The use of honey as an internal and external health agent is much older than the history of medicine itself. The earliest recorded medical prescription including honey is from Sumer. Honey was used as a remedy against a variety of illnesses in ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome. There are frequent references to honey in sacred texts. Honey has a long tradition, not only in Western medicine but also in traditional Chinese medicine and Ayurveda. Honey was not commonly used by medical practitioners after the fall of the Roman Empire. In medieval times honey was not a popular subject of medical texts and very little was written on its use in that period. In the nineteenth century honey was neglected due to the development of modern synthetic medicine. Its comeback has, however, been observable as early as the beginnings of the twentieth century, and honey has been used again as a remedy for a variety of health problems and an excellent wound healer.

The study enrolled 81 with urinary incontinence following radical prostate-only prostatectomy for prostatic carcinoma. The patients were divided into two groups. The patients in Group I were additionally subdivided into two subgroups with respect to the physiotherapeutic method used. The patients of subgroup IA received a rehabilitation program consisting of three parts. The patients of subgroup IB rehabilitation program consist of two parts. Group II, a control group, had reported for therapy for persistent urinary incontinence following radical prostatectomy but had not entered therapy for personal reasons. For estimating the level of incontinence, a 1-hour and 24-hour urinary pad tests, the miction diary, and incontinence questionnaire were used, and for recording the measurements of pelvic floor muscles tension, the sEMG (surface electromyography) was applied. The therapy duration depended on the level of incontinence and it continued for not longer than 12 months. Superior continence outcomes were obtained in Group I versus Group II and the difference was statistically significant. The odds ratio for regaining continence was greater in the rehabilitated Group I and smaller in the group II without the rehabilitation. A comparison of continence outcomes revealed a statistically significant difference between Subgroups IA versus IB. The physiotherapeutic procedures applied on patients with urine incontinence after prostatectomy, for most of them, proved to be an effective way of acting, which is supported by the obtained results.

Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is a frequently performed procedure in orthopaedic surgery. Recently, patient-specific instrumentation was introduced to facilitate correct positioning of implants. The aim of this study was to compare the early clinical results of TKA performed with patient-specific CT-based instrumentation and conventional technique. A prospective, randomized controlled trial on 112 patients was performed between January 2011 and December 2011. A group of 112 patients who met the inclusion and exclusion criteria were enrolled in this study and randomly assigned to an experimental or control group. The experimental group comprised 52 patients who received the Signature CT-based implant positioning system, and the control group consisted of 60 patients with conventional instrumentation. Clinical outcomes were evaluated with the KSS scale, WOMAC scale, and VAS scales to assess knee pain severity and patient satisfaction with the surgery. Specified in-hospital data were recorded. Patients were followed up for 12 months. At one year after surgery, there were no statistically significant differences between groups with respect to clinical outcomes and in-hospital data, including operative time, blood loss, hospital length of stay, intraoperative observations, and postoperative complications. Further high-quality investigations of various patient-specific systems and longer follow-up may be helpful in assessing their utility for TKA.

Zusammenfassung: Ziel: Untersuchung der Wirkung einer topischen Behandlung nicht heilender venöser Beinulzera. Patienten, Methoden: Die 54 in die Studie aufgenommenen Patienten wurden in zwei Gruppen unterteilt. Gruppe 1: 27 Patienten (Größe der Ulzeration: 16,8 - 34,8 cm2; Ulkusalter: 7 Monate bis 9 Jahre) wurden unter Verwendung von Zellulosemembran behandelt. Gruppe 2: 27 Patienten (Größe der Ulzeration 14,6 – 33,2 cm2; Ulkusalter: 9 Monate bis 8 Jahre) wurden unter Verwendung eines Unna-Schuhs behandelt. Es wurden beide Methoden zur Therapie nicht heilender venöser Beinulzera verglichen. Ergebnisse: Bei 15 Patienten aus Gruppe 1 heilte das Ulkus nach 8 Wochen unter therapeutischer Anwendung der Zellulosemembran vollständig ab. Die Ulzera der übrigen Patienten heilten innerhalb der folgenden 6 Wochen. Bei 4 Patienten aus Gruppe 2 war der Heilungsprozess nach 8 Wochen erfolgreich abgeschlossen. Bei den anderen Patienten dieser Gruppe dauerte die Heilung 20 Wochen. Schlussfolgerungen: Wir stellten fest, dass die Zellulosemembran im Vergleich zum Unna- Schuh eine wirksamere Behandlungsmethode chronischvenöser Beinulzera darstellt.

An investigation of effectiveness of topical treatment of nonhealing chronic venous leg ulcers with propolis ointment was conducted. 56 patients were included in the study and randomized into two groups. In group 1, there were 28 patients (ulceration area: 6.9–9.78 cm²) treated by means of topical propolis ointment application and short stretch bandage compression. In group 2, there were 29 patients (ulceration area: 7.2–9.4 cm²) treated by means of Unna boot leg compression without topical propolis treatment. In the study, the efficacy of both treatment methods in patients with resistive venous leg ulcers was compared. The ulceration of patients from group 1 healed completely after 6 weeks of therapy in all cases. In all patients from group 2, the process of healing was longer but successfully completed after 16 weeks of the therapy. We found that an adjunctive propolis ointment treatment increases the efficacy of the short stretch bandage compression stocking, and this combined treatment is more effective than Unna’s boot compression alone.