As the most important public health service providers in rural China, village doctors are facing a new challenge of heavier workload resulting from the recent policy of public health service equalization. Studies on the shortage of village doctors, mainly based on the national statistics, have so far been very broad. This study conducted detailed field surveys to identify specific factors of and potential solutions to the shortage in village doctors. Eight hundred forty-four village doctors and 995 health decision makers and providers were surveyed through a questionnaire, and some of them were surveyed by in-depth face-to-face interviews and focus group interviews. Opinions on the shortage in village doctors and the potentially effective approaches to addressing the problem were sought. Some village doctors (51.3%) were at least 50 years old. Some village doctors (92.3%) did not want their children to become a village doctor, and the main reasons were "low salary" and "lack of social security". Village doctors felt that it was difficult to provide all the required public health services. Local residents indicated that they established good relationships with village doctors. Some health decision makers and providers (74.0%) thought that they needed more village doctors. The shortage in village doctors presents a major obstacle toward the realization of China's policy of public health service equalization. The aging of current village doctors exacerbates the problem. Policies and programs are needed to retain the current and attract new village doctors into the workforce. Separate measures are also needed to address disparities in socioeconomic circumstance from village to village.

ImportanceA large number of healthcare workers (HCWs) were infected by SARS-CoV-2 during the ongoing outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China. Hospitals are significant epicenters for the human-to-human transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 for HCWs, patients, and visitors. No data has been reported on the details of hospital environmental contamination status in the epicenter of Wuhan. ObjectiveTo investigate the extent to which SARS-CoV-2 contaminates healthcare settings, including to identify function zones of the hospital with the highest contamination levels and to identify the most contaminated objects, and personal protection equipment (PPE) in Wuhan, China.

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Theoretically, political connections may be a double‐edged sword to a firm. On the one hand, political connections may help the firm to reduce the policy risk and access to more critical resources. On the other hand, political connections may introduce the government or politicians as influential stakeholders who may impose their own interests on other stakeholders and cause multiple agency conflicts. Although there are many studies have investigated the effects of political connections on firm performance in single countries, the worldwide effects of political connections are still ambiguous. Moreover, whether the value and costs of political connections are contingent on legal systems, regulatory institutions and industry characteristics are also under‐explored. By using a sample covers 49 countries and 151,475 firm‐year observations, we find that firms with financial constraints, firms in heavily regulated industries, and firms in countries with worse legal environment or shareholder protection mechanism are more likely to establish political connections. We further find that political connections have an adverse net effect on the firm's operating performance as well as the firm value. This adverse effect is especially pronounced if a firm is in heavily regulated industries. However, the cost of rent‐seeking activities involved in political connections can be restrained in a better legal system or by a better shareholder protection mechanism, thus significantly mitigating the adverse effect.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to propose and test an integrated model of mobile advertising taking into consideration the unique characteristics of Asian consumers. Design/methodology/approach The survey research method has been used to collect data among young mobile users in China and South Korea. A structural equation model (SEM) technique is employed to analyze the data. Findings The results show that Chinese and South Korean consumers share similar beliefs and attitudes toward mobile advertising. Perceived informational usefulness, perceived entertainment usefulness, perceived ease of ease and credibility emerge as significant belief factors positively influencing attitude in both countries. Irritation, on the other hand, negatively predicts attitude. Attitude toward mobile advertising and subjective norm emerge as the strong predictors of consumers’ intention to use mobile advertising in both countries. The effects of perceived social usefulness on attitude and incentive on intention to use demonstrate different patterns between the Chinese and South Korean samples. Practical implications The findings are particularly relevant to international marketing managers. To effectively reach Asian consumers through mobile, increasing credibility and entertainment values are the keys. Meanwhile, providing relevant information in easy to use format is also an important issue. Originality/value Based on the established advertising theories, this study proposes an integrated model to examine how beliefs, attitude and other influencing factors affect mobile advertising effectiveness among Chinese and South Korean consumers. This research provides insights into the uniqueness and effectiveness of the new mobile medium as opposed to traditional media. Furthermore, this study deepens the understanding of advertising hierarchy effects in an international setting by examining similarities and differences between China and South Korea. Most of existing cross-cultural studies choose cultures that are sharply contrast to gain significant findings and to support established cross-cultural theories. It is also very important for researchers to examine cultures that are relatively similar to gain a better understanding of the impact of culture. The study answers such a call.

Background: Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is widely integrated into cancer care in China. An overview in 2011 identified 2384 randomized and non-randomized controlled trials (RCTs, non-RCTs) on TCM for cancer published in the Chinese literature. This article summarizes updated evidence of RCTs on TCM for cancer care. Methods: We searched 4 main Chinese databases: China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Chinese Scientific Journal Database, SinoMed, and Wanfang. RCTs on TCM used in cancer care were analyzed in this bibliometric study. Results: Of 5834 RCTs (477 157 cancer patients), only 62 RCTs were indexed in MEDLINE. The top 3 cancers treated were lung, stomach, and breast cancer. About 4752 RCTs (81.45%) tested TCM combined with conventional treatment, and 1082 RCTs (18.55%) used TCM alone for treating symptoms and side-effects. Herbal medicine was the most frequently used TCM modality (5087 RCTs; 87.20%). The most frequently reported outcome was symptom improvement (3712 RCTs; 63.63%) followed by quality of life (2725 RCTs; 46.71%), and biomarkers (2384 RCTs; 40.86%). The majority of RCTs (4051; 69.44%) concluded there were beneficial effects using either TCM alone or TCM plus conventional treatment compared with conventional treatment. Conclusion: Substantial randomized trials demonstrated different types/stages of cancer were treated by various TCM modalities, alone or in combination with conventional medicine. Further evaluation on the effects and safety of TCM modalities focusing on outcomes such as quality of life is required.

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