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Chemotherapy, as an important clinical treatment, has greatly enhanced survival in cancer patients, but the side effects and long-term sequelae bother both patients and clinicians. 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) has been widely used as a chemotherapeutic agent in the clinical treatment of various cancers, but several studies showed its adverse effects on reproduction. Reproductive toxicity of 5-FU often associates with developmental block, malformation and ovarian damage in the females. In males, 5-FU administration alters the morphology of sexual organs, the levels of reproductive endocrine hormones and the progression of spermatogenesis, ultimately reducing sperm numbers. Mechanistically, 5-FU exerts its effect through incorporating the active metabolites into nucleic acids directly, or inhibiting thymidylate synthase to disrupt the function of DNA and RNA, leading to profound effects on cellular metabolism and viability. However, some studies suggested that the toxicity of 5-FU on reproduction is reversible and certain drugs used in combination with 5-FU during chemotherapy could protect reproductive systems from 5-FU damage both in females and males. Herein, we summarise the recent findings and discuss underlying mechanisms of the 5-FU-induced reproductive toxicity, providing a reference for future research and clinical treatments.

Knowledge of carbonate compounds under high pressure inside Earth is key to understanding the internal structure of the Earth, the deep carbon cycle and major geological events. Here we use first-principles simulations to calculate the structure and elasticity of CaC 2 O 5 -minerals with different symmetries under high pressure. Our calculations show that CaC 2 O 5 -minerals represent a group of low-density low-seismic-wave velocity mantle minerals. Changes in seismic wave velocity caused by the phase transformation of CaC 2 O 5 - Cc to CaC 2 O 5 - I 4 ¯ 2 d (CaC 2 O 5 - C 2- l ) agree with wave velocity discontinuity at a depth of 660 km in the mantle transition zone. Moreover, when CaC 2 O 5 - Fdd 2 transforms into CaC 2 O 5 - C 2 under 70 GPa, its shear wave velocity decreases by 7.4%, and its density increases by 5.8%, which is consistent with the characteristics of large low-shear-velocity provinces (LLSVPs). Furthermore, the shear wave velocity of CaC 2 O 5 - I 4 ¯ 2 d is very similar to that of cubic Ca-perovskite, which is one of the main constituents of the previously detected LLSVPs. Therefore, we propose that CaC 2 O 5 and its high-pressure polymorphs may be a main component of LLSVPs. Based on first-principle simulations of the properties of CaC 2 O 5 under high pressure, the authors suggest that carbonates may contribute to the origins of the seismic velocity anomalies in Earth’s mantle and transport within the deep carbon cycle.

An acyl-amino acid type protic ionic liquid (PIL) composed of N-2-ethylhexylethylenediaminium ([HEtHex-en]+) coupled with dl-hexanoylalaninate ([Hexala]−), forming dl-[HEtHex][Hexala], was newly synthesized. This PIL has chelate moieties on both the cationic and anionic sides. It is a room-temperature ionic liquid with a glass transition temperature of 237.55 K (− 35.6 °C) and is highly miscible with water (H2O, 90 wt.%) owing to its high polarity. The dynamic viscosity approximately follows the Arrhenius equation while the electrical conductivity slightly deviates from it in the temperature range 303.15–353.15 K. The Walden line of dl-[HEtHex][Hexala] in the same temperature range is found to be outside the ΔW = 1 region. dl-[HEtHex][Hexala] enables the encapsulation of transition metal ions, and the measurements with inductive coupled plasma emission have shown that the solubilities of CuCl2, CoCl2 and NiCl2 in dl-[HEtHex][Hexala] are 74.5, 65.2, and 17.6 mmol·kg−1, respectively.

5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) is a widely used chemotherapeutic agent whose incorporation into nucleic acid plays an essential role in its therapeutic efficacy. 5-FU induces severe reproductive toxicity, which has been shown to be reversible. However, the underlying mechanisms have not been fully elucidated. Since single-strand-selective monofunctional uracil-DNA glycosylase 1 (Smug1) is a key enzyme in the excision of 5-FU, we investigated its potential role in the reversible reproductive toxicity of 5-FU by integrating knockdown, overexpression and LC‒MS/MS approaches. 5-FU treatment increased Smug1 and Dkc1 expression but blocked rRNA maturation in preimplantation embryos. Smug1 knockdown inhibited Dkc1 expression and impaired rRNA maturation, leading to reduced preimplantation embryo development. In contrast, Smug1 overexpression alleviated the inhibitory effects of 5-FU on rRNA and oocyte maturation and partially rescued 5-FU-induced developmental defects in preimplantation embryos. LC‒MS/MS analysis further revealed that overexpression of Smug1 reduced the levels of RNA incorporated 5-FUrd, the metabolite of 5-FU, indicating that Smug1 potentially alleviates reproductive toxicity by excising 5-FU from RNA. Our findings revealed the active involvement of Smug1 in counteracting 5-FU-induced reproductive toxicity and provide valuable references for the development of new strategies to reduce the adverse effects of 5-FU.

Interception by plant canopies during wind dispersal can affect the final destination of diaspores. However, how the interaction of wind speed, canopy type and diaspore attributes affects interception of diaspores by the plant canopy has rarely been studied. We investigated canopy interception for 29 species with different diaspore attributes, six canopy types and six wind speeds in controlled experiments in a wind tunnel. Shrub canopy interception of diaspores were controlled by wind speed and diaspore attributes, but the latter had a greater influence on canopy interception than the former. At low wind speed, diaspore wing loading had a large influence on canopy interception, whereas at high wind speed, diaspore projection area had a large influence. The chance of canopy interception at a particular wind speed was additionally affected by the type of canopy. This study increases our knowledge of the dispersal process, corrects the previous understanding of diaspore dispersal potential and improves the theoretical basis for predicting spatial pattern and dynamics of plant populations.

Direct borohydride fuel cell (DBFC) has been widely used in portable and mobile power supply because of its advantages of high theoretical cell voltage, considerable specific capacity and green environmental friendliness. Anode catalyst is the key material to improve DBFC performance and fuel efficiency. In the past, noble metals have been used as anode catalysts for DBFC batteries, but the high cost and limited resources of noble metals have limited the further development of the DBFC. At present, transition metal catalysts have received increasing attention due to their low cost and catalytic activity comparable to that of noble metals. On the basis of elucidating the working principle of DBFC, the research achievements of transition metal catalysts for DBFC in the past 20 years are reviewed in this paper. Through a large number of literature studies, it is found that the research results related to Ni-based, Co-based and their composite transition metal catalysts are the most abundant. It is also found that transition metal catalysts with nanometer size and loose structure show good catalytic activity. Therefore, Ni-based, Co-based and their composite transition metal catalysts were reviewed in detail. We believe that with the deepening of research, the proportion of transition metals in DBFC anode catalysts is increasing, which has a broader research space and application prospect.

Knowledge of carbonate compounds under high pressure inside Earth is key to understanding the internal structure of the Earth, the deep carbon cycle and major geological events. Here we use first-principles simulations to calculate the structure and elasticity of CaC O -minerals with different symmetries under high pressure. Our calculations show that CaC O -minerals represent a group of low-density low-seismic-wave velocity mantle minerals. Changes in seismic wave velocity caused by the phase transformation of CaC O -Cc to CaC O -I[Formula: see text]2d (CaC O -C2-l) agree with wave velocity discontinuity at a depth of 660 km in the mantle transition zone. Moreover, when CaC O -Fdd2 transforms into CaC O -C2 under 70 GPa, its shear wave velocity decreases by 7.4%, and its density increases by 5.8%, which is consistent with the characteristics of large low-shear-velocity provinces (LLSVPs). Furthermore, the shear wave velocity of CaC O -I[Formula: see text]2d is very similar to that of cubic Ca-perovskite, which is one of the main constituents of the previously detected LLSVPs. Therefore, we propose that CaC O and its high-pressure polymorphs may be a main component of LLSVPs.

Tb (oct-phe)3·H2O and Eu (oct-phe)3·H2O were prepared by chemical reaction in solution. The molecular formula of the complex was determined by elemental analysis and FT-IR. The optical properties of rare earth complexes were further tested by ultraviolet-visible-infrared absorption measurements. The results show that the optical absorption performance is better in the wavelength range of 200-300 nm. The luminescent properties of the rare earth complexes in the wavelength range of 450-750 nm were tested. It was found that the rare earth (Eu, Tb) complexes of octylphenylalanine have good luminescent properties.

Yttrium (III) complexes of Acylaminocarboxylates (N-octanoyl-alaninates, N-octanoyl-phenylalaninate, N-octanoyl-serinates) were prepared by chemical reaction method in methanol solution. The abbreviation of these yttrium (III) complexes were Y(oct-ala)3, Y(oct-phe)3 and Y(oct-ser)3 respectively. These complexes were characterized by elemental analysis, XRD, FT-IR, 1H NMR, UV-Vis and UV-Vis diffuse reflection. WAXD and SAXS profiles show the amorphous structure of the yttrium complexes. FT-IR and 1H NMR spectrum establish the molecular formula, functional group information and coordination structure of the yttrium complexes. The optical absorption properties were investigated by UV-Vis and UV-Vis diffuse reflection spectrum.

We have investigated the effect of diluting treatment of poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophen e):poly (styrene sulfonate)(PEDOT:PSS) solution on the PEDOT:PSS films and the organic polymer solar cells based on poly [4,8-bis (5-(2-ethylhexyl) thiophen-2-yl) benzo [1,2-b;4,5-b0] dithiophene-co-3-fluorothieno [3,4-b] thiophene-2-carboxylate](PTB7-Th):[6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PC61BM) using PEDOT:PSS polymer as the hole transport layer. The diluted PEDOT:PSS solution by water with 1:1.5 volume ratio was used to fabricate the hole transport layer in the organic solar cell, the fill factor and the shunt resistance of the solar cell can be significantly enhanced compared with the control cell, up to 64% and 949.03Ω·cm2, respectively.