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Introduction COVID-19 pandemic suddenly affected all countries and health care systems from different perspectives including severe disruption of chronic disease services including diabetes. Diabetes is a serious condition and highly present in Bosnia and Herzegovina population, so provision of diabetes care is a important part of good control. Countries had different responses to adopt diabetes care under new circumstances as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina. Aim To investigate and evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the provision of diabetology care in Bosnia and Herzegovina from the perspective of patients and diabetologists. Methods Online survey for diabetologists and patient organizations have been developed with adopted question for different perspectives. The survey has been conducted online early September 2020. Collected data were analyzed in SPSS software for descriptive statistics. Results 25 diabetologists and 24 diabetes patient organizations responded. 72% of diabetologists believe that pandemic has partially altered work with patients and 56% believe that the organization of diabetes care has successfully responded to the new circumstances but 80% believe that the diabetes care system should change. 75% of patient organizations thought that the organization of diabetes care did not adequately respond and 87.5% believe system should change. Conclusion No significant differences found between RS and FBiH when it comes to majority of questions. Both diabetologists and patients consider that system of diabetes care in Bosnia and Herzegovina should be improved in future. It has been also found that diabetologists in Bosnia and Herzegovina responded and adopted their practices similar to other countries.

Background: Multiple Life and health directly depend on food and normal digestive system functions, as well as eating habits. Absorbed essential and beneficial nutrients from food are used by all human organic systems to maintain their functions for the purpose of maintaining health. The immune system resists harmful agents from the environment and increases level of its activity during infection. Such activity requires more energy sources and specific substrates from food to activate cellular and biochemical elements of immune defense. Adequate food choices and a wide range of nutrients are necessary to maintain optimal immune system function. In the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, little attention is paid to strengthening the natural abilities of the human body and its immune system to prevent COVID-19. Objectives: The goal of this article is to evaluate new findings on the impact of food, specific nutrients and eating habits on immune system function during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: The available literature was analyzed using the key words: food, immune system, COVID-19, and the results of studies that have scientific evidence (EBM) for the positive impact of food on the activity of the immune system during this disease were summarized. Results and discussion: Food, diet and digestive function play the most important role in the overall immune response to viral infections. It has been proven that the active ingredients of food can strengthen or weaken the immune system (immunomodulation or immunosuppression). Organic balanced food adapted to each person (personal diet) is the first condition for creating an adequate natural defense system. Conclusion: There is evidence that many nutrients have key roles in boosting immune system. Strong immune system with adequate response can stop virus entering deeply in human body („to stop virus on the gate“).

The treatment of patient with relapse of bleeding after application of minimally invasive treatment of hemorrhoidal disease such as elastic band ligation, cryosurgical treatment Hemorrhoidal Arterial Ligation (HAL) can be presented as serious clinical problem in patients with concomitant diseases that can be contraindication for radical surgical treatment. We compared the Simple Digital Method and standard above mentioned minimally invasive ambulatory treatment. We used special proctoscope with Doppler Flowmeter in order to identify all branches of hemorrhoidal artery in the anal canal creating graphical presentation using specially adapted software. HAL method is then used to perform ligation of hemorrhoidal artery branches. The elastic ligatures (called gummiligatures) are then applied to the piles in which most prominent flow was registered using Doppler Flowmeter. Antibiotic prophylaxis and sedation was administered preoperatively. Special computer program registered all steps. Hemorrhoidal ointments and paracetamol were used after surgical procedure. Average number of identified hemorrhoid arteries branches was six, and total duration of the procedure was in average 28 min. We compared patient treatment with our method and standard methods. In tested group we noticed significantly fewer complications (after eight days the number of complications 11% vs. 74%, p0.001, after 15 days 3% vs. 11%: p=0.101). One year after procedure, the treatment was successful in 91.4%, or 32 out of 35 patients according to proctoscopy and Doppler Flowmeter exam. There were three patients with relapse of symptoms. In 77% of patients hat were treated with rubber bands ligation relapse occurred. Our method is significantly more successful in comparison to classical methods of ambulatory treatment and can be alternative to radical surgical treatment.

One of the most common events in Surgical Ward is admission of patients with biliary tract disease. To evaluate such patients, it is necessary to create appropriate database and define attributes that will be analyzed. The patients should be divided in groups for analysis and data processing. There were 219 patients included in the study. All patients were selected on the basis of ICD-10 codes and then divided into categories according to the code. In order to assess selected patients, the database was created with all relevant questions about anamnesis, diagnostic tests and surgical procedures. The data about patients was entered into the database. It is possible to analyze data about the most frequent disorders of biliary tract. The most common entity was chronic cholecystitis with calculus and most common procedure was laparoscopic cholecystectomy. The other important attributes are also assessed. ICD-10 classification can be used as a basis for aggregation of data of the patients with biliary tract disease. Some of the codes are more frequent than others and some are rarely used.

Summary Medicine and the media are two areas important in the life of every man, which are in almost daily contact with each other and in dependence. Their relations in BiH are currently elemental, focused on direct, immediate needs, without defined rules, with a lot of disorientation, incompetence and irresponsibility, often without respect for at least the minimum rules of conduct and respect, often with a lot of conflict and hostility. The goal of our work is based on the analysis of newspaper articles, TV programs and Web sites in the period of one year and was to assess the current situation and suggest solutions. In order to acquire objective insight into the current situation, in the preparation of the symposium “Medicine and Media” in Mostar, we analyzed all stories related to medicine in two daily newspapers, two weekly, three TV stations in the period from September 1st 2008 to August 31st 2009, and the web sites of hospital institutions, Department of Health Insurance in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Ministries of Health which were available online on 1st and 2nd September 2009. In total we managed to process 402 contents as written content, TV shows or stories in TV shows and 28 web pages, and we believe that our sample is representative. We have found the following characteristics of the current situation in BiH that have to be changed: Topics in the press, web sites or programs on health services should have some kind of certification, i.e. licensing so that is clear that the contents of the announcement is made under control of health care professionals, i.e., licensed or of optional entertainment content; In cases of professional accusation of any specific person, usually a doctor, not to state full name of the before the existence of binding court decisions, or in case of possible litigation not to allow favoring of any party of the dispute; In addition to the interest in the work of health institutions it is necessary to direct media attention towards the work of the Institute and the ministries of health insurance, because very few reports deal with their work and activities; It is necessary to emphasize investigative reporting with good topics covered by professionals and annual prizes awarded to the authors of such content about medicine in BiH should be considered.

Background Substance abuse among adolescents is a major public health and social problem. However, studies rarely investigate the relationships between substance abuse, educational achievement and sport factors. Substance abuse is an even more significant problem in societies that have experienced trauma, such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, which have had recent wars. The aims of this study were to investigate substance abuse among adolescents in Bosnia and Herzegovina and to study the potential gender-specific relationships between a) sport factors (physical activity/exercise/athletic participation) and substance abuse and b) scholastic achievement and substance abuse. Methods Our sample consisted of 1,032 adolescents who were 17 to 18 years old (435 boys and 597 girls) and who were in the final grade of high school. These subjects were randomly selected from the territory of Herzegovina-Neretva Canton of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Retrospective testing was performed using an extensive self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire included questions involving topics such as sociodemographic variables, scholastic variables, sport factors, and substance abuse data (smoking habits, drugs consumption and alcohol consumption using the AUDIT questionnaire). Descriptive statistics, frequencies, analyses of the differences and correlational analyses were performed. Results Our results found that greater than one-third of the boys and one-fourth of the girls were daily smokers, and almost half of the boys and one-fifth of the girls practiced harmful drinking; other drugs (i.e. heroin, cocaine, amphetamines, etc.) were rarely consumed. Boys dominated in sport factors, whereas girls were more successful in scholastic achievement. Approximately 23% of the boys and 6% of the girls reported that they practiced harmful drinking and smoked simultaneously. Educational failure, which was defined as having one or more negative grades at the end of the last two school years, was identified in 20% of the boys and 9% of the girls. In both genders, substance abuse was negatively correlated with educational achievement, and half of those students who failed educationally reported daily smoking. Among the girls who experienced education failure, 33% were smokers, and 22% practiced harmful drinking. Sport factors were weakly correlated with substance abuse in boys; thus, we could not support the hypothesis that sports are a protective factor against substance abuse among male adolescents. In girls, participation in team sports was related with a higher incidence of smoking, but there was no evidence of sport factors having an influence on the consumption of alcohol. Conclusion In this study, the incidence of smoking and the consumption of alcohol were alarmingly high. These findings demonstrate the need for intervention programs to address these issues. These problems are particularly important, considering that substance abuse has a negative impact on educational achievement among boys and girls, and sport factors have not been found to be protective factors against substance abuse.