Capsules

P: The best treatment for a faint is to do nothing, but leave the victim lying flat, advised Dr. Alfred Soffer in Today's Health. A faint, he explained, is a cure in itself--nature's way of boosting circulation to the heart and brain when blood is being drained to other parts of the body in a complex reaction to fright, shame, drugs or pain.

P: The cherry-like fruit of the acerola (Malpighia punicifolia), a common tree in Puerto Rico, is an enormously rich source of vitamin C, the A.M.A. reported. The juice assays up to 80 times as high as orange juice. Puerto Ricans are encouraged to plant the fast-growing acerola in their backyards, and exports of the juice are expected to help revitaminize the island's economy.

P: Stanley Wisniewski, 24, an X-ray technician at Chicago's Lutheran Deaconess Hospital, slumped to the darkroom floor with a heart attack. Stimulants and artificial respiration failed: his heart had stopped. A passing surgeon whipped out a pocket knife, sliced open Wisniewski's chest (while he still lay on the floor) and massaged the heart with his bare hand. After 2 1/4 hours, and more conventional treatment as equipment was rounded up, Wisniewski's heart resumed its beat. This week he was doing well.

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