People with high blood pressure get COVID-19 more severely and have an increased risk of death. Their immune cells are probably already pre-activated, but blood pressure-lowering ACE inhibitors could counteract the immune hyperactivation. This is reported by an interdisciplinary...

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Conditions causing arrhythmia are among the most common cardiac conditions. A study headed by DZHK Scientist Prof. Georg Schmidt of the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has demonstrated for the first time that the nocturnal respiratory rate can help with an important...

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To protect against sudden cardiac death, all patients with severe cardiac insufficiency, in which the heart's pumping capacity is highly restricted, are currently implanted with a defibrillator. But the procedure is risky and often unnecessary. Every year, the device triggers a...

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DZHK researchers at Heidelberg University Hospital have developed a new method for "listening" to stressed heart muscle cells. They have been awarded the Wilhelm P. Winterstein Prize worth 10,000 euros for the technique of analysing proteins that myocardial cells release under...

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A research study led by the University Hospital Frankfurt concludes that biomarkers indicate a critical course of COVID-19 disease in cardiovascular patients at an early stage. The findings could open up new treatment options, hoping DZHK scientist Dr. Sebastian Cremer, leading...

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Nineteen scientists of the DZHK belong to the "Who is who" of the most cited researchers worldwide. They were included in the list of "Highly Cited Researchers 2020". It puts them in the top percent of the most frequently cited researchers in their respective fields. 6,167 people...

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The German Center for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK) is making its research platform available for coronavirus research, with clinical data, diagnostic images and patient samples that can be collected uniformly throughout Germany. In doing so, it is supporting the National...

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Together with their partners from other healthcare sectors, the German university hospitals are creating a high-quality, comprehensive working basis for coronavirus research by "measuring" the Covid-19 disease in detail. The aim is to create an outstanding global patient cohort...

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Heart attacks strike suddenly and have a range of different triggers. Researchers from Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the German Centre for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK) were able to uncover a further underlying cause. Studying arterial deposits (plaque) in patients...

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In laboratory models, the coronavirus can directly infect heart muscle cells, a team from several working groups at the German Centre for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK) found out. However, the virus uses a slightly different mechanism than in lung cells. If a direct infection of...

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