Sensitivity of plasma BRAFmutant and NRASmutant cell-free DNA assays to detect metastatic melanoma in patients with low RECIST scores and non-RECIST disease progression.

Melanoma lacks a clinically useful blood-based biomarker of disease activity to help guide patient management. To determine whether measurements of circulating, cell-free, tumor-associated BRAF(mutant) and NRAS(mutant) DNA (ctDNA) have a higher sensitivity than LDH to detect metastatic disease prior to treatment initiation and upon disease progression we studied patients with unresectable stage IIIC/IV metastatic melanoma receiving treatment with BRAF inhibitor therapy or immune checkpoint blockade and at least 3 plasma samples obtained during their treatment course. Levels of BRAF(mutant) and NRAS(mutant) ctDNA were determined using droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) assays.

Eating under observation: a systematic review and meta-analysis of the effect that heightened awareness of observation has on laboratory measured energy intake.

Background: Laboratory paradigms are commonly used to study human energy intake. However, the extent to which participants believe their eating behavior is being measured may affect energy intake and is a methodologic factor that has received little consideration.

Objective: Our main objective was to examine available evidence for the effect that heightened awareness of observation has on energy intake in a laboratory setting.

Descriptive peer norms, self-control and dietary behaviour in young adults.

There is evidence that perceived peer eating norms can influence dietary behaviour. This cross-sectional study examined whether certain personality traits increase the likelihood that personal eating habits are similar to perceived peer eating habits. We assessed frequency of consumption of sugar-sweetened soda (SSS) and sweet pastries (SP), as well as perceived peer descriptive eating norms for SSS and SP in a group of 1056 young adults.

Perceived social norms and eating behaviour: An evaluation of studies and future directions.

Social norms refer to what most people typically do or approve of. There has been some suggestion that perceived social norms may be an important influence on eating behaviour. We and others have shown that perceived social norms relating to very specific contexts can influence food intake (the amount of food consumed in a single sitting) in those contexts; these studies have predominantly sampled young female adults.

Dishware size and snack food intake in a between-subjects laboratory experiment.

Objective: The use of smaller dishware as a way of reducing food consumption has intuitive appeal and is recommended to the general public. Recent experimental studies have failed to find an effect of plate size on food intake, although the methods used across studies have varied. The aim of the present study was to examine the effect that bowl size had on snack food consumption in a 'typical' snacking context (snacking while watching television).

Visual perceptions of male obesity: a cross-cultural study examining male and female lay perceptions of obesity in Caucasian males.

Background: Obesity is now common and this may have altered visual perceptions of what constitutes a 'normal' and therefore healthy weight. The present study examined cross-cultural differences in male and female participants' ability to visually identify the weight status of photographed Caucasian males.

Methods: Five hundred and fifty three male and female young adults from the US (high obesity prevalence), UK and Sweden (lower obesity prevalence) participated in an online study.

"Food addiction is real". The effects of exposure to this message on self-diagnosed food addiction and eating behaviour.

Food addiction is widely discussed in popular media in many Westernised societies. However, a potential concern is that endorsement of the food addiction model may cause people to perceive a lack of personal control over eating which could promote unhealthy dietary behaviours. To address this possibility, the current study investigated whether exposure to food addiction messages would, firstly, increase the number of participants who self-diagnosed as food addicts and, secondly, increase intake of indulgent foods.

Portion size and intended consumption. Evidence for a pre-consumption portion size effect in males?

Larger portions increase energy intake (the 'portion size effect'); however, the mechanisms behind this effect are unclear. Although pre-meal intentions are thought to be an important determinant of energy intake, little research has examined how much of a meal individuals intend to eat when served standard versus larger portion sizes. Three studies examined the effect of manipulating portion size on intended food consumption.

The Hippo effector YAP promotes resistance to RAF- and MEK-targeted cancer therapies.

Resistance to RAF- and MEK-targeted therapy is a major clinical challenge. RAF and MEK inhibitors are initially but only transiently effective in some but not all patients with BRAF gene mutation and are largely ineffective in those with RAS gene mutation because of resistance. Through a genetic screen in BRAF-mutant tumor cells, we show that the Hippo pathway effector YAP (encoded by YAP1) acts as a parallel survival input to promote resistance to RAF and MEK inhibitor therapy.

Examining evidence for behavioural mimicry of parental eating by adolescent females. An observational study.

Behavioural mimicry is a potential mechanism explaining why adolescents appear to be influenced by their parents' eating behaviour. In the current study we examined whether there is evidence that adolescent females mimic their parents when eating. Videos of thirty-eight parent and female adolescent dyads eating a lunchtime meal together were examined.

Visual weight status misperceptions of men: Why overweight can look like a healthy weight.

Overweight men often underestimate their weight status. Here, we examine whether underestimation occurs when visually judging the weight status of men and whether exposure to heavier body weights may be a cause of visual underestimation of male weight status. Participants systematically underestimated the weight status of overweight and obese men (Study 1) and participants reporting more frequent exposure to heavy male body weights were most likely to underestimate (Study 2).

Drinking like everyone else: trait self-control moderates the association between peer and personal heavy episodic drinking.

Background: Alcohol consumption often appears to be under social influence. However, we know relatively little about whether some people are particularly likely to exhibit similar drinking patterns to their peers.

Objectives: Here we tested the extent to which trait social approval concerns and trait self-control are associated with the likelihood that individuals display similar heavy episodic drinking patterns to their peers.

Reprint of: Eating like you are overweight: the effect of overweight models on food intake in a remote confederate study.

There is consistent evidence that people model the eating behaviour of others. The extent to which people model the amount of food consumed by other people of different weight statuses has received less attention. Here we tested the effect on food consumption of exposing female participants to information about the food consumption of either normal/healthy weight or overweight individuals.

Is plate clearing a risk factor for obesity? A cross-sectional study of self-reported data in US adults.

Objectives: Identifying eating behaviors which contribute to excess weight gain will inform obesity prevention strategies. A tendency to clear one's plate when eating may be a risk factor for obesity in an environment where food is plentiful. Whether plate clearing is associated with increased body weight in a cohort of US participants was examined.

Awareness of social influence on food intake. An analysis of two experimental studies.

There is consistent evidence that the amount of food we consume can be influenced by the eating behaviour of other people. Some previous experimental studies reported that consumers are unaware of this influence on their behaviour. The present research tested whether people may be more aware of social influence on their eating than previously assumed.

Visual identification of obesity by healthcare professionals: an experimental study of trainee and qualified GPs.

Background: Guidelines suggest that GPs should intervene on patients' weight, but to do so GPs must first recognise that a patient may have a weight problem and weigh them.

Aim: To examine whether GPs and trainee GPs can identify overweight and obese body weights by sight, and if this influences whether they would discuss weight with a potential patient.

Design And Setting: Study of GPs and trainee GPs on the lists of the UK NHS Workforce West Midlands Deanery and NHS Sandwell and West Birmingham Clinical Commissioning Group.

Novel modular anastomotic valve device for hemodialysis vascular access: preliminary computational hemodynamic assessment.

Purpose: Arteriovenous graft patency is limited by terminal occlusion caused by intimal hyperplasia (IH). Motivated by evidence that flow disturbances promote IH progression, a modular anastomotic valve device (MAVD) was designed to isolate the graft from the circulation between dialysis periods (closed position) and enable vascular access during dialysis (open position). The objective of this study was to perform a preliminary computational assessment of the device ability to normalize venous flow between dialysis periods and potentially limit IH development and thrombogenesis.

Estimating sympathetic tone by recording subcutaneous nerve activity in ambulatory dogs.

Introduction: We tested the hypothesis that subcutaneous nerve activity (SCNA) of the thorax correlates with the stellate ganglion nerve activity (SGNA) and can be used to estimate the sympathetic tone.

Methods And Results: We implanted radio transmitters in 11 ambulatory dogs to record left SGNA, left thoracic vagal nerve activity (VNA), and left thoracic SCNA, including 3 with simultaneous video monitoring and nerve recording. Two additional dogs were studied under general anesthesia with apamin injected into the right stellate ganglion while the right SGNA and the right SCNA were recorded.

A comparison of three types of web-based inhibition training for the reduction of alcohol consumption in problem drinkers: study protocol.

Background: Problem drinkers have poor inhibitory control (disinhibition). Previous studies have demonstrated that various forms of 'inhibition training' can reduce alcohol consumption in the laboratory and at short-term follow-up, but their longer-term efficacy and mechanisms of action are unknown. In this phase 2 randomised controlled trial we will contrast the effects of three forms of inhibition training and a control intervention, delivered via the Internet in multiple sessions over four weeks, on alcohol consumption in heavy drinkers.

I'm watching you. Awareness that food consumption is being monitored is a demand characteristic in eating-behaviour experiments.

Eating behaviour is often studied in the laboratory under controlled conditions. Yet people care about the impressions others form about them so may behave differently if they feel that their eating behaviour is being monitored. Here we examined whether participants are likely to change their eating behaviour if they feel that food intake is being monitored during a laboratory study.

Eating like you are overweight: the effect of overweight models on food intake in a remote confederate study.

There is consistent evidence that people model the eating behaviour of others. The extent to which people model the amount of food consumed by other people of different weight statuses has received less attention. Here we tested the effect on food consumption of exposing female participants to information about the food consumption of either normal/healthy weight or overweight individuals.

Eating 'attentively' reduces later energy consumption in overweight and obese females.

Attentional and memory processes underpin appetite control, but whether encouraging overweight individuals to eat more 'attentively' can promote reductions in energy consumption is unclear. In the present study with a between-subjects design, a total of forty-eight overweight and obese females consumed a fixed lunchtime meal. Their ad libitum energy intake of high-energy snack food was observed during a second laboratory session that occurred later that day.

A systematic review and meta-analysis examining the effect of eating rate on energy intake and hunger.

Background: Reductions in eating rate are recommended to prevent and treat obesity; yet, the relation between eating rate and energy intake has not been systematically reviewed, with studies producing mixed results.

Objective: Our main objective was to examine how experimentally manipulated differences in eating rate influence concurrent energy intake and subjective hunger ratings.

Design: We systematically reviewed studies that experimentally manipulated eating rate and measured concurrent food intake, self-reported hunger, or both.

The changing face of obesity: exposure to and acceptance of obesity.

Objective: Adiposity has started to become the norm in many western countries. The current studies tested the hypothesis that exposure to heavier body weights will increase the acceptance of obesity, which could further propagate rises in body weight.

Methods: Across three experiments we examined the effect that exposing participants to photographs of either obese or healthy weight males had on later judgments about an obese male.