Some new viewpoints are put forward by comparing the treatment of acupuncture syncope and the statement of its therapeutic effect in ancient and modern literature and in current textbooks and combining the authors’ understanding in clinical practice. Acupuncture syncope is not an acupuncture contraindication. If the body position is notaffected, the needles may not be withdrawn to avoid the consumption of qi. Clinical doctors should, on the one hand, pay attention to the therapeutic effect of acupuncture syncope in clinical practice and, on the other hand, not perform manipulations withstrong stimulation to blindly seek the therapeutic effect because acupuncture syncope has a more marked psychological effect on acupunctured persons.

Objective To identify the necessity to carry out optimization procedure in routine digital radiography (DR) by evaluating changes of patient radiation dose and image waste ratio before and after optimization.Methods Two hundred patients with near-standard body build were enrolled in the study.Half of them undertook routine examination,and the others undertook the examination with bestlyoptimized protocol.The dose-area product (DAP) and entrance surface dose (ESD) were recorded.The image waste ratios in 2 groups were calculated and the reasons for image waste were analyzed.The radiation dose and image waste ratio before and after optimization were compared.Results The ESD,DAP and image waste ratio in bestly-optimized radiography were significantly lower than those in non-optimized radiography (z =9.31,16.22,P＜0.05; x2 =36.5,P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion Using the bestlyoptimized digital radiography,the patient radiation dose and image waste ratio are effectively reduced.

Objective Based on Chinese guidelines for the management of ischemic stroke, a standardized stroke management program was performed to provide intensive education and training for medical physicians, aiming to enhance their knowledge and ability for ischemic stroke prevention and treatment, thereby reducing patients′ in-hospital cost and length of stay, and improving patients′ clinical prognosis. Methods This study was conducted in 20 general hospitals throughout Hainan province. A total of 163 physicians from 20 hospitals involved in the management of stroke patients were trained by highly experienced physicians based on the Chinese guidelines for diagnosis and treatment of acute ischemic stroke 2014 and the Chinese guidelines for secondary prevention of ischemic stroke and transient ischemic attack 2014. Prior to and post the standardized stroke management training, the data of 3218 and 3367 patients with ischemic stroke were respectively collected. Quality of life assessments including the Barthel index (BI) and the modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score of all patients were recorded at baseline and after discharge. The length of stay and in-hospital cost were directly collected from the hospital information system. Results Physicians′ knowledge and ability manifested as testing scores were significantly improved after training (78.2 ± 15.5 vs 55.6 ± 10.7, t=69.1, P<0.01). The average length of stay of post-training patients was significantly shorter than that of pre-training patients ((8.7 ± 0.9) vs (11.7 ± 1.5) days, t=97.9, P<0.01). The average in-hospital cost of post-training patients was significantly less than that of pre-training patients ((7681.7 ± 1397.7) vs (11846.2 ± 2514.6) Yuan, t=82.5, P<0.01). Both BI (68.2 ± 3.2 vs 43.5 ± 5.3, t=227.7, P<0.01) and mRS score (2.74±0.51 vs 3.65±0.71, t=59.5, P<0.01) were significantly improved for post-training patients. Multivariate linear regression analysis illustrated that standardized stroke management was negatively associated with in-hospital cost (r=-0.461, P<0.01), length of stay (r=-0.357, P<0.01) and mRS score (r=-0.298, P<0.01), and was positively associated with levels of BI (r=0.376, P<0.01). Conclusion Standardized stroke management program might be a cost-effective choice for the management of ischemic stroke as it reduces the in-hospital cost and improves patients′BI and mRS levels.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the molecular basis for a Chinese family affected with neurofibromatosis type I. METHODS: Peripheral blood samples were collected from the proband and his parents. Potential mutations of NF1 gene were screened by PCR and Sanger sequencing. Pathogenicity of candidate mutations was analyzed using Polyphen-2 and Provean software. RESULTS: Two mutations of the NF1 gene, including c.702G>A (synonymous mutation) and c.1733T>G (missense mutation), were discovered in the proband. Neither mutation was found in his parents and 50 healthy controls. Bioinformatics analysis indicated that the c.1733T>G mutation (p.Leu578Arg) was probably damaging. The affected codon L578 is highly conserved across various species. CONCLUSION The c.1733T>C mutation of the NF1 gene probably underlies the neurofibromatosis type I in this family.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Genes, Neurofibromatosis 1 ; Humans ; Mutation ; Neurofibromatosis 1 ; genetics ; Neurofibromin 1 ; genetics ; Pedigree

Objective ToinvestigatetheimpactofCTimagequalityforfilteringbackprojection(FBP),conventionalmodel-based iterativereconstruction(MBIRC)andnewgeneration model-basediterativereconstruction (MBIRN)onchest.Methods Thirtypatientswith chestCTscanwerecollected.FBP,MBIRCandMBIRN wereusedtoreconstructtheimage.Objectivequality[standarddeviation(SD) valueoftheROI,SNR],thenoisereductionrateandSNRimprovementrateofMBIRCand MBIRN withrespecttoFBP werecom-paredacrossthethreeimages.Atthesametime,tworadiologistsusedtheblind methodtoevaluatetheintrapulmonarystructurein thelungalgorithm FBP,MBIRC,MBIRN,andthemediastinalstructure (5-pointsystem)inthestandardalgorithmsFBP,MBIRC, MBIRN.Results ComparedwithFBP,theimagemusclenoisesofMBIRCand MBIRN were76.71% and86.06%lowerthanFBP,respectively, andthefatnoiseswere66.91% and78.18%lowerthanFBP,respectively.Thedifferencewasstatisticallysignificant(P<0.05).The imageSNRofMBIRCandMBIRN were74.12% and84.97% higherthanthatoftheFBPgroup,respectively.ThefatSNRwere65.63% and 76.02% higherthanthatoftheFBPgroup (P<0.05).Thethreealgorithmsshowedstatisticallysignificantdifferencesinsubjective noise,intrapulmonaryvascular,bronchialresolution,mediastinalbloodvessels,andlymphnodes.MBIRN hadthelowestsubjective noise,andthehighestSNR,mediastinalstructure,andintrapulmonaryvesselsandbronchi.Conclusion Comparedwith MBIRC and FBPwithnormaldosechestCTscan,MBIRN cansignificantlyreducethenoiseofchestCTscanimages,improveSNR,and more clearlyshowthedetailsofthescanrangeandlesionedgefeatures.