Trees are submerged by a flood in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, on Friday.[YANG BO/CHINA NEWS SERVICE] Reservoirs along the Yangtze River, including the Three Gorges Reservoir, have played a big role in relieving flood pressure downstream. As downpours continue in Sichuan province, these reservoirs have been ready for new floods coming downstream, said flood control authorities. The rainfall that lasted from June 22 to Monday resulted in floods in several major tributaries in the middle reaches of the Yangtze. The water level at the Changsha monitoring station in the Xiangjiang River reached a record 39.51 meters on Monday, higher than the previous record of 39.18 meters set by a massive flood in 1998. The flood caused great losses in worst hit Hunan province. In Ningxiang county alone, 44 people have been declared dead or missing after heavy downpours that have pounded the county since June 22, leading to the area's worst natural disaster in 60 years, local flood control authorities said on Friday. It also said about 815,000 people, or 56 percent of the county's population, suffered property losses in the floods. Peng Xinhuai, who sells suitcases in Ningxiang, put some of the suitcases up on the suspended ceiling in his store on June 1 before he left as water poured into his store. When he came back the second day, however, the metal roller shutter door of his store had been broken and almost scrunched. Even the suspended ceiling was water stained. The water level in the store reached up to 2 meters, the man told Beijing News, adding that he lost suitcases worth more than 200,000 yuan ($29,000). Tang Kunshi, a 60-year-old resident in Jingtu'an village in Ningxiang, said it was the most severe flood he has experienced in his life. Three motorcycles and two refrigerator of Tang's family were broken after the flood inundated the first floor of his two-story house, Tang said, adding that the house was even soaked in the 1998 flood. The Three Gorges Reservoir reduced the discharge flow during the rainfall process and other reservoirs in the middle and upper reaches of Yangtze also helped in storing and diverting the flood. Were it not for these reservoirs, the water level in Chenglingji, a key monitoring station along Yangtze, would be above its highest safety level for another six days, the headquarters said. It also said the Three Gorges Reservoir had stopped almost 5 billion cubic meters of water as of 8 am Thursday. While the rainfall in the middle reaches of the Yangtze receded, downpours will strike Sichuan province and Chongqing in the upper reaches with precipitation from 100 to 140 millimeters, which will possibly result in water discharges of up to 50,000 cubic meters per second into the Three Gorges, the headquarters said. It said it had asked the Three Gorges to increase its flow from 8,000 to 10,000 cubic meters per second on Thursday to give space for the coming flood, and the flow will be adjusted daily based on the situation. Feng Zhiwei in Changsha contributed to this story. pink wristbands bulkcustom fidgetflash drive wristbandballer bands
National association sees great potential for improved servicesA national association was set up on Saturday to promote the integration of artificial intelligence technology with medical care to improve services.The Chinese Intelligent Medicine Association will provide a platform for research, exchange and cooperation in intelligent medicine, Zhang Yanling, president of Chinese Medical Doctor Association, which supervises the new association, said at its inauguration ceremony on Saturday.While promoting the use of AI in medicine, the association will also assist the government in formulating standards and regulations for the development of intelligent medicine, which is still at its infancy, he said.Intelligent medicine will profoundly transform the medical care sector, and may bring great benefits to both patients and doctors, Zhang said, adding that 124 hospitals have practiced intelligent medicine in China."Intelligent medicine involves utilization of the latest technologies, including the internet, big data and artificial intelligence," said Dong Jiahong, president of the new association. "Developing intelligent medicine is of great importance in achieving more balanced distribution of healthcare resources, improving quality of medical care, efficiency and lower cost."Chen Xiaoming, president of First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, said a big challenge in developing intelligent medicine in China is a serious shortage of talented people who excel in both medicine and information technology."Universities should strengthen education and production of people who excel in both medicine and AI," he said. "Doctors and IT researchers at enterprises should work together to breed such talent."Lin Haotian, a professor in the Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center at Sun Yat-sen University, said doctors should play a more important role in developing intelligent medicine because they work for patients and know their needs best."But doctors at big hospitals are usually too busy, and cannot find enough time for research," he said. "They need more support from the hospitals."As with many other sectors, the latest big data and AI technologies are increasingly being integrated with the health sector.The ophthalmic center in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, for example, opened the first AI clinic in China last year to diagnose cataracts with the help of an AI-assisted platform.In a clinic at the center, images of patients' eyes are uploaded to the platform, and a diagnosis can be given within minutes. Treatment plans are also offered for doctors' reference. The accuracy of the AI diagnoses exceeds 90 percent, the hospital said.Watson for Oncology, a cognitive computing platform designed by US company IBM can provide treatment options to commonly seen cancers. It has been used at 65 big hospitals in 39 cities in China, according to Fu Gang, chairman of Baheal Pharm, which introduced the system to the country last year.The system is expected to be used at more grassroots hospitals to help improve cancer diagnoses, he said.In a guideline released by the central government late last month that aims to promote the development of "Internet Plus healthcare", some major areas of focus were highlighted, including promoting the integration of internet technologies in medical care, public health, medicine teaching and medicine supply.Accelerating development of the "Internet Plus healthcare" platform is expected to bring more benefits to patients, including extending the coverage of high quality healthcare services, which is now highly concentrated in big cities, to more people, according to the guideline.
