BEIJING, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) — The following is a summary of published science and technology news of China.

BLOOD CANCER

Scientists from China and the United States have found a new gene that can significantly increase an individual’s odds of developing a myeloid malignancy such as leukemia.

They identified a previously unreported risk gene, CTR9, whose loss-of-function can cause dysregulation of hematopoietic stem cells and is predicted to result in a tenfold increase in an individual’s odds of developing a myeloid malignancy.

HEART DISEASE

Chinese scientists have identified a group of gene mutations that are correlated to an elevated risk of coronary heart disease (CHD), publishing their findings in the medical journal JAMA Cardiology.

In a cohort study of 6,181 Chinese individuals, the researchers from Fuwai Hospital under the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences found that the clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential (CHIP) — the presence of a kind of stem cell caused by leukemia-causing mutations — was associated with a 42 percent increase in CHD risk in 1,100 CHIP carriers compared with those without CHIP.

QUANTUM TECHNOLOGY IN E-COMMERCE

Chinese scientists developed an e-commerce strategy that enabled the world’s first five-user online trading utilizing quantum technology.

Researchers at Nanjing University and Renmin University of China created an e-commerce protocol based on a new quantum digital signature (QDS) that generates correlated bit strings among multiple remote parties for signatures via quantum law. They proposed a QDS approach that combined quantum secret sharing and one-time universal hashing to ensure transaction integrity, authenticity, and, in particular, non-repudiation.