Articles: balneology.
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Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Contribution of individual spa therapies in the treatment of chronic pain.
The aim of the present study was to evaluate the contribution of individual spa therapies administered during a period of 3 weeks on measures of well being and pain in a sample of patients with chronic back pain. ⋯ The results indicate that, in addition to the individual therapies, other factors relating to spa therapy as a whole must contribute to overall treatment outcome. In addition, the results support the efficacy of exercise therapy for chronic back pain.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Rapid initiation of repigmentation in vitiligo with Dead Sea climatotherapy in combination with pseudocatalase (PC-KUS).
Low catalase levels and cellular vacuolation in the epidermis of patients with vitiligo support major oxidative stress in this compartment. There is now in vivo evidence for increased epidermal hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)) accumulation in this patient group by utilizing noninvasive Fourier Transform Raman spectroscopy (FT Raman). Epidermal H(2)O(2) can be removed with a topical application of narrow band UVB activated pseudocatalase cream (PC-KUS). (Mn/EDTA-bicarbonate complex, patent No. EPO 58471 1 A), yielding initiation of repigmentation. Dead Sea climatotherapy is another successful treatment modality for vitiligo, but the mode of action has escaped definition so far. ⋯ The results of this study show a significantly faster initiation of repigmentation in vitiligo after a combination of short-term climatotherapy (21 days) at the Dead Sea in combination with a pseudocatalase cream (PC-KUS) compared to either conventional climatotherapy at the Dead Sea alone or with placebo cream in combination with climatotherapy. This combined therapy is significantly faster in repigmentation than narrowband UVB activated pseudocatalase cream (PC-KUS) treatment alone. The results of this study support the necessity of epidermal H2O2 removal as well as the influence of solar UV-light in the successful treatment of vitiligo.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
The therapeutic effects of Cserkeszölö thermal water in osteoarthritis of the knee: a double blind, controlled, follow-up study.
The effects of thermal water from Cserkeszölö in Hungary were appraised in a randomised, double blind study conducted on 58 patients with osteoarthritis of the knee. Balneotherapy was delivered as a 15-day course of 30-min daily sessions performed with thermal water (active treatment) or tap water of similar colour and odour (placebo treatment). ⋯ Study endpoints (initial pain, range of motion, tenderness on palpation, stair climbing, physicians' opinion and subjective rating by patients, and ambulation) were assessed using visual analogue scales and symptom scores. Both groups improved; however, the magnitude of improvement was significantly greater in patients treated with thermal water from Cserkeszölö.
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For centuries bath-houses and barber-surgeons formed such an integral part of public life that one is mystified by their vanishing from modern view with hardly any trace left. Previous authors have offered a variety of reasons for this disappearance: the bath-houses' notorious reputation, developing fuel-shortage, the "new" fashion of taking the waters and the outbreak of previously unknown contagious diseases are among those mentioned most frequently. ⋯ Sceptical philosophy discarded the wisdom of the ancient medical authorities replacing traditional steam-bathing with "modern" cold-bathing. Society itself was subject to equally revolutionary changes: the local masters of the trade had to make room for surgeons educated at medical schools setting the stage for a new reality which has become "normal" to us.