Coseismic vertical deformation of the M_S8.0 Wenchuan earthquake from repeated levelings and its constraint on listric fault geometry

The devastating Ms8.0 Wenchuan earthquake ruptured two large parallel thrust faults along the middle segment of the Longmenshan thrust belt. Preseismic and postseismic leveling data indicated the hanging wall of the Yingxiu-Beichuan-Nanba thrust fault mainly presented coseismic uplift with respect to the reference point at Pingwu county town, and the observed maximum uplift of 4.7 m is located at Beichuan county （Qushan town） which is about 100 m west of the fault scarp. The foot wall of the Yingxiu-Beichuan-Nanba thrust fault mainly showed subsidence with maximum subsidence of 0.6 m near the rupture. By employing a listric dislocation model, we found that the fault geometry model of exponential dip angle δ=88°×[1-exp（-9/h）] with depth of 18 km and uniform thrust-slip of 5.6 m could fit the observed coseismic vertical deformation very well, which verifies the listric thrust model of the Longmenshan orogenic zone.

pH-sensitive polymeric micelles triggered drug release for extracellular and intracellular drug targeting delivery

Most of the conventional chemotherapeutic agents used for cancer chemotherapy suffer from multidrug resistance of tumor cells and poor antitumor efficacy.Based on physiological differences between the normal tissue and the tumor tissue,one effective approach to improve the efficacy of cancer chemotherapy is to develop pH-sensitive polymeric micellar delivery systems.The copolymers with reversible protonationedeprotonation core units or acid-liable bonds between the therapeutic agents and the micelle-forming copolymers can be used to form pH-sensitive polymeric micelles for extracellular and intracellular drug smart release.These systems can be triggered to release drug in response to the slightly acidic extracellular fluids of tumor tissue after accumulation in tumor tissues via the enhanced permeability and retention effect,or they can be triggered to release drug in endosomes or lysosomes by pH-controlled micelle hydrolysis or dissociation after uptake by cells via the endocytic pathway.The pH-sensitive micelles have been proved the specific tumor cell targeting,enhanced cellular internalization,rapid drug release,and multidrug resistance reversal.The multifunctional polymeric micelles combining extracellular pH-sensitivity with receptor-mediated active targeting strategies are of great interest for enhanced tumor targeting.The micelles with receptor-mediated and intracellular pH targeting functions are internalized via receptor-mediated endocytosis followed by endosomal-pH triggered drug release inside the cells,which reverses multidrug resistance.The pH sensitivity strategy of the polymeric micelles facilitates the specific drug delivery with reduced systemic side effects and improved chemotherapeutical efficacy,and is a novel promising platform for tumor-targeting drug delivery.

Characterization of flavor fingerprinting of red sufu during fermentation and the comparison of volatiles of typical products

Traditional Chinese red sufu is a popular condiment,and typical flavor is an important indicator of sensory qualities in commercial products.In this study,the volatile aroma analysis of Wangzhihe red sufu(WRS)from different fermentation stages and four typical red sufu products from different locations was carried out by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry(GC–MS),gas chromatography-mass spectrometry/olfactory(GC–MS/O),electronic nose(E-nose)and sensory evaluation.Results showed that 106 volatile compounds were identified in Wangzhihe red sufu during fermentation process,in which phenolics and alcohols were dominant at molded and salted phetze stages,while esters and alcohols became predominate at post-fermentation stage.The volatile aroma substances varied at each fermentation stage.Furthermore,86 volatiles,including 16 aroma-active compounds,were detected in four typical red sufu products.The multivariate analysis results showed the difference in samples from different fermentation stages and typical red sufu products according to GC–MS and E-nose analysis.Combined with flavor omics,discriminant model was established for effective discrimination of samples from different fermentation stages and locations,as well as references to sufu maturity extent.The study presented a new strategy for quality evaluation of red sufu,which could be the supplement to quality evaluation standards.

Application of contrast-enhanced ultrasound in minimally invasive ablation of benign thyroid nodules

Objective:This study aimed to investigate the application value of contrast-enhanced ultrasound(CEUS)before and after minimally invasive ablation procedures for benign thyroid nodule(s)(BTN).Methods:This prospective study included patients with BTNs scheduled to undergo ultrasound-guided minimally invasive ablation treatment.CEUS was performed before and after ablation(at 1 day,and 1,6,and 12 months after ablation).Changes in microvascular perfusion and the volume of BTNs were noted and assessed.Results:Sixty-two patients(62 BTNs),who underwent ablation procedures between June 2016 and August 2020,were included.All lesions were confirmed by biopsy,and histopathological results were obtained before ablation treatment.On preoperative CEUS,the lesions exhibited hyperenhancement(53.23%)or iso-enhancement(46.77%)during the arterial phase,and all lesions exhibited iso-enhancement in the venous and late phases.One day after ablation,none of the BTNs exhibited obvious enhancement on CEUS.One(1.61%)lesion was retreated due to a nodule-like enhancement area detected by CEUS at the 6-month follow-up.The mean nodular volume reduction rate(VRR)at 1,6,and 12 months follow-up demonstrated no significant difference between the two ablation groups(microwave ablation versus radiofrequency ablation).Twelve months after ablation,the mean(±SD)VRR of all BTNs was 60.3±10.3%.Conclusion:CEUS helped guide treatment decisions for BTNs before ablation treatment.Moreover,it could also be used to accurately and noninvasively evaluate treatment efficacy.

Efficacy of contrast-enhanced ultrasound-guided percutaneous core needle biopsy in anterior mediastinal masses

Objective:To evaluate the efficacy and safety of percutaneous core needle biopsy(PCNB)using ultrasound(US)-guided and contrast-enhanced ultrasound(CEUS)-guided procedures for anterior mediastinal masses(AMMs).Methods:In total,284 consecutive patients(166 men,118 women;mean age,43.0±18.4 years)who underwent PCNB for AMMs were enrolled.Patients were divided into the US-guided group(n=133)and the CEUS-guided group(n=151).PCNB was performed using a core needle(16-gauge or 18-gauge).Internal necrosis,diagnostic yield,and diagnostic accuracy were compared between the two groups.Results:The predominant final diagnosis of the cases in this study was thymoma(29.7%),lymphoma(20.5%),thymic carcinoma(13.3%),and germ cell tumour(13.3%),respectively.There was no significant difference in patient age,sex,number of percutaneous biopsies,or display rate of internal necrosis on conventional US between the two groups.The rate of internal necrosis of the lesions was significantly higher after contrast agent injection(72.2%vs.41.7%;P<0.001).The CEUS-guided group had a higher diagnostic yield than the US-guided group(100%vs.89.5%,P<0.001).There was no significant difference between the diagnostic accuracy of the CEUSguided and US-guided groups(97.3%vs.97.4%;P=1.000).None of the patients experienced adverse reactions or complications after US-guided or CEUS-guided PCNB.Conclusions:CEUS-guided PCNB can improve the diagnostic yield by optimizing the biopsy procedure.

Comparative study on vertical deformation based on GPS and leveling data

The development of GPS(Global Positioning System) technology has led to increasingly widely and successful applications of GPS surveys for monitoring crustal movements. However, multi-period GPS survey solutions have not been applied in monitoring vertical crustal movements with normal backgrounds. In this paper, we carried out a comparative study on the vertical deformation of the comprehensive profile of the cross-fault zone in Shanyin, Shanxi province, China, based on GPS and precise leveling observation data for multiple time periods. The vertical deformation rates observed with repeating GPS survey are obviously different(over 20 mm/y at some sites) from those with repeating leveling survey within a relatively short period. However, the deviations in the vertical displacement between GPS and leveling in a long-term survey(over three years) showed good consistency at 3-4 mm/y at most sites, on GPS forced offset surveying and fixed survey instruments in a long-term survey(over three years). Therefore, GPS vertical displacement results can be applied to the study of vertical crustal movements.

Dynamic evolution of crustal horizontal deformation before the Ms6.4 Menyuan earthquake

An Ms6.4 earthquake occurred in the Menyuan county of Qinghai Province on Jan 21, 2016. In order to recognize the development of horizontal deformation and distinguish precursory deformation anomalies, we obtained coordinates time series, velocity and strain model around the seismic zones from processing of continuous observations from 2010 and 6 times of surveying Global Positioning System （GPS） data since 2009. The results show that, before the earthquake, the eastern segmentation of the Qilian tectonic zone where the Lenglongling Fault located is in strong crustal shortening and compressional strain state with dilatational rates of -15 to -25 ppb. The Lenglongling Fault has a strike-slip rate of 3.1 mm/a and a far-field differential orthogonal rate of 7 mm/a, while differential rate is only 1.2 mm/a near the fault, which reflects its locking feature with strain energy accumulation and high seismic risks. Dynamic evolution of deformation model shows that preevent dilatational rates around the seismic zones increases from 15 ppb/a to -20 ppb/a with its center moving to the source areas. Time series of N components of G337 station, which is 13.7 km away from the Lenglongling Fault, exhibit a 5 mm/a acceleration anomaly. Time series of base-station QHME （in Menyuan） displays a reverse acceleration from the end of Sep. to Dec., 2016 when it comes to a largest deviation, and the accumulative displacement is more than 4 mm and the value reverse till the earthquake. In our results, coseismic displacement of N, E, U components in QHME site are 3.0 mm, 3.0 mm, -5.4 mm, respectively. If we profile these values onto the Lenglongling Fault, we can achieve a 1.1 mm of strike slip and 4.1 mm updip slip relative to the hanging wall.

Differential Proteomic Analysis of Wheat Roots under Different Levels of Potassium

[ Objective ] This study aimed to investigate the regulatory role of potassium levels in plant gene expression. [ Method ] By using wheat （ Triticum aesti- vum L. Beinong 9549） as experimental material, the protein expression in wheat roots under different levels of potassium was determined by two-dimensional elec- trophoresis （2-DE）. [ Result] Compared with the plants supplied with normal level of potassium, 152 protein spots in wheat roots under potassium deficiency con- dition showed significant differences （P 〈 0.05 ）, including 76 protein spots significantly up-regulated by more than twice and 76 protein spots significantly down- regulated by more than twice. After potassium deficiency treatment, the wheat plants were supplied with normal level of potassium for two weeks, which showed sig- nificant differences in 73 protein spots compared with the plants continuously supplied with normal level of potassium （ P 〈 0. 05 ）, including 36 protein spots signif- icantly up-regulated by more than twice and 37 protein spots significantly down-regulated by more than twice. [ Conclusion] This study indicates that potassium de- ficiency stress would lead to induction of a large number of specific proteins in wheat roots.

肝脏炎性假瘤的超声造影表现及其诊断价值

目的分析肝脏炎性假瘤的超声造影表现,并探讨超声造影对炎性假瘤的诊断价值。方法回顾性分析南京鼓楼医院和复旦大学附属中山医院自2012年12月至2022年12月76例经病理证实的肝脏炎性假瘤患者的临床及超声造影资料,总结其常规超声及超声造影的特点并评价其诊断准确率。结果76例肝脏占位超声造影动脉期可见5种增强模式:整体均匀增强(27.63%,21/76)、整体不均匀增强(26.32%,20/76)、周边环状增强(26.32%,20/76)、蜂窝状增强(14.47%,11/76)和三期无增强(5.26%,4/76)。强化程度为45例高增强,22例等增强,5例低增强,4例无增强。病灶在超声造影门脉期及延迟期呈低回声、混合回声、等回声和无回声的分别有55例、15例、2例、4例。所有病例的开始增强时间、达峰时间和廓清时间分别为15.0(13.0,19.3)s、22.0(19.8,26.3)s、35.0(30.0,50.0)s。有56例(73.68%)在注射造影剂后60 s内出现廓清,呈现“快进快退”模式,其中45例病灶在45 s内廓清。根据超声结果、临床表现及实验室检查,48例(63.16%)病灶被正确诊断为炎性假瘤,而其余28例被误诊为恶性肿瘤(30.26%,23/76)或诊断不确定(6.58%,5/76)。结论肝脏炎性假瘤在疾病进展过程中因病理不同而表现出多种强化模式,超声造影特征对其诊断具有一定的价值,同时需结合临床表现与实验室检查有助于提高诊断准确率。

OAAFormer:Robust and Efficient Point Cloud Registration Through Overlapping-Aware Attention in Transformer

In the domain of point cloud registration,the coarse-to-fine feature matching paradigm has received significant attention due to its impressive performance.This paradigm involves a two-step process:first,the extraction of multilevel features,and subsequently,the propagation of correspondences from coarse to fine levels.However,this approach faces two notable limitations.Firstly,the use of the Dual Softmax operation may promote one-to-one correspondences between superpoints,inadvertently excluding valuable correspondences.Secondly,it is crucial to closely examine the overlapping areas between point clouds,as only correspondences within these regions decisively determine the actual transformation.Considering these issues,we propose OAAFormer to enhance correspondence quality.On the one hand,we introduce a soft matching mechanism to facilitate the propagation of potentially valuable correspondences from coarse to fine levels.On the other hand,we integrate an overlapping region detection module to minimize mismatches to the greatest extent possible.Furthermore,we introduce a region-wise attention module with linear complexity during the fine-level matching phase,designed to enhance the discriminative capabilities of the extracted features.Tests on the challenging 3DLoMatch benchmark demonstrate that our approach leads to a substantial increase of about 7%in the inlier ratio,as well as an enhancement of 2%-4%in registration recall.Finally,to accelerate the prediction process,we replace the Conventional Random Sample Consensus(RANSAC)algorithm with the selection of a limited yet representative set of high-confidence correspondences,resulting in a 100 times speedup while still maintaining comparable registration performance.

Message from the Best Paper Award Committee

Following the success of the past eight years,Tsinghua University Press has continued to sponsor an annual award for the best papers published in Computational Visual Media.Eight papers in 2023 from Computational Visual Media were recommended by Associate Editors as candidate papers for the Best Paper Award.Associate Editors-in-Chief Ming C.Lin and Ralph Martin led the Best Paper Award Committee to select the Best Paper.After careful deliberation,the following paper was chosen with the unanimous consensus as the winner.

Application of subharmonic-aided pressure estimation in a patient with giant hepatic cyst:A case report

Giant hepatic cysts may lead to impaired liver function by compressing surrounding tissue,resulting in symptoms such as nausea or portal hypertension.Subharmonic-aided pressure estimation(SHAPE)offers a noninvasive method for quantitatively estimating pressure and monitoring interstitial fluid pressure.A 55-year-old female patient with giant hepatic cysts was admitted to our hospital with elevated protein electrophoretic gamma levels,likely caused by compression of important liver vessels by the cysts.Before surgery,B-mode ultrasound(BMUS)revealed multiple anechoic cystic lesions with thin,smooth walls in the right lobe.In SHAPE,the curve of the portal vein was lower than that of the hepatic vein,which is absolutely different from a healthy volunteer in our previous SHAPE study.It suggested that the patient may have had portal hypertension.Three days after laparoscopic fenestration and drainage of hepatic cysts,the size of the largest cyst had decreased on BMUS and protein electrophoretic gamma levels had normalized.While the curve of the portal vein remained lower than that of the hepatic vein,the difference between them had decreased compared to presurgery levels.SHAPE shows promise as a tool for noninvasively estimating portal hypertension and improving prognosis assessment in patients.

Boundary Correspondence for Iso-Geometric Analysis Based on Deep Learning

One of the key problems in isogeometric analysis(IGA)is domain parameterization,i.e.,constructing a map between a parametric domain and a computational domain.As a preliminary step of domain parameterization,the mapping between the boundaries of the parametric domain and the computational domain should be established.The boundary correspondence strongly affects the quality of domain parameterization and thus subsequent numerical analysis.Currently,boundary correspondence is generally determined manually and only one approach based on optimal mass transport discusses automatic generation of boundary correspondence.In this article,we propose a deep neural network based approach to generate boundary correspondence for 2D simply connected computational domains.Given the boundary polygon of a planar computational domain,the main problem is to pick four corner vertices on the input boundary in order to subdivide the boundary into four segments which correspond to the four sides of the parametric domain.We synthesize a dataset with corner correspondence and train a fully convolutional network to predict the likelihood of each boundary vertex to be one of the corner vertices,and thus to locate four corner vertices with locally maximum likelihood.We evaluate our method on two types of datasets:MPEG-7 dataset and CAD model dataset.The experiment results demonstrate that our algorithm is faster by several orders of magnitude,and at the same time achieves smaller average angular distortion,more uniform area distortion and higher success rate,compared to the traditional optimization-based method.Furthermore,our neural network exhibits good generalization ability on new datasets.

Message from the Best Paper Award Committee

Following the success of the past seven years,Tsinghua University Press will continue to sponsor an annual award for the best papers published in Computational Visual Media.Ten papers in 2022 from Computational Visual Media were recommended by Associate Editors as candidate papers for the Best Paper Award.Associate Editor-in-Chief Ming C.Lin selected and led the Best Paper Award Committee,after other Editorial Board Members recused themselves.After careful deliberation,the following paper was chosen as the winner,on the basis of its intellectual merit and potential impact。

中国瘤棘奈氏虫种群密度和形态特征的时空差异及其影响因子

瘤棘奈氏虫(Netzelia tuberspinifera)是东亚特有种,属于有壳虫原生动物,壳体大小约为100μm.本文首先在空间尺度上对中国88个湖库中瘤棘奈氏虫地理分布进行分析,发现瘤棘奈氏虫的分布与纬度、海拔和温度显著相关,分布在低纬度、低海拔、高温的亚热带和热带地区.重点以福建厦门汀溪水库连续4年时间序列样品和中国南方地区28座水库(14个流域)空间样品为基础,研究瘤棘奈氏虫种群时空变化规律及其影响因子.结果表明,汀溪水库瘤棘奈氏虫种群密度为0~10.7 ind/L,存在显著的季节变化,水温和食物(藻类)是主要影响因子,其中水温的影响更大.水温变化范围在14.3~32.1℃之间,高于30℃的水温更适合瘤棘奈氏虫生长繁殖,因此在夏秋季节种群密度较高.空间尺度上,瘤棘奈氏虫种群密度为0~19.2 ind/L,主要受地理因子的限制,随经度、纬度的增加而降低,同时食物(藻类)、电导率和硝态氮对种群密度也存在显著影响.在形态方面,壳口直径是决定瘤棘奈氏虫种群在季节间(33.5~68.2μm)和流域间(33.5~73.6μm)形态差异的主要特征;食物(藻类)可能是影响汀溪水库不同季节壳口直径差异的主要因子,而不同流域间种群壳口直径的差异主要受食物(藻类)、总碳和浊度等生态因子的影响.本研究揭示了瘤棘奈氏虫集合种群的时空差异性,加深了对有壳虫种群地理分布和多样性的认知,可为水库生态评价与生物多样性保护提供参考.

Local delivery of arsenic trioxide nanoparticles for hepatocellular carcinoma treatment

Hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)is a malignancy with a poor prognosis.Surgery combined with chemotherapy has been recommended as a curative regimen for HCC.Nevertheless,the anticancer mechanisms of chemicals in hepatocellular carcinoma remain unclear.Pyroptosis is a type of programmed necrosis,and its mechanism in hepatocellular carcinoma is poorly understood.The efficacy and mechanism of arsenic trioxide nanoparticles in the treatment of HCC were explored in this research.Arsenic trioxide alone and arsenic trioxide nanoparticles were conveniently administered to mice intratumorally using a needle.Compared with As_(2)O_(3),As_(2)O_(3)nanoparticles(As_(2)O_(3)-NPs)showed better inhibition,promoted greater LDH release,and induced cell morphology indicative of pyroptosis in vitro.Compared with the free drug,As_(2)O_(3)-NPs increased GSDME-N expression and decreased Dnmt3a,Dnmt3b,and Dnmt1 expression in Huh7 cells.In vivo,As_(2)O_(3)-NPs induced a significant decrease in the expression of Dnmt3a,Dnmt3b and Dnmt1,but significantly upregulated the expression of GSDME-N(gasdermin E(GSDME)was originally found to be related to deafness;recently,it has been defined as a gasdermin family member associated with pyroptosis).As_(2)O_(3)-NPs inhibited tumor growth more strongly than As_(2)O_(3)or control,a finding likely attributed to the downregulation of PCNA and DNMT-related proteins and the upregulation of GSDME-N.

Comparison between topical tacrolimus and potent topical steroids in treatment of childhood vitiligo

Objective To assess which of topical tacrolimus and topical highly potent steroids,is more effective and safer in the treatment of pediatric vitiligo.Methods The PubMed,Cochrane library,Scopus and CINAHL plus databases were retrieved.The search was confined to English language articles.The randomized controlled trial(RCT)articles were included in our study.The quality of the identified articles was examined by using the CASP Randomised Controlled Trials Checklist.Results As a result,there were only a few studies related to the comparison.However,there were only two RCTs regarding a comparison of topical tacrolimus 0.1%and clobetasol propionate 0.05%in childhood vitiligo.Conclusion When the body surface area(BSA)involved in the child is<20%,and the disease is not rapidly spreading,topical therapy is the first choice.Topical tacrolimus may be considered as an alternative therapy for childhood vitiligo,especially for acrofacial and segmental types,before considering other modalities,but still need to observe long-term side effects.

Message from the Best Paper Award Committee

Following the success of the past six years, Tsinghua University Press will continue to sponsor an annual award for the best papers published in Computational Visual Media. Eleven papers in 2021 from Computational Visual Media were recommended by the associate editors as candidate papers for the Best Paper Award.

Coreference resolution helps visual dialogs to focus

Visual Dialog is a multi-modal task involving both computer vision and dialog systems.The goal is to answer multiple questions in conversation style,given an image as the context.Neural networks with attention modules are widely used for this task,because of their effectiveness in reasoning the relevance between the texts and images.In this work,we study how to further improve the quality of such reasoning,which is an open challenge.Our baseline is the Recursive Visual Attention(RVA)model,which refines the vision-text attention by iteratively visiting the dialog history.Building on top of that,we propose to improve the attention mechanism with contrastive learning.We train a Matching-Aware Attention Kernel(MAAK)by aligning the deep feature embeddings of an image and its caption,to provide better attention scores.Experiments show consistent improvements from MAAK.In addition,we study the effect of using Multimodal Compact Bilinear(MCB)pooling as a three-way feature fusion for the visual,textual and dialog history embeddings.We analyze the performance of both methods in the discussion section,and propose further ideas to resolve current limitations.