Deep Seismogenic Environment in the Southern Section of the Longmenshan Fault Zone on the Eastern Margin of the Tibetan Plateau and Lushan M_s 7.0 Earthquake

The 2,026 earthquake events registered by the Sichuan regional digital seismic network and mobile seismic array after the April 20th, 2013 Lushan earthquake and 28,188 pieces of data were selected to determine direct P waves arrival times. We applied the tomographic method to inverse the characteristics of the velocity structure for the three-dimensional （3D） P wave in the mid-upper crust of the seismic source region of the Lushan earthquake. The imaging results were combined with the apparent magnetization inversion and magnetotelluric （MT） sounding retest data to comprehensively study the causes of the deep seismogenic environment in the southern section of the Longmenshan fault zone and explore the formation of the Lushan earthquake. Research has shown that there are obvious differences in velocity structure and magnetic distribution between the southern and northern sections of the Longmenshan fault zone. The epicenter of the Lushan earthquake is located near the boundary of the high and low-velocity anomalies and favorable for a high-velocity section. Moreover, at the epicenter of the Lushan earthquake located on the magnetic dome boundary of Ya＇an, the development of high velocity and magnetic solid medium favors the accumulation and release of strain energy. Low- velocity anomalies are distributed underneath the are of seismogenic origin, The inversion results of the MT retest data after the April 20th Lushan earthquake also indicate that there a high-conductor anomaly occurs under the area of seismogenic origin of the Lushan earthquake, Therefore, we speculated that the presence of a high-conductivity anomaly and low-velocity anomaly underneath the seismogenic body of the Lushan earthquake could be related to the existence of fluids. The role of fluids caused the weakening of the seismogenic layer inside the mid-upper crust and resulted in a seismogenic fault that was prone to rupture and pIayed a triggering role in the Lushan earthquake.

Magnetic resonance-based total liver volume and magnetic resonance-diffusion weighted imaging for staging liver fibrosis in mini-pigs

AIM:To determine whether and how magnetic resonance imaging(MRI)-based total liver volume(TLV) and diffusion weighted imaging(DWI) could predict liver fibrosis.METHODS:Sixteen experimental mature mini-pigs(6 males,10 females),weighing between 20.0 and 24.0 kg were prospectively used to model liver fibrosis induced by intraperitoneal injection of 40% CCl4 dissolved in fat emulsion twice a week for 16 wk,and by feeding 40% CCl4 mixed with maize flour twice daily for the subsequent 5 wk.All the survival animals underwent percutaneous liver biopsy and DWI using b = 300,500 and 800 s/mm2 followed by abdominal gadolinium-enhanced MRI at the 0,5th,9th,16th and 21st weekend after beginning of the modeling.TLV was obtained on enhanced MRI,and apparent diffusion coefficient(ADC) was obtained on DWI.Hepatic tissue specimens were stained with hematoxylin and Masson' s trichrome staining for staging liver fibrosis.Pathological specimens were scored using the human METAVIR classification system.Statistical analyses were performed to determine whether and how the TLV and ADC could be used to predict the stage of liver fibrosis.RESULTS:TLV increased from stage 0 to 2 and decreased from stage 3(r = 0.211;P < 0.001).There was a difference in TLV between stage 0-1 and 2-4(P = 0.03) whereas no difference between stage 0-2 and 3-4(P = 0.71).TLV could predict stage ≥ 2 [area under receiver operating characteristic curve(AUC) = 0.682].There was a decrease in ADC values with increasing stage of fibrosis for b = 300,500 and 800 s/mm2(r =-0.418,-0.535 and-0.622,respectively;all P < 0.001).Differences were found between stage 0-1 and 2-4 in ADC values for b = 300,500 and 800 s/mm2,and between stage 0-2 and 3-4 for b = 500 or 800 s/mm2(all P < 0.05).For predicting stage ≥ 2 and ≥ 3,AUC was 0.803 and 0.847 for b = 500 s/mm2,and 0.848 and 0.887 for b = 800 s/mm2,respectively.CONCLUSION:ADC for b = 500 or 800 s/mm2 could be better than TLV and ADC for b = 300 s/mm2 to pre-dict fibrosis stage ≥ 2 or ≥ 3.