Obesity modulates NK-cell activity via LDL & DUSP1 signaling for Populations with Adverse Social Determinants.

African American (AA) women are disproportionally affected by obesity and hyperlipidemia, particularly in the setting of adverse social determinants of health (aSDoH) contributing to health disparities. Obesity, hyperlipidemia, and aSDoH appear to impair Natural Killer cells (NKs). As potential common underlying mechanisms are largely unknown, we sought to investigate common signaling pathways involved in NK dysfunction related to obesity and hyperlipidemia in AA women from under-resourced neighborhoods.

Social Determinants modulate NK cell activity via obesity, LDL, and DUSP1 signaling.

Adverse social determinants of health (aSDoH) are associated with obesity and related comorbidities like diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. Obesity is also associated with natural killer cell (NK) dysregulation, suggesting a potential mechanistic link. Therefore, we measured NK phenotypes and function in a cohort of African-American (AA) women from resource-limited neighborhoods.

Associations between neighborhood socioeconomic deprivation, IFNγ, and high-density lipoprotein particle size: Data from the Washington, D.C. cardiovascular health and needs assessment.

Introduction: Neighborhood socioeconomic deprivation is associated with increased cardiovascular risk factors, including inflammation. Inflammation plays an important role in modifying the cardioprotective function of high-density lipoprotein (HDL). Moreover, recent studies suggest that very high HDL is associated with adverse cardiovascular disease (CVD) outcomes.

Neighborhood socioeconomic deprivation and individual-level socioeconomic status are associated with dopamine-mediated changes to monocyte subset CCR2 expression via a cAMP-dependent pathway.

Social determinants of health (SDoH) include socioeconomic, environmental, and psychological factors that impact health. Neighborhood socioeconomic deprivation (NSD) and low individual-level socioeconomic status (SES) are SDoH that associate with incident heart failure, stroke, and cardiovascular mortality, but the underlying biological mechanisms are not well understood. Previous research has demonstrated an association between NSD, in particular, and key components of the neural-hematopoietic-axis including amygdala activity as a marker of chronic stress, bone marrow activity, and arterial inflammation.

LDL associates with pro-inflammatory monocyte subset differentiation and increases in chemokine receptor profile expression in African Americans.

Background: In the United States, African Americans (AAs) have greater risk for Class III obesity and cardiovascular disease (CVD). Previous reports suggest that AAs have a different immune cell profile when compared to Caucasians.

Methods: The immune cell profile of AAs was characterized by flow cytometry using two experimental setups: ex vivo (N = 40) and in vitro (N = 10).

Use of a community advisory board to build equitable algorithms for participation in clinical trials: a protocol paper for HoPeNET.

Introduction: Participation from racial and ethnic minorities in clinical trials has been burdened by issues surrounding mistrust and access to healthcare. There is emerging use of machine learning (ML) in clinical trial recruitment and evaluation. However, for individuals from groups who are recipients of societal biases, utilisation of ML can lead to the creation and use of biased algorithms.

Spatial Clustering of County-Level COVID-19 Rates in the U.S.

Despite the widespread prevalence of cases associated with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, little is known about the spatial clustering of COVID-19 in the United States. Data on COVID-19 cases were used to identify U.S.

Geospatial Analysis of Neighborhood Environmental Stress in Relation to Biological Markers of Cardiovascular Health and Health Behaviors in Women: Protocol for a Pilot Study.

Background: Innovative analyses of cardiovascular (CV) risk markers and health behaviors linked to neighborhood stressors are essential to further elucidate the mechanisms by which adverse neighborhood social conditions lead to poor CV outcomes. We propose to objectively measure physical activity (PA), sedentary behavior, and neighborhood stress using accelerometers, GPS, and real-time perceived ecological momentary assessment via smartphone apps and to link these to biological measures in a sample of White and African American women in Washington, DC, neighborhoods.

Objective: The primary aim of this study is to test the hypothesis that living in adverse neighborhood social conditions is associated with higher stress-related neural activity among 60 healthy women living in high or low socioeconomic status neighborhoods in Washington, DC.

Neighborhood Environment Associates with Trimethylamine-N-Oxide (TMAO) as a Cardiovascular Risk Marker.

Background: Neighborhoods and the microbiome are linked to cardiovascular disease (CVD), yet investigations to identify microbiome-related factors at neighborhood levels have not been widely investigated. We sought to explore relationships between neighborhood deprivation index (NDI) and the microbial metabolite, trimethylamine-N-oxide. We hypothesized that inflammatory markers and dietary intake would be mediators of the relationship.

Chronic Stress-Related Neural Activity Associates With Subclinical Cardiovascular Disease in a Community-Based Cohort: Data From the Washington, D.C. Cardiovascular Health and Needs Assessment.

Psychosocial stress correlates with cardiovascular (CV) events; however, associations between physiologic measures of stressors and CVD remain incompletely understood, especially in racial/ethnic minority populations in resource-limited neighborhoods. We examined associations between chronic stress-related neural activity, measured by amygdalar Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake, and aortic vascular FDG uptake (arterial inflammation measure) in a community-based cohort. Forty participants from the Washington, DC CV Health and Needs Assessment (DC-CHNA), a study of a predominantly African-American population in resource-limited urban areas and 25 healthy volunteers underwent detailed phenotyping, including FDG PET/CT for assessing amygdalar activity (AmygA), vascular FDG uptake, and hematopoietic (leukopoietic) tissue activity.

Multilevel mobile health approach to improve cardiovascular health in resource-limited communities with Step It Up: a randomised controlled trial protocol targeting physical activity.

Introduction: Although physical activity (PA) reduces cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk, physical inactivity remains a pressing public health concern, especially among African American (AA) women in the USA. PA interventions focused on AA women living in resource-limited communities with scarce PA infrastructure are needed. Mobile health (mHealth) technology can increase access to PA interventions.

Comparing Methods to Identify Wear-Time Intervals for Physical Activity With the Fitbit Charge 2.

There is no established method for processing data from commercially available physical activity trackers. This study aims to develop a standardized approach to defining valid wear time for use in future interventions and analyses. Sixteen African American women (mean age = 62.

Geospatial Analysis of Neighborhood Deprivation Index (NDI) for the United States by County.

Little is known about the spatial clustering of neighborhood deprivation across the United States (U.S.).

Time to listen: a mixed-method study examining community-based views of mobile technology for interventions to promote physical activity.

Introduction: A mixed-method, co-design approach to studying the adoption of mobile health (mHealth) technology among African-American (AA) women has not been fully explored. Qualitative data may contextualise existing knowledge surrounding perceptions of mHealth among AA women as part of formative work for designing a physical activity application (app).

Methods: A convenience sample of 16 AA women completed an informatics survey prior to participating in focus groups exploring their use of mobile technology and health apps.

Neighborhood environment perceptions associate with depression levels and cardiovascular risk among middle-aged and older adults: Data from the Washington, DC cardiovascular health and needs assessment.

Objectives: Little is understood about associations between neighborhood characteristics and depression, a cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factor, in diverse populations. We examined relationships between perceived/objective neighborhood characteristics, depression, and CVD markers within the Washington, DC CV Health/Needs Assessment, an evaluation among predominantly African-American (AA) adults in resource-limited DC communities.

Method: Factor analysis of overall neighborhood environment perception (NEP) identified three NEP sub-scores:1) violence; 2) physical/social environment; 3) social cohesion (higher score = more favorable perception).

Digital Food Records in Community-Based Interventions: Mixed-Methods Pilot Study.

Background: A pressing need exists to understand and optimize the use of dietary assessment tools that can be used in community-based participatory research (CBPR) interventions. A digital food record, which uses a mobile device to capture the dietary intake through text and photography inputs, is a particularly promising mobile assessment method. However, little is understood about the acceptability and feasibility of digital food records in CBPR and how to best tailor dietary assessment tools to the needs of a community.