The "Eternal Recurrence" of Arteritis. Suggesting Autoimmunity Underlining Friedrich Nietzsche's Challenging Clinical Case.

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (Röcken 1844 -Weimar 1900), the philosopher who theorized the concept of "eternal recurrence", suffered a lifelong multifaceted chronic illness that started in pediatric age with severe headaches and ended up with stroke at the age of 56. Even though many hypothetical diagnosis have been proposed in recent years, they all failed to explain the totality of clinical conditions that co-occurred in the philosopher's extremely challenging case, and debate on the matter is still open. In this report, we suggest an autoimmune condition, specifically Takayasu's arteritis, as a possible etiology of the philosopher's illness, which could not only potentially fit all available clinical data but also be the medical counterpart of Nietzsche's philosophical thought: could eternal recurrence of arteritis explain Zarathustra's destiny? If so, could a vascular surgeon, at this time in future, be so superhuman to change it?

[Delivery of the surgical services to the wounded with injuries of major vessels].

According to consolidated data the frequency of injuries of blood vessels during the Great Patriotic war 1941-1945 was 2.3-4.9%. In the first and the second period of the war the temporary hemostasia on the battlefield was delivered via surgical tubing, tamponade or compressing bandage; the final--via deligation of the arteries in the wound or overlap of hemostatic clamp or the amputation was performed. In the process of delivering of the knowledgeable medical assistance garrot was removed, traumatonesis was performed and the final hemostasia was performed via vasoligation in the wound or along it, than transfused. In some hospitals were organized special units for patients with injuries of vessels. In the third period of the war the main method of primary and secondary hemostasia was vasoligation in the wound or along it. The vessel suture was performed rarer than in the first and the second period. The methods of treatment and prophylaxis of complication of vessel's injury were examined.

Twentieth anniversary of American Vascular Association/Lifeline Foundation: a celebration.

The American Vascular Association/Lifeline Foundation is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. This remarkable two-decade journey represents a cumulative effort by the leaders and members of the Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS). For the historical record, we would like to chart the sequence of events leading to various programs. In 1986, the Executive Council of SVS approved the formation of an Education/Research Foundation, from which the Lifeline Foundation evolved, with the mission to support the career development of young research-oriented vascular surgeons. Since that time, Lifeline has awarded 141 Student Fellowships, 21 Wylie Traveling Fellowships, 17 Mentored Clinical Scientist Development (K08) Awards, and three Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development (K23) Awards. In 2001, the American Vascular Association (AVA) was established under the aegis of American Association for Vascular Surgery (formerly International Society for Cardiovascular Surgery-North American Chapter). In 2004, with the merger of the SVS and the American Association of Vascular Surgery into a single entity (SVS), Lifeline and the AVA merged into a single foundation, the AVA. As AVA/Lifeline is poised to launch a campaign for an endowment fund, we hope this report will let the members of the SVS know what has been accomplished, what we plan to do, and, most importantly, what we need to do in the future.