Measurement Reliability for Acupoint Activity Determined with the Prognos Ohmmeter

The concepts of meridians and acupoints are critical to traditional Chinese medicine but are met with skepticism in Western medicine. Empirical validation of these concepts is in its beginning stages and still hampered by problems with measurement. A promising avenue and foundation for validity testing is the demonstration that acupoint activity can be reliably measured via determination of electrical resistance at well-defined body surface points. In this article, efforts are described to maximize measurement reliability; we tested a variety of protocols to determine which method of data aggregation is associated with maximal reliability. Twenty-one healthy individuals were subjected to 5 repeated measurement cycles to test the predicted increase in reliability with increasing number of aggregated measurements. Reliability, defined as internal consistency, was indeed highest for 5 measurements (mean alpha = .88). Even the aggregate of only three measures was quite reliable (alpha = .84). Reliability for measuring acupoints on the left side of the body was roughly .05 higher than on the right side. Consistent with previous literature, we conclude that with repeated measures the reliability of electrical resistance measurements at acupoints is high and that a strong foundation for validation research is now laid

Bowing fracture of the inferior angle of the scapula, a difficult diagnosis

A 4-year-old boy presented with swelling over the inferior tip of the scapula and an unclear history. Initial radiographic findings were concerning for an aggressive lesion. This case highlights how a multimodality imaging approach was used to relieve uncertainty by diagnosing a paediatric bowing type fracture of the scapular tip

Value of tissue harmonic imaging (THI) and contrast harmonic imaging (CHI) in detection and characterisation of breast tumours

The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which tissue harmonic imaging (THI), speckle reduction imaging (SRI), spatial compounding (SC) and contrast can improve detection and differentiation of breast tumours. We examined 38 patients (14 benign, 24 malignant tumours) with different combinations of THI, SRI and SC. The effect on delineation, margin, tissue differentiation and posttumoral phenomena was evaluated with a three-point score. Additionally, 1oo not palpable tumours (diameters: 4–15 mm) were examined by contrast harmonic imaging (CHI) with power Doppler. After bolus injection (0.5 ml Optison), vascularisation and enhancement were observed for 20 min. The best combination for detection of margin, infiltration, echo pattern and posterior lesion boundary was the combination of SRI level 2 with SC low. THI was helpful for lesions OF more than 1 cm depth. In native Power Doppler, vessels were found in 54 of 100 lesions. Within 5 min after contrast medium (CM) injection, marginal and penetrating vessels increased in benign and malignant tumours and central vessels mostly in carcinomas (p<0.05). A diffuse CM accumulation was observed up to 20 min after injection in malignant tumours only (p<0.05). THI, SRI and SC improved delineation and tissue differentiation. Second-generation contrast agent allowed detection of tumour vascularisation with prolonged enhancement