Bystanders or active players: the role of extra centrosomes as signaling hubs.

Centrosomes serve as microtubule-organizing organelles that function in spindle pole organization, cell cycle progression, and cilia formation. A non-canonical role of centrosomes that has gained traction in recent years is the ability to act as signal transduction centers. Centrosome amplification, which includes numerical and structural aberrations of centrosomes, is a candidate hallmark of cancer.

Gordon Murray: heparin, hemodialysis and hubris.

Gordon Murray (1894-1976), a brilliant and innovative surgeon who spent the majority of his professional career at the University of Toronto, Ont., Canada, is properly credited with having performed the first successful hemodialyses in humans in North America. Neither he nor Kolff, working in the Netherlands, were aware of each other's work during the middle 1940s when wartime hampered communication.

Renal physiology between two wars: the contributions of Dr. Harvey Lester White.

Harvey Lester White (1896-1977) graduated from Washington University (St. Louis) School of Medicine and subsequently spent his entire professional career in the School's Department of Physiology. White's interest in the function of the kidney was evident early in his academic career when he pioneered research related to renal physiology.

A history of eclampsia, toxemia and the kidney in pregnancy.

Eclampsia, accompanied by convulsions, is one of the most dangerous complications of pregnant women. This condition was known to the ancient Greeks, who named it eclampsia. Prior to the 18th century, the term eclampsia was used only to refer to the visual phenomena which accompanied the neurologic aspects of the malady.