Diagnostic Value of Cerebrospinal Fluid Sequencing for Neurosyphilis with Cognitive Impairment

Neurosyphilis(NS)is an infectious disease caused by Treponema pallidum invading the central nervous system.It can manifest at any stage of syphilis,and is often misdiagnosed due to its atypical and progressive symptoms.The increasing incidence of NS underscores the necessity for early and accurate diagnosis.Here,we present a case where routine cerebrospinal fluid metagenomic next-generation sequencing(mNGS)was used to diagnose a patient with neurosyphilis.The patient exhibited cognitive impairment and was initially diagnosed with cerebral infarction due to syphilitic cerebral arteritis.Thus,the patient was treated with dual antiplatelet therapy(aspirin and clopidogrel)and statins to stabilize the plaques.Neurosyphilis was treated with penicillin sodium injections,resulting in significant improvement in the patient’s mental state.This case is a rare instance of neurosyphilis associated with cerebral infarction.These findings suggest that mNGS is a valuable tool in diagnosing neurosyphilis,potentially improving diagnostic accuracy and patient outcomes.

Three-dimensional crustal movement and the activities of earthquakes,volcanoes and faults in Hainan Island,China

Hainan Island is a seismic active region, where Qiongshan M7.5 earthquake occurred in 1605 and several seismic belts appeared in recent years, especially the NS trending seismic belt （NSB） located in the northeast part of the island. Here is also a magmatic active region. The lava from about 100 volcanoes covered more than 4000 km^2. The latest eruptions occurred on Ma＇anling-Lei Huling volcanoes within 10,000 years. The neotectonic movement has been determined by geological method in the island and its adjacent areas. In the paper, the present-day 3D crustal movement is obtained by using Global Positioning System （GPS） data observed from 2009 to 2014 and leveling observations measured in 1970s and 1990s respectively. The results show the horizontal movement is mainly along SEE direction relative to the Eurasian Plate. The velocities are between 4.01 and 6.70 mm/a. The tension rate near the NSB is less than I mm/a. The vertical movement shows the island uplifts as a whole with respect to the reference benchmark Xiuyinggang. The average uplifting rate is 2.4 mm/a. The rates are 2-3 mm/a in the northwest and 3-5mm/a in the northwest. It shows the deformation pattern of the southwest island is upward relative to the northeast, which is different from the result inferred from the coastal change and GPS. Haikou and its adjacent region present a subsidence in a long time. The southern part of the middle segment of the Wangwu-Wenjiao fault uplifts relative to the northern. Meanwhile, the western part uplifts relative to the eastern NSB. The vertical crustal motion and the two normal faults nearly correspond to the terrain. The NSB is located along the Puqiangang-Dazhibo fault, which is assessed as a segmented fault with a dip of 80°-90° and party exposed. The 3D deformations and other studies reveal the present activities of earthquakes, volcanoes and the faults. The small earthquakes will still occur in the NS belt and the volcanoes are not active now.

The June 2022 Khost earthquake in southeastern Afghanistan:A complicated shallow slip event revealed with InSAR

On June 22,2022,the Mw6.2 earthquake in southeastern Afghanistan caused a severe disaster.We used the Sentinel-1A ascending and descending track images of the European Space Agency and interferometric synthetic aperture radar(In SAR)to obtain the coseismic surface deformation field of the earthquake,which showed that the earthquake caused complex ruptures of multiple faults and various types.Using the dislocation model of the elastic half-space,we determined the focal parameters and slip distribution on the fault plane of this event.The results reveal that:(1)the seismogenic fault of this event is an unknown fault on the northeastern edge of the Katawaz microblock;(2)The slip on the fault plane is mainly in the range of 0—8 km along the dip,with maximum slips about 2 m at a depth of 2 km,which projected on the surface is 69.44°E,32.96°N.This event suggests that,similar to the Chaman,Ghazaband and other large faults,the faults inside the microblock also play an important role in adjusting for the collision stress between India and Europe.

Assessment of strong earthquake risk in the Chinese mainland from 2021 to 2030

The long-term earthquake prediction from 2021 to 2030 is carried out by researching the active tectonic block boundary zones in the Chinese mainland.Based on the strong earthquake recurrence model,the cumulative probability of each target fault in the next 10 years is given by the recurrence period and elapsed time of each fault,which are adopted from relevant studies such as seismological geology,geodesy,and historical earthquake records.Based on the long-term predictions of large earthquakes throughout the world,this paper proposes a comprehensive judgment scheme based on the fault segments with the seismic gap,motion strongly locked,sparse small-moderate earthquakes,and apparent Coulomb stress increase.This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the relative risk for strong earthquakes that may occur in the coming 10 years on the major faults in the active tectonic block boundary zones in the Chinese mainland.The present loading rate of each fault is first constrained by geodetic observations;the cumulative displacement of each fault is then estimated by the elapsed time since the most recent strong earthquake.

Finite element simulation of stress change for the M_(S)7.4 Madoi earthquake and implications for regional seismic hazards

On May 22,2021,the M_(S)7.4 earthquake occurred in Madoi County,Qinghai Province;it was another strong event that occurred within the Bayan Har block after the Dari M_(S)7.7 earthquake in 1947.An earthquake is bound to cast stress to the surrounding faults,thus affecting the regional seismic hazard.To understand these issues,a three-dimensional viscoelastic finite element model of the eastern Bayan Har block and its adjacent areas was constructed.Based on the co-seismic rupture model of the Madoi earthquake,we analyzed the co-and postseismic Coulomb stress change caused by the Madoi earthquake on the surrounding major faults.The results show that the Madoi earthquake caused significant co-seismic stress increases in the Tuosuo Lake and Maqin-Maqu segments of the East Kunlun fault(>10 kPa),which exceeded the proposed threshold of stress triggering.By integrating the accumulation rate of the inter-seismic tectonic stress,we conclude that the Madoi earthquake caused future strong earthquakes in the Tuosuo Lake and Maqin-Maqu segments of the East Kunlun fault to advance by 55.6-623 and 24.7-123 a,respectively.Combined with the influence of the Madoi earthquake and the elapsed time of the last strong earthquake,these two segments have approached or even exceeded the recurrence interval of the fault prescribed by previous research.In the future,it is necessary to focus greater attention on the seismic hazard of the Maqin-Maqu and Tuosuo Lake segments.This study provides a mechanical reference to understand the seismic hazard of the East Kunlun fault in the future,particularly to determine the seismic potential region.

Regional fault deformation characteristics before and after the Menyuan Ms6.4 earthquake

This study analyzes data regarding cross-fault deformations within the seismogenic zone of the 2016 Qinghai Menyuan Ms6.4 earthquake and its surrounding area. The results showed that the tendency anomaly sites near the epicenter had relatively long anomaly durations prior to the earthquake, while sudden-jumping anomaly sites started to increase in the middle eastern Qilian Mountains approximately a year before the earthquake and continued to increase and migrate towards the vicinity of the epicenter two to six months before the earthquake. Intensive observations a few days after the earthquake indicated that abnormal returns and turns before the earthquake were significant, but all had small amplitudes, and the coseismic effect was generally minor. In addition, the post-seismic tendency analysis of individual cross faults in the Qilian Mountain fault zone revealed an accelerating thrust tendency at all cross-fault sites in the middle Qilian Mountains after the 2008 Wenchuan Ms8.0 earthquake. This indicates that the Wenchuan mega-earthquake exerted a great impact on the dynamic environment of the northeastern margin of the Qinghai-Tibet plate and significantly enhanced the extrusion effect of the Indian plate on the middle Qilian Mountains, generating favorable conditions for the occurrence of Menyuan thrust earthquakes.

Preliminary analysis on the source properties and seismogenic structure of the 2017 M_s7.0 Jiuzhaigou earthquake

At GMT time 13：19, August 8, 2017, an M1.0 earthquake struck the Jiuzhaigou region in Sichuan Province, China, causing severe damages and casualties. To investigate the source properties, seismogenic structures, and seismic hazards, we systematically analyzed the tectonic environment, crustal velocity structure in the source region, source parameters and rupture process, Coulomb failure stress changes, and 3-D features of the rupture plane of the Jiuzhaigou earthquake. Our results indicate the following： （1） The Jiuzhaigou earthquake occurred on an unmarked fault belonging to the transition zone of the east Kunlun fault system and is located northwest of the Huya fault. （2） Both the mainshock and aftershock rupture zones are located in a region where crustal seismic velocity changes dramatically. Southeast to the source region, shear wave velocity at the middle to lower crust is significantly low, but it rapidly increases northeastward and lies close to the background velocity across the rupture fault. （3） The aftershock zone is narrow and distributes along the northwest-southeast trend, and most aftershocks occur within a depth range of 5-20 km. （4） The focal mechanism of the Jiuzhaigou earthquake indicates a left-lateral strike-slip fault, with strike, dip, and rake angles of 152~, 74~ and 8~, respectively. The hypocenter depth measures 20 km, whereas the centroid depth is about 6 kin. The co-seismic rupture mainly concentrates at depths of 3-13 km, with a moment magnitude （Mw） of 6.5. （5） The co-seismic rupture also strengthens the Coulomb failure stress at the two ends of the rupture fault and the east segment of the Tazang fault. Aftershocks relocation results together with geological surveys indicate that the causative fault is a near vertical fault with notable spatial variations： dip angle varies within 660-89~ from northwest to southeast and the average dip angle measures -84~. The results of this work are of fundamental importance for further studies on the source characteristics, tectonic environment, and seismic hazard evaluation of the Jiuzhaigou earthquake.

Kilometer-resolution three-dimensional crustal deformation of Tibetan Plateau from InSAR and GNSS

Located at the forefront of the collision between the Indian and Eurasian Plates,the Tibetan Plateau experiences intense crustal movement.Traditional ground-based geodetic monitoring,such as GNSS and leveling,is challenging,due to factors such as high altitude and harsh climate,making it difficult to accurately determine a high-resolution crustal deformation field of the plateau.Unaffected by ground observation conditions,InSAR technique has key advantages for obtaining extensive and high-resolution crustal deformation fields.This makes it indispensable for crustal deformation monitoring on the Tibetan Plateau.This study used Sentinel-1 data from 2014 to 2020 to compute the ascending and descending InSAR deformation fields for the Tibetan Plateau.This was conducted with a measurement accuracy of approximately 3 mm/yr.Building upon this,we integrated InSAR and GNSS data to yield kilometer-resolution three-dimensional(3D)crustal deformation and strain rate fields for the Tibetan Plateau.A spherical wavelet analysis was used to decompose the 3D deformation field and separate the nontectonic crustal deformation to increase the strength of the tectonic deformation signal.Short-wavelength(<110 km)deformations match the distribution of fault movement,post-seismic deformations,and other non-tectonic factors.Long wavelength(>110 km)deformation mainly results from subsidence in the central plateau and uplifts along the Himalayan Arc.This indicates that the Tibetan Plateau may have stopped the entire uplift and entered a local collapse stage.Furthermore,the deformation fields at different spatial scales reveal that the plateau exhibits discontinuous deformation in short wavelengths and continuous deformation in long wavelengths.The findings of this study contribute to resolving the controversy between the Block and Continuum Deformation models of the Tibetan Plateau.

A method for reconstructing NDVI time-series based on envelope detection and the Savitzky-Golay filter

High-quality,normalized differential vegetation index (NDVI) time-series data are fundamental for environmental remote sensing applications;however,their quality is often influenced by complicated factors such as atmospheric aerosols and cloud coverage. Hence,in the current study,a robust reconstruction method based on envelope detection and the Savitzky-Golay filter (ED-SG) was developed to reduce noise in the NDVI time-series. To verify the performance of ED-SG,simulation experiments were implemented and NDVI time-series samples were selected for different land cover types derived from MOD09GQ,Sentinel-2 and Landsat 8 OLI of Yangtze River Basin,between December 2018 and December 2019. The experimental results yielded an agreement coefficient and variance of 0.9599 and 0.0006,respectively on simulated time-series,Additionally,the smoothness metrics of evergreen broadleaf forests,evergreen needleleaf forests,deciduous broadleaf forests,herbaceous,and croplands were 0.0019,0.0017,0.0012,0.0012,and 0.0013,respectively. Ultimately,the reconstructed time-series metrics showed significant improvements in robustness and smoothness over conventional methods. Moreover,the simplistic mechanisms of the ED-SG model enabled it to run effectively in the Google Earth Engine over the NDVI time-series of the whole Yangtze River Basin.