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The majority of studies on the quality of life have been conducted in Western contexts and are based on Western participants. Comparatively speaking, there are only a few studies that have been conducted in different Chinese contexts. Also, there are fewer QOL studies based on children and adolescents, or studies that examine the relationship between QOL and economic disadvantage. In addition, more research is needed to address the methodological issues related to the assessment of quality of life. This volume is a constructive response to the challenges described above. It is the first book to cover research in Chinese, Western and global contexts in a single volume. It is a ground-breaking volume in which Chinese studies on the quality of life are collected. The book includes papers addressing family QOL, quality of life in adolescents experiencing economic disadvantage, and methodological issues in the assessment of QOL. It is written by researchers working in a variety of disciplines.

Surgical education is a rapidly expanding area of surgical research and career interest, and as the Association for Academic Surgery (AAS) Fall Courses (www.aasurg.org) and International courses offer more and more specialty tracking there is a greater need for an accompanying textbook to supplement the material presented in the courses.

Die Praxis der Erkenntnisgewinnung in den Bio-Wissenschaften arbeitet nach einem allgemein anerkannten Kanon von Verhaltensvorschriften, der sich auf Grund von Erfahrungen in der Forschungspraxis und nicht durch die theoretischen Reflexionen der Erkenntnistheorie herausgebildet hat. Er besteht zum großen Teil darin, potentielle Fehlerquellen zu vermeiden. Solche Fehlerquellen sind in dem hier vorliegenden Band zum ersten Mal systematisch zusammengestellt worden, wobei diejenigen Bereiche, in denen sich die Methoden der Bio-Wissenschaften von denen der Physik und Chemie unterscheiden, ausführlicher dargestellt werden. Viele leicht verständliche Beispiele erläutern das Gesagte. Das Buch wendet sich an alle Studenten, die im Studium bio-wissenschaftliche Erkenntnisse erwerben sowie an die Forscher, die diese Erkenntnisse dann in der Praxis anwenden. Sie alle sollen ein Gefühl für die Sicherheit einer Aussage bekommen, die Denkweisen bio-wissenschaftlicher Forschung kennenzulernen und Fehler bei der eigenen Arbeit vermeiden lernen.

Medical research involving human subjects has contributed to considerable advancements in our knowledge, and to medical benefits. At the same time the development of new technologies as well as further globalisation of medical research raises questions that require the attention of researchers from a range of disciplines. This book gathers the contributions of researchers from nine different countries, who analyse recent developments in medical research from ethical, historical, legal and socio-cultural perspectives. In addition to reflections on innovations in science such as genetic databases and the concept of “targeted therapy” the book also includes analyses regarding the ethico-legal regulation of new technologies such as human tissue banking or the handling of genetic information potentially relevant for participants in medical research. Country and culture-specific aspects that are relevant to human medical research from a global perspective also play a part. The value of multi- and interdisciplinary analysis that includes the perspectives of scholars from normative and empirical disciplines is a shared premise of each contribution.

Having last year published “Up from Clinical Epidemiology & EBM” and also “Epidemiological Research: Terms and Concepts,” Miettinen now – this time with collaboration from his junior colleague I. Karp – brings out this further introduction into epidemiological research; and he is now working on an introduction into clinical research, for publication next year. It evidently is Miettinen's felt time to crystallize the basic understandings he has come to as the culmination of a half-century of concentrated effort to advance the theory of epidemiological and ‘meta-epidemiological clinical'research. In accord with its title, this book focuses on research to develop the knowledge-base for preventive medicine, which mainly is knowledge about the causal origin –etilogy, etiogenesis – of illness. It first illustrates how wanting this knowledge still is, despite much research; and it then aims to guide the reader to more productive etiogenetic research. This book places much emphasis on the need to assure relevance by principles-guided objects design for the studies, which now remains conspicuously absent from epidemiologists'concerns. And as for methods design, this book exposes the fallacies in the still-common ‘cohort'and ‘case-control'studies, defines the essentials of all etiogenetic studies, and then addresses the true options for design in this framework of shared essentials. A good deal of attention is also given to the still commonly-held, very major, twin fallacies that screening for an illness is a preventive intervention, to be studied by randomized trials, and that research on it can imply rational guidelines orrecommendations regarding decisions about the screening. While Miettinen already is regarded as ‘the father of modern epidemiology,'he now appears to have become the father also of post-modern epidemiology, where ‘epidemiology'still means epidemiological research.

There has been a flare-up in interest in science policy and a key factor in this is the increased interest in analysing the role that research can play in informing policy making. A pioneering venture in this field was Government and Research: The Rothschild Experiment in a Government Department (1983) Heinemann. No other work had penetrated the deepest recesses of government to observe at first hand the attempts of a major department to determine its research agenda through collaboration with leading scientists in a wide range of fields, to observe how research was commissioned, and then evaluated by scientific teams, and how it began to enter the policy blood streams of the departments. This revised and augmented version updates the original text for current policy concerns and takes account of changes in science policy studies, whilst preserving its essential themes. It contains a succinct account of where matters now stand as well as an extended analysis of the themes that continue to dominate research and science policy.

One of the most challenging issues for clinical trial investigators, sponsors, and regulatory officials is the interpretation of experimental results that are composed of the results of multiple statistical analyses. These analyses may include the effect of therapy on multiple endpoints, the assessment of a subgroup analysis, and the evaluation of a dose-response relationship in complex mixtures. Multiple Analyses in Clinical Trials: Fundamentals for Clinical Investigators is an essentially nonmathematical discussion of the problems posed by the execution of multiple analyses in clinical trials. It concentrates on the rationale for the analyses, the difficulties posed by their interpretation, easily understood solutions, and useful problem sets. This text will help clinical investigators understand multiple analysis procedures and the key issues when designing their own work or reviewing the research of others. This book is written for advanced medical students, clinical investigators at all levels, research groups within the pharmaceutical industry, regulators at the local, state, and federal level, and biostatisticians. Only a basic background in health care and introductory statistics is required. Dr. Lemuel A. Moyé, M.D., Ph.D. is a physician and Professor of Biometry at the University of Texas School of Public Health. He has been Co-Principal Investigator of two multinational clinical trials examining the role of innovative therapy in post myocardial infarction survival (SAVE) and the use of cholesterol reducing agents in post myocardial infarction survival in patients with normal cholesterol levels (CARE). He has authored over one hundred articles in journals such as the Journal of the American Medical Association, the New England Journal of Medicine, Statistics in Medicine, and Controlled Clinical Trials. From the reviews: From the reviews:'A quick scan of the book indicates that it is not a typical statistics book…You can jumpin almost anywhere and just start reading…I like the book's organization. There is a chapter on clinical trials. Then there are several chapters that explain the situations that arise from the occurrence of multiple analyses. Particular emphasis is given to multiple endpoints, situations where one continues a study to follow up on unanticipated results, and to subgroup analyses, interventions that impact only a fraction of the subjects in a study. The author is equally adept at describing clinical trials for the statistician as at explaining statistics to the clinical investigator. I enjoyed leafing through this book and would certainly enjoy have the opportunity to sit down and read it.'Technometrics, August 2004'Moyé's background as a statistician and MD makes him especially qualified to write this book…The clinical trial examples are a major strength of the book…His medical background and extensive clinical trials experience shine through.'Statistics in Medicine, 2004, 23:3551-3559'The many examples from well known clinical trials are clearly one of the strengths of this book. It is also fascinating to share the author's experience with the FDA where he attended many meetings of Advisory Committees.'Biometrics, December 2005'According to the preface, this book is written for clinical investigators and research groups within the pharmaceutical industry, medical students and regulators. … I admire the eloquency of the author. … The author does a remarkable job …. Without any doubt, the book is a valuable source of ideas for the intended audience. For statisticians it is an interesting source of experimental setups, that are actually used in practice and that consequently are worth while to be studied.'(dr H. W. M. Hendriks, Kwantitatieve Methoden, Issue 72B41, 2005)'The book is entertaining and informative, sufficiently informal to recruit and retain the intended non-statisticalreadership, but sufficiently for