China in Africa

On 13 October, the State Council published a national plan for the control and containment of AIDS for the years 2019-2022 (《遏制艾滋病传播实施方案（2019-2022年）》). The responsible ministry is the National Health Commission (NHC 卫健委), and nine other ministries or departments of the central government are involved, including the Ministry of Education MOE and the Ministry of Science and Technology MOST. 

At the end of 2018, there were 1.25 million HIV-infected persons registered in China; in 2017 alone, around 135,000 new registrations were made. The estimated number of unreported cases is at least 30%. The plan sets out a number of goals: to reduce the transmission of mothers to babies to below 4% of new infections, and to inform more than 95% of all students about the diagnosis of HIV and its transmission routes. 

According to a blog, between July and September 2018 about 80% of all deaths from infectious diseases were due to HIV. The Chinese Association of Sexually Transmitted Diseases and AIDS Prevention and Control (中国性病艾滋病防治协会) reported that since April 2018, 10 universities have installed a total of 22 HIV diagnostic machines on campus. Only a coded urine sample has to be placed in the vending machine. The urine donor then receives the results online and anonymously within the next 3 to 5 working days. In one month 59 kits were sold and 37 samples returned, two of which were HIV positive. 

GTAI PharmaUpdate October 2019

(contributions of Dr Xin XIONG are gratefully acknowledged)

Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences have successfully employed genetic barcoding to tell original drugs of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) from adulterants. Extracts of Drynaria roosii Nakaike are traditionally used in China for the treatment of bone diseases, but extracts from some closely related plants are without effect. Comparing chloroplast genome sequences of all these plants, 12 protein-coding genes and eight intergenic sequences with high divergence in chloroplast genomes were identified and led to the development of four primer pairs which allow to distinguis D. roosii from adulterants and guarantee for the quality, safety, and effectiveness of the drug.

CAS news release, October 24, 2019

Beijing, the center of science and technology innovation nationwide, makes science and technology innovation the most important activity. Beijing has a particularily strong R&D system in terms of scientific research management, performance evaluation, rights and benefits of scientific and technological achievements and long-term financial support. New R&D institutions such as the Beijing Institute of Quantum Science and Information Science and the Center for Brain Science are examples of continuing investment.

Japan JST China news, October 10, 2019

The new standards stipulate 2191 residual values ​​and requirements for use of 267 veterinary drugs for livestock and poultry, marine and bee products. It covers almost all veterinary drugs commonly used in China, the main animals used for food production and will come into effect on April 1, 2020. The new standards adopt CAC standards (International Food Standards Committee) to an extent of about 90%. Important technical values ​​such as allowable intake, residual standard values and usage requirements were completely revised. For more than 10 veterinary drugs with food safety risks such as ofloxacin, significant changes were issued.

Japan JST China news, October 10, 2019

The truck measures 10.2 meters long, 5.4 meters wide and five meters tall, and has a carrying capacity of 110 tonnes. It can plan its mission and route for itself, load and unload automatically, and drive by itself. The new unmanned mining truck features integrated direct line control, image processing, wireless communication and AI technologies.

CAS news release, October 23, 2019

The company’s http://www.mth2.com technology was licensed from CAS Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics. The fuel cells are claimed to have small size, low cost, light weight and good low temperature adaptability. The volumetric specific power is 3.0 kW/L. In addition to being used in commercial vehicles, they are intended for broad application in the fields of passenger cars. Prototypes with different power output and specifications have been tested in Ankai Bus, Shenlong Bus, Jinlong Commercial Vehicle, and Cherry Logistics Vehicle.

CAS news release, October 23, 2019 

In order to encourage residents to separate trash, Nanjing City has introduced “trash banks” that integrate functions such as face recognition, remote monitoring, and trash disposal. The residents first perform face recognition, and then sort out the trash. The system returns points to the user’s account based on the number of recyclables contained in the garbage. Eventually points can be turned into cash.

Japan JST China news, October 22, 2019

According to the China Internet Development Report 2019, the internet penetration rate in China in June 2019 had reached 61.2%, with 854 million users. The number of websites was 5.18 million. 

The number of Internet users in China is 854 million and the Internet penetration rate is 61.2%. The number of online education users was 232 million.

The number of fixed broadband users reached over 435 million, with 396 million connected to optical fiber. There were 7.32 million mobile Internet base stations. Of these, 4G accounted for 4.08 million units (60.8%). On June 6, the first 5G commercial license was issued.

Japan JST China news, October 21, 2019

The pressurized water reactor is claimed to rest on China’s own IP and meets the latest nuclear safety standards. So far, the company has built 4 units of this reactors in the 1 GW class.

Japan JST China news, October 21, 2019

The nanodrop system achieves nanoliter volume addition of different reagent components through high-precision micro-volume control. It is compatible with 96 and 384-well plates and can be programmed according to the pre-filled mineral oil plate. The minimum volume that can be accurately filled with a low-cost probe is 1 nL, and the volume standard deviation is less than 11% when the loading volume is 5 nL. The droplets can be by centrifugation. Multi-step reactions and concentration gradient configurations can be achieved by multiple injections of reagents. The  system was used for PCR screening and single-cell phenotypic screening of pathogenic microbial single-cell resistance genes. It was also fused to a FACS system and used for single cell gene expression analysis of animal cells. 

CAS news release, October 10, 2019

The newly confirmed recoveries are 358 million tons, and expected reserves amount to 693 million tons. China Petroleum also announced that  in the Sichuan Basin shale gas survey, cumulative confirmed reserves amounted to 1,061.03 billion cubic meters. This year’s production is scheduled to be 7.7 billion cubic meters, with an annual production capacity of more than 10 billion cubic meters by the end of the year.

Japan JST China news, September 30, 2019

On Oct. 11, a first glance at China’s Mars rover was released. It is planned to be launched in 2020 and land on Mars in 2021.

China Global Televsion Networks, Oct. 11, 2019

A group at the Institute of Microbiology of CAS has described a novel microbial fuel cell. Genetically modified cyanobacteria assimilate CO2 in visible light to form D-lactic acid, which they cannot utilize and excrete into the medium. A second microorganism, Shewanella bacteria, oxidises the D-lactic acid and conducts the electrons formed via a membrane protein complex to an electrode. In this way, the bacterial consortium produced an unprecedented average energy density of 135 mW.m2 for 40 days.

Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-12190-w

“Osmosis power plants” could use the potential difference between salt water and fresh water, e.g. in the estuaries of large rivers, to generate electrical energy by reverse electrodialysis. Liping WEN and colleagues from the Institute for Physics and Chemistry at CAS in Beijing investigated suitable composite membranes for this purpose. They produced a nanoporous composite membrane from silk nanofibrils and aluminium oxide as carrier substrate. The negatively charged surface of the fibroin ensures ion transport, while the amphoteric aluminum oxide allows for current flow over a wide pH range. Depending on the salt concentration, energy densities of up to 2.86 W.m2 were achieved.

Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-11792-8ted

In an attempt to provide better commuting services for office workers, Shanghai residents in some places can now reserve a seat in a  customized bus, with a one-click reservation on their mobile phone via Alipay. The price is 18 ¥, about 1/10 the prize of a taxi. The bus route is calculated by AI according to the homes and destinations of the passengers, and the bus does not stop during the journey, only at the gate of the customer and the  sites of the office building, which greatly improves the running speed compared to traditional lines. The “Traffic Brain” software developed by Alipay automatically simulates the route, station and departure schedule. The attendance rate of the line is reportedly above 80% since the launch. A representative of Alipay claims that such kind of customized bus will cover all China within three years.

People’s Daily, September 17, 2019