The health of older people is receiving special attention and dedication nowadays, with the aim of increasing their general wellbeing and quality of life. Studies into different aspects of the care of the elderly have found that emphasis should be given to solving problems related to bathing in different situations and environments. In particular, it is important to develop new assistive techno...

BACKGROUND The combination of seawater baths and narrowband ultraviolet B (NB-UVB) is a known treatment for psoriasis. This study evaluates two treatment regimens that combine bathing in geothermal seawater and NB-UVB therapy in comparison with NB-UVB monotherapy. METHODS Sixty-eight psoriasis patients were randomly assigned to outpatient bathing in geothermal seawater combined with NB-UVB th...

Although the canonical distribution is one the central tools of statistical mechanics, the reason for its effectiveness is poorly understood. Part of the reason for this is that it not at all obvious what it means to use the canonical distribution to describe a system in equilibrium with a heat bath. In this paper, I examine some traditional suggestions as to what sort of thing we should take t...

Common household water-use activities such as showering, bathing, drinking, and washing clothes or dishes are potentially important contributors to individual exposure to trihalomethanes (THMs), the major class of disinfection by-products of water treated with chlorine. Previous studies have focused on showering or bathing activities. In this study, we selected 12 common water-use activities an...

Thermal conditions in the bathroom and physiological responses were examined during winter and summer. The subjects were 22 male and 20 female elderly people, between 65 and 88 years old living in 25 houses in Gunma Prefecture, Japan. Heart rate, blood pressure, skin temperature and thermal sensation were measured during bathing. Changes in thermal sensation due to bathing were assessed in the ...

The electrical properties of the isolated monkey ciliary epithelium (CE) were determined in an Ussing-type chamber. In a Hepes, HCO3- buffered solution, transepithelial potential difference (PD), short-circuit current (SCC) and electrical resistance (Rt) were -2.5 mV (aqueous-side negative), 8.5 microA and 246 omega, respectively. Epinephrine (0.01 mM) increased the SCC and PD across the isolat...