Acceptability of a Mobile-Health Living Kidney Donor Advocacy Program for Black Wait-Listed Patients.

Marked racial disparities exist in rates of living donor kidney transplantation (LDKT). The Living Organ Video Educated Donors (LOVED) program is a distance-based, mobile health program designed to help Black kidney transplant wait-list patients advocate for a living donor. This study reported on the acceptability outcomes to aid in future refinements.

A distance-based living donor kidney education program for Black wait-list candidates: A feasibility randomized trial.

Addressing racial disparities in living donor kidney transplants (LDKT) among Black patients warrants innovative programs to improve living donation rates. The Living Organ Video Educated Donors (LOVED) program is a 2-arm, culturally-tailored, distance-based, randomized controlled feasibility trial. The group-based, 8-week program used peer-navigator led video chat sessions and web-app video education for Black kidney waitlisted patients from United States southeastern state.

Ethnicity Differences in Sleep Changes Among Prehypertensive Adults Using a Smartphone Meditation App: Dose-Response Trial.

Background: African Americans (AAs) experience greater sleep quality problems than non-Hispanic Whites (NHWs). Meditation may aid in addressing this disparity, although the dosage levels needed to achieve such benefits have not been adequately studied. Smartphone apps present a novel modality for delivering, monitoring, and measuring adherence to meditation protocols.

Living Organ Video Educated Donors Program for Kidney Transplant-eligible African Americans to Approach Potential Donors: A Proof of Concept.

Background: The purpose of the Living Organ Video Educated Donors (LOVED) program is to address living donor kidney transplantation (LDKT) disparities in African Americans who experience half the rates of LDKTs compared with whites in the United States.

Methods: LOVED is an iterative-designed, distance-based, navigator-led, mobile health educational program, developed via guidance from patients, Self-determination Theory and Social Cognitive Theory. The purpose of this study was to assess the feasibility of LOVED using a proof-of-concept design to increase African Americans' knowledge about the living donor process to improve their willingness to approach others about being a potential kidney donor.

Meditation smartphone application effects on prehypertensive adults' blood pressure: Dose-response feasibility trial.

Objective: Essential hypertension (EH) is the most common chronic disease in the United States and a major cause of morbidity and mortality. Lifestyle interventions (e.g.

Formative evaluation on cultural tailoring breathing awareness meditation smartphone apps to reduce stress and blood pressure.

Background: Chronic stress is an independent risk factor for essential hypertension (EH), cardiovascular disease (CVD), and is sometimes confronted by mal-adaptive coping behaviors (e.g., stress eating, excessive alcohol consumption, etc.

Design and approach of the Living Organ Video Educated Donors (LOVED) program to promote living kidney donation in African Americans.

Purpose: To describe the rationale, methodology, design, and interventional approach of a mobile health education program designed for African Americans with end stage renal disease (ESRD) to increase knowledge and self-efficacy to approach others about their need for a living donor kidney transplant (LDKT).

Methods: The Living Organ Video Educated Donors (LOVED) program is a theory-guided iterative designed, mixed methods study incorporating three phases: 1) a formative evaluation using focus groups to develop program content and approach; 2) a 2-month proof of concept trial (n=27) to primarily investigate acceptability, tolerability and investigate increases of LDKT knowledge and self-efficacy; and 3) a 6-month, 2-arm, 60-person feasibility randomized control trial (RCT) to primarily investigate increases in LDKT knowledge and self-efficacy, and secondarily, to increase the number of living donor inquiries, medical evaluations, and LDKTs. The 8-week LOVED program includes an interactive web-based app delivered on 10″ tablet computer incorporating weekly interactive video education modules, weekly group video chat sessions with an African American navigator who has had LDKT and other group interactions for support and improve strategies to promote their need for a kidney.

Patient-Centered mHealth Living Donor Transplant Education Program for African Americans: Development and Analysis.

Background: There is a critical need to expand the pool of available kidneys for African Americans who are on the transplant wait-list due to the disproportionally lower availability of deceased donor kidneys compared with other races/ethnic groups. Encouraging living donation is one method to fill this need. Incorporating mHealth strategies may be a way to deliver educational and supportive services to African American transplant-eligible patients and improve reach to those living in remote areas or unable to attend traditional group-session-based programs.

African American kidney transplant patients' perspectives on challenges in the living donation process.

Context: The increasing shortage of deceased donor kidneys suitable for African Americans highlights the critical need to increase living donations among African Americans. Little research has addressed African American transplant recipients' perspectives on challenges and barriers related to the living donation process.

Objective: To understand the perspectives of African American recipients of deceased and living donor kidney transplants on challenges, barriers, and educational needs related to pursuing such transplants.

Attitudes and perceptions of patients on the kidney transplant waiting list toward mobile health-delivered physical activity programs.

Context: Dialysis patients' lifestyles are associated with low levels of physical activity, increasing the chances of being removed from kidney waiting lists or dying while awaiting transplant because of increased cardiovascular risk factors and deteriorating health conditions. Personalized mobile health (mHealth) delivered programs may support their engagement in healthier lifestyles, maintain transplant eligibility, and reduce premature mortality.

Objective: To explore barriers and perceptions of physical activity behaviors and gauge interest in using mHealth in a physical activity wellness program for dialysis patients on the kidney transplant waiting list.

A tailored workplace exercise program for women at risk for neck and upper limb musculoskeletal disorders: a randomized controlled trial.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate a tailored physical activity protocol performed in a work environment with a group of female workers employed in manual precision tasks to reduce upper limb pain.

Methods: Sixty female subjects were randomly assigned to an intervention group or a control group. The IG was administered of a 6-month, twice-a-week, tailored exercise program, whereas the CG received no intervention.

Metabolic and cardiovascular responses during aquatic exercise in water at different temperatures in older adults.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the physiological responses during upper-body aquatic exercises in older adults with different pool temperatures.

Method: Eleven older men (aged 65 years and older) underwent 2 identical aquatic exercise sessions that consisted of 3 upper-body exercises using progressive intensities (30, 35, and 40 metronome beat · min(- 1)) on separate visits. Water temperatures for the visits were 28°C (cold water [CW]) and 36°C (hot water [HW]), and water depth ranged from 1.

Influence of age on postural sway during different dual-task conditions.

Dual-task performance assessments of competing parallel tasks and postural outcomes are growing in importance for geriatricians, as it is associated with predicting fall risk in older adults. This study aims to evaluate the postural stability during different dual-task conditions including visual (SMBT), verbal (CBAT) and cognitive (MAT) tasks in comparison with the standard Romberg's open eyes position (OE). Furthermore, these conditions were investigated in a sample of young adults and a group of older healthy subjects to examine a potential interaction between type of secondary task and age status.

Effect of exercise on dual-task and balance on elderly in multiple disease conditions.

Investigations on how exercise and physical activity affect dual-task (DT) performance in the elderly are growing rapidly due to the fact that DT activities are commonplace with activities of daily living. Preliminary evidence has shown the benefit in exercise on DT balance, though it is unclear to what extent the effect exercise has on DT performance in elderly subjects with disease conditions, including subjects with a high risk of falls. Hence, the objective of this study was to critically review the existing evidence of a potential relationship between exercise and improvement of static and dynamic balance during DT conditions as well as secondary outcomes in elderly subjects with different disease conditions.

Effects of Hatha yoga on blood pressure, salivary α-amylase, and cortisol function among normotensive and prehypertensive youth.

Objective: Evidence is accumulating, predominantly among clinical trials in adults, that yoga improves blood pressure (BP) control, with downregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) projected as underlying mechanisms. This pilot study assessed whether Hatha yoga has the potential to reduce BP among youth and whether dampening of the SNS and/or HPA activity is a likely pathway of change.

Design: Thirty-one seventh graders were randomly assigned to a Hatha yoga program (HYP) or attention control (AC) music or art class.

Effects of exercise on dual-task ability and balance in older adults: a systematic review.

The interest in research on exercise and physical activity effects on dual-task performance has grown rapidly in the last decade due to the aging global population. Most of the available literature is focused on exercise benefits for the risk of falls, attention, and gait-speed; however, there is a lack of evidence reporting the exercise effects on balance in healthy older adults during dual-task performance. The objective of this study was to critically review the existing evidence of a potential relationship between exercise and improvement of static and dynamic balance during dual-task in healthy older adults and secondary outcomes in other physical and cognitive indices.

Improving diabetes management with mobile health technology.

Diabetes affects 25.8 million persons in the United States, and these persons make more than 35 million ambulatory care visits annually. Yet, less than half of persons with diabetes meet the recommended levels of A1C, blood pressure and lipid control.

Reliability and validity of the Mywellness Key physical activity monitor.

Background: This study evaluated the reliability and criterion validity of the Mywellness Key accelerometer (MWK) using treadmill protocols and indirect calorimetry.

Methods: Twenty-five participants completed two four-stage 20-minute treadmill protocols while wearing two MWK accelerometers. Reliability was assessed using raw counts.

Associations between Physical Activity and Submaximal Cardiorespiratory and Pulmonary Responses in Men.

BACKGROUND: Habitual physical activity (PA) is associated with higher cardiorespiratory fitness values, but additional information is needed on the contributions of specific types and amounts of PA. Therefore the main aim of this study was to analyze the heart and lung function of a large cohort of men and compare these outcomes with various modes and volumes of PA. METHODS: We used data from 30,594 men from the Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study who were categorized into sedentary, swimmer, walker, and runner groups using self-report PA data collected during 1970-2005.

Validation of the mywellness key in walking and running speeds.

Unlabelled: This study was performed to assess the validity of the MyWellness Key (MWK) accelerometer during a treadmill-based protocol. The identification of different exercise intensities is imperative to objectively measure time spent at a specified exercise intensity. Thirty subjects, 15 men and 15 women (age = 24.

Association between leisure time physical activity and depressive symptoms in men.

Purpose: We examined the association between depressive symptoms and physical activity (PA) in a sample of men from the Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study. Secondary analysis included stratification by age and body mass index (BMI).

Methods: Our cross-sectional analysis included 9580 men, age 20-87 yr, who completed the 10-item Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale during 1996-2006.

Cardiometabolic results from an armband-based weight loss trial.

Purpose: This report examines the blood chemistry and blood pressure (BP) results from the Lifestyle Education for Activity and Nutrition (LEAN) study, a randomized weight loss trial. A primary purpose of the study was to evaluate the effects of real-time self-monitoring of energy balance (using the SenseWear(™) Armband, BodyMedia, Inc Pittsburgh, PA) on these health factors.

Methods: 164 sedentary overweight or obese adults (46.

Independent and joint associations of physical activity and fitness on stroke in men.

Introduction: Recent studies have demonstrated that physical activity (PA) and cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) are independent predictors of stroke in men. The combined associations of these 2 factors are not well established.

Objective: To investigate the independent and joint associations of PA and CRF with fatal, nonfatal, and total stroke in a group of men.