4 . Earlier in the COVID-19 pandemic it was vital to see doctors over online platforms like Zoom or Face Time when in-person appointments posed risks of corona virus exposure. By April 2020, one national study found that telemedicine visits already accounted for 13 percent of all medical claims compared with 0.15 percent a year earlier. COVID-19 let virtual medicine out of the bottle, but now it s time to tame it. Using it too widely or too quickly risks poorer care and higher charges in a system already infamous for big bills.

The pandemic has demonstrated that virtual medicine is great for many simple visits. But many of the new types of telemedicine being promoted by companies more clearly benefit providers and investors pockets, rather than giving patients more convenient, high-quality and cost-effective medicine. “Right now there’s a lot of focus on ideas that sound cool rather than solving problems,” said Dr. Peter Pronovost from University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center. “We know precious little about its impact on quality.”

Even so, the financial world is full of investment opportunities. In the first six months of 2020, telehealth companies raised record amounts of funding, with five new companies each raising more than $ 100 million. There are now telehealth apps that target markets like the mental health of pregnant(怀孕的) women. You can even do a digital eye appointment, and meet with your dentist virtually to monitor your oral health.

But there are things that virtual medicine can miss. One study showed that commercial telemedicine services were much more likely to suggest antibiotics(抗生素) for children’s respiratory (呼吸的) infections as a primary care doctor at an in-person visit. That' s in part because if you can’t see into the ear to observe closely, for example, the safer course is to overtreat - even though that' s contrary to giving guidelines intended to prevent antibiotic resistance. There is actually much to be solved. If we allow the market to make the choice, we risk preserving those telemedicine services that make money for providers and investors and lose those that benefit patients.

5 . Mr. Cho’s goldfish had red patches on their skin. They weren’t eating and didn’t have much energy. Mr. Cho thought the fish probably had an infection. To cure it, he stuck needles into the backs of the fish. That may seem unusual to some people, but it didn’t seem unusual to Mr. Cho, who is an acupuncturist — a person who uses needles to treat illness and pain. During the next few days, he repeated the treatments. Soon the fish began to feel better, and the red patches on their skin disappeared.

Although acupuncture for goldfish is uncommon, acupuncture for people is very common in Asia, where acupuncturists help people who have medical problems such as infections, backaches, and stomachaches. They even use acupuncture during operations so that patients won' t feel pain.

To see what happens during an acupuncture treatment, let s imagine that Ming, a man who often has headaches, decides to go to Dr. Han, an acupuncturist. This is what might happen at Dr, Han s office.

First, Dr. Han examines Ming and asks him about his headaches. Then Dr. Han decides where to insert the needles. Ming is shocked when Dr Han tells him that she will insert needles in his neck and foot, but none in his head. That is not unusual. Often acupuncture needles are not inserted in the place where the patient feels pain.

Next, Dr. Han chooses the needles for Ming and begins to insert them. Ming feels a little pain when each needle goes in. That is not unusual either. Some patients say it hurts a little when the needles go in; other patients say it doesn’t hurt at all. The needles stay in place for fifteen minutes. Then Dr. Han removes them. Before he goes home, Ming makes an appointment to see Dr. Han in a week. Dr. Han says that Ming will know in a few weeks if the treatments are working.

Acupuncture has helped millions of people. But how does it work? There are different explanations. However, people don’t care. They are just happy to be like Mr. Cho' s fish healthy again.

6 . Hospitals in Southwest China’s Sichuan province for the first time used 5G technology for disaster medical rescue, after a magnitude 6.0 earthquake hit Changning county on 17 June, 2019. This is the world’s first case of applying 5G technology to disaster medical rescue.

According to the official Weibo account of Sichuan Provincial People’s Hospital, at 1:25 pm on 18 June, an ambulance equipped with a 5G emergency rescue system—the first of its kind in the country—carrying a medical team from Sichuan Provincial People’s Hospital and engineers from China Mobile Sichuan Company and China Mobile (Chengdu) Industrial Research Institute assisting in the joint rescue efforts at Changning County Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). At around 9:30 pm, Sichuan Provincial People’s Hospital launched a 5G real-time remote video consultation with its medical team on a patient admitted to Changning County Hospital of TCM for a suspected spleen rupture (脾脏破裂).

According to Sichuan Provincial People’s Hospital, the 5G emergency rescue system, which puts artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (增强现实), virtual reality and drone (无人机) applications together, allows a series of medical checks including blood tests, electrocardiograms and ultrasounds (心电图和超声波) to be given to patients right away. The information can then be transferred back to the hospital in real time, which greatly saves time in rescuing patients.

The rescue system also helped a 72-year-old patient who had his bone broken in the earthquake. According to report from Chinanews.com, a temporary ward supported by 5G technology was established at the epicenter of the disaster zone for consultation with doctors from Chengdu, as the aged patient had a previous history of high blood pressure and cerebral infarction (脑梗塞), which made him more careful treatment.

“The 5G-based network thoroughly solved the problems of poor definition and distortion (失真) of images, as well as interrupted signal transmissions,” said Li Wei, director of the emergency center of Sichuan Provincial People’s Hospital.

9 . The United States is "neck- and- neck" with China in the race to develop an effective coronavirus vaccine, Johns Hopkins University health policy and management professor Dr. Marty Makary told "Special Report" Wednesday. "There are 70 vaccines in different stages of development," said Makary, a Fox News contributor. "There are seven that are being given in patients right now. We're sort of neck- and-neck with China - we've got three, they've got three."

Makary added that the Chinese vaccines "are actually in further stages of development. Their drugs are in phase two or three, and it's a real race. The country that gets there first will have a significant advantage because they will control the supply for the rest of the world and the risk is if we aren't there first, we could get locked out." The professor concluded that the search for a vaccine was "moving along," but added that "it will probably take a year" before such a treatment becomes widely available.

Earlier Wednesday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government's top infectious-disease expert and a member of President Trump's coronavirus task force, touted（吹捧）the drug remdesir(瑞德西韦) for its "clear-cut significant positive effect in reducing the time to recovery," as reflected in new data. Makary said that while the National Institutes of Health study shows only a 31 percent reduction rate in recovery time, it could prove to be significant. "One thing to remember," Makary cautioned about remdesivir, "it's not a silver bullet." It reduces the severity and probably increases recovery but also, this is an IV(静脉注射) medication, it's not something you can go to the pharmacy tonight and pick up." In the U.S., remdesivir is still awaiting regulatory approval as a coronavirus treatment, but Makary said it is likely to receive emergency authorization from the Food and Drug Administration "as early as this evening”.

Sometimes, people live with pain from different diseases. Amanda Greene says her pain comes from a disease     1     hits her badly. She tried taking medicine, but she suffered an allergic(过敏的) reaction     2     a strong pain killer, opioids. Now Amanda Greene is trying something different. It     3     (call) “virtual reality” treatment. For Greene, her virtual experience helped her feel more     4    (relax) and trained her to breathe in a special way. She saw a tree as she was told how to breathe in and out, and her pain was     5     (great) reduced with this.

Doctor Spiegel says these patients’ disorders are sometimes connected to mental health. VR can help, he explains, by changing     6     messages in the brain and nervous system to reduce pain.

Opioid abuse (镇定剂上瘾)has led to many     7    (death) across the United States. But, unlike opioids, Spiegel does not think that patients     8    (seek) pain relief would become physically     9     (depend) on VR treatment. Now, more than 100 hospitals nationwide     10     (use) VR and helping patients control pain and nervousness, and more countries are taking an interest in VR.