A central problem of branch and bound methods for global optimization is that lower bounds are often not exact even if the diameter of the subdivided regions shrinks to zero This can lead to a large number of subdivisions preventing the method from terminating in reasonable time For the all quadratic optimization problem with convex constraints we present locally exact lower bounds and optimali...

A CT-scan of a 75-year-old patient showed an aneurysm of the descending aorta with a maximum diameter of 4.8 cm involving the left subclavian artery. Due to the fact that the patient had several comorbidities including a severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease he was treated only conservatively. However, there were several interesting findings on the CT-scan: the branching pattern of the a...

INTRODUCTION Persistent left superior vena cava represents a congenital vascular defect of the venous system, which often makes standard 58 cm endocardial lead placement impossible. CASE OUTLINE A right chamber approach by the left cephalic vein was tried. This was impossible because standard endocardial lead (SJM Isoflex 5 1646T, bipolar lead, 58 cm in length, body diameter 7 French) was too...

Context Intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms of the pancreas can be associated with ordinary ductal adenocarcinomas as well as pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasias in the background pancreas; however, preoperative identification of peripheral pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasias is extremely difficult. Case report The patient was a 79-year-old male with a chief complaint of right hypochon...

One hundred and seven half-sib families of Pinus pinaster planted at four sites in Galicia (NW Spain) were evaluated at age 8 for growth (height, diameter, volume and mean internode length), stem form (straightness, leaning, forking) and branching characteristics (branch diameter, angle and number and total number of whorls). The analyzed half-sib families were obtained from first-generation pl...

OBJECTIVE To present the appropriate superior gluteal branch for free flap harvesting. MATERIAL AND METHOD The characteristic and external diameter of the pedicles and the main perforators, and length of the pedicles were studied in both sides of 30 formalin-preserved cadavers. RESULTS The patterns of the pedicle could be classified into four types, the vertical, the horizontal, the descend...

Recent studies suggest that pericytes around capillaries are contractile and able to alter the diameter of capillaries. To investigate the effects of capillary dilation on network dynamics, we performed simulations in artificial capillary networks of different sizes and complexities. The unequal partition of hematocrit at diverging bifurcations was modeled by assuming that each red blood cell (...

OBJECTIVES We aimed to investigate the anatomical and morphological characterization of coronary bifurcation lesions. STUDY DESIGN The study population consisted of 542 stable patients who underwent coronary angiography. Bifurcation lesions were defined as a lesion >=50% diameter stenosis involving a main branch and/or contiguous side branch with a diameter of >=2.5 mm. Using these criteria, ...

Hemodynamic analysis of coronary blood flow must be based on a statistically valid geometric model of the coronary vasculature. We have previously developed a diameter-defined Strahler model for the arterial and venous trees and a network model for the capillaries. A full set of data describing the geometric properties of the porcine coronary vasculature was given. The order number, diameter, l...