In the Pre-Qin time, pursuing “Dao” was the main task in the scholarship of most of the ancient Chinese philosophers, while the Ancient Greek philosophers considered pursuing “Truth” as their ultimate goal. While the “Dao” in ancient Chinese texts and the “Truth” in ancient Greek philosophic literature do share or cross-cover certain connotations, there are subtle and important differences betw...

Antimicrobial surveillance may be defined as a systematic collection, analysis, and dissemination of data that may be used to identify resistance trends and assess the need for intervention (2). In 1988 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published guidelines for evaluation of surveillance systems for antimicrobial resistance (7), and an American Society for Microbiology task force (...

This article provides an introduction to the meaning of causality in epidemiology and methods that epidemiologists use to distinguish causal associations from non-causal ones. Alternatives to causal association are discussed in detail. Hill's guidelines, set forth approximately 50 years ago, and more recent developments are reviewed. The role of religious and philosophic views in our understand...