Contraction Heuristics for Tensor Decision Diagrams.

In this paper, we study the equivalence problem for quantum circuits: Given two quantum circuits, are they equivalent? We reduce this problem to the contraction problem of a tensor network. The order in which the contraction operations between tensors are applied has a crucial impact on efficiency, which is why many heuristics have been proposed. In this work, we use an efficient representation of tensors as a tensor decision diagram.

Promoting insect farming and household consumption through agricultural training and nutrition education in Africa: A study protocol for a multisite cluster-randomized controlled trial.

Background: Edible insects are a sustainable source of high-quality animal protein. Insect farming is gaining interest globally, particularly in low-income countries, where it may provide substantial nutritional and economic benefits. To enhance insect farming practices in Africa, new farming systems are being developed.

Health versus environmental benefits: Does additional information influence consumer acceptance of pulse-based spreads?

Despite the known health benefits and the potential for substituting less environmentally sustainable consumed foods such as meat, the current intake of pulses in developed countries remains less than recommended. Barriers are related to sensory characteristics and lack of knowledge about preparation, while drivers of environmental benefits are intangible. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of additional information about health or environmental benefits of pulses on the acceptance of novel pulse-based products from chickpeas, black beans, and faba beans.

Does treatment of lichen sclerosus improve overactive bladder symptoms?

Introduction And Hypothesis: Lichen sclerosus (LS) is a chronic disease which mainly affects the vulvar area in women. A few studies have shown a possible relationship between LS and overactive bladder (OAB) symptoms, but no studies have investigated whether OAB symptoms improve after initiating treatment of LS. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the treatment of LS also improves OAB symptoms in women newly diagnosed with LS.

Caretakers' perceptions and willingness-to-pay for complementary food in urban and rural Cambodia.

Inadequate child nutrition during the first '1000 days' is widespread in Cambodia, resulting in a high prevalence of child malnutrition. Access to processed complementary food in packages (PCFP) may support caretakers in improving diet of young children. This study aimed to evaluate the caretakers' preferences and willingness-to-pay (WTP) for PCFP in Cambodia.

Nutrient mitigation under the impact of climate and land-use changes: A hydro-economic approach to participatory catchment management.

Excessive nutrient loadings into rivers are a well-known ecological problem. Implemented mitigation measures should ideally be cost-effective, but perfectly ranking alternative nutrient mitigation measures according to cost-effectiveness is a difficult methodological challenge. Furthermore, a particularly practical challenge is that cost-effective measures are not necessarily favoured by local stakeholders, and this may impede their successful implementation in practice.

Significantly reducing implant loss rates in immediate implant-based breast reconstruction: A protocol and completed audit of quality assurance.

Introduction: Immediate implant-based breast reconstruction (IBR) rates have increased considerably with the advent of acellular dermal matrices. Implant loss is a significant complication and is costly to patients and the NHS. National Mastectomy and Breast Reconstruction Audit and Implant-Based Breast Reconstruction Audit data have demonstrated national implant loss rate of 9% at 3 months.

Public preferences for co-benefits of riparian buffer strips in Denmark: An economic valuation study.

Riparian buffer strips are an extensively used measure to combat the transfer of nutrients and sediment into waterbodies. However, benefits from riparian buffer strips are not limited to improvements in the aquatic environment, as buffer strips per se can provide various societal co-benefits, such as recreational and aesthetic benefits, to name a few. The values of these co-benefits are likely to depend on the design and physical features of the buffer strips.

Results of Carotid Endarterectomy Using Bovine Pericardium Patch Closure, with a Review of Pertinent Literature.

Patch closure after carotid endarterectomy lowers risk of recurrent stenosis and perioperative neurologic events. Although vein patches have theoretic benefits, few differences between vein and nonautologous patches have been noted. Bovine pericardium has been increasingly used in carotid surgery over the last 15 years, with favorable reports.

Accounting protesting and warm glow bidding in Contingent Valuation surveys considering the management of environmental goods--an empirical case study assessing the value of protecting a Natura 2000 wetland area in Greece.

Based on a Contingent Valuation survey aiming to reveal the willingness to pay (WTP) for conservation of a wetland area in Greece, we show how protest and warm glow motives can be taken into account when modeling WTP. In a sample of more than 300 respondents, we find that 54% of the positive bids are rooted to some extent in warm glow reasoning while 29% of the zero bids can be classified as expressions of protest rather than preferences. In previous studies, warm glow bidders are only rarely identified while protesters are typically identified and excluded from further analysis.

Rebuilding after the tsunami: getting it right.

The practice of integrated coastal management (ICM) has matured sufficiently since its beginnings in the early 1980s to suggest a set of principles that could be used to guide the massive investments that will be made over the next several years to rehabilitate and reconstruct the thousands of kilometers of coastlines devastated by the 26 December 2004 tsunami. We offer six principles to guide what can be done to make coastal communities less vulnerable, to improve the conditions of the poor, and to avoid repeating the mistaken judgements that have been made in the past about how shorelines are allocated and developed. We then offer a set of five principles to guide how action plans are formulated and implemented.

Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease: a cause for concern. Review of the evidence for risk of transmission through abdominal lymphoreticular tissue surgery.

Background: Concern has long existed regarding the possible iatrogenic spread of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (v-CJD) through surgery. This had been fueled by recent reports of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in U.S.

Intraoperative use of isosulfan blue in the treatment of persistent lymphatic leaks.

Background: Lymphatic leaks are a major source of morbidity after lower extremity vascular surgery. We determined the ability of isosulfan blue (Lymphazurin) use to identify and help ligate offending lymphatics, and compared postoperative complication rates and length of stay versus nonoperative therapy alone.

Methods: From January 1993 through March 2002, we identified 15 patients with lymphatic leaks.

Intraoperative duplex ultrasonography as an adjunct to technical excellence in 100 consecutive carotid endarterectomies.

Purpose: To evaluate the relationship of intraoperative duplex ultrasonography (duplex) results to neurologic outcomes and restenosis among patients undergoing carotid endarterectomy (CEA).

Methods: One hundred consecutive CEAs were performed at a military medical center over 28 months. Prospectively acquired demographics, duplex results, revisions, and surgical outcomes were reviewed.

Carotid endarterectomy remains the gold standard.

Background: To compare the safety and efficacy of carotid endarterectomy (CEA) as performed in a community medical center with the Asymptomatic Carotid Atherosclerosis Study (ACAS) and North American Symptomatic Carotid Endarterectomy Trial (NASCET) standards and with representative published results regarding carotid angioplasty and stenting (CAS).

Methods: Between 1 January 1994 and 31 July 2000, 267 CEA procedures were performed on 236 patients at Madigan Army Medical Center (MAMC). Prospectively acquired patient demographics, operative indications, and surgical outcomes were reviewed using clinical records, carotid duplex evaluations, and follow-up examinations.

Fragment wound pseudoaneurysm presenting 54 years after injury(1).

A 74-year-old man presented with acute arterial insufficiency of the left leg. Surgical history was remarkable for a mortar fragment injury to his proximal medial left thigh in 1945. His wounds healed secondarily after operative debridement.

The natural history of early recurrent carotid artery stenosis.

Background: Early recurrent carotid stenosis, defined as greater than 50% stenosis within 2 years of a carotid endarterectomy (CEA), occurs in 4% to 19% of patients. These lesions are secondary to myointimal hyperplasia (MH). The natural history of these lesions has been examined prospectively, but the appropriate management of these lesions has not been clearly defined.

Femoral venous flow dynamics during intraperitoneal and preperitoneal laparoscopic insufflation.

Background: Laparoscopic herniorrhaphy may be performed using an intraperitoneal or a preperitoneal approach. Anecdotal and experimental evidence indicates that alterations in lower extremity venous flow, which occur during intraperitoneal laparoscopic insufflation, may be associated with an increased risk of deep vein thrombosis. However, no study has directly compared femoral venous flow during intraperitoneal insufflation with that during preperitoneal insufflation.

Near-infrared spectrophotometry determined brain oxygenation during fainting.

During orthostatic hypotension we evaluated whether presyncopal symptoms relate to a reduced brain oxygenation. Nine subjects performed 50 degrees head-up tilt for 1 h and eight subjects were followed during 2 h of supine rest and during 1 h of 10 degrees head-down tilt. Cerebral perfusion was assessed by transcranial Doppler determined middle cerebral artery blood velocity (MCA vmean), while brain blood oxygenation was assessed by near-infrared spectrophotometry determined concentration changes for oxygenated (delta HbO2) and deoxygenated haemoglobin and brain cell oxygenation by the oxidized cytochrome c concentration (delta CytO2).

Determination of 60% or greater carotid stenosis: a prospective comparison of magnetic resonance angiography and duplex ultrasound with conventional angiography.

The morbidity and cost of conventional angiography (CA) have focused recent efforts in cerebrovascular imaging upon the exclusive use of noninvasive techniques. Our purpose was to prospectively evaluate carotid magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) and to compare its accuracy with color-flow duplex (CFD). Fifty patients were prospectively evaluated with CA and MRA after clinical and CFD findings indicated the need for carotid angiography.

Enhancement of platelet deposition by cross-linked hemoglobin in a rat carotid endarterectomy model.

Background: Purified human cross-linked hemoglobin, which is now being used in clinical trials, increases mean arterial pressure through binding of nitric oxide (NO). We postulated that binding of NO by cross-linked hemoglobin (alpha alpha Hb) could also increase platelet deposition at sites of subintimal injury.

Methods And Results: Male Sprague-Dawley rats were infused with alpha alpha Hb (0.

Use of antithrombin III concentrates to correct antithrombin III deficiency during vascular surgery.

Congenital deficiency of antithrombin III (AT III) is the only inherited hypercoagulable disorder for which a concentrate of purified protein is available for replacement therapy during periods of increased thrombotic risk. This report describes how such concentrates have been used in a patient with congenital AT-III deficiency undergoing venous surgery. A 40-year-old woman with AT III deficiency was evaluated for bilateral grade 3 chronic venous insufficiency.

Initial experience with laparoscopic cholecystectomy at an Army community hospital.

Laparoscopic cholecystectomy is associated with significantly less postoperative discomfort, a shorter hospital stay, and earlier return to normal activity compared with standard cholecystectomy. From February 1992 to January 1993, an initial 67 laparoscopic cholecystectomies were attempted at Irwin Army Community Hospital; 64 were completed, for a conversion rate of 4.5%.

Inguinal-scrotal suppuration following treatment of perforated appendicitis.

Suppuration of a congenital hernia or communicating hydrocele following generalized peritonitis is rare. The lack of reported cases in the recent literature may indicate a decreasing incidence of this unusual complication. We report a case of suppuration of a communicating hydrocele with testicular loss 2 days after treatment of perforated appendicitis in a 10-year-old boy.