Publications

Background: Physical activity rates are low for adult Latinas. In the United States, only 7.8% of adult Latinas met Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations for weekly vigorous leisure-time physical activity. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to test a theoretical model examining the direct and indirect influence of individual factors (demographic factors and acculturation) and the direct influence of built environmental variables (perceived neighborhood safety/aesthetics) on Latinas' physical activity in a U.S. border region. Methods: Acculturation, perceived neighborhood safety/aesthetics, sociodemographic variables, and minutes of physical activity a week were collected from 526 Latinas using standardized survey measures. Results: Only 30% of the Latinas reported meeting International Physical Activity Questionnaire's vigorous physical activity criteria, 8.6% met moderate, and 46.4% met walking. Findings from the structural equation modeling indicated that acculturation was positively associated with Latinas' vigorous and moderate physical activity, with no significant relation to walking. There were no direct associations of perceived neighborhood safety/aesthetics on any of the three measures of physical activity. Conclusions: Data suggest that acculturating to the U.S. mainstream culture may have positive effects on Latinas' reported physical activity. Contrary to studies of other populations, the perceived neighborhood environment was not related to Latinas' physical activity. Culturally appropriate interventions are needed for Latinas who are less acculturated into the United States.

Abstract Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common causes of cancer-related death without effective treatment. Oncogenic drivers, including PTPN11/Shp2, Ikkβ kinase (IKK), c-Met and β-catenin, as well as tumor microenvironment as illustrated by a carcinogen or diethylnitrosamine (DEN)-treated models, have combined contribution to cancer progression that have distinct prevalence in human HCC progression. We previously found that disruption of Ras/Erk by Shp2 deletion combined with deletion of NF-κB unexpectedly dysregulated circadian clock genes which leads to further cancer progression. Except for this, limited reports investigated how various other oncogenic genes aberration would incorporate with DEN to induce HCC. Further, no reports investigated the dynamic evolution of transcriptomic aberration incorporating genetic changes and the differential functional pathways involved in DEN plus oncogene triggered-HCC progression. Thus, we here sought to investigate the context-dependent contribution of PTPN11/Shp2, IKK, c-Met and β-catenin to HCC using hepatocyte-specific deletion models (SKO, IKO, MKO, BKO) combined with DEN treatment. Exome sequencing and RNAseq were used to identify dynamic changes of the genomic and transcriptomic variations of HCC development under the influence of both genetic deletion and DEN-treatment. We found that upregulated epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), cancer metastasis/migration and downregulated fatty-acid and cholesterol metabolism were highly involved across models. Macrophages together with genes including Spi1, Clec7a, and microRNA networks including miR-122 and miR-155 etc. were also deregulated. Specifically, upregulated IL2-STAT5 signaling in DEN-SKO liver tissues, upregulated myogenesis, KRAS signaling and EMT as well as apoptosis in DEN-MKO, downregulated xenobiotic metabolism and bile acid metabolism in DEN-IKO and -BKO were identified to be distinct to oncogenic deletion in relation with HCC development. Citation Format: Xinyi Wang, Jiemeng Zhang, Yingluo Liu, Shuo Zhang, Yan Liang, Min Zong, Xiaoxue Lin, Michael Karin, Gensheng Feng. Genomic and transcriptomic analyses of chemical hepatocarcinogenesis aggravated by loss of oncoproteins in hepatocytes [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2024; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2024 Apr 5-10; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(6_Suppl):Abstract nr 2274.

1002 Investigations of physical activity are hampered by lack of objective tools for quantifying activity in “open” environments, such as recreational settings. Measuring activity in these settings is complicated because the number of participants and their activity levels change frequently. This paper describes the instrument, System for Observing Play and Leisure Activity in Youth (SOPLAY). SOPLAY is based on momentary time sampling techniques in which systematic scans are made within pre-determined target areas. During a scan the activity of each individual is coded as Sedentary, Walking, or Very Active. Separate scans are made for females and males, and simultaneous entries are made for contextual variables. Because validity of the activity codes has been established through heart rate monitoring, energy expenditure can be estimated. The instrument permits comparisons to be made among different environments or within the same environment over time. Reliability data were collected during 14 days of field assessment by pairs of assessors who made independent observations. Data from 186 target areas in 14 schools were used in the realiability analysis. Interobserver agreements for contextual variables were 95% for area accessibility, 97% for usability, 93% for presence of supervision, 96% for presence of organized activity, and 88% for provision of equipment. To examine the reliability of activity measures made by different assessors, a series of intraclass correlations were computed. Correlations were high for counts of sedentary (R=.98) and walking girls (.95), although lower for very active girls (.76). For boys, correlations were high for sedentary (.98), walking (.98), and very active(.97) behavior. It was concluded that all interobserver agreements and intraclass correlations met acceptable criteria for reliable assessment. Utility of SOPLAY was established through 72 days of measurement in 24 middle schools.

Our previous research indicated that Latino parents, more so than non-Latino parents, may prompt their children to engage in behaviors that encourage them to "practice" smoking-related behaviors. The present study examined Latino and non-Latino adolescents' reports of parental prompting, defined as parental requests to: 1) empty/clean ashtrays; 2) bring cigarettes to parent; 3) accept tobacco industry promotional gear as a gift; 4) buy cigarettes for parent; 5) light parent's cigarette with a match or lighter; 6) start the cigarette in his/her own mouth and then pass it to parent; and 7) smoke with the parent.In 10 schools in the Southbay area of San Diego, 3,599 7th and 8th grade middle school students, the majority of whom were Latino, completed cross-sectional surveys assessing 7 parental prompts, past-month smoking, parental smoking, acculturation, and familism.Findings indicated that parental prompts were less prevalent than in our previous work. We also found that there were not consistent or great differences in the prevalence of prompting between Latinos and non-Latinos and that parental prompting, particularly requests that the child light the parent's cigarettes with a match or lighter, was associated with children's smoking. Further, we found that Latino adolescents may be influenced by more parental prompts than non-Latinos, and finally that higher familism scores were significantly associated with lower risk of smoking, regardless of ethnicity.Parental prompting and familism appear to be important correlates of adolescent smoking.