March 6, 2000

Internet is profoundly altering in complicated ways doctor-patient relationship by giving patients ability to obtain information in seconds on variety of diseases, drugs, medical conditions and diagnoses from estimated 100,000 medical Web sites; doctors, under time constraints as part of managed care groups, are being forced to spend extra time sifting through downloaded materials brought in by patients and are often resentful; support patients having access to good, reliable information, but say information on Internet varies from sound to irresponsible (M)

China is engaged in desperate war on smuggling after years of tolerance that has long helped enrich country's prosperous southern provinces at expense of central government coffers, even with cooperation of local officials; campaign, devised to increase revenues and clean up government's tarnished image, resulted in 80 percent increase in tariff income in 1999; has proved to be exceedingly delicate balancing act in part because important regional economies are intertwined with smuggling, and because zealous pursuit of crime often ends up, embarrassingly, at Communist Party's own door; photo (M)

James R Oestreich reviews Chicago Symphony Orchestra concert conducted by Daniel Barenboim at Carnegie Hall (M)

Advertising column on recent efforts by mainstream marketers to reach Americans of Asian ancestry; niche is seen as most desirable of nation's demographic markets, but problems involving language and cultural barriers could lead advertisers astray in embarrassing ways; as example, number four cannot be used in telephone number because it implies death in various Asian cultures; likewise, color blue denotes mourning; significant differences among ethnicities that compose Asian-American population require marketers to spend additional time and money to communicate with group that is relatively small and at same time highly fractionated; appeal to advertisers is that Asian-Americans make up fastest-growing population group, they are generally most affluent, best-educated and most likely to hold technology jobs; photos; graph (M)

Tim Raines discusses his comeback attempt with New York Yankees after being sidelined for much of last season with lupus; photo (M)