" to be really in America " Fireworks display!

It's "to be really in America " fireworks! (quote from Bradley) Have fun!

Fireworks are not uncommon, but watching it against Washington Monument on the lawn of National Mall is special experience.

It is said that the fireworks set off on the Independence Day is Made in China! ... Everything worsens environment is Made in China.........

Museum of Natural HIstory

Visiting museum is one of my favorite things. Learning knowldege and widening horizen. I am very lucky that I can reach D.C. in hours where most world-class museum is free of charge. I planed to visit all of them as many times as possible.

Last saturday, under the influence of Bradley's word "Go to the mall and watch the fire works, then you are really in the America.", I decided to watch fireworks and the July 4th parade there.

This picture was taken in Museum of Natural History, where is the home of Hope Diamond. The speciman of African Elephant behind me must look familiar to you! But, for me, a newcommer, is a new venture.

By the way, I look not fat in this picture. American food really puts some weight on me!

Wasp comb

I noticed this under-constructed wasp comb two weeks ago. At that time, there was only one wasp worked. Now, there are four of them work together. They belong to social wasp becasue solitery wasp does not build nest at all. I guess they are either hornet or paper wasp in terms of the nest appearance.

Normally, social wasp colony is built by wood pulp or soil, which mixed with saliva. The very first wasp is queen. It built a canopy with cell and then laid egg in each cell. That's why the number of worker increases gradually. After enough female workers are born, queen focus on reproduction. And then, workers add new tier on old one to form a big comb eventually.

Interesting, a old nest (on lamp) was abandoned without completion. I think heat from the light dry it quickly and make it unsuitable to live.

A true fox spirit （狐狸精）in real world？

An anecdote on China Daily arouse my interest today: A vixen stole over 100 pairs of shoes in German town of Foehren. Is she a Fox Spirit (Huli Jing, 狐狸精) in love with high-heeled shoes? J

Fox Spirit is a well-known character in Chinese mythology. They are beautiful, enchanting and capable of acquiring human forms. It is a common role in Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio (聊斋志异), authored by Pu Songling of Qing dynasty . Normally, the Fox spirits are seen as dangerous, who seduce male for purposes. “Fox sprits” is used as a negative term to describe bad women seduce married man. The judgment for this character is controversial. Male have mixed feeling of hate and affection.

In Germany, the vixen stole shoes for her cubs to play with.

U.S. type exam

I finished my Regulatory Affairs Certification exam last Friday. It is a good timing to compare U.S. type exam and Chinese type exam. There must be some people want to argue the point, is there different style of EXAM?

Exam. A extremely familiar word for Chinese student, who studies for and lives on exam. Till date, I am not able to count how many exam I have taken. For people like my age, their situation is similar. We experience various exams from elementary through college. Even we began our career, different professional certification are presented in front of us. CPA for accounting professional, CFA for finance people, and for me Me, I have RAC... So, what’s my understanding of their difference?

1^st: Scope: guideline V.S. unlimited:

I still remember motivation of buying a magic book, Teacher’s Reference, when I was a high school student. Literally, Teacher’s Reference is for teacher rather than student. The only reason is for guideline, which will tell us the scope of the course. Another example will be High School qualification exam. Students were given special guideline for preparation. Gradually, we are trained to memorize knowledge instead of understanding and application.

In contrast, there is no scope for U.S type exam. Understanding and application is test goal. Take my RAC exam as an example: Case analysis accounts for sixty percent of the whole exam. Exam question asked the BEST answer not the right one… Memorization based exam always ask RIGHT answer, while application driven question ask BEST answer.

2^nd Pressure: tension V.S. ease

Pressure is usually caused by others. Hundreds of exam taker sit in one small room is quite normal. It is common that Chinese student, like me, feel tension before exam. How can I feel ease when I saw many faces in contemplation.

While in the RAC exam, exam takers are free to pick any day within exam opening window, from April to June. Due to it is an internet based exam, we also feel free to choose examination site. Accordingly, when I reported to the examination site last Friday, to my surprise, there are ONLY three persons were taking DIFFERENT exam… So, I do not need to spend time on peeking at other’s answer! LOL! No pressure.

In addition, no proctors walk around… they are another source of pressure. We are trusted to be honest in the U.S. while we are suspected to be cheating in China. …

Canada Goose

Goslings and their parent...They are fleeing from me...  

Canada Goose is a common waterfowl in the North America. Its name clearly cue its original living place.  Spring is breeding season. I happened to see a goose is hatching in its nest.  

CBA event

I attended a CBA event on April 19, 2009. It is a dinner workshop in Far East restaurant for SFDA delegation who come to Rockville for meeting with FDA. SFDA personnel are director level of medicinal product registration.  

CBA is not abbreviation for Chinese Basketball Association. J Any person from Mainland will have this wrong idea. Chinese Biopharmaceutical Association is a biotech organization here, in Maryland. It has 20 years history. Now, its member includes Professional from Industry, research institute and Government Agency.

Before dinner, Mr. Wei Zhang, Director General of the Department of Drug Registration gave a presentation on currant situation of Chinese pharmaceutical industry and New Regulatory System.

Bullet points:

l         Now, Chinese drug product sales are 17 billions, which is 2% of Global sales.

l         Chinese new drug development strategy changes from “Government Development” to “Corporation Development with support of Government”.

l         Coin several new Abbreviations: GRP (Good Regulatory Practice), GUP (Good utilization Practice and GVP (Good Vigilance Practice) … (I think it is 画虎不成反类猫, it is easy to cause confusion)

l         Intellectual protection: Innovation, Protection, Management, Application.

l         New registration system allows oversea marketed drug register in China through supplement (Technical transfer), not through generic drug pathway. (Speed up drug registration)

l         Establish Fast Track (特殊药品审批)for 4 categories of drug.  

l         Commodities and Cosmetics will be regulated by SFDA. Previously, They are regulated by Health Department.

 Besides SFDA personal, CBA also invite some Chinese FDAer. A FDAer sitting beside is a  Shanghainess. To my surprises, her cousin is Deputy Mayor of Shanghai……….