The Socialist Camp's North Korean Medical Support and Exchange (1945–1958): Between Learning from the Soviet Union and Independent Course / 의사학

This study focused on the socialist camp's North Korean medical support and its effects on North Korean medical field from liberation to 1958. Except for the Soviet assistance from liberation to the Korean War, existing studies mainly have paid attention to the ‘autonomous’ growth of the North Korean medical field. The studies on the medical support of the Eastern European countries during the Korean War have only focused on one-sided support and neglected the interactions with the North Korean medical field. Failing in utilizing the materials produced in North Korea has led to the omission of detailed circumstances of providing support. Since the review of China's support and the North Korea-China medical exchanges has been concentrated in the period after the mid-1950s, the impacts of China's medical support on North Korea during the Korean War period and the post-war recovery period have not been taken into account. In terms of these limitations, this study examined the medical activities by the Socialist camp of the Eastern European countries in North Korea after the Korean War. The medical aid teams from Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, and East Germany that came to North Korea in the wake of the Korean War continued to stay in North Korea after the war to build hospitals and train medical personnel. In the hospitals operated by these countries, cooperative medical care with North Korean medical personnel and medical technology education were conducted. Moreover, medical teams from each country in North Korea held seminars and conferences and exchanged knowledge with the North Korean medical field staffs. These activities by the Socialist countries in North Korea provided the North Korean medical personnel with the opportunity to directly experience the medical technology of each country. China's support was crucial to North Korea's ‘rediscovery’ of Korean medicine in the mid-1950s. After the Korean War, North Korea began to apply the Chinese-Western medicine integration policy, which was performed in China at that time, to the North Korean health care field through China's medical support and exchanges. In other words, China's emphasis on Chinese medicine and the integration of the Chinese-Western medicine were presented as one of the directions for medical development of North Korea in the 1950s, and the experiences of China in this process convinced North Korea that Korean medicine policy was appropriate. The decision-makers of the North Korean medical policies, who returned to North Korea after studying abroad in China at that time, actively introduced the experiences from China and constantly sought to learn about them. This study identified that a variety of external stimuli had complex impacts on the North Korean medical field in the gap between ‘Soviet learning’ in the late 1940s and the ‘autonomous’ medical development since the 1960s. The North Korean medical field was formed not by the unilateral or dominant influences of a single nation but by the stimulation from many nations and the various interactions in the process.

PT2-1 EBM Balneotherapy in Hungary / 日本温泉気候物理医学会雑誌

  Hungary is rich in thermal mineral waters. Here, we present a systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical trials conducted with Hungarian thermal mineral waters, the findings of which have been published by Hungarian authors in English. The 124 studies identified in different databases include 20 clinical trials. Seven of these evaluated the effect of hydro- and balneotherapy on chronic low back pain, four on osteoarthritis of the knee, and two on osteoarthritis of the hand and one ostheoarthrtis of shoulder. One of the remaining seven trials evaluated balneotherapy in chronic inflammatory pelvic diseases, while six studies explored its effect on various laboratory parameters. Out of the 20 studies, 9 met the predefined criteria for meta-analysis.The results confirmed the beneficial effect of balneotherapy on pain with weightbearing and at rest in patients with degenerative joint and spinal diseases. A similar effect has been found in chronic pelvic inflammatory disease. The review also revealed that balneotherapy has some beneficial effects on antioxidant status, and on metabolic and inflammatory parameters.Based on the results, we conclude that balneotherapy with Hungarian thermal-mineral waters is an effective remedy for lower back pain, as well as for knee and hand and shoulder osteoarthritis.

PT2-1EBM Balneotherapy in Hungary / 日本温泉気候物理医学会雑誌

  Hungary is rich in thermal mineral waters. Here, we present a systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical trials conducted with Hungarian thermal mineral waters, the findings of which have been published by Hungarian authors in English. The 124 studies identified in different databases include 20 clinical trials. Seven of these evaluated the effect of hydro- and balneotherapy on chronic low back pain, four on osteoarthritis of the knee, and two on osteoarthritis of the hand and one ostheoarthrtis of shoulder. One of the remaining seven trials evaluated balneotherapy in chronic inflammatory pelvic diseases, while six studies explored its effect on various laboratory parameters. Out of the 20 studies, 9 met the predefined criteria for meta-analysis.The results confirmed the beneficial effect of balneotherapy on pain with weightbearing and at rest in patients with degenerative joint and spinal diseases. A similar effect has been found in chronic pelvic inflammatory disease. The review also revealed that balneotherapy has some beneficial effects on antioxidant status, and on metabolic and inflammatory parameters.Based on the results, we conclude that balneotherapy with Hungarian thermal-mineral waters is an effective remedy for lower back pain, as well as for knee and hand and shoulder osteoarthritis.

Endocrine disrupting chemicals in Hungarian canned foods

The aim of this study was to clarify the worldwide residual levels of organochloride compounds, such as BHC and DDT, which were reportedly concentrated in animal tissues by biological food chains. As a part of the investigation of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), we had a chance to measure the level of these compounds in Hungarian canned foods.Seven kinds of canned foods were purchased at a market in Budapest, Hungary, and the concentrations of eighteen organochloride compounds (α-BHC; β-BHC; γ-BHC; δ-BHC; p,p'-DDT; p,p'-DDE; p,p'-DDD; o,p'-DDT; heptachlor; heptachlor-epoxide; aldrin; dieldrin; endrin; oxychlordane; trans-chlordane; cischlordane; trans-nonachlor; and cis-nonachlor) were measured.Other than DDT and its metabolites, none of the EDCs were detected (levels <0.4 ppb). DDT and its metabolites, however, were detected in fish, meat and chicken liver pate. One of the DDT metabolites was detected quite frequently: p,p'-DDE was detected at a level of 1.8 ppb in fish soup concentrate, 2.3 ppb in Hungarian luncheon meat, 0.5 ppb in special luncheon meat, and 0.6 ppb in chicken liver pate.Of eighteen organochloride compounds examined, only DDT and its metabolites were detected in fish, animal meat, and animal liver. It is suggested that the DDT contamination in fish and meat is worldwide even after the ban of its use.