Mobile Health Technology Can Objectively Capture Physical Activity (PA) Targets Among African-American Women Within Resource-Limited Communities-the Washington, D.C. Cardiovascular Health and Needs Assessment

BACKGROUND

Little is understood about using mobile health (mHealth) technology to improve cardiovascular (CV) health among African-American women in resource-limited communities.

METHODS

We conducted the Washington, D.C. CV Health and Needs Assessment in predominantly African-American churches in city wards 5, 7, and 8 with the lowest socioeconomic status based on community-based participatory research (CBPR) principles. The assessment measured CV health factors: body mass index (BMI), fasting blood glucose and cholesterol, blood pressure, fruit/vegetable (F/V) intake, physical activity (PA), and smoking. Participants were trained to use a PA monitoring wristband to measure 30 days of PA, wirelessly upload the PA data to hubs at the participating churches, and access their data from a church/home computer. CV health factors were compared across weight classes.

RESULTS

Among females (N = 78; 99 % African-American; mean age = 59 years), 90 % had a BMI categorized as overweight/obese. Across weight classes, PA decreased and self-reported sedentary time (ST) increased (p ≤ 0.05). Diastolic blood pressure and glucose increased across weight classes (p ≤ 0.05); however, cholesterol, glucose, and BP were near intermediate CV health goals.

CONCLUSIONS

Decreased PA and increased ST are potential community intervention targets for overweight and obese African-American women in resource-limited Washington D.C. areas. mHealth technology can assist in adapting CBPR intervention resources to improve PA for African-American women in resource-limited communities.

The N-acetylation of arsanilic acid In vitro by mammalian enzymes

The N-acetylation of arsanilic acid was assayed in vitro by modifying a literature method for acetylation of p-aminobenzoic acid. Conditions included final concentrations of 1.0 mM dithiothreitol, 1.0 mM EDTA, 0.45 mM acetyl coenzyme A, an acetyl coenzyme A regenerating system using bacterial phosphotransacetylase and acetyl phosphate, 5.0 mM arsanilate substrate, and 25 mM sodium/potassium phosphate buffer, pH 7.4, in a total volume of 0.5 ml. Incubation was at 37 degrees C, with 0.5- to 2-mg N-acetyltransferase enzyme protein from a preparation of guinea pig liver. The reaction was terminated by heat precipitation. The resulting supernatant was put through a 4 mm 0.45 microm polysulfone membrane syringe filter. The filtrate could then be injected directly onto the HPLC. With arsanilic acid as substrate, the product N-acetylarsanilic acid (NAA) was identified by its retention time (33 min) in the HPLC system of the laboratory. The 33-min fraction collected from the HPLC was scanned and gave the characteristic UV spectrum of NAA, with peaks at 203 and 256 nm. In addition, the product comigrated in the HPLC system with standard NAA. Under comparable assay conditions, the N-acetylation of arsanilate by the guinea pig enzyme preparation is about 24% the rate of that of the model substrate p-aminobenzoic acid. Typical activity for arsanilate acetylation was 0.5 nmol/min/mg enzyme protein. Using the same assay system and HPLC detection method, the supernatant from bacterial lysates containing recombinant human N-acetyltransferase 1 exhibited acetylation activity toward arsanilate of 720 nmol/min/mg enzyme protein.