Professor LIN Guo-hua's clinical experience in staging treatment for post-stroke dysphagia / 中国针灸

The paper summarizes professor LIN Guo-hua's clinical experience in staging treatment for post-stroke dysphagia. Professor LIN Guo-hua adheres to "essence and marrow deficiency and primary yang decline" as the pathogenesis and "conducting yin from yang " as the treating principle. By regulating the conception vessel and the governor vessel and focusing on yang meridians, in association with meridian differentiation and the location differentiation, professor LIN provides the staging treatment for post-stroke dysphagia. At the oral phase, yangming is dysfunction, manifested as facial paralysis and flaccid tongue. In treatment, reducing method is predominated at yangming meridian specially. At the pharyngeal phase, shaoyang is invaded by pathogens, manifested as pivoting dysfunction. The treatment focuses on communicating the exterior with the interior and promoting shaoyang meridian. At the esophageal phase, yangming meridian is deficiency and the turbid qi fails to descend, thus the reinforcing method is dominated to promote and tonify yangming. Additionally, the kinesiotherapy of acupuncture is assisted and the Lingnan fire needling therapy is used particularly. All of the summaries above provide the reference for the clinical treatment of post-stroke dysphagia.

Impact evaluation of CONSORT and STRICTA guidelines on reporting quality for randomized controlled trials of acupuncture conducted in China / 中国结合医学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate and compare the reports' qualities of acupuncture randomized controlled trials (RCTs) conducted in China before and after the implementation of two guidelines, i.e., the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) statement and the Standards for Reporting Interventions in Controlled Trials of Acupuncture (STRICTA).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Proportions of studies that reported CONSORT and STRICTA items were compared for the years before and after implementation of these two guidelines. In addition, the total score of each item's reporting were calculated and reported differences during different date ranges were compared.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>For CONSORT items (maximum score 8), there was evidence of a slight improvement in reporting between 1994-1995 and 1999-2000 combined (2.5±0.6) and 2004-2005 and 2009-2010 combined (3.0±0.9; difference 0.4, 95% confidence interval, 0.3 to 0.6, P<0.01). For STRICTA items (maximum score 17), there was evidence that a slight improvement in reporting between 1994-1995 and 1999-2000 combined (8.6±2.1) and 2004-2005 and 2009-2010 combined (10.1±1.8; difference 1.5, 95% confidence interval, 1.1 to 1.9, P<0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Quality of reporting for RCTs of acupuncture treatment conducted in China have generally improved since the introduction of the STRICTA and CONSORT guidelines.</p>