Seven continuous days of balneotherapy was applied to 17 patients with psychosomatic disease or neurosis at Sukawa Spa in Iwate prefecture. Several physiological parameters (e. g. blood pressure, heart rate, T wave amplitude of ECG, plasma catecholamines, and CV_R-R) were measured before and after that therapy. Subjective symptoms were also surveyed through a questionnaire and the correlations with the changes in such physiological parameters were studied. The subjects were divided into the effected group and non-effected group according to the evaluation of therapeutic effect.
Physiological paramenters other than plasma catecholamines tended to converge into a constant direction during the balneotherapy. While the physiological paramenters of the effected group tended to converge, those of the non-effected group did not show a trend. These results suggest that therapeutic effect of balneotherapy on psychosomatic diseases and neuroses is based upon not only the psychological effect of the environment of a hot spring but also the biological effect of non-specific alterative action of autonomic nervous system due to hot spring bathing itself.

Fourty-four cases with psychosomatic disease or neurosis were studied during serial immersion in hot sulfate spring for 7 days at Sukawa Spa in Iwate prefecture. Before and after the balneotherapy, blood specimen were taken for endocrinological analysis of plasma catecholamines with use of high-speed liquid chromatography. One, two and three years after balneotherapy, long term prognostic efficacy was evaluated by questionnaire in order to examine the relationship between efficacy and changing pattern of plasma catecholamines.
The results of this study presented that the plasma levels of norepinephrine had decreased during balneotherapy in effective cases (p<0.05). Furthermore, the same changing pattern of plasma norepinephrine was observed in the cases which had improved after long interval. On the otherhand, in non-effective cases and cases with recurrence, the plasma levels of norepinephrine had increased significantly (p<0.05) during balneotherapy.
It was thought that response pattern of plasma catecholamines to serial immersion in hot spring reflected the therapeutic mechanism of balneotherapy, thus it would be an appropriate mediator for evaluating the prognosis.

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of COVID-19 on home care at the end of life and the satisfaction of bereaved families. A questionnaire survey was conducted on 100 bereaved families of terminal cancer patients who were receiving home care. The effects of the COVID-19 on at-home medical treatment and the rate of satisfaction of bereaved families were examined. The response rate for this survey was 72.0%. Of the respondents, 52.8% of the bereaved families answered that the COVID-19 had an effect on their decision to choose home care. The rate of satisfaction of bereaved families was 98.6%. Even for terminal cancer patients who chose home care in the era of COVID-19 at our hospital, we were able to achieve high level of satisfaction for bereaved families.