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In the past two decades, China has experienced rapid industrial and economic growth. This fascinating book explores the unique Chinese business strategy of vigorous market entry and low prices, which has been the key feature of this accelerated industrial growth

As one of the countries that have invested greatly in the field of bioscience, Japan is facing difficulties introducing human genetic research to the market. A key issue is how to regulate the quality of genetic testing. Since genetic testing is a part of clinical laboratory tests, the regulatory framework for these tests should cover the regulation of genetic testing. Nevertheless, the quality of clinical laboratory tests has been regulated largely by the authority of medical professionals. The fact that genetic testing can be provided without supervision of medical professionals reveals the necessity for the regulation of quality of genetic testing. While medical geneticists have publicly criticized direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic testing, a group of industries related to DTC genetic testing have established self-regulatory guidelines on the quality control of genetic analysis, based on the OECD guidelines. This article describes the regulatory framework for clinical laboratory tests including genetic tests, and the gaps in regulation, which are particularly highlighted by the appearance of DTC genetic testing. Furthermore the current initiatives taken by different organizations, especially the self-regulatory initiatives by related industries, will be discussed. To conclude the article, recommendations to improve the situation will be made.

OBJECTIVE: To illustrate the use of needs-based planning in the identification of physician surpluses and deficits and of resource misallocations within a provincial medical system at a time when provincial governments and medical associations across the country are faced with funding constraints for physician services. DESIGN: For each of 4 regions in Manitoba, the authors analysed residents' rates of physician visits (whether within the resident's own or another region). Residents' need for physician contact was estimated by means of a statistical analysis of the data on contacts in relation to age, sex and health-related indicators, and the rates of visits needed and actually made were compared. PARTICIPANTS: All Manitoba residents. OUTCOME MEASURES: Numbers of generalist physicians (general practitioners, family physicians, general internists and general pediatricians) needed to serve each region, and the extent of physician surplus and deficit in each region. RESULTS: There appeared to be a surplus of physicians in most of urban Manitoba but deficits in northern Manitoba and some parts of the rural south. General internists and general pediatricians in Winnipeg provide a significant part of the ambulatory care that is provided by general practitioners in other parts of the province. The provincial government currently spends more per resident to provide physician services in areas of physician surplus than in areas of physician deficit, although the patterns are inconsistent. CONCLUSIONS: Needs-based planning is possible. If provinces are intent on controlling physician numbers and expenditures, it makes sense to manage the implications of doing so.

Facilities: Liverpool:2 m, FTN, OO:0.65, MLO:1 m, BAT, OAO:0.5 m, Swift, Mayall. Software: IRAF (v2.16.1; Tody 1993), Starlink (v2015B; Disney & Wallace 1982), APHOT (Pravec et al. 1994), HEASOFT (v6.16), XIMAGE (v4.5.1), XSPEC (v12.8.2; Arnaud 1996), XSELECT (v2.4c), R (R Development Core Team 2011). ; The Andromeda Galaxy recurrent nova M31N 2008-12a had been observed in eruption 10 times, including yearly eruptions from 2008 to 2014. With a measured recurrence period of Prec = 351 ± 13 days (we believe the true value to be half of this) and a white dwarf very close to the Chandrasekhar limit, M31N 2008-12a has become the leading pre-explosion supernova type Ia progenitor candidate. Following multi-wavelength follow-up observations of the 2013 and 2014 eruptions, we initiated a campaign to ensure early detection of the predicted 2015 eruption, which triggered ambitious ground- and space-based follow-up programs. In this paper we present the 2015 detection, visible to near-infrared photometry and visible spectroscopy, and ultraviolet and X-ray observations from the Swift observatory. The LCOGT 2 m (Hawaii) discovered the 2015 eruption, estimated to have commenced at August 28.28 ± 0.12 UT. The 2013–2015 eruptions are remarkably similar at all wavelengths. New early spectroscopic observations reveal short-lived emission from material with velocities ∼13,000 km s^−1, possibly collimated outflows. Photometric and spectroscopic observations of the eruption provide strong evidence supporting a red giant donor. An apparently stochastic variability during the early supersoft X-ray phase was comparable in amplitude and duration to past eruptions, but the 2013 and 2015 eruptions show evidence of a brief flux dip during this phase. The multi-eruption Swift/XRT spectra show tentative evidence of high-ionization emission lines above a high-temperature continuum. Following Henze et al. (2015a), the updated recurrence period based on all known eruptions is Prec = 174 ± 10 days, and we expect the next eruption of M31N 2008-12a to occur around 2016 mid-September. ; A.F.V., and V.P.G. acknowledge support from RFBR Grant No. 16 February 00758. J.F., J.J., and G.S. acknowledge support from Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) grant AYA2014-59084-P, the E.U. FEDER funds, and AGAUR/Generalitat de Catalunya grant SGR0038/2014. S.F. acknowledges support from the Russian Scientific Foundation (grant N 14-50-00043) and the Russian Government Program of Competitive Growth of Kazan Federal University. M. Henze acknowledges the support of the Spanish MINECO under grant FDPI-2013-16933. M. Hernanz acknowledges MINECO support under grant ESP2014-56003-R.K.H. was supported by the project RVO:67985815. J.P.O. and K.L.P. acknowledge funding from the UK Space Agency. VARMR acknowledges financial support from the Radboud Excellence Initiative. S.C.W. acknowledges a visiting research fellowship at LJMU. This work has been supported in part by NSF grant AST-1009566 and NASA grant HST-Go-14125.012. ; Peer-reviewed ; Post-print