Satisfied or Unaware? Racial Differences in Perceived Weight Status

Background: Obesity is disproportionately prevalent among many racial/ethnic minority communities. The efficacy of weight control efforts in these groups may depend on individual's ability to accurately perceive their weight status. We examined whether racial/ethnic differences exist in weight status misperception among overweight adults. Methods: Nationally-representative data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999–2002 were examined. Participants included overweight and obese adult men (n = 3115) and women (n = 3437). Weight status misperception was identified among respondents who self-reported being "about the right weight/underweight." Results: Blacks (OR = 2.06, 95% CI: 1.71, 2.54) were twice as likely and Hispanics (OR = 1.70, 95%CI: 1.33, 2.17) were 70-percent more likely than Whites to misperceive their weight, in models adjusted for age, education, income, marital status, self-reported health, and self-reported medical diagnosis of overweight. Black overweight (OR = 2.03, 95% CI: 1.26, 3.26) and obese (OR = 3.56, 95% CI: 1.57, 8.11) women were considerably more likely to exhibit misperception compared to their White female counterparts. Odds of misperception were higher among overweight Black (OR = 2.20, 95%CI: 1.54, 3.15), Hispanic (OR = 1.89, 95% CI: 1.30, 2.75), and obese Black men (OR = 2.84, 95% CI: 1.54, 5.22), compared to White men. Conclusion: Weight status misperceptions among the overweight are more common among Blacks, and Hispanic men. The persistence of racial/ethnic differences after adjustment for medical diagnosis of overweight may suggest some resistance to physician weight counseling. Identifying strategies to correct weight status misperceptions status may be necessary to ensure the efficacy of clinical and public health obesity interventions conducted among these groups

Satisfied or unaware? Racial differences in perceived weight status

BACKGROUND: Obesity is disproportionately prevalent among many racial/ethnic minority communities. The efficacy of weight control efforts in these groups may depend on individual's ability to accurately perceive their weight status. We examined whether racial/ethnic differences exist in weight status misperception among overweight adults. METHODS: Nationally-representative data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999–2002 were examined. Participants included overweight and obese adult men (n = 3115) and women (n = 3437). Weight status misperception was identified among respondents who self-reported being "about the right weight/underweight." RESULTS: Blacks (OR = 2.06, 95% CI: 1.71, 2.54) were twice as likely and Hispanics (OR = 1.70, 95%CI: 1.33, 2.17) were 70-percent more likely than Whites to misperceive their weight, in models adjusted for age, education, income, marital status, self-reported health, and self-reported medical diagnosis of overweight. Black overweight (OR = 2.03, 95% CI: 1.26, 3.26) and obese (OR = 3.56, 95% CI: 1.57, 8.11) women were considerably more likely to exhibit misperception compared to their White female counterparts. Odds of misperception were higher among overweight Black (OR = 2.20, 95%CI: 1.54, 3.15), Hispanic (OR = 1.89, 95% CI: 1.30, 2.75), and obese Black men (OR = 2.84, 95% CI: 1.54, 5.22), compared to White men. CONCLUSION: Weight status misperceptions among the overweight are more common among Blacks, and Hispanic men. The persistence of racial/ethnic differences after adjustment for medical diagnosis of overweight may suggest some resistance to physician weight counseling. Identifying strategies to correct weight status misperceptions status may be necessary to ensure the efficacy of clinical and public health obesity interventions conducted among these groups

Perceptions of Neighborhood Safety and Asthma among Children and Adolescents in Los Angeles: A Multilevel Analysis

Background: Research examining the impact of neighborhoods on asthma has shown an increased interest in the role of the psychosocial environment. We examined the associations between various measures of neighborhood safety, individual and family characteristics, and asthma outcomes among children in Los Angeles. Methods: Multilevel logistic regression models were used to analyze data on 3,114 children across 65 neighborhoods from Wave 1 of the Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey (2000 to 2002). Primary caregivers reported asthma outcome and all individual covariates; home environmental characteristics were observed by the interviewer. Results: In fully adjusted models, parents who reported their neighborhood fairly safe or somewhat dangerous had lower odds of reported lifetime asthma compared to those who reported their neighborhood completely safe (OR 0.71; 95% CI 0.52–0.96 and OR 0.60; 95% CI 0.42–0.88 respectively). Conversely, parents who reported they could not trust their neighbors to keep their children safe had a nearly 40% increase in lifetime asthma compared to those who reported they could trust their neighbors to keep their children safe (OR 1.39; 95% CI 1.07–1.81). Conclusions: The study demonstrates a complex pattern between various measures of neighborhood safety and asthma and suggests that these relationships may operate differently in Los Angeles. As an increasing proportion of children are growing up in newer Western and Southwestern cities, which have different physical layouts and residential segregation patterns compared to Northeast and Midwestern cities, future studies should continue to examine neighborhood psychosocial stressors and asthma in diverse contexts

Physical activity in US Blacks: a systematic review and critical examination of self-report instruments

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Physical activity self-report instruments in the US have largely been developed for and validated in White samples. Despite calls to validate existing instruments in more diverse samples, relatively few instruments have been validated in US Blacks. Emerging evidence suggests that these instruments may have differential validity in Black populations.</p> <p>Purpose</p> <p>This report reviews and evaluates the validity and reliability of self-reported measures of physical activity in Blacks and makes recommendations for future directions.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A systematic literature review was conducted to identify published reports with construct or criterion validity evaluated in samples that included Blacks. Studies that reported results separately for Blacks were examined.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The review identified 10 instruments validated in nine manuscripts. Criterion validity correlations tended to be low to moderate. No study has compared the validity of multiple instruments in a single sample of Blacks.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>There is a need for efforts validating self-report physical activity instruments in Blacks, particularly those evaluating the relative validity of instruments in a single sample.</p

Feasibility of Using a Web-Based Nutrition Intervention Among Residents of Multiethnic Working-Class Neighborhoods

Introduction: Using the Internet to promote behavior change is becoming more desirable as Internet use continues to increase among diverse audiences. Yet we know very little about whether this medium is useful or about different strategies to encourage Internet use by various populations. This pilot study tested the usefulness of a Web-based intervention designed to deliver nutrition-related information to and increase fruit and vegetable consumption among adults from working-class neighborhoods. Methods: Participants (N = 52) had access to the Web site for 6 weeks and received three e-mail reminders encouraging them to eat fruits and vegetables. The Web site provided information about overcoming barriers to healthy eating, accessing social support for healthy eating, setting goals for healthy eating, and maintaining a healthy diet, including recipes. We collected data on participants' use of the Web site, their Internet access and use, and their fruit and vegetable consumption. Results: The mean age of the participants was 46 years, 73% were white, 46% did not have a college degree, and 12% had household incomes at or below 185% of the federal poverty index. They reported consuming an average of 3.4 servings of fruits and vegetables per day. More than half of the participants owned a computer, 75% logged onto the Web site at least once, and those who visited the site averaged 3.8 visits and viewed an average of 24.5 pages. The number of log-ons per day declined over the study period; however, reminder e-mails appeared to motivate participants to return to the Web site. Roughly 74% of participants viewed information on goal setting, 72% viewed information on dietary tracking, and 56% searched for main course recipes. Conclusion: The results of this pilot study suggest that Internet-based health messages have the potential to reach a large percentage of adults from working-class neighborhoods who have access to the Internet

Validation of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short among blacks

BACKGROUND: The International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form (IPAQ-S) has been evaluated against accelerometer-determined physical activity measures in small homogenous samples of adults in the United States. There is limited information about the validity of the IPAQ-S in diverse US samples. METHODS: 142 Blacks residing in low-income housing completed the IPAQ-S and wore an accelerometer for up to 6 days. Both 1- and 10-minute accelerometer bouts were used to define time spent in light, moderate, and vigorous physical activity. RESULTS: We found fair agreement between the IPAQ-S and accelerometer-determined physical activity (r = .26 for 10-minute bout, r = .36 for 1-minute bout). Correlations were higher among men than women. When we classified participants as meeting physical activity recommendations, agreement was low (kappa = .04, 10-minute; kappa = .21, 1-minute); only 25% of individuals were classified the same by both instruments (10-minute bout). CONCLUSIONS: In one of the few studies to assess the validity of a self-reported physical activity measure among Blacks, we found moderate correlations with accelerometer data, though correlations were weaker for women. Correlations were smaller when IPAQ-S data were compared using a 10- versus a 1-minute bout definition. There was limited evidence for agreement between the instruments when classifying participants as meeting physical activity recommendations

The Influence of Superpositional Wave Function Oscillations on Shor's Quantum Algorithm

We investigate the influence of superpositional wave function oscillations on the performance of Shor's quantum algorithm for factorization of integers. It is shown that the wave function oscillations can destroy the required quantum interference. This undesirable effect can be routinely eliminated using a resonant pulse implementation of quantum computation, but requires special analysis for non-resonant implementations.Comment: 4 pages, NO figures, revte

Racial differences in the built environment—body mass index relationship? A geospatial analysis of adolescents in urban neighborhoods

Background: Built environment features of neighborhoods may be related to obesity among adolescents and potentially related to obesity-related health disparities. The purpose of this study was to investigate spatial relationships between various built environment features and body mass index (BMI) z-score among adolescents, and to investigate if race/ethnicity modifies these relationships. A secondary objective was to evaluate the sensitivity of findings to the spatial scale of analysis (i.e. 400- and 800-meter street network buffers). Methods: Data come from the 2008 Boston Youth Survey, a school-based sample of public high school students in Boston, MA. Analyses include data collected from students who had georeferenced residential information and complete and valid data to compute BMI z-score (n = 1,034). We built a spatial database using GIS with various features related to access to walking destinations and to community design. Spatial autocorrelation in key study variables was calculated with the Global Moran’s I statistic. We fit conventional ordinary least squares (OLS) regression and spatial simultaneous autoregressive error models that control for the spatial autocorrelation in the data as appropriate. Models were conducted using the total sample of adolescents as well as including an interaction term for race/ethnicity, adjusting for several potential individual- and neighborhood-level confounders and clustering of students within schools. Results: We found significant positive spatial autocorrelation in the built environment features examined (Global Moran’s I most ≥ 0.60; all p = 0.001) but not in BMI z-score (Global Moran’s I = 0.07, p = 0.28). Because we found significant spatial autocorrelation in our OLS regression residuals, we fit spatial autoregressive models. Most built environment features were not associated with BMI z-score. Density of bus stops was associated with a higher BMI z-score among Whites (Coefficient: 0.029, p < 0.05). The interaction term for Asians in the association between retail destinations and BMI z-score was statistically significant and indicated an inverse association. Sidewalk completeness was significantly associated with a higher BMI z-score for the total sample (Coefficient: 0.010, p < 0.05). These significant associations were found for the 800-meter buffer. Conclusion: Some relationships between the built environment and adolescent BMI z-score were in the unexpected direction. Our findings overall suggest that the built environment does not explain a large proportion of the variation in adolescent BMI z-score or racial disparities in adolescent obesity. However, there are some differences by race/ethnicity that require further research among adolescents

Dynamics of a Quantum Control-Not Gate for an Ensemble of Four-Spin Molecules at Room Temperature

We investigate numerically a single-pulse implementation of a quantum Control-Not (CN) gate for an ensemble of Ising spin systems at room temperature. For an ensemble of four-spin ``molecules'' we simulate the time-evolution of the density matrix, for both digital and superpositional initial conditions. Our numerical calculations confirm the feasibility of implementation of quantum CN gate in this system at finite temperature, using electromagnetic $\pi$-pulse.Comment: 7 pages 3 figure