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Self-regulation, the ability to guide behavior according to one's goals, plays an integral role in understanding loss of control over unwanted behaviors, for example in alcohol use disorder (AUD). Yet, experimental tasks that measure processes underlying self-regulation are not easy to deploy in contexts where such behaviors usually occur, namely outside the laboratory, and in clinical populations such as people with AUD. Moreover, lab-based tasks have been criticized for poor test-retest reliability and lack of construct validity. Smartphones can be used to deploy tasks in the field, but often require shorter versions of tasks, which may further decrease reliability. Here, we show that combining smartphone-based tasks with joint hierarchical modeling of longitudinal data can overcome at least some of these shortcomings. We test four short smartphone-based tasks outside the laboratory in a large sample (N = 488) of participants with AUD. Although task measures indeed have low reliability when data are analyzed traditionally by modeling each session separately, joint modeling of longitudinal data increases reliability to good and oftentimes excellent levels. We next test the measures' construct validity and show that extracted latent factors are indeed in line with theoretical accounts of cognitive control and decision-making. Finally, we demonstrate that a resulting cognitive control factor relates to a real-life measure of drinking behavior and yields stronger correlations than single measures based on traditional analyses. Our findings demonstrate how short, smartphone-based task measures, when analyzed with joint hierarchical modeling and latent factor analysis, can overcome frequently reported shortcomings of experimental tasks., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Background: Transradial access (TRA) in percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is a widely used standard technique with lower complication rates compared to transfemoral access (TFA). The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of TRA versus TFA for PCI on clinically significant vascular access complications in the setting of acute myocardial infarction (AMI)., Methods: This multicenter study randomly assigned 250 patients in a 1:1 fashion (TRA vs. TFA) admitted with or without ST-segment elevation AMI undergoing immediate PCI. The primary endpoint was defined as the occurrence of hematoma, pseudo-aneurysm or local bleeding at the access site requiring any further intervention and/or prolonged hospital stay. Radiation exposure to the patient and operator was also investigated., Results: In the study cohort (N = 250 patients, mean age 62 ± 12.7 years, 76% males) 5 patients (2%) achieved the primary endpoint without a significant difference between groups, 4 out of 125 (3.2%) in the TFA group and 1 out of 125 (0.8%) in the TRA group (p = 0.17). Access site hematoma was significantly more frequent in the TFA group compared to the TRA group (24.8% vs. 8.8%, respectively; p < 0.0007). Local bleeding was only seen in the TFA group (3.2% vs. 0%, p = 0.04). Time intervals from admission to catheter laboratory to first balloon inflation were longer in the TRA compared to the TFA group (34 ± 17 min vs 29.5 ± 13 min, respectively; p = 0.018). Radiation exposure to the patient and operator was identical., Conclusion: The use of TRA was accompanied by lower rates of access site complications; however, the need for subsequent treatment or prolonged hospital stays was not observed using either of the two access approaches.

Aims: Comorbidities pose a major challenge to screening, selection and follow-up of transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) patients as well as to the procedure itself. The aim of the present study was to assess cardiac and non-cardiac readmission rates besides clinical endpoint data in the first 50 patients of a single center TAVI programme., Methods and Results: TAVI was performed using the transfemoral CoreValve system. Procedural success rate was 94%; intraprocedural mortality was 2%. 82% of the patients remained free of a combined safety endpoint at 30 days, and 76.1% remained free of a combined efficacy endpoint at six months (modified criteria of the Valve Academic Research Consortium). At six months, among all surviving patients, 10.3% had experienced readmissions for cardiac causes, and 43.6% had experienced readmissions for non-cardiac causes. Causes of non-cardiac readmissions showed a wide distribution over various medical disciplines, reflecting the high rate of comorbidities. Beyond six months until a predefined reference date (mean follow up 9.9 months), the probability of hospitalization fell by half (1.54 vs. 0.74 hospital days per patient per month), driven by a decrease of non-cardiac readmissions. Karnofsky score before and after TAVI yielded a significant and sustained improvement of performance status, as assessed retrospectively at reference date., Conclusion: The findings of the present study suggest that the high prevalence of comorbidities in high-risk TAVI patients results in a high rate of non-cardiac rehospitalizations during the first 6 months of follow-up. Despite this fact, improvement of global everyday performance following TAVI as perceived by the patients seems to be substantial.