Neighborhood and weight-related health behaviors in the Look AHEAD (Action for Health in Diabetes) Study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Previous studies have shown that neighborhood factors are associated with obesity, but few studies have evaluated the association with weight control behaviors. This study aims to conduct a multi-level analysis to examine the relationship between neighborhood SES and weight-related health behaviors.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In this ancillary study to Look AHEAD (Action for Health in Diabetes) a trial of long-term weight loss among individuals with type 2 diabetes, individual-level data on 1219 participants from 4 clinic sites at baseline were linked to neighborhood-level data at the tract level from the 2000 US Census and other databases. Neighborhood variables included SES (% living below the federal poverty level) and the availability of food stores, convenience stores, and restaurants. Dependent variables included BMI, eating patterns, weight control behaviors and resource use related to food and physical activity. Multi-level models were used to account for individual-level SES and potential confounders.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The availability of restaurants was related to several eating and weight control behaviors. Compared to their counterparts in neighborhoods with fewer restaurants, participants in neighborhoods with more restaurants were more likely to eat breakfast (prevalence Ratio [PR] 1.29 95% CI: 1.01-1.62) and lunch (PR = 1.19, 1.04-1.36) at non-fast food restaurants. They were less likely to be attempting weight loss (OR = 0.93, 0.89-0.97) but more likely to engage in weight control behaviors for food and physical activity, respectively, than those who lived in neighborhoods with fewer restaurants. In contrast, neighborhood SES had little association with weight control behaviors.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In this selected group of weight loss trial participants, restaurant availability was associated with some weight control practices, but neighborhood SES was not. Future studies should give attention to other populations and to evaluating various aspects of the physical and social environment with weight control practices.</p

Creating the Black American dream: Race, *class and community development

Power struggles are at the heart of many urban neighborhood initiatives. The race and class stratification of urban communities consolidates both privilege and disadvantage within distinct urban neighborhoods. Those neighborhoods that experience a consolidation of disadvantage struggle with social problems such as violence, poverty, deteriorating infrastructure and a weak economic base. Numerous urban development and anti-poverty initiatives have attempted to address the problems that residents face within such disadvantaged neighborhoods. This dissertation investigates the role of a new form of community development initiative to address these social problems and challenging social forces that created it. This dissertation is based on a three-year ethnography of community development in a low-income neighborhood of Philadelphia. To learn about the life and culture of the neighborhood, I moved into the area, participated in local community events, volunteered at community-based organizations, visited local churches and interviewed long term and recent residents. I utilized a grounded theory approach to develop the analytical themes from iterative cycles of data collection and analysis. This community development initiative, labeled the Black American Dream, attempts to attract middle class African-Americans to low-income, Black, urban neighborhoods as a strategy for improving the neighborhood and strengthening to social position of the African-American community more generally. Both moral reform and political radicalism infuse the goals and strategies of the Black American Dream. The moral reform aspect refers to attempts of middle class activists to change their low-income neighbors to be more like them. The radical aspects refer to using the neighborhood as a focal point in mobilizing political force to challenge the broader racial hierarchy. This initiative has been successful in attracting middle class residents and has increased the economic and cultural resources of this neighborhood. However, the community development initiative reifies class distinctions within the neighborhood. Even with the middle-class biases of the initiative, the Black American Dream stands as an alternative to gentrification. Moreover, it is an important reminder of the racial and cultural meanings, usually unspoken but never the less embedded in our construction of community

Creating the Black American dream: Race, *class and community development

Power struggles are at the heart of many urban neighborhood initiatives. The race and class stratification of urban communities consolidates both privilege and disadvantage within distinct urban neighborhoods. Those neighborhoods that experience a consolidation of disadvantage struggle with social problems such as violence, poverty, deteriorating infrastructure and a weak economic base. Numerous urban development and anti-poverty initiatives have attempted to address the problems that residents face within such disadvantaged neighborhoods. This dissertation investigates the role of a new form of community development initiative to address these social problems and challenging social forces that created it. This dissertation is based on a three-year ethnography of community development in a low-income neighborhood of Philadelphia. To learn about the life and culture of the neighborhood, I moved into the area, participated in local community events, volunteered at community-based organizations, visited local churches and interviewed long term and recent residents. I utilized a grounded theory approach to develop the analytical themes from iterative cycles of data collection and analysis. This community development initiative, labeled the Black American Dream, attempts to attract middle class African-Americans to low-income, Black, urban neighborhoods as a strategy for improving the neighborhood and strengthening to social position of the African-American community more generally. Both moral reform and political radicalism infuse the goals and strategies of the Black American Dream. The moral reform aspect refers to attempts of middle class activists to change their low-income neighbors to be more like them. The radical aspects refer to using the neighborhood as a focal point in mobilizing political force to challenge the broader racial hierarchy. This initiative has been successful in attracting middle class residents and has increased the economic and cultural resources of this neighborhood. However, the community development initiative reifies class distinctions within the neighborhood. Even with the middle-class biases of the initiative, the Black American Dream stands as an alternative to gentrification. Moreover, it is an important reminder of the racial and cultural meanings, usually unspoken but never the less embedded in our construction of community

DNA binding-dependent androgen receptor signaling contributes to gender differences and has physiological actions in males and females

We used our genomic androgen receptor (AR) knockout (ARKO) mouse model, in which the AR is unable to bind DNA to: 1) document gender differences between males and females; 2) identify the genomic (DNA-binding-dependent) AR-mediated actions in males; 3) determine the contribution of genomic AR-mediated actions to these gender differences; and 4) identify physiological genomic AR-mediated actions in females. At 9 weeks of age, control males had higher body, heart and kidney mass, lower spleen mass, and longer and larger bones compared to control females. Compared to control males, ARKO males had lower body and kidney mass, higher splenic mass, and reductions in cortical and trabecular bone. Deletion of the AR in ARKO males abolished the gender differences in heart and cortical bone. Compared with control females, ARKO females had normal body weight, but 14% lower heart mass and heart weight/ body weight ratio. Relative kidney mass was also reduced, and relative spleen mass was increased. ARKO females had a significant reduction in cortical bone growth and changes in trabecular architecture, although with no net change in trabecular bone volume. In conclusion, we have shown that androgens acting via the genomic AR signaling pathway mediate, at least in part, the gender differences in body mass, heart, kidney, spleen, and bone, and play a physiological role in the regulation of cardiac, kidney and splenic size, cortical bone growth, and trabecular bone architecture in females.