A primer: peer review process for .

The dissemination of discipline-focused educational scholarship advances theory and stimulates pedagogical application. The aim of is to publish manuscripts that advance knowledge and inform educators in the field. This primer is tailored for individuals new to manuscript reviewing, early in their careers, or experienced in reviewing research but not educational manuscripts.

Targeting Glomerular Hemodynamics for Kidney Protection.

The kidney microcirculation is a unique structure as it is composed to 2 capillary beds in series: the glomerular and peritubular capillaries. The glomerular capillary bed is a high-pressure capillary bed, having a 60 mm Hg to 40 mm Hg pressure gradient, capable of producing an ultrafiltrate of plasma quantified as the glomerular filtration rate (GFR), thereby allowing for waste products to be removed and establishing sodium/volume homeostasis. Entering the glomerulus is the afferent arteriole, and the exiting one is the efferent arteriole.

Perspectives Against Racism: educational and socialization efforts at the departmental level.

The current heightened social awareness and anxiety triggered by escalating violence against Black Americans in the United States demands a safe space for reflection, education, and civil discourse within the academic setting. Too often there is an unmet need paired with a collective urgent desire to better understand the chronic existing structural, social, educational, and health inequities affecting disadvantaged populations, particularly Black Americans. In this perspective, the authors provide insight into a shared learning approach that provided a forum to discuss Perspectives Against Racism (PAR).

Knowledge gains in a professional development workshop on diversity, equity, inclusion, and implicit bias in academia.

As literature indicates, historic racism and implicit bias throughout academia have been profound metrics leading to a lack of diversity, as related to people from underrepresented groups according to race and ethnicity, among biomedical sciences graduate students in U.S. universities.

Chymase inhibition retards albuminuria in type 2 diabetes.

Chymase released from mast cells produces pro-fibrotic, inflammatory, and vasoconstrictor agents. Studies were performed to test the hypothesis that chronic chymase inhibition provides a renal protective effect in type 2 diabetes. Diabetic (db/db) and control mice (db/m) were chronically infused with a chymase-specific inhibitor or vehicle for 8 weeks.

Longitudinal interprofessional education in a graduate physiology course.

The primary purpose of conducting two interprofessional education (IPE) experiences during a multidisciplinary physiology graduate-level course was to provide basic science, physical therapy, and physician assistant graduate students opportunities to work as a team in the diagnosis, treatment, and collaborative care when presented with a patient case focused on acute kidney injury (first case) and female athlete triad (second case). The secondary purpose was to apply basic physiology principles to patient case presentations of pathophysiology. The overall purpose was to assess the longitudinal effects and the value of IPE integrated within a basic science course.

The prevalence of cardio-metabolic risk factors is differentially elevated in obesity-prone Osborne-Mendel and obesity-resistant S5B/Pl rats.

Aims: Individual susceptibility to develop obesity may impact the development of cardio-metabolic risk factors that lead to obesity-related comorbid conditions. Obesity-prone Osborne-Mendel (OM) rats expressed higher levels of visceral adipose inflammation than obesity-resistant, S5B/Pl (S5B) rats. However, the consumption of a high fat diet (HFD) differentially affected OM and S5B rats and induced an increase in visceral adipose inflammation in S5B rats.

Lack of contribution of nitric oxide synthase to cholinergic vasodilation in murine renal afferent arterioles.

We have previously reported significant increases in neuronal nitric oxide synthase (NOS) immunostaining in renal arterioles of angiotensin type 1A receptor (AT1A) knockout mice, and in arterioles and macula densa cells of AT1A/AT1B knockout mice. The contribution of nitric oxide derived from endothelial and macula densa cells in the maintenance of afferent arteriolar tone and acetylcholine-induced vasodilation was functionally determined in kidneys of wild-type, AT1A, and AT1A/AT1B knockout mice. Acetylcholine-induced changes in arteriolar diameters of in vitro blood-perfused juxtamedullary nephrons were measured during control conditions, in the presence of the nonspecific NOS inhibitor, N-nitro-l-arginine methyl ester (NLA), or the highly selective neuronal NOS inhibitor, N-(1-imino-3-butenyl)-l-ornithine (VNIO).

Effectiveness of interprofessional education in renal physiology curricula for health sciences graduate students.

The primary purpose of conducting an interprofessional education (IPE) experience during the renal physiology block of a graduate-level course was to provide basic science, physical therapy, and physician assistant graduate students with an opportunity to work as a team in the diagnosis, treatment, and collaborative care of a patient with acute kidney injury. The secondary purpose was to enhance the understanding of basic renal physiology principles with a patient case presentation of renal pathophysiology. The overall purpose was to assess the value of IPE integration within a basic science course by examining student perceptions and program evaluation.

High Frequency Spinal Cord Stimulation for Complex Regional Pain Syndrome: A Case Report.

Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is a chronic, debilitating, neuropathic pain condition which is often misdiagnosed, difficult to manage, and lacks proven methods for remission. Most available methods provide some relief to a small percentage of patients. Recent FDA approval and superiority of the Nevro Senza 10-kHz high frequency (HF10) spinal cord stimulation (SCS) therapy over traditional low-frequency spinal cord stimulation for treatment of chronic back and leg pain may provide a new interventional therapeutic option for patients suffering from CRPS.

Assessment of renal function; clearance, the renal microcirculation, renal blood flow, and metabolic balance.

Historically, tools to assess renal function have been developed to investigate the physiology of the kidney in an experimental setting, and certain of these techniques have utility in evaluating renal function in the clinical setting. The following work will survey a spectrum of these tools, their applications and limitations in four general sections. The first is clearance, including evaluation of exogenous and endogenous markers for determining glomerular filtration rate, the adaptation of estimated glomerular filtration rate in the clinical arena, and additional clearance techniques to assess various other parameters of renal function.

Enhanced vascular chymase-dependent conversion of endothelin in the diabetic kidney.

Background: Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is associated with enhanced renal, plasma, and urinary endothelin (ET)-1 levels. Chymase cleaves Big ET-1 (1-38) to ET-1 (1-31), which is further cleaved by neutral endopeptidase to ET-1 (1-21). The current study tested the hypothesis that afferent arterioles (AA) of diabetic kidneys exhibit enhanced vasoconstrictor responses to chymase-dependent intrarenal ET formation compared to control kidneys.

Cardinal role of the intrarenal renin-angiotensin system in the pathogenesis of diabetic nephropathy.

Diabetes mellitus is one of the most prevalent diseases and is associated with increased incidence of structural and functional derangements in the kidneys, eventually leading to end-stage renal disease in a significant fraction of afflicted individuals. The renoprotective effects of renin-angiotensin system (RAS) blockade have been established; however, the mechanistic pathways have not been fully elucidated. In this review article, the cardinal role of an activated RAS in the pathogenesis of diabetic nephropathy (DN) is discussed with a focus on 4 themes: (1) introduction to RAS cascade, (2) intrarenal RAS in diabetes, (3) clinical outcomes of RAS blockade in DN, and (4) potential of urinary angiotensinogen as an early biomarker of intrarenal RAS status in DN.

Direct evidence for intrarenal chymase-dependent angiotensin II formation on the diabetic renal microvasculature.

Our previous work supports a major role for angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE)-independent intrarenal angiotensin (ANG) II formation on microvascular function in type 2 diabetes mellitus. We tested the hypothesis that there is a switch from renal vascular ACE-dependent to chymase-dependent ANGII formation in diabetes mellitus. The in vitro juxtamedullary afferent arteriole (AA) contractile responses to the intrarenal conversion of the ACE-specific, chymase-resistant ANGI peptide ([Pro(10)]ANGI) to ANGII were significantly reduced in kidneys of diabetic (db/db) compared with control (db/m) mice.

Lack of specificity of commercial antibodies leads to misidentification of angiotensin type 1 receptor protein.

The angiotensin II type 1 receptor (AT(1)R) mediates most hypertensive actions of angiotensin II. To understand the molecular regulation of the AT(1)R in normal physiology and pathophysiology, methods for sensitive and specific detection of AT(1)R protein are required. Here, we examined the specificity of a panel of putative AT(1)R antibodies that are commonly used by investigators in the field.

Disruption of Npr1 gene differentially regulates the juxtaglomerular and distal tubular renin levels in null mutant mice.

Atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) exerts an inhibitory effect on juxtaglomerular (JG) renin synthesis and release by activating guanylyl cyclase/ natriuretic peptide receptor-A (GC-A/NPRA). Renin has also been localized in connecting tubule cells; however, the effect of ANP/NPRA signaling on tubular renin has not been determined. In the present study, we determined the role of NPRA in regulating both JG and tubular renin using Npr1 (coding for NPRA) gene-disrupted mice, which exhibit a hypertensive phenotype.

Glomerular filtration rate determinations in conscious type II diabetic mice.

Diabetic nephropathy is a major cause of end-stage renal disease worldwide. The current studies were performed to determine the later stages of the progression of renal disease in type II diabetic mice (BKS; db/db). Methodology was developed for determining glomerular filtration rate (GFR) in conscious, chronically instrumented mice using continuous intravenous infusion of FITC-labeled inulin to achieve a steady-state plasma inulin concentration.

The renal renin-angiotensin system.

The renin-angiotensin system (RAS) is a critical regulator of sodium balance, extracellular fluid volume, vascular resistance, and, ultimately, arterial blood pressure. In the kidney, angiotensin II exerts its effects to conserve salt and water through a combination of the hemodynamic control of renal blood flow and glomerular filtration rate and tubular epithelial cell sodium chloride and water transport mechanisms. Pharmacological inhibition of the actions of the RAS are widely used in the treatment of patients with hypertension, congestive heart failure, left ventricular dysfunction, pulmonary and systemic edema, diabetic nephropathy, cirrhosis of the liver, scleroderma, and migraines.

Major role for ACE-independent intrarenal ANG II formation in type II diabetes.

Combination therapy of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibition and AT(1) receptor blockade has been shown to provide greater renoprotection than ACE inhibitor alone in human diabetic nephropathy, suggesting that ACE-independent pathways for ANG II formation are of major significance in disease progression. Studies were performed to determine the magnitude of intrarenal ACE-independent formation of ANG II in type II diabetes. Although renal cortical ACE protein activity [2.

Intact renal afferent arteriolar autoregulatory responsiveness in db/db mice.

The db/db mouse is a genetic model of type 2 diabetes that exhibits progressive renal disease. Obesity, hyperglycemia, and albuminuria (822 +/- 365 vs. 28 +/- 8 microg/day) are evident in 18-wk-old db/db compared with db/m (lean littermate control) mice.

Augmented renal vascular nNOS and renin protein expression in angiotensin type 1 receptor null mice.

The present study was performed to determine the influence of absence of angiotensin type 1A (AT(1A)) and/or AT(1B) receptor feedback regulation of kidney neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) and renin protein expression. Kidneys were harvested from wild-type (WT), AT(1A)(-/-), AT(1B)(-/-), and AT(1A)(-/-)AT(1B)(-/-) mice and immunostained for nNOS and renin protein localization. AT(1A)(-/-) and AT(1A)(-/-)AT(1B)(-/-) kidneys demonstrated an increase in the percentage of glomeruli with nNOS-positive afferent and interlobular arterioles compared with WT mice.