14-3 Climatotherapy in the world and the potential of Japanese climate and geographical features to health promotion and disease prevention / 日本温泉気候物理医学会雑誌

Objective: To review the related articles and consider the potential of Japanese climate and geographical features to health promotion and disease prevention in the context of health resort medicine. Method: To summarise the studies concerning climatotherapy in the world, PubMed database was searched from 1965 to 2014. Additional references were identified from bibliographical searches of included studies. Results: One hundred thirty-five articles were included. These articles were sorted according to the place of health resort and the objective: 1) At the Dead Sea, of maritime climate with natural sunlight and salt water, climatotherapy for psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, rheumatic diseases, vitiligo, uveitis, mycosis fungoides and hypertension; 2) At the Canary Islands, of subtropical maritime climate, climatotherapy for psoriasis, cerebral palsy and atopic dermatitis; 3) At the Alpine mountain area, of moderate- and high-altitude mountain climate, bronchial asthma, atopic eczema, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), circulatory diseases, osteoporosis and metabolic syndrome; 4) At the North Sea, climatotherapy for bronchial asthma and atopic dermatitis; 5) At the Baltic Sea, climatotherapy for bronchial asthma, chronic bronchitis, psoriasis, pulmonary silicosis and children after rheumatic disease; 6) At the Island of Jerba in Tunisia, of the Mediterranean maritime climate, climatotherapy for fibromyalgia; 7) At the Adriatic Sea shore in Croatia, climatotherapy for bronchial asthma; 8) At the Black Sea shore, including Evpatoria health resort (Crimea), Azov Sea zone, Black Sea health resort and Sochi health resort, climatotherapy for chronic dermatoses, atherosclerosis, coronary heart disease, rheumatic heart disease, after lung resection in children and non-organized vacationers; 9) At the west coast of Caspian Sea shore, climatotherapy for cerebrovascular disorder; 10) At the mountain hospital in Kyrgyz, of high-altitude mountain climate, aplastic anaemia and idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura; 11) At the north shore of Sea of Japan, climatotherapy for the children with oncological disease.   In Japan, the total length of coastline is 35,558 km, and the total number of islands is 6,852. The percentage of forest area is 66.4%, moderate-altitude mountain area (250-1,000m above sea level) is 45.0% and high-altitude mountain area (1,000-3,000m) is 6.4%. Climatic region distributes from the subtropical zone to the subarctic zone. Most of the coastal area is close to the mountain area. There are many health resorts for the forest therapy, balneotherapy and thalassotherapy. Conclusions: There would be a high potential of Japanese climate and geographical features as a health resort of climatotherapy and terrain kur to health promotion and disease prevention.

We lost a giant in our field. Overview of the late Professor S. Sukenik’ works on Balneotherapy and Climatotherapy / 日本温泉気候物理医学会雑誌

  We used the data published recently by a team headed by the late Professor Shaul Sukenik, in order to shed light on the huge amount of work realized by this exceptional physician, who devoted his life to his family, his profession and the Dead Sea.   Particularly, he wanted very early - and always succeeded - to apply the strictest rules of clinical studies in the fields of Balneotherapy and Spa treatment, thus lifting them up to their highest level of credibility. Thanks to his works, one can stipulate with authority that Dead Sea treatments are beneficial in several rheumatologic disease and have a good safety profile.   The Dead Sea, the deepest and most saline lake on earth, has been known from biblical times for its healing properties. The systematic review presented critically the level of evidence for the claims of therapeutic effects of Dead Sea treatments in several rheumatologic, skin and lung diseases and, as well, reviewed these treatments’ safety.   The authors found bona fide evidence that Dead Sea treatments are especially effective in psoriasis due to both special characteristics of solar ultraviolet radiation and Dead Sea water balneotherapy. Dead Sea mud and balneotherapy have been found to be beneficial in rheumatologic diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, and knee osteoarthritis.   In the safety analysis, no evidence was found for an increase in skin neoplasia, although skin actinic damage seems to be amplified in patients treated in the Dead Sea. Dead Sea treatments do not lead to worsening of high blood pressure. Substantial ingestion of Dead Sea water (generally in unusual near-drowning cases) is toxic and can result in cardiac rhythm disturbances because of electrolyte concentration abnormalities. Finally, laboratory analysis of Dead Sea mud did not reveal mineral concentrations that could represent a health concern for their intended use.

14-3Climatotherapy in the world and the potential of Japanese climate and geographical features to health promotion and disease prevention / 日本温泉気候物理医学会雑誌

<b>Objective: </b>To review the related articles and consider the potential of Japanese climate and geographical features to health promotion and disease prevention in the context of health resort medicine.<BR><b>Method: </b>To summarise the studies concerning climatotherapy in the world, PubMed database was searched from 1965 to 2014. Additional references were identified from bibliographical searches of included studies.<BR><b>Results: </b>One hundred thirty-five articles were included. These articles were sorted according to the place of health resort and the objective: 1) At the Dead Sea, of maritime climate with natural sunlight and salt water, climatotherapy for psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, rheumatic diseases, vitiligo, uveitis, mycosis fungoides and hypertension; 2) At the Canary Islands, of subtropical maritime climate, climatotherapy for psoriasis, cerebral palsy and atopic dermatitis; 3) At the Alpine mountain area, of moderate- and high-altitude mountain climate, bronchial asthma, atopic eczema, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), circulatory diseases, osteoporosis and metabolic syndrome; 4) At the North Sea, climatotherapy for bronchial asthma and atopic dermatitis; 5) At the Baltic Sea, climatotherapy for bronchial asthma, chronic bronchitis, psoriasis, pulmonary silicosis and children after rheumatic disease; 6) At the Island of Jerba in Tunisia, of the Mediterranean maritime climate, climatotherapy for fibromyalgia; 7) At the Adriatic Sea shore in Croatia, climatotherapy for bronchial asthma; 8) At the Black Sea shore, including Evpatoria health resort (Crimea), Azov Sea zone, Black Sea health resort and Sochi health resort, climatotherapy for chronic dermatoses, atherosclerosis, coronary heart disease, rheumatic heart disease, after lung resection in children and non-organized vacationers; 9) At the west coast of Caspian Sea shore, climatotherapy for cerebrovascular disorder; 10) At the mountain hospital in Kyrgyz, of high-altitude mountain climate, aplastic anaemia and idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura; 11) At the north shore of Sea of Japan, climatotherapy for the children with oncological disease.<BR>  In Japan, the total length of coastline is 35,558 km, and the total number of islands is 6,852. The percentage of forest area is 66.4%, moderate-altitude mountain area (250-1,000m above sea level) is 45.0% and high-altitude mountain area (1,000-3,000m) is 6.4%. Climatic region distributes from the subtropical zone to the subarctic zone. Most of the coastal area is close to the mountain area. There are many health resorts for the forest therapy, balneotherapy and thalassotherapy.<BR><b>Conclusions: </b>There would be a high potential of Japanese climate and geographical features as a health resort of climatotherapy and terrain kur to health promotion and disease prevention.

We lost a giant in our field. Overview of the late Professor S. Sukenik’ works on Balneotherapy and Climatotherapy / 日本温泉気候物理医学会雑誌

  We used the data published recently by a team headed by the late Professor Shaul Sukenik, in order to shed light on the huge amount of work realized by this exceptional physician, who devoted his life to his family, his profession and the Dead Sea. <BR>  Particularly, he wanted very early - and always succeeded - to apply the strictest rules of clinical studies in the fields of Balneotherapy and Spa treatment, thus lifting them up to their highest level of credibility. Thanks to his works, one can stipulate with authority that Dead Sea treatments are beneficial in several rheumatologic disease and have a good safety profile.<BR>  The Dead Sea, the deepest and most saline lake on earth, has been known from biblical times for its healing properties. The systematic review presented critically the level of evidence for the claims of therapeutic effects of Dead Sea treatments in several rheumatologic, skin and lung diseases and, as well, reviewed these treatments’ safety.<BR>  The authors found bona fide evidence that Dead Sea treatments are especially effective in psoriasis due to both special characteristics of solar ultraviolet radiation and Dead Sea water balneotherapy. Dead Sea mud and balneotherapy have been found to be beneficial in rheumatologic diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, and knee osteoarthritis.<BR>  In the safety analysis, no evidence was found for an increase in skin neoplasia, although skin actinic damage seems to be amplified in patients treated in the Dead Sea. Dead Sea treatments do not lead to worsening of high blood pressure. Substantial ingestion of Dead Sea water (generally in unusual near-drowning cases) is toxic and can result in cardiac rhythm disturbances because of electrolyte concentration abnormalities. Finally, laboratory analysis of Dead Sea mud did not reveal mineral concentrations that could represent a health concern for their intended use.

Spa therapy in dermatology.

Spa therapy constitutes the use of mineral springs and thermal mud to soothe and heal various ailments. Like the mineral springs, seas and oceans are also important centers for spa therapy of which the most important is Dead Sea (DS). DS has been famous for thousands of years for its miraculous curative and cosmetic properties. Intensive research is going on using DS minerals in a wide range of dermatological conditions especially psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, vitiligo and other eczemas and several papers have been published in various international and pharmacological journals.