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Showing posts from June, 2014

The Love Octopus

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Octopus Traps in Japan The typical presentation of takotsubo cardiomyopathy is a sudden onset of  congestive heart failure  associated with  ECG  changes mimicking a  myocardial infarction  of the  anterior wall . During the course of evaluation of the patient, a bulging out of the left ventricular apex with a hypercontractile base of the left ventricle is often noted. It is the hallmark bulging out of the apex of the heart with preserved function of the base that earned the syndrome its name "tako tsubo", or octopus pot in  Japan , where it was first described. [5] I often wonder about love.  What love really means. How much power does it have. For a long time it has been my favorite word. Can really one die of a broken heart? Apparently, yes. I wonder why the Japanese named the syndrome after an octopus pot. Was it because a broken heart resembles the pot? Merely? Or was it because the heart feels that way? The heart feels...