“Borges’s reaction to his blindness was not anger—he was well beyond anger by now—but stupor, a kind of dazed incomprehension at the inscrutable fate that seemed to have destroyed all possibility of salvation by writing. On February 15, 1955, not long after leaving the clinic, he wrote a short text about Dante’s last days at Ravenna. The dying poet has a dream in which God reveals to him the secret purpose of his life and work. Filled with wonder, Dante learned at last who he was and what he was and blessed his roles, but upon waking he discovers he can no longer recall the secret purpose. In other words, even Dante had not been saved in the end by writing the Divine Comedy; he had been given and had lost a measureless thing, something he could not retrieve or even make out, for the workings of this world are far too complex for the simplicity of man.” (

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The metabolic syndrome is defined as two or more of the following: obesity, hypertension, dyslipidaemia, or impaired glucose regulation. The overall prevalence of metabolic syndrome appears to be 10–15%. Non-diabetic people with metabolic syndrome have an increased risk from all causes as well as cardiovascular disease. …