Briefly

Amphibious aircraft completes flight test

China's independently-developed AG600 large amphibious aircraft has successfully completed a high temperature and high humidity flight test, Aviation Industry Corporation of China said on Thursday. The AG600 carried out the test, which lasted around 2.5 hours, on Tuesday at an airport in Nanchang, Jiangxi province. All of its systems performed well during the session, AVIC, the country's leading aircraft manufacturer, said. Before the test, the aircraft was exposed to the sun for five hours in an environment with an average temperature of more than 35 C and an average humidity of more than 44 percent. The high temperature and high humidity flight tests an aircraft's hydraulic system, and is a major part of the AG600's certification process. AVIC said it aims to obtain the type certificate for the AG600 late this year.

200m women benefit from cancer screenings

As screening for high-incidence cancers has become increasingly common in China, nearly 200 million women have benefited from cervical and breast cancer screenings since 2009, a health official said. Early screening has covered most of the top 10 high-incidence cancers, such as lung cancer, gastric cancer, cervical cancer and breast cancer, Chen Wanqing, an official from the National Cancer Center, said on the sidelines of the third Global Health Forum of the Boao Forum for Asia on Wednesday. Mao Qun'an, an official from the National Health Commission, highlighted China's commitment to a comprehensive approach to cancer, prioritizing prevention and combining it with control measures. Mao said guidelines for the screening, early detection and treatment of high-incidence cancers, which also include gastric, esophageal and colorectal cancers, have been implemented nationwide.

Gene boosts wheat yields in saline soils

Chinese researchers have decoded a novel salt-tolerance gene in wheat, resulting in yield increases of 5 percent to 9 percent in experimental varieties grown in salinealkali soils. The study findings have been published in the journal Nature Genetics. Wang Meng, corresponding author of the study, from the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Soil Science, said that China's primary wheat-growing regions coincide with high occurrences of soil salinization. Spring marks a crucial growth period for wheat, characterized by jointing and grain filling, yet it aligns with peak soil salinity, severely impacting wheat growth and yield. Researchers from the ISS, Northwest A&F University and Qingdao Agricultural University analyzed over 500 wheat varieties and lines cultivated for years in saline-alkali fields and identified TaSPL6-D, a transcriptional suppressor of critical salt-tolerance genes in wheat.

Response activated to flooding in Shaanxi

China's National Disaster Reduction Commission activated a Level IV emergency response to flooding in the northwestern province of Shaanxi on Thursday. The commission has also dispatched a team to guide and assist local governments with disaster relief and rescue efforts to ensure the basic needs of affected residents are met, the Ministry of Emergency Management said. China's weather authorities renewed a yellow alert, the third-most severe warning, for rainstorms in several parts of the country, including southern Shaanxi, on Thursday. Heavy to torrential rains are forecast to hit southern and southwestern parts of Shaanxi until Saturday. The State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters activated a Level-IV emergency response in the province on Wednesday.

Xinhua