Research into prevention of cardiovascular disease has increasingly focused on mobile health (mHealth) technologies and their efficacy in helping individuals adhere to heart-healthy recommendations, including daily physical activity levels. By including the use of mHealth technologies in the discussion of physical activity recommendations, clinicians empower patients to play an active daily role in modifying their cardiovascular risk-factor profile. In this review, we critically evaluate the mHealth and physical activity literature to determine how these tools may lower cardiovascular risk while providing real-time tracking, feedback, and motivation on physical activity levels. We analyze the various domains-including user knowledge, social support, behavioral change theory, and self-motivation-that potentially influence the effectiveness of smartphone applications to impact individual physical activity levels. In doing so, we hope to provide a thorough overview of the mHealth landscape, in addition to highlighting many of the administrative, reimbursement, and patient-privacy challenges of using these technologies in patient care. Finally, we propose a behavioral change model and checklist for clinicians to assist patients in utilizing mHealth technology to best achieve meaningful changes in daily physical activity levels.

Vocalizations can be markers of emotional social communication. Maternal potentiation was originally described as an increased rate of vocalization by isolated rat pups following an interaction with their mothers, but not with other social companions. Here we asked if potentiation in prairie voles, a species with pair-bonding and bi-parental rearing, is parent-specific. We found that isolated, 8-11-day-old voles exhibited potentiation following reunions with the dam, but not the sire. These responses were present whether parents were anesthetized or active during the reunion. There were no significant correlations between parental behaviors during reunions and pup vocalization rates during re-isolation. The absence of potentiation to the sire contrasts to findings in bi-parentally reared rat pups, which do potentiate vocalizations to the sire. We interpret these results to be consistent with the idea that potentiation reflects disruption of mother-infant coregulation and is dependent upon the unique biology of mothering. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 58:687-699, 2016.