About 80 percent of liver cancer patients in China would like to see a wider range of treatments included in the reimbursement lists of basic medical insurance programs, according to a survey of 300 family members of liver cancer patients nationwide.More than half of those surveyed said the patients are most in need of drugs that can effectively relieve pain and prolong life, according to the online survey, which was conducted by Life Times, a health newspaper in Beijing, in February and March.The results were published last month.Most of the patients covered by the survey were age 50 or older, and 55 percent said they were already in the late or terminal stages of liver cancer when they were diagnosed.More than half of the patients said they only sought medical advice after experiencing a period of physical discomfort, and only 10 percent were diagnosed during regular physical checkups.About 3 percent had been misdiagnosed once.Nearly 70 percent said they did not pay enough attention to warning signs and symptoms during the early stages of the disease.Nearly 60 percent of those surveyed said their lives had been disrupted by having a family member with liver cancer, and they were unable to obtain adequate rest.More than 40 percent of the relatives spent all of their time after work caring for the patient.More than 51 percent said they had experienced heavy financial pressure as a result of high treatment costs, while just 4.7 percent said they had experienced very little pressure.Wu Jianxiong, director of the hepatobiliary department at the Cancer Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, said China has one of the highest incidences of liver cancer in the world, accounting for more than half of all new cases globally every year.A major reason for the increased incidence of the disease in China is the high number of patients with hepatitis B and C, which are both prone to develop into cancer.Liver cancer is difficult to detect in the early stages, which results in many patients missing the opportunity for effective treatment, he said.Wu suggested that people at higher risk, such as those with hepatitis B and other liver conditions, should have regular checkups.He added that good dietary habits and a healthy lifestyle can help to prevent the disease from developing. personalized silicone wristbandscustom sweatbands no minimumparty wristbandsadjustable wristbandsbatman wristbandcustomise fidget spinner
Rendering depicts a hyperloop train. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp, one of the nation's major space contractors, announced that it has launched research and development into a futuristic ultrafast transport system popularly known as a hyperloop, in Wuhan, Hubei province, on Wednesday. The CASIC hyperloop will be a maglev line on which a streamlined, engineless train will travel on partly elevated tubes or tunnels at superfast speeds reaching 1,000 kilometers per hour, according to a news release published by the company at the Third China International Commercial Aerospace Forum in Wuhan. CASIC is the first Chinese enterprise and the world's third, following the United States' Hyperloop Transportation Technologies and Hyperloop One, that has started developing a hyperloop system capable of reaching 1,000 km/h. The project will benefit from the company's experience in systems engineering and supersonic vehicles, CASIC said. Mao Kai, chief designer of the system at CASIC, said his company is working with more than 20 domestic and foreign institutes on the project, adding that technicians are striving to develop key technologies like those used for building an elevated tube. In the future, we will develop technologies that allow a train to travel at 2,000 and even 4,000 km/h, he said. Once our development is successful, we plan to construct a short-distance line for trial runs. The 1,000 km/h and 2,000 km/h versions could be used for intercity networks while the 4,000 km/h version could form part of a transnational ultrafast transportation network, CASIC said. China's fastest bullet train travels at about 350 km/h though its designed maximum speed is 400 km/h, according to the China Academy of Railway Sciences. The nation has also tested an ultrafast bullet train that is able to travel around 600 km/h, but its designers said it was built to test next-generation railway technologies rather than for commercial operation. The maglev's acceleration and deceleration in the tube would be slow and smooth for passenger comfort, Mao said. Landforms and engineering considerations would determine whether a line is built aboveground or underground, he said. The idea of using magnetic levitation and a low-pressure tube to transport people or cargo was floated by scientists years ago. It gained new traction in 2012 when tech tycoon Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, made public his aspiration to build a hyperloop between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Hyperloop Transportation Technologies and Hyperloop One have designed and produced prototypes and have inked agreements with several nations to perform feasibility studies, reports say.
