Mice Lacking the Systemic Vitamin A Receptor RBPR2 Show Decreased Ocular Retinoids and Loss of Visual Function.

The systemic transport of dietary vitamin A/all- retinol bound to RBP4 into peripheral tissues for storage is an essential physiological process that continuously provides visual chromophore precursors to the retina under fasting conditions. This mechanism is critical for phototransduction, photoreceptor cell maintenance and survival, and in the support of visual function. While the membrane receptor STRA6 facilitates the blood transport of lipophilic vitamin A into the eye, it is not expressed in most peripheral organs, which are proposed to express a second membrane receptor for the uptake of vitamin A from circulating RBP4.

Phosphorylation of slit diaphragm proteins NEPHRIN and NEPH1 upon binding of HGF promotes podocyte repair.

Phosphorylation (activation) and dephosphorylation (deactivation) of the slit diaphragm proteins NEPHRIN and NEPH1 are critical for maintaining the kidney epithelial podocyte actin cytoskeleton and, therefore, proper glomerular filtration. However, the mechanisms underlying these events remain largely unknown. Here we show that NEPHRIN and NEPH1 are novel receptor proteins for hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and can be phosphorylated independently of the mesenchymal epithelial transition receptor in a ligand-dependent fashion through engagement of their extracellular domains by HGF.

Interferon Regulatory Factor-5 in Resident Macrophage Promotes Polycystic Kidney Disease.

Background: Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease is caused by genetic mutations in or . Macrophages and their associated inflammatory cytokines promote cyst progression; however, transcription factors within macrophages that control cytokine production and cystic disease are unknown.

Methods: In these studies, we used conditional mice to test the hypothesis that macrophage-localized interferon regulatory factor-5 (IRF5), a transcription factor associated with production of cyst-promoting cytokines (TNF, IL-6), is required for accelerated cyst progression in a unilateral nephrectomy (1K) model.

Modelling the aqueous transport of an infectious pathogen in regional communities: application to the cholera outbreak in Haiti.

A mathematical model is developed to describe the dynamics of the spread of a waterborne disease among communities located along a flowing waterway. The model is formulated as a system of reaction-diffusion-advection partial differential equations in this spatial setting. The compartments of the model consist of susceptible, infected, and recovered individuals in the communities along the waterway, together with a term representing the pathogen load in each community and a term representing the spatial concentration of pathogens flowing along the waterway.