A call for caution when using network methods to study multimorbidity: an illustration using data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging.

Objectives: To examine the impact of two key choices when conducting a network analysis (clustering methods and measure of association) on the number and type of multimorbidity clusters.

Study Design And Setting: Using cross-sectional self-reported data on 24 diseases from 30,097 community-living adults aged 45-85 from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging, we conducted network analyses using 5 clustering methods and 11 association measures commonly used in multimorbidity studies. We compared the similarity among clusters using the adjusted Rand index (ARI); an ARI of 0 is equivalent to the diseases being randomly assigned to clusters, and 1 indicates perfect agreement.

Financial Toxicity and Health-Related Quality of Life Profile of Patients With Hematologic Malignancies Treated in a Universal Health Care System.

Purpose: We investigated the association of financial toxicity (FT) with the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) profile of patients with hematologic malignancies treated in a universal health care system.

Methods: We did a secondary analysis of six multicenter studies enrolling patients with hematologic malignancies. FT was evaluated using the financial difficulties item of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 30 (EORTC QLQ-C30).

An Exploration of Methods to Resolve Inconsistent Self-Reporting of Chronic Conditions and Impact on Multimorbidity in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging.

Objectives: To quantify inconsistent self-reporting of chronic conditions between the baseline (2011-2015) and first follow-up surveys (2015-2018) in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA), and to explore methods to resolve inconsistent responses and impact on multimorbidity.

Methods: Community-dwelling adults aged 45-85 years in the baseline and first follow-up surveys were included ( = 45,184). At each survey, participants self-reported whether they ever had a physician diagnosis of 35 chronic conditions.

Optimizing Catalytic Depolymerization of Lignin in Ethanol with a Day-Clustered Box-Behnken Design.

Lignin is a potential resource for biobased aromatics with applications in the field of fuel additives, resins, and bioplastics. Via a catalytic depolymerization process using supercritical ethanol and a mixed metal oxide catalyst (CuMgAlO), lignin can be converted into a lignin oil, containing phenolic monomers that are intermediates to the mentioned applications. Herein, we evaluated the viability of this lignin conversion technology through a stage-gate scale-up methodology.

Short- and long-term outcomes after endarterectomy with autologous patching in endurance athletes with iliac artery endofibrosis.

Objective: Endurance athletes such as cyclists may develop intermittent claudication owing to iliac artery endofibrosis after long-lasting extreme hemodynamic challenges. This study investigated short-term (<1.5 years) and long-term (>5 years) satisfaction and safety after a surgical endarterectomy and autologous patching.

Determinants of information needs in patients with coronary artery disease receiving cardiac rehabilitation: a prospective observational study.

Objectives: Knowledge on information needs in cardiac rehabilitation (CR) patients is scarce. This study investigates determinants of information needs in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD).

Design: Prospective observational study.

Surgical shortening of lengthened iliac arteries in endurance athletes: Short-term and long-term satisfaction.

Objective: Endurance athletes are prone to develop flow limitations in iliac arteries (FLIA). Especially in cyclists and ice speed skaters, excessive hemodynamic loading coupled with hip hyperflexion may cause kinking in lengthened iliac arteries necessitating surgical correction. This study investigated the short-term (≤1.

Short- and long-term results of operative iliac artery release in endurance athletes.

Objective: Endurance athletes can develop intermittent claudication due to sports-related flow limitations of the iliac artery (FLIA) caused by arterial kinking. In the present study, we investigated the short- and long-term efficacy of an operative release for iliac artery kinking.

Methods: Between 1996 and 2015, all patients with a diagnosis of FLIA due to iliac artery kinking without substantial arterial stenosis (<15%) or an excessive arterial length (vessel length to straight ratio, <1.

Predictors of non-participation in a cardiac telerehabilitation programme: a prospective analysis.

Aims: Current cardiac telerehabilitation (CTR) interventions are insufficiently tailored to the preferences and competences of individual patients, which raises the question whether their implementation will increase overall participation and adherence to cardiac rehabilitation (CR). However, research on patient-specific factors that influence participation and adoption of CTR interventions is scarce. The aim of this study was to evaluate which patient-related characteristics influence participation in a novel CTR intervention in patients with coronary artery disease.

Improved One-Class Modeling of High-Dimensional Metabolomics Data via Eigenvalue-Shrinkage.

One-class modelling is a useful approach in metabolomics for the untargeted detection of abnormal metabolite profiles, when information from a set of reference observations is available to model "normal" or baseline metabolite profiles. Such outlying profiles are typically identified by comparing the distance between an observation and the reference class to a critical limit. Often, multivariate distance measures such as the Mahalanobis distance (MD) or principal component-based measures are used.