We investigated whether maternal diabetes programs the offspring to develop hypertension and kidney injury in adulthood and examined potential underlying mechanisms. In a murine model we studied the offspring of three groups of dams (non-diabetic, diabetic, and diabetic treated with insulin). Mean systolic blood pressure in the offspring was monitored from 8 to 20 weeks. Body and kidney weights in the offspring of diabetic mothers were significantly lower than in offspring of non-diabetic mothers. Offspring of diabetic mothers developed hypertension, microalbuminuria, and glucose intolerance. Increased accumulation of extracellular matrix proteins in the glomeruli and marked upregulation of angiotensinogen, angiotensin II type 1 receptor, angiotensin-converting enzyme, transforming growth factor beta-1 (TGF-beta1), and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) gene expression were evident in the renal cortex of hypertensive offspring of diabetic mothers. By contrast, angiotensin-converting enzyme-2 (ACE2) gene expression was lower in the hypertensive offspring of diabetic mothers than in that of non-diabetic mothers. These changes were prevented in the offspring of insulin-treated diabetic mothers. These data indicate that maternal diabetes induces perinatal programming of hypertension, renal injury, and glucose intolerance in the offspring and suggest a central role for the activation of the intrarenal renin-angiotensin system and TGF-beta1 gene expression in this process.

Reconstruction of α-quartz (0001) surfaces is studied using combined classical molecular dynamics and density functional theory. Five reconstruction patterns are identified, including three (2×1) patterns and two (1×1) patterns. The energetically most stable surface structure is found to be a (2×1) reconstruction pattern, and several patterns can coexist in a large-scale surface. A combination of structures can explain the experimentally observed (2×2) diffraction pattern.

We present a strategy to prepare a highly active Au/ZnO catalyst for CO oxidation by introducing abundant Zn- and O-vacancy defects into a ZnO support of mesocrystal form. Two different ZnO supports were chosen for comparison; almost defect-free ZnO nanorods (NR-ZnO) and twin-brush-like ZnO mesocrystals (TB-ZnO) with rich Zn/O-vacancy defects gave Au/NR-ZnO and Au/TB-ZnO upon deposition of gold nanoparticles. The catalytic test of CO oxidation over Au/TB-ZnO catalyst showed an enhanced catalytic activity that was 153 times greater than the activity of Au/NR-ZnO. The dramatic enhancement in CO oxidation is attributed to a room-temperature Mars–van Krevelen (MvK) mechanism on the surface of the Au/TB-ZnO catalyst, which was promoted by extensive vacancy defects in TB-ZnO. To elucidate the increase in activity, the vacancy ratio (i.e., [VO •]/[VZn •]) of TB-ZnO was systematically modulated by adjusting calcination conditions. The defective ZnO support altered the tendency in the variation of size, valence state, and activity of gold correlated to an increased vacancy ratio. Combining experimental results and theoretical modeling, it is concluded that the higher vacancy ratio [VO •]/[VZn •] in support endows defective ZnO with accommodation of plenty of “Au–O–AuZn” linkages (AuZn denotes Au substitution at a Zn site) around gold nanoparticles. The O atom extraction from “Au–O–AuZn” linkages formed by gold doping in ZnO lattice is energetically more favorable than typical “Au–O–Zn” linkages at the perimeter of gold, facilitating CO oxidation via MvK mechanism. Systematic manipulation of defects density in the support provides a method in improving catalytic properties of supported gold catalysts.

The first wetting layer on the GaN (0001) surface has been investigated at the level of density functional theory. Many water adsorption models have been analyzed and it is observed that the number of water molecules that can be dissociated is limited to 0.375 ML of adsorption sites; further water dissociation will cost energy penalty. The coverage of hydroxyl groups on surface could be up to 0.75 ML instead. It is also observed that the additional charge on the surface will totally transfer to water adsorbates when the water dissociation number is 0.375 ML. Meanwhile, the surface states will disappear when all the adsorption sites are occupied by dissociated or intact water. All of these phenomena can be attributed to the electron counting rule of III−V semiconductor growth theory. We suggest that the electron counting rule could be generally applied to the water adsorption on polar III−V and II−VI semiconductor surfaces.

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