Search

Der 74jährige Goethe verewigte seine Liebe zu der 19jährigen Ulrike von Levetzow in dem Meisterstück der deutschen Liebeslyrik, der „Marienbader Elegie“. Der Dichter evozierte hier das Bild einer leiden-schaftlichen Beziehung, die auf Gegenseitigkeit und Seelenverwandtschaft beruht. Zwei hundert Jahre später greift sein Altersgenosse Martin Walser diese Geschichte auf und erzählt sie in seinem Roman „Ein liebender Mann“ neu. Der Schriftsteller glaubt Goethes lyrischer Darstellung der Geschehnisse nicht, deshalb unterwirft er einzelne Motive der „Elegie“ kritischer Analyse und interpretiert sie auf seine Weise. Was dabei herauskommt, ist ein neues Bild von Goethe, der bei vielen Literaturkritikern auf Widerspruch gestoßen ist. // 19-year-old Ulrike von Levetzow was Goethe’s last love. The 74 year old poet immortalised his feelings in a masterpiece of German love poetry “Marienbad Elegy”. Nearly two hundred years later Martin Walser based his novel “Ein liebender Mann” on that love story. Not a lot is known about what truly happened between the famous poet and the young lady on that memorable summer of 1823 in Marien-bad. Walser used this lack of historical details to let his creativity run free and tell the story in his own way. His version of the story argues with the picture that the lovestruck Goethe painted in his “Elegy”. The poem’s lyrical motifs are analysed and often debunked in the novel, treated as idealised and thus untrue. This article follows Walser’s analysis, in which Goethe’s view as a person was subjected to quite a questionable deconstruction.

Purpose: In the course of hypertension, left ventricular hypertrophy and diastolic dysfunction develop very often and may progress toward heart failure. The aim of the study was to analyze the relationship between abnormalities of retinal microcirculation and cardiac damage defined as left ventricular hypertrophy and/or diastolic dysfunction. Materials and methods: The study comprised 88 patients with essential hypertension. The group was divided into two subgroups: hypertensives without cardiac damage (n = 55) and with cardiac damage (n = 33). Control group comprised 32 normotensive subjects. Scanning laser Doppler flowmetry was used to evaluate retinal microcirculation. Echocardiography was used to assess cardiac damage. Results: Lumen diameter of retinal arterioles was significantly smaller in patients with cardiac damage vs. controls (77 vs. 84 µm, p = 0.02). Additionally, there was an evident trend with respect to lumen diameter (LD) across all three studied subgroups; i.e.: the smallest dimeters were present in cardiac damage patients, moderate size in hypertensives’ without cardiac damage, and the largest diameters in healthy controls (pfor trend

Background: Although the presence of sub-clinical left ventricular diastolic dysfunction (LVDD) increases cardiovascular risk, the current ESH/ESC guidelines do not include the presence of this condition in the list of target organ damage or cardiovascular risk charts dedicated to the hypertensive population. Several conditions may predict the LVDD occurrence, however, clustering of these factors with hypertension makes the relationship less clear. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate both the occurrence and the severity of diastolic dysfunction in a large cohort of treated hypertensives. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed records of 610 hypertensive participants of the CARE NORTH Study who consented to echocardiography and were free of overt cardiovascular disease. Mean age was 54.0 ± 13.9 years (mean ± SD), BMI 29.7 ± 4.8 kg/m2. The exclusion criteria were: established heart failure, LVEF

Arterial stiffening is a hallmark of early vascular aging (EVA) syndrome and an independent predictor of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. In this case-control study we sought to identify plasma metabolites associated with EVA syndrome in the setting of hypertension. An untargeted metabolomic approach was used to identify plasma metabolites in an age-, BMI-, and sex-matched groups of EVA (n = 79) and non-EVA (n = 73) individuals with hypertension. After raw data processing and filtration, 497 putative compounds were characterized, out of which 4 were identified as lysophosphaditylcholines (LPCs) [LPC (18:2), LPC (16:0), LPC (18:0), and LPC (18:1)]. A main finding of this study shows that identified LPCs were independently associated with EVA status. Although LPCs have been shown previously to be positively associated with inflammation and atherosclerosis, we observed that hypertensive individuals characterized by 4 down-regulated LPCs had 3.8 times higher risk of EVA compared to those with higher LPC levels (OR = 3.8, 95% CI 1.7–8.5, P < 0.001). Our results provide new insights into a metabolomic phenotype of vascular aging and warrants further investigation of negative association of LPCs with EVA status. This study suggests that LPCs are potential candidates to be considered for further evaluation and validation as predictors of EVA in patients with hypertension.

Animal and human data indicate pathological afferent signaling emanating from the carotid body that drives sympathetically mediated elevations in blood pressure in conditions of hypertension. This first-in-man, proof-of-principle study tested the safety and feasibility of unilateral carotid body resection in 15 patients with drug-resistant hypertension. The procedure proved to be safe and feasible. Overall, no change in blood pressure was found. However, 8 patients showed significant reductions in ambulatory blood pressure coinciding with decreases in sympathetic activity. The carotid body may be a novel target for treating an identifiable subpopulation of humans with hypertension.

Introduction: Endothelial cell migration and proliferation play an important role in the growth and development of new blood vessels and endothelium healing. This process occurs in response to injury, inflammation and immune reactions. Dysfunction of the endothelium may play a significant role in development and progression of cardiovascular disease related to sleep-disordered breathing. The aim of our study was to evaluate the chemo-attractant activity of serum from obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and normal subjects on coronary artery endothelial cell migration. Material and methods: We studied 12 severe OSA patients, free of other co-morbidities and on no treatment, along with 12 age-, body mass index, and gender matched healthy controls. Blood was collected at three time points: at 21:00 before sleep, at 6:00 after waking from sleep, and at 11.00 (after 5 h of normal daytime activity). Serum chemo-attractant activity for human coronary endothelial cells was assessed using a colorimetric cell migration assay kit. Results : In healthy subjects, serum chemo-attractant activity peaked in the morning after waking from sleep (p = 0.02). This early morning increase was blunted in severe OSA subjects, in whom chemo-attractant activity was weaker than in normal controls (p = 0.02), and did not change significantly at the different time-points (p < 0.001 vs. controls). Conclusions : Chemo-attractant activity of the serum from OSA patients is lower compared to serum from healthy subjects, especially in the morning. Altered chemo-attractant serum activity may conceivably contribute to the impairment of endothelial function in obstructive sleep apnea patients.

Background: According to current ESH guidelines cardiovascular risk assessment is recommended in vast majority of patients with hypertension. However the groups of patients exist where risk assessment may be challenging. Aim: The aim of our analysis was to compare risk factors, and target organ damage profiles in two groups of hypertensive patients with discrepant results in office vs. ambulatory blood pressure values. Methods: From the outpatient hypertensive cohort (N=773) two groups were chosen – (1) white coat effect patients “WCHT” with systolic office blood pressure (OSBP) > 140 mmHg, and 24-hour systolic blood pressure < 130 mmHg; and (2) patients with normal OSBP but 24-hour SBP > 130 mmHg “MHTN”. Anthropometric measurements, together with basic cardiovascular risk factors and target organ damage assessment were performed. Results: In univariate analyses age, weight, BMI, waist circumference, as well as biochemical markers (total cholesterol, HDL, LDL-C, triglycerides, glucose levels) were comparable between the groups (P=NS, for all comparisons). MHTN patients presented with more pronounced target organ damage markers (eGFR, LVH, IMT) except for cfPWV (11.4 vs. 9.6 m/s for WCHT vs. MHTN, respectively; P