The Egyptian civilisation is one of the oldest in history and was renowned for its scientific and artistic achievements, and medicine was no exception. The ancient Egyptians were masters in applying and arranging bandages, and they recognized the cardinal signs of infection and inflammation. Egyptian drug therapy can be regarded as having evolved from a system rooted in magic and empirical observation. To illustrate how the Egyptian wound healing methods provided a major stimulus for the development of surgery, we conducted a literature search.

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The urinary excretion of retinol-binding protein (RBP) was studied in 101 insulin-dependent diabetic patients allocated to three groups according to 24-h urinary albumin excretion rate (UAE) (median of three urine collections): group 1 (n = 45), normal UAE less than 30 mg/24 h; group 2 (n = 27), microalbuminuria (UAE 30-300 mg/24 h); and group 3 (n = 29), clinical diabetic nephropathy (UAE greater than 300 mg/24 h). We used 23 healthy subjects as controls. Fractional clearance of RBP (FC-RBP) and its 24-h urinary excretion rate (URBP) were higher in each diabetic group than in healthy subjects, the highest values being found in group 3. Groups 1 and 2 did not differ in URBP and FC-RBP. There was a correlation between FC-RBP and haemoglobin A1c in both the total diabetic cohort (P less than 0.001) and in diabetic patients in groups 1 and 2 with a glomerular filtration rate of more than 90 ml/min (P less than 0.05). No correlation was found between FC-RBP and UAE and/or duration of diabetes in any of the diabetic groups. We conclude that the increased urinary excretion of RBP, indicating proximal tubular dysfunction, is already present in normoalbuminuric insulin-dependent diabetic patients and correlates with metabolic control. Further deterioration in proximal tubular function was not observed in microalbuminuric patients, but is a late event in clinical diabetic nephropathy.

Patients with large pleural effusions may have underlying pancreatitis with a pancreaticopleural fistula. It is important to establish this diagnosis because treatment may require operative interventions.

The etiological role of human papillomavirus (HPV) in a number of squamous malignant tumors is well known. Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of colon is a rare disease with uncertain etiology. Our objective was to detect possible HPV infection in a colon SCC patient. The 94-year-old female patient was operated due to colon tumor causing passage disturbances. Histology confirmed SCC. Tumor tissue and the removed lymph nodes were examined with polymerase chain reaction and Southern blot hybridization techniques. Of HPV types most often occurring in malignant tumors (16, 18) the presence of HPV type 16 could be confirmed in the primary tumor and in four out of the nine surrounding lymph nodes, of which two were metastatic. HPV-16 infection could be detected in an SCC patient in the primary tumor and in surrounding lymph nodes. According to our knowledge, no similar study has been published yet.