Where Do Women Get Advice About Weight, Eating, and Physical Activity During Pregnancy?

BACKGROUND: Most women report not receiving information about gestational weight gain (GWG) from prenatal providers, but less is known about other sources of information and their potential impacts on GWG. The purpose of this study was to investigate sources of information about diet, physical activity, and weight control during pregnancy, and the impact of information sources on maternal GWG. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Participants were 183 women with normal weight and 172 women with overweight/obesity who had enrolled in a prenatal lifestyle intervention trial. At 6 weeks postpartum, women were asked whether they had received information about "diet, physical activity, or weight control" from 12 sources uninvolved in the trial (e.g., physician, Internet, and friend) and, if received, the extent to which they followed the advice. Information sources were examined in relation to odds of exceeding Institute of Medicine (IOM) GWG guidelines based on measured weights. RESULTS: Most women reported receiving information from a book (60.6%) or the Internet (58.3%). Advice from physicians, dietitians, or nurses was reported in 55.6%, 48.2%, and 33.9% of women, respectively. Reported receipt of information from physicians was associated with reduced Odds Ratio ([95% Confidence Interval] = 0.55 [0.35-0.88]; p = 0.01) of exceeding IOM GWG guidelines. Reported receipt of information from other sources was not related to GWG. CONCLUSIONS: Books and the Internet were the most prevalent information sources reported for prenatal diet, physical activity, and weight control. However, of all sources, only physician provision of information was associated with reduced odds of excessive GWG.

Pasos Hacia La Salud: a randomized controlled trial of an internet-delivered physical activity intervention for Latinas.

BACKGROUND: Internet access has grown markedly in Latinos during the past decade. However, there have been no Internet-based physical activity interventions designed for Latinos, despite large disparities in lifestyle-related conditions, such as obesity and diabetes, particularly in Latina women. The current study tested the efficacy of a 6-month culturally adapted, individually tailored, Spanish-language Internet-based physical activity intervention. METHODS: Inactive Latinas (N = 205) were randomly assigned to the Tailored Physical Activity Internet Intervention or the Wellness Contact Control Internet Group. Participants in both groups received emails on a tapered schedule over 6 months to alert them to new content on the website. The primary outcome was minutes/week of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) at 6 months as measured by the 7-Day Physical Activity Recall; activity was also measured by accelerometers. Data were collected between 2011 and 2014 and analyzed in 2015 at the University of California, San Diego. RESULTS: Increases in minutes/week of MVPA were significantly greater in the Intervention Group compared to the Control Group (mean difference = 50.00, SE = 9.5, p < 0.01). Increases in objectively measured MVPA were also significantly larger in the Intervention Group (mean differences = 31.0, SE = 10.7, p < .01). The Intervention Group was also significantly more likely to meet national physical activity guidelines at 6 months (OR = 3.12, 95% CI 1.46-6.66, p < .05). CONCLUSION: Findings from the current study suggest that this Internet-delivered individually tailored intervention successfully increased MVPA in Latinas compared to a Wellness Contact Control Internet Group. TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT01834287.

Adapting Technological Interventions to Meet the Needs of Priority Populations.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) comprise the leading cause of mortality worldwide, accounting for 3 in 10 deaths. Individuals with certain risk factors, including tobacco use, obesity, low levels of physical activity, type 2 diabetes mellitus, racial/ethnic minority status and low socioeconomic status, experience higher rates of CVD and are, therefore, considered priority populations. Technological devices such as computers and smartphones are now routinely utilized in research studies aiming to prevent CVD and its risk factors, and they are also rampant in the public and private health sectors. Traditional health behavior interventions targeting these risk factors have been adapted for technology-based approaches. This review provides an overview of technology-based interventions conducted in these priority populations as well as the challenges and gaps to be addressed in future research. Researchers currently possess tremendous opportunities to engage in technology-based implementation and dissemination science to help spread evidence-based programs focusing on CVD risk factors in these and other priority populations.

Using Web-Based Technology to Promote Physical Activity in Latinas: Results of the Muévete Alabama Pilot Study.

Latinas in the US report high levels of physical inactivity and are disproportionally burdened by related health conditions (eg, type 2 diabetes, obesity), highlighting the need for innovative strategies to reduce these disparities. A 1-month single-arm pretest-posttest design was utilized to assess the feasibility and acceptability of a culturally and linguistically adapted Internet-based physical activity intervention for Spanish-speaking Latinas. The intervention was based on the Social Cognitive Theory and the Transtheoretical Model. Changes in physical activity and related psychosocial variables were measured at baseline and the end of the 1-month intervention. The sample included 24 Latina adults (mean age, 35.17±11.22 years). Most (83.3%) were born outside the continental US. Intent-to-treat analyses showed a significant increase (P=.001) in self-reported moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity from a median of 12.5 min/wk at baseline to 67.5 min/wk at the 1-month assessment. Participants reported significant increases in self-efficacy as well as cognitive and behavioral processes of change. Nearly half of the participants (45.8%) reported advancing at least one stage of change during the course of the 1-month intervention. Findings support the feasibility and acceptability of using interactive Internet-based technology to promote physical activity among Latinas in Alabama.

Social network characteristics associated with health promoting behaviors among Latinos.

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the relationship between social network characteristics and health promoting behaviors (having a routine medical check-up, consuming no alcohol, consuming no fast food, and meeting recommendations for leisure-time physical activity and sleep duration) among Latinos to identify potential targets for behavioral interventions. METHOD: Personal network characteristics and health behavior data were collected from a community sample of 393 adult Latinos (73% women) in San Diego County, California. Network characteristics consisted of size and composition. Network size was calculated by the number of alters listed on a name generator questionnaire eliciting people with whom respondents discussed personal issues. Network composition variables were the proportion of Latinos, Spanish-speakers, females, family, and friends listed in the name generator. Additional network composition variables included marital status and the number of adults or children in the household. RESULTS: Network members were predominately Latinos (95%), Spanish-speakers (80%), females (64%), and family (55%). In multivariate logistic regression analyses, gender moderated the relationship between network composition, but not size, and a health behavior. Married women were more likely to have had a routine medical check-up than married men. For both men and women, having a larger network was associated with meeting the recommendation for leisure-time physical activity. CONCLUSION: Few social network characteristics were significantly associated with health promoting behaviors, suggesting a need to examine other aspects of social relationships that may influence health behaviors.

Soluble adenylyl cyclase is required for activation of sperm but does not have a direct effect on hyperactivation.

Soluble adenylyl cyclase (SACY) is an essential component of cAMP-signalling cascades that activate sperm motility and capacitate sperm. SACY activity is stimulated by HCO(3)(-) and Ca(2+). Sperm from Sacy(-/-) (null) mice were immotile or weakly motile, but cAMP analogues N(6),2'-O-dibutyryladenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (dbcAMP) and adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate acetoxymethyl ester (cAMP-AM) activated motility. Null sperm activated by dbcAMP quickly developed hairpin bends at the junction of the midpiece and principal piece, which could be prevented by omitting HCO(3)(-). Treating Sacy(-/-) sperm with thimerosal or NH(4)Cl to raise flagellar cytoplasmic Ca(2+) could not substitute for cAMP analogues in activating motility; however, sperm activated with cAMP-AM hyperactivated after thimerosal treatment. Treating activated wild-type sperm with SACY inhibitor KH7 did not prevent hyperactivation from developing during capacitation in vitro, although high doses impaired motility. These results indicate that, while the SACY/cAMP signalling pathway is required for motility activation, it is not directly involved in triggering hyperactivation.

The "soluble" adenylyl cyclase in sperm mediates multiple signaling events required for fertilization.

Mammalian fertilization is dependent upon a series of bicarbonate-induced, cAMP-dependent processes sperm undergo as they "capacitate," i.e., acquire the ability to fertilize eggs. Male mice lacking the bicarbonate- and calcium-responsive soluble adenylyl cyclase (sAC), the predominant source of cAMP in male germ cells, are infertile, as the sperm are immotile. Membrane-permeable cAMP analogs are reported to rescue the motility defect, but we now show that these "rescued" null sperm were not hyperactive, displayed flagellar angulation, and remained unable to fertilize eggs in vitro. These deficits uncover a requirement for sAC during spermatogenesis and/or epididymal maturation and reveal limitations inherent in studying sAC function using knockout mice. To circumvent this restriction, we identified a specific sAC inhibitor that allowed temporal control over sAC activity. This inhibitor revealed that capacitation is defined by separable events: induction of protein tyrosine phosphorylation and motility are sAC dependent while acrosomal exocytosis is not dependent on sAC.

Different signaling pathways in bovine sperm regulate capacitation and hyperactivation.

Hyperactivated sperm motility is characterized by high-amplitude and asymmetrical flagellar beating that assists sperm in penetrating the oocyte zona pellucida. Other functional changes in sperm, such as activation of motility and capacitation, involve cross talk between the cAMP/PKA and tyrosine kinase/phosphatase signaling pathways. Our objective was to determine the role of the cAMP/protein kinase A (PKA) signaling pathway in hyperactivation. Western blot analyses of detergent extracts of whole sperm and flagella were performed using antiphosphotyrosine antibody. Bull sperm capacitated by 10 microg/ml heparin and/or 1 mM dibutyryl-cAMP plus 100 microM 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine exhibited increased protein tyrosine phosphorylation without becoming hyperactivated. Procaine (5 mM) or caffeine (10 mM) immediately induced hyperactivation in nearly 100% of motile sperm but did not increase protein tyrosine phosphorylation. After 4 h of incubation with caffeine, sperm expressed capacitation-associated protein tyrosine phosphorylation but hyperactivation was significantly reduced. Sperm initially hyperactivated by procaine or caffeine remained hyperactivated for at least 4 h in the presence of Rp-cAMPS (cAMP antagonist) or PKA inhibitors H-89 or H-8. Pretreatment with inhibitors also failed to block induction of hyperactivation; however, the inhibitors did block protein tyrosine phosphorylation when sperm were incubated with capacitating agents, thereby verifying inhibition of the cAMP/PKA pathway. While induction of hyperactivation did not depend on cAMP/PKA, it did require extracellular Ca(2+). These findings indicate that hyperactivation is mediated by a Ca(2+) signaling pathway that is separate or divergent from the pathway associated with acquisition of acrosomal responsiveness and does not involve protein tyrosine phosphorylation downstream of the actions of procaine or caffeine.