science Foundation (Grant IDs: PBLAP3-145870, P3SMP3-155318), NeuroFAST consortium, European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/ 2007e2013) Grant ID: 245009), Cargill, Sas van Gent, The NetherlandsThis is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Elsevier via http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2016.09.00

Performance Implications of Organizational and Technological Innovation: An Integrative Perspective

Manufacturing firms engage in various innovation activities to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. Although technological innovation is considered one of the key performance drivers, organizational innovation has become increasingly prominent. This study analyzes the relationship between organizational and technological innovation and examines their effect on firm performance in the manufacturing context. The empirical evidence is based on the European Manufacturing Survey (EMS)—Serbian data set gathered in 2018. Hypotheses on the relationship between organizational and technological innovations and firm performance are tested by structural equation modeling using data from 240 Serbian manufacturing firms. The results have shown that technological concepts strongly mediate the impact of organizational factors on firm performance (return on sales—ROS). Moreover, it could be said that, in contrast to the individual approach, to foster a ROS, a synergic effect of organizational and technological concepts is needed, implying the need for an integrative perspective in the process of innovation

Comprehensive studies of structural, electronic and magnetic properties of Zn0.95Co0.05O\mathrm{Zn_{0.95}Co_{0.05}O} nanopowders

X-ray absorption (XANES, EXAFS, XMCD) and photoelectron (XPS) spectroscopic techniques were employed to study local structural, electronic and magnetic properties of Zn$_{0.95}$Co$_{0.05}$O nanopowders. The substitutional Co$^{2+}$ ions are incorporated in ZnO lattice at regular Zn sites and the sample is characterized by high structural order. There was no sign of ferromagnetic ordering of Co magnetic moments and the sample is in paramagnetic state at all temperatures down to 5 K. The possible connection of the structural defects with the absence of ferromagnetism is discussed on the basis of theoretical calculations of the O K-edge absorption spectra

BMI-related cortical morphometry changes are associated with altered white matter structure.

BACKGROUND: While gross measures of brain structure have shown alterations with increasing body mass index (BMI), the extent and nature of such changes has varied substantially across studies. Here, we sought to determine whether small-scale morphometric measures might prove more sensitive and reliable than larger scale measures and whether they might offer a valuable opportunity to link cortical changes to underlying white matter changes. To examine this, we explored the association of BMI with millimetre-scale Gaussian curvature, in addition to standard measures of morphometry such as cortical thickness, surface area and mean curvature. We also assessed the volume and integrity of the white matter, using white matter signal intensity and fractional anisotropy (FA). We hypothesised that BMI would be linked to small-scale changes in Gaussian curvature and that this phenomenon would be mediated by changes in the integrity of the underlying white matter. METHODS: The association of global measures of T1-weighted cortical morphometry with BMI was examined using linear regression and mediation analyses in two independent groups of healthy young to middle aged human subjects (n1 = 52, n2 = 202). In a third dataset of (n3 = 897), which included diffusion tensor images, we sought to replicate the significant associations established in the first two datasets, and examine the potential mechanistic link between BMI-associated cortical changes and global FA. RESULTS: Gaussian curvature of the white matter surface showed a significant, positive association with BMI across all three independent datasets. This effect was mediated by a negative association between the integrity of the white matter and BMI. CONCLUSIONS: Increasing BMI is associated with changes in white matter microstructure in young to middle-aged healthy adults. Our results are consistent with a model whereby BMI-linked cortical changes are mediated by the effects of BMI on white matter microstructure.This work was supported by the Bernard Wolfe Health Neuroscience Fund (NM, HZ, LR, PCF), the Wellcome Trust (RGAG/144 to N.M, RNAG/259 to PCF), the Medical Research Council (G0701497 to KDE) and the National Institutes of Health (R01EB015611, U01MH108148, U54EB020403 to PK)

Health-Related Quality of Life Outcomes in Patients with Resected Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor-Mutated Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Who Received Adjuvant Osimertinib in the Phase III ADAURA Trial

Purpose: In the phase III ADAURA trial, adjuvant treatment with osimertinib versus placebo, with/without prior adjuvant chemotherapy, resulted in a statistically significant and clinically meaningful disease-free survival benefit in completely resected stage IB-IIIA EGFR-mutated (EGFRm) non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We report health-related quality of life (HRQoL) outcomes from ADAURA. Patients and Methods: Patients randomized 1:1 received oral osimertinib 80 mg or placebo for 3 years or until recurrence/ discontinuation. HRQoL (secondary endpoint) was measured using the Short Form-36 (SF-36) health survey at baseline, 12, and 24 weeks, then every 24 weeks until recurrence or treatment completion/ discontinuation. Exploratory analyses of SF-36 score changes from baseline until week 96 and time to deterioration (TTD) were performed in the overall population (stage IB-IIIA; N ¼ 682). Clinically meaningful changes were defined using the SF-36 manual. Results: Baseline physical/mental component summary (PCS/ MCS) scores were comparable between osimertinib and placebo (range, 46-47) and maintained to Week 96, with no clinically meaningful differences between arms; difference in adjusted least squares (LS) mean [95% confidence intervals (CI), -1.18 (-2.02 to -0.34) and -1.34 (-2.40 to -0.28), for PCS and MCS, respectively. There were no differences between arms for TTD of PCS and MCS; HR, 1.17 (95% CI, 0.82-1.67) and HR, 0.98 (95% CI, 0.70-1.39), respectively. Conclusions: HRQoL was maintained with adjuvant osimertinib in patients with stage IB-IIIA EGFRm NSCLC, who were disease-free after complete resection, with no clinically meaningful differences versus placebo, further supporting adjuvant osimertinib as a new treatment in this setting

Braincharts for the human lifespan

Over the past 25 years, neuroimaging has become a ubiquitous tool in basic research and clinical studies of the human brain. However, there are no reference standards against which to anchor measures of individual differences in brain morphology, in contrast to growth charts for traits such as height and weight. Here, we built an interactive online resource (www.brainchart.io) to quantify individual differences in brain structure from any current or future magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study, against models of expected age-related trends. With the goal of basing these on the largest and most inclusive dataset, we aggregated MRI data spanning 115 days post-conception through 100 postnatal years, totaling 122,123 scans from 100,071 individuals in over 100 studies across 6 continents. When quantified as centile scores relative to the reference models, individual differences show high validity with non-MRI brain growth estimates and high stability across longitudinal assessment. Centile scores helped identify previously unreported brain developmental milestones and demonstrated increased genetic heritability compared to non-centiled MRI phenotypes. Crucially for the study of brain disorders, centile scores provide a standardised and interpretable measure of deviation that reveals new patterns of neuroanatomical differences across neurological and psychiatric disorders emerging during development and ageing. In sum, brain charts for the human lifespan are an essential first step towards robust, standardised quantification of individual variation and for characterizing deviation from age-related trends. Our global collaborative study