Reading tea leaves worldwide: Decoupled drivers of initial litter decomposition mass-loss rate and stabilization.

The breakdown of plant material fuels soil functioning and biodiversity. Currently, process understanding of global decomposition patterns and the drivers of such patterns are hampered by the lack of coherent large-scale datasets. We buried 36,000 individual litterbags (tea bags) worldwide and found an overall negative correlation between initial mass-loss rates and stabilization factors of plant-derived carbon, using the Tea Bag Index (TBI).

Spin and structural features of oxygen dissociation on tetrahedral Ag20 and Ag19Au clusters.

The spin-crossing mechanism of oxygen dissociation on Ag20 and monodoped Ag19Au clusters was investigated via spin-polarized scalar-relativistic DFT calculations using the PBE, TPSSh, M06L, mPBE, BLYP, OLYP, and B3LYP functionals. In particular, the singlet and triplet O-O bond rupture pathways at vertex-edge and facet-edge sites on the tetrahedral clusters were studied. The calculations reveal that for the Ag20O2 and Ag19AuO2 complexes, the spin inversion from the triplet to singlet state occurs during the last step, which involves O-O bond rupture through a singlet transition state (TS).

[The influence of general infrared sauna on the antioxidant systems in the blood of volunteers].

This comprehensive clinical and laboratory study was designed to elucidate the antioxidant status of the volunteers before and after a course of general infrared irradiation. It was shown that the effect of high temperatures promotes the development of oxidative stress that is followed by the formation of adaptive reactions in the form of activation of antioxidant protection, enhancement of non-specific responses of the cells, increase of stability and restoration of structural homeostasis of erythrocyte membranes. The molecular mechanism of endothelium-independent vasodilation develops by the end of the treatment period; it may serve as the compensatory-adaptive reaction needed to maintain the adequate tone of the vascular wall and thereby to support the functioning of mechanisms supporting physical thermoregulation.

Formation of H2O2 on Au20 and Au19Pd clusters: understanding the structure effect on the atomic level.

Supported gold nanoparticles are promising catalysts for production of H2O2 from O2 and H2. Size, structure, and palladium doping effects play the key role in activity and selectivity of a gold catalyst. We performed a study of the influence of Au20 and Au19Pd structure features on the main steps of H2O2 formation on the atomic level, using the DFT/PBE approach with relativistic all electron basis set.

Theoretical prediction of S-H bond rupture in methanethiol upon interaction with gold.

Organic thiols are known to react with gold surface to form self-assembled monolayers (SAMs), which can be used to produce materials with highly attractive properties. Although the structure of various SAMs is widely investigated, some aspects of their formation still represent a matter of debate. One of these aspects is the mechanism of S-H bond dissociation in thiols upon interaction with gold.