A nurse checks villager Wang Funi at home in Jiaozuo, Henan province, with an all-in-one diagnostic device in March. LI JIANAN/XINHUA ZHENGZHOU - Suffering from coronary heart disease, 79-year-old Wang Funi was amazed to find out that she can have routine medical tests done at her rural home. In the past, it would take 50 minutes to travel by electric tricycle to visit the nearest county hospital, and her husband or children would have to take a break from work on the farm to accompany her. It's time-consuming. Now there's no need for the trip. All the basic tests can be done free at home, she said. With the help of a new portable all-in-one diagnostic device, Zhang Xiaozhan, a doctor in Erpuying village, Henan province, where Wang lives, conducted eight tests on her in about 20 minutes, ranging from measuring the electrical activity of her heart to checking her blood pressure. The device offers the biggest benefits for the elderly and patients with chronic diseases, reducing their need to travel long distances to hospitals and wait in long lines, Zhang said. At the start of this year, the city of Jiaozuo purchased around 600 all-in-one diagnostic devices and offered them to teams of local family doctors. Weighing just five kilograms, one of the devices can run multiple routine tests, from measuring blood pressure to urine and blood analysis. Li Zhenhui, sales manager at mobile healthcare company Garea, which provided the devices, said that the machines can do more tests if auxiliary medical equipment is connected. The company usually sends experts to train village doctors. Test results are stored as electronic files on the city's family doctor service platform as a reference for further diagnosis and treatment. Wang's team of doctors has six members. Liu Yingying, a general practitioner at the health center in Jiayingguan township, is one of them. Liu said the team has signed contracts with more than 4,000 local residents, including a priority group of more than 500 patients. Some have chronic diseases, while others are rehabilitating and need special attention, Liu said. The team needs to visit each patient in the priority group at least four times a year. It's a formidable task. The all-in-one diagnostic device can improve the quality and efficiency of our service, Liu said. Tian Qingfeng, a health management researcher at Zhengzhou University, said there is an uneven distribution of healthcare resources in China, with advanced diagnostic and treatment equipment, and the best doctors, concentrated in big cities. Technology can improve rural access to quality healthcare, Tian said. Xinhua how to make silicone braceletsprinted wristbandsmake your own rubber braceletcustomise fidget spinnercharity bracelets ukblack rubber wristbands24 hour bracelets
China Customs. [Photo/VCG] Entry-exit inspection and quarantine authorities across the nation have intercepted an increasing number of alien species and exotic pets that can pose serious risks to safety and environmental integrity, China's top authority for entry-exit inspection and quarantine said. Authorities are remaining alert for illegal entry of such animals as spiders, tortoises and snakes, which are sent to China mostly through mailed parcels. They said they will take more measures to tighten supervision and hold law violators accountable, according to the General Administration of Customs. Banned animals, plants and their products were found in more than 42,000 mail and parcel deliveries at ports last year, and harmful species were spotted in 5,147 of them, the administration said. Although most banned products intercepted were meat, dairy, seeds and sprouts, illegal mailing of live animals became more rampant, spurred by the booming popularity of exotic pets in China, the administration said. The variety of such animals intercepted at ports increased last year compared with 2016. Most alien species were bought by individuals or pet business owners from sources in other countries, or through exchanges, the administration said. Major alien species intercepted by quarantine authorities last year included tortoises, spiders, scorpions, snakes, frogs and various types of insects, it said. The creatures came from almost all of China's major trading partners, and were found at all major ports on the Chinese mainland, the administration said. In general, alien species have strong reproductive abilities, and are strongly adaptable to different environments, it said. They may have no natural enemies in China, so they are likely to reproduce in great numbers and pose serious threats to indigenous species and will damage China's ecology, biodiversity and agricultural production if they are not properly taken care of and are set free. Many of these animals are also carriers of diseases that could cause outbreaks among plants and animals in China, it said. In addition, some species, such as the Brazilian killer scorpion, poison dart frogs and other poisonous frogs can be dangerous to the public and may even be used by terrorists, the administration said. All live animals except dogs and cats are banned from being carried by passengers or sent via mail services to the mainland, unless approved by authorities and accompanied by official quarantine certificates from their country, according to Chinese regulations. Among pets, only dogs and cats can be carried to China, and each passenger can only carry one cat or one dog each time. The dog or cat must be quarantined after arrival, according to the regulations. Keeping track of the flow of exotic pets has been a challenge for authorities as most are light and are mailed from abroad in small amounts, the administration said. Tricks to evade supervision are constantly being refined, and in most cases the parcels containing the pets are disguised as other items in various forms, posing great difficulties in inspections, it said. To make the situation worse, booming cross-border e-commerce has resulted in a rapidly increasing amount of mail and parcels each year, forcing inspection and quarantine authorities in many places to work 24 hours a day, the administration said. Zhu Shuifang, a senior researcher at the Chinese Academy of Inspection and Quarantine, said with intensified globalization and more frequent international exchanges, cargo and mailed parcels have increased rapidly, posing great challenges in ensuring biosafety while allowing swift entry of goods. With so many goods, it is not possible to inspect every parcel, he said. Advanced technologies can play a more important role in improving efficiency in inspection of harmful species to prevent loss in trade, agriculture, health and ecology. The rapidly developing big data technology can be better applied in this regard, he said. For example, big data analysis can help single out passengers, cargo and mailed items that are more likely to bring in or contain banned items, Zhu said. More government investment is needed to spur technological research and utilization in entry-exit inspection and quarantine. The administration has taken a series of measures to improve supervision and law enforcement, including installing 37 advanced computerized tomography machines at key inspection sites for mail and express parcels, it said. The administration will also improve cooperation with other government departments such as border control, tourism, agriculture and forestry to establish a mechanism for joint prevention and control of illegal entry of banned items to ensure biosafety and national security, it said. Individuals who have carried or mailed banned animals, plants or their products to the mainland and tried to evade quarantine two or more times within a year will face criminal investigations by police or prosecution authorities in China, according to an amended regulation adopted in April 2017 by the Supreme People's Procuratorate and the Ministry of Public Security in an effort to check violations. Violators face penalties of up to three years in prison and fines in serious cases, such as when violations result in widespread disease outbreaks, according to China's Criminal Law.
