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In this article, we collected the seismic phase arrival data (115°–120°E, 34°–39°N) of 2,833 local natural earthquakes above magnitude 1.0 recorded by 128 seismograph stations provided by the China Earthquake Networks Center covering the period from January 2008 to October 2023. We extracted the first arrival P- and S-wave arrival time data and obtained 26,351 P- and 26,349 S-wave absolute arrival times and 99,627 P-differential and 99,625 S-differential arrival times. Then, we determined 3-D P and S wave velocity structures under the Luxi region by using the double-difference tomography method. The results show lateral heterogeneities under the Luxi region, and the distribution of surface basins and uplift zones is associated with seismic velocities within the crust. The vertical section shows the widespread presence of vertical high-velocity bodies within the crust of the Luxi region, indicating seismological evidence of mantle upwelling in the region. Meanwhile, our imaging results also clearly indicate the presence of a significant low-velocity anomaly at depths of 13–17 km, which corresponds to the presence of a high-conductivity layer at that depth obtained from electromagnetic bathymetry. The transition zone between high and low velocities exists at a depth of 7–13 km, which plays an important role in the transfer of lithospheric stresses from the deep to the shallow part of the lithosphere. Combined with the results of the previous deep seismic wave velocity structure, petrology, and geological investigations, the deep dynamical background of the formation of slip tectonics and seismic mechanism in the Luxi area can be attributed to the go-slip activity of the Tan-Lu fault Zone, the subduction of the Pacific Plate, and the magmatism generated by mantle upwelling.

Leonurus japonicus Houtt is an exceptional medicinal herb used to treat obstetrical and gynecological diseases in traditional Chinese medicine, and it has significant effects on the treatment of dysmenorrhea and postpartum hemorrhage. This study investigated the effects of coumarins with diverse substituent groups from L. japonicus on isolated uterine smooth muscle and the preliminary mechanism of the most effective compound. Eight coumarins isolated from L. japonicus were assessed for their effects on the isolated uterine smooth muscle of nonpregnant rats in vitro. Coumarins 1 and 2 significantly promoted the contraction of rat uterine smooth muscle strips, whereas coumarins 3–5 showed remarkable relaxing effects against oxytocin (OT)-induced rat uterine smooth muscle contraction. Further mechanism investigations revealed that bergapten (coumarin 1) significantly increased the level of Ca2+ in uterine tissues by promoting extracellular Ca2+ influx and intracellular Ca2+ release, which were related to the activation of L-type Ca2+ channels and α-receptors. By contrast, osthole (coumarin 5), an α receptor antagonist, inhibited OT-induced uterine smooth muscle contraction by decreasing the level of Ca2+ in uterine tissues via inhibition of extracellular Ca2+ influx and intracellular Ca2+ release. This study demonstrates that the coumarins from L. japonicus are effective substances for regulating uterine smooth muscle contraction, but different coumarins with diverse substituent groups have different, even opposite effects. It can be inferred that coumarins are closely related to the efficacy of L. japonicus in the treatment of dysmenorrhea and postpartum hemorrhage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amaranthaceae s.l. is a widely distributed family consisting of over 170 genera and 2000 species. Previous molecular phylogenetic studies have shown that Amaranthaceae s.s. and traditional Chenopodiaceae form a monophyletic group (Amaranthaceae s.l.), however, the relationships within this evolutionary branch have yet to be fully resolved. In this study, we assembled the complete plastomes and full‐length ITS of 21 Amaranthaceae s.l. individuals and compared them with 38 species of Amaranthaceae s.l. Through plastome structure and sequence alignment analysis, we identified a reverse complementary region approximately 5200 bp long in the genera Atriplex and Chenopodium. Adaptive evolution analysis revealed significant positive selection in eight genes, which likely played a driving role in the evolution of Amaranthaceae s.l., as demonstrated by partitioned evolutionary analysis. Furthermore, we found that about two‐thirds of the examined species lack the ycf15 gene, potentially associated with natural selection pressures from their adapted habitats. The phylogenetic tree indicated that some genera (Chenopodium, Halogeton, and Subtr. Salsolinae) are paraphyletic lineages. Our results strongly support the clustering of Amaranthaceae s.l. with monophyletic traditional Chenopodiaceae (Clades I and II) and Amaranthaceae s.s. After a comprehensive analysis, we determined that cytonuclear conflict, gene selection by adapted habitats, and incomplete lineage sorting (ILS) events were the primary reasons for the inconsistent phylogeny of Amaranthaceae s.l. During the last glacial period, certain species within Amaranthaceae s.l. underwent adaptations to different environments and began to differentiate rapidly. Since then, these species may have experienced morphological and genetic changes distinct from those of other genera due to intense selection pressure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is a diabetic complication. LncRNAs are reported to participate in the pathophysiology of DN. Here, the function and mechanism of lncRNA small nucleolar RNA host gene14 (SNHG14) in DN were explored. Methods: Streptozotocin (STZ)‐induced DN mouse models and high glucose (HG)‐treated human mesangial cells (MCs) were used to detect SNHG14 expression. SNHG14 silencing plasmids were applied to examine the function of SNHG14 on proliferation and fibrosis in HG‐treated MCs. Potential targets of SNHG14 were predicted using bioinformatics tools and verified by luciferase reporter, RNA pulldown, and northern blotting assays. The functional role of SNHG14 in DN in vivo was detected by injection with adenoviral vector carrying sh‐SNHG14 into DN mice. Serum creatinine, blood urea nitrogen, blood glucose, 24‐h proteinuria, relative kidney weight, and renal pathological changes were examined in DN mice. Results: SNHG14 expression was elevated in the kidneys of DN mice and HG‐treated MCs. SNHG14 silencing inhibited proliferation and fibrosis of HG‐stimulated MCs. SNHG14 bound to miR‐30e‐5p to upregulate SOX4 expression. In rescue assays, SOX4 elevation diminished the effects of SNHG14 silencing in HG‐treated MCs, and SOX4 silencing reversed the effects of SNHG14 overexpression. In in vivo studies, SNHG14 downregulation significantly ameliorated renal injuries and renal interstitial fibrosis in DN mice. Conclusions: SNHG14 silencing attenuates kidney injury in DN mice and reduces proliferation and fibrotic phenotype of HG‐stimulated MCs via the miR‐30e‐5p/SOX4 axis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

TC4 titanium alloy is widely used in aerospace, petrochemical, pharmaceutical and other fields, which accounts for about 60% of the current titanium alloy products. Water Cavitation Peening (WCP) is a new material surface modification process and has great development potential. The improvement of the water cavitation peening is severely limited by the correlation and coupling between process parameters. Therefore, the influence law of each process parameter is the key problem that needs to be resolved. TC4 titanium alloy as research object is took and four main process parameters of WCP under four working conditions is construct (four factors and four levels orthogonal). The influence of process parameters on three evaluation indexes is studied, such as the surface residual stress, the surface roughness and the microhardness. Then, the fuzzy mathematics comprehensive evaluation is used to optimize. Results show that the peening time has the greatest influence on strengthening effect and the nozzle diameter has the least. The optimized combination is that the nozzle diameter is 1.4 mm, the incident pressure is 40 MPa, the dimensionless target distance is 72.5 and peening time is 27.5 min. The corresponding surface residual stress, the surface roughness and the microhardness can reach −612 MPa, 0.76 μm, and 405 HV respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel interface strengthening and toughening method of Steel/PEEK joints was proposed in this article. The multi-scale combined features consisting of macro grooves and micro conical hole array were constructed on the steel sheet surface. The shearing fracture behavior of the Steel/PEEK joints was studied to reveal the influence law and mechanism of the diameter-to-depth ratio γ of micro conical holes on the infiltration effect of molten PEEK, the maximum shear force and the energy absorption property. Results indicated that the Steel/PEEK joints with different multi-scale combined features possessed great infiltration effect and achieved a much larger maximum shear force than the joints without multi-scale combined feature (the largest improvement was approximately 360% when the γ of micro conical hole was 1.5). The joints also underwent a typical three-stage failure process. As the γ of the micro conical holes decreased, the maximum shear force almost increased linearly and the absorbed energy increased exponentially. The load-carrying capacity and energy absorption property of the steel/30% short carbon fiber-reinforced PEEK joint did not improve considerably as desired owing to the non-ideal infiltration effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Micro-feature arrays and large-area complex microscopic features on thin metallic sheet play an important role in micro-components. A novel technique-submerged water-jet cavitation shocking-is presented to generate micro-feature arrays on 304 stainless foils in this paper. High-speed camera shadowgraph images of the cavitation cloud were employed to analyze the impact zone. Then the forming depth, uniformity of forming depth and the thickness distribution of the micro-feature arrays were also studied. The results show that the forming region can be categorized into the jet-impact-zone, the bubble-impact-zone and the periphery-impact-zone radially. Bubble-impact-zone peaks in the depth of array micro-forming. The forming depth increases with time while the uniformity decreases with time. The forming parts have a uniform thickness distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]