In the present study, acupuncture treatment has performed in a patient with spondylosis deformans combined piriformis syndrome, and applied to relief the hypertonus of the piriformis in the right buttock. As a result, the mitigation of right buttock pain and subsequent improvement in the range of the hip joint motion were observed from the early stage of treatment. These acupuncture effects are probably due to pain relief that resulted from increased local muscle blood flow following acupuncture stimulation. In addition, the present patient was suspected of double lesion neuropathy consisting of spondylosis deformans complicated by piriformis syndrome. From the present study, acupuncture therapy is thought to be useful method of enhancing the decompression of an entrapped nerve and vessels by increasing blood flow in the affected muscle in entrapment neuropathy such as thoracic outlet syndrome or piriformis syndrome.

Twenty-nine patients with bronchial asthma received spa therapy at Okayama University Medical School, Misasa Branch Hospital. Twenty out of 29 cases were steroid-dependent intractable asthma.
Spa therapy was markedly effective in 8 cases (27.6%), moderately effective in 14 cases (48.3%), slightly effective in 5 cases (17.2%) and not effective in 2 cases out of 29 cases.
Spa therapy was more effective in the cases with age over 40 years than in the cases under 40 years. Non-atopic type asthma was more successfully treated with spa therapy compared to atopic type asthma. Regarding pathophysiological classification, spa therapy was greatly effective in the cases with bronchiolar obstruction and with hypersecretion.

Allergological characteristics were studied on 36 patients with respiratory diseases (30 cases of bronchial asthma, 3 cases of diffuse panbronchiolitis, 3 cases of allergic granulomatous angitis, and 1 case of bronchiectasia) who received spa therapy at Misasa Branch Hospital.
1. The results obtained in patients with bronchial asthma were as follows:
Serum IgE levels were generally low, and many cases with less than 301IU/ml were observed (185±184/ml in female patients and 469±532IU/ml in male patients). The rate of positive skin reactions to various allergens was low in these asthma cases. A rather low rate of positive skin reaction to house dust, in particular, was characteristic. In regard to the rate of releasing chemical mediators such as bistamine and leukotrienes from leukocytes stimulated by Ca ionophore A 23187, a wide variety of cases were observed (histamine, 3.4-51.1%; LT B₄ 9.8-119.8ng/10⁶ cell; LT C₄, 3.5-43.8ng/10⁶ cells). By analyzing cell components in bronchoalveolar lavage fluids (BALF), notable increase in the number of eosinophils were observed especially in male patients, although no other significant differences were shown between the two groups.
2. In those patients with respiratory diseases other than asthma, a remarkable increase in the number of neutrophils in BALF was seen in diffuse panbronchiolitis cases and a remarkable increase in the number of eosinophils in BALF was seen in the cases of allergic granulomatous angities. Serum IgE levels were low in both of these cases.

Annual changes in age, age at onset, incidence of cases with steroiddependent intractable asthma, clinical asthma types and clinical efficacy rate were examined in 256 patients with chronic respiratory diseases, especially in 203 cases with bronchial asthma, admitted to Misasa Branch Hospital from 1982 to 1989.
1. A number of patients with respiratory diseases as well as asthmatics admitted each year, having spa therapy, increased from early year (1982) to later year (1989).
2. A number in cases with 40 year or over of age (also with 60 year or over of age) and cases with 40 year or over of age at onset showed a tendency to increase in later three years (1987-1989). A decreased frequency of cases with steroid-dependent asthma and of cases with type II (bronchiolar obstruction type) was observed in the later three years.
3. The clinical efficacy of spa therapy for bronchial asthma was Niger in the later three years than in early three years (1982-1984).