[Max Reger and his early death: could it have been avoided? : Would he have lived longer with adequate intensive care?].

Background: Max Reger was an organist, university teacher and composer whose life, illnesses, death and dying are not or hardly known to many.

Objectives: Which illnesses determined Reger's life and did his lifestyle and illnesses influence his compositional work? Could his early death have been avoided? From today's point of view, could modern intensive care medicine have helped him?

Material And Methods: A detailed analysis of Reger's diseases was performed using scientific databases (medline, pubmed). All published articles were evaluated and examined in detail.

[Gustav Mahler: tragic life, mysterious illness, early death : Could intensive care medicine have saved him today?].

Background: Gustav Mahler was a composer of the late Romantic period, one of the most famous conductors of his time and, as opera director, one of the most important reformers of musical theatre. Mahler's life, illnesses, death and dying are little or not at all known to many.

Objectives: Which illnesses determined Mahler's life? Could his early death have been avoided? From today's point of view, could modern intensive care medicine have helped him?

Material And Methods: A detailed analysis of Mahler's diseases was performed using scientific databases (medline, pubmed).

[Short history of the DC-Catheter-Ablation].

Direct current (DC) catheter ablation in 5 patients aiming to interrupt rapid atrioventricular (AV) conduction with atrial fibrillation and subsequent pacemaker implantation was first published by M. M. Scheinman et al.

[History of surgical treatment of cardiac arrhythmias in Germany : Surgical treatment of ventricular tachycardia and supraventricular tachycardia, especially pre-excitation syndromes (WPW)].

The history of surgical treatment of ventricular tachycardias (VT) is short, lasting from 1978 until 1993. "Indirect procedures" with infarct scar resection were performed without electrophysiologic studies, whereas "direct procedures" consisted of either complete endocardial incisions ("encircling endocardial ventriculotomy") or large endocardial resections ("endocardial peel-off" technique) after precise epicardial and endocardial mapping procedures. In Germany, the first to report on intra-operative electrophysiologic mapping for VT treatment were Ostermeyer, Breithardt and Seipel in 1979.

[Effects of classical or heavy metal music in humans and animals: implications for intensive care medicine].

Background: The importance of music in intensive care medicine is still controversial and the mechanisms of music are unclear. It is important whether different music styles (classical music [CM], Heavy Metal [HM] show measurable effects on blood pressure (BP) or heart rate (HR) in humans or not. It is also unclear whether behavioral patterns are influenced by music (CM, HM) in animals.

[Anton Bruckner: the Linz cathedral organist, university teacher, symphonic musician : Could modern intensive care medicine have helped him and his illnesses?].

Background: Anton Bruckner was a famous cathedral organist, university teacher, and symphonic composer, but his life, illnesses, death and dying are little or not known to many.

Objectives: Which illnesses determined Bruckner's life and did lifestyle and illnesses influence his compositional work? From today's perspective, could modern intensive care medicine have helped him?

Materials And Methods: A detailed analysis of Bruckner's diseases was carried out using the scientific databases PubMed® and MEDLINE®. All published articles were evaluated and examined in detail.

Who can take advantage of medically assisted reproduction in Germany?

Compared with other European societies, access to medically assisted reproduction (MAR) in Germany is rather restrictive. Surprisingly little is known about the actual utilization of MAR in Germany and its social selectivity, primarily due to a lack of appropriate data. This article studies the use of MAR by drawing on 11 waves of the German Family Panel (pairfam), an annual survey that collects data on partnership and family dynamics in Germany.

Crossing Social Boundaries in an Immigration Context: Exogamy and Gendered Employment Patterns in Unions in Germany.

We study gendered employment patterns in unions by focusing on the role of exogamy for non-migrants in Germany. Classical assimilation theory has studied such mixed migrant-non-migrant unions mainly with a focus on the members of ethnic minorities. However, this perspective neglects the question of the social consequences of exogamy for the members of the majority group.

Feasibility of non-invasive measurement of central blood pressure and arterial stiffness in shock.

Background: Patients in haemodynamic shock are in need for an intensive care treatment. Invasive haemodynamic monitoring is state of the art for these patients. However, evolved, non-invasive blood pressure monitoring devices offer advanced functions like the assessment of central blood pressure and arterial stiffness.

Dickkopf-3 in the prediction of contrast media induced acute kidney injury.

Background: Dickkopf-3 (DKK3) has recently been discovered as a urinary biomarker for the prediction of acute kidney injury (AKI) after cardiac surgery. This finding needs to be confirmed for AKI in other clinical settings. The present study investigates whether DKK3 can predict contrast-induced AKI (CI-AKI).

[Hair cortisol as chronic stress parameter in patients with acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction].

Introduction: Stress is a risk factor for the development of cardiovascular diseases. New analytical methods enable the determination of cortisol concentrations in hair (HCC) as a retrospective long-term parameter for chronic stress. So far, it is still uncertain whether stress objectively measured by an increase in HCC might be a predictive factor associated with the development of an acute myocardial infarction.

[Effects of music in intensive care medicine].

Music not only plays an important role in everyone's life, it also has effects on heart rate, blood pressure and other physiological parameters. Although music can be interpreted as a subjective feeling, studies have shown that objective parameters such as heart rate, blood pressure and other physiological parameters are clearly influenced by music in various circumstances. Meanwhile, music is used in many medical disciplines, including the area of intensive care medicine.

A valuable cardiac magnetic resonance investigation after MINOCA/takotsubo Syndrome: a case report.

Myocardial infarction with non-obstructive coronary arteries is a working diagnosis that includes takotsubo cardiomyopathy/syndrome (TTS). Cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) is useful for establishing the underlying aetiology of myocardial infarction with non-obstructive coronary arteries during the acute phase, but its role in follow-up is less well established. A 35-year-old man with several cardiac risk factors presented 3 days after his sister's death with biochemical and clinical features of acute myocardial infarction without coronary artery obstruction on angiography but with diagnostic features of TTS on CMR, including oedema but no late gadolinium enhancement.

Blue toe syndrome caused by emboli from anomalous left atrial septal pouch thrombus: a case report.

Background: Left atrial septal pouches (LASPs) are a relatively newly described but common anatomical cardiac variant thought to be associated with atrial fibrillation (AF) and cardio-embolic stroke. Blue toe syndrome (BTS) describes ischemic changes in the toes due to microembolisation of the digital arteries. Establishing the etiology of BTS is vital so that the underlying cause can be treated.

Biomarkers in the prediction of contrast media induced nephropathy - the BITCOIN study.

Background: Subjects with chronic kidney disease are at increased risk for contrast-induced acute kidney injury (CI-AKI). Risk stratification is traditionally based on glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and proteinuria. The present trial examines, whether tubular and inflammatory biomarkers are able to identify subjects at increased risk as well.

Anomalous right coronary artery with interarterial course depicting an unusual case of an electrical storm: a case presentation.

Background: The condition of anomalous aortic origin of the right coronary artery (AAORCA) with an interarterial course leads to few, if any, clinical problems. Malignant presentation of the often non-significant AAORCA associated with conduction system abnormalities is a rare finding. Surgical repair, even for highly symptomatic patients, is still controversial.

[Supraglottic airway devices and intraosseous access in the treatment of patients after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest : Do we use the wrong tool too often?].

Introduction: Only a little is known about the frequency of use of supraglottic airway devices (SADs) and intraosseous (IO) access in patients who have had out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA).

Materials And Methods: We analyzed data from all patients who had had OHCA admitted to our hospital between 1 January 2008 and 31 December 2017.

Results: A total of 135 (33.

Size matters: An observational study investigating estimated height as a reference size for calculating tidal volumes if low tidal volume ventilation is required.

Purpose: Acute lung injury is a life threatening condition often requiring mechanical ventilation. Lung-protective ventilation with tidal volumes of 6 mL/kg predicted body weight (PBW, calculated on the basis of a patient's sex and height), is part of current recommended ventilation strategy. Hence, an exact height is necessary to provide optimal mechanical ventilation.

Kounis syndrome induced by amoxicillin following vasospastic coronary event in a 22-year-old patient: a case report.

This article reports the case of a 22-year-old male patient presented with electrocardiographic ST elevation and elevated cardiac biomarkers. The clinical cascade set into events within an hour of administration of a single-dose of amoxicillin on being diagnosed with acute tonsillitis. The case was preliminarily diagnosed and treated according to the acute coronary syndrome protocol, but on performing coronary angiography no abnormalities in the coronary artery were found.