Particulate Matter in the Air of the Underground Chamber Complex of the Wieliczka Salt Mine Health Resort.

This study evaluates the mass concentration and chemical composition of particulate matter (PM), collected in the chamber complex of the underground health resort located in the Wieliczka Salt Mine in southern Poland. Physical and chemical properties of PM were examined from the standpoint of their possible connection with therapeutic effects of the subterranean air in the mine. We found that in three underground spots we measured the average concentration of PM did not exceed 30 µg/m3. Chemical composition of PM was dominated by sodium chloride, making up 88 % of its mass, on average. It was shown that the underground ambient concentration of PM and its chemical composition depended mostly on the nature of the rock material present in the ventilation tunnel of the health resort, filtering the incoming air. The presence and effect of external sources of PM, including patients' activity, also had an impact on the underground PM concentration.

[THE HYGIENIC CONDITIONS OF THE INTERNAL ENVIRONMENT OF SYLVINITE CHAMBERS OF VARIOUS MODIFICATIONS].

The performed comparative physiological-hygienic assessment of the conditions of the internal environment of salt sylvinite structures allowed to establish the complex of physical factors that have a favorable influence on the functional condition of the basic systems of the organism of patients.

[The immediate and long-term results of sylvinite speleoclimatotherapy in the children presenting with pollinosis].

The present open randomized comparative study had the objective to compare the effectiveness of two strategies for the treatment of early spring pollinosis in 23 children at the age varying from 2 to 17 years in the phase of exacerbation. The patients of the study group underwent 10 sessions of sylvinite speleoclimatotherapy 60 min in duration each in addition to conventional pharmacotherapy. The children included in the control group were treated by traditional medicamental therapy alone. The estimation of clinical symptoms on day 10 after the onset of the treatment with the use of a scoring system has demonstrated a marked decrease in the severity of allergic rhinitis (p = 0.003), conjunctivitis (p = 0.01), and the total number of signs and symptoms of the disease (p = 0.002) in the children managed with the use of sylvinite speleoclimatotherapy. Positive dynamics in the patients of the control group was less pronounced (p < 0.05). The aeropollinological data are presented giving evidence of the absence of a high pollen concentration in the air of the speleoclimatic chamber and its high content in the atmospheric air at the height of thepollen season of early spring allergens. The clinical manifestations of the allergic conditions were shown to depend on the concentration in the atmospheric air of the causative allergens from their principle plant sources (r = 0.66, p = 0.039 in the control patients in comparison with r = 0.42, p = 0.22 in the children treated by sylvinite speleoclimatotherapy. It is concluded that the results of the present study confirm the clinical effectiveness of sylvinite speleoclimatotherapy used in the acute phase of pollinosis. The combination of this modality with traditional medicamental therapy accelerates elimination of clinical symptoms of allergic rhinitis and conjunctivitis; moreover, it reduces the frequency of recurrent respiratory disorders.

[Our experience with the application of the speleotherapeutic treatment based at the state healthcare facility "Republican Speleotherapeutic Hospital"].

The non-medicamental therapeutic modalities find an increasingly wider application for the rehabilitation and maintenance of the health status in man. Speleotherapy is one of such methods. The Republican Speleotherapeutic Hospital of Belarus exploits the underground speleocomplex in which over 42,000 petients with respiratory diseases and allergic pathologies were given the required treatment. The clinical effectiveness of speleotherapy is estimated at 97.3%. Remission persists for 7.0±0.4 months on the average within one year after a course of speleotherapy. Repeated courses are followed by even longer periods of remission (up to 2.5-3 years). It is concluded that speleotherapy is the highly efficient method for the rehabilitation of the patients presenting with respiratory diseases and allergic pathologies.

[The hygienic characteristic and effectiveness of the application of natural sylvinite screens for the combined treatment of the patients presenting with vulgar psoriasis].

The objective of the present study was to provide hygienic assessment of hospital wards equipped with the therapeutic sylvinite screens (TSS) and compare the results of the treatment of 80 patients suffering vulgar psoriasis with the use of TSS and without them. The sylvinite screens made it possible to create comfortable microenvironment in the wards and moderately increased the radiation background (0,15+/-0,005 Sv/hour) thereby promoting saturation of the ward atmosphere with aeroions dominated by the light negative particles (491,5+/-14,4 units/cm3). Such healthy environment hadc beneficial effect on the clinical course of the psoriatic process, the state of functional systems of the patients and their quality of life. It is concluded that the introduction of halotherapy in the treatment in patients presenting with vulgar psoriasis makes it possible to achieve clinical remission in 65% of them compared with 20% of the patients given the traditional treatment.

[The rationale for the combined application of cryomassage and silvinite speleotherapy for the rehabilitative treatment of the patients with bronchial asthma].

The present study is devoted to the estimation of therapeutic and prophylactic effects of cryomassage and silvinite speleotherapy in the patients with partially controlled asthma. Advantages of the combined application of rehabilitative technologies are illustrated by their well-expressed anti-inflammatory and immunocorrecive actions, reduced obstruction and hyper-reactivity of the bronchi, improved pulmonary cardiohemodynamics, enhanced physical tolerance and better psychological adaptation.