The polycystic kidney disease (PKD1) gene-encoded protein, polycystin-1, is developmentally regulated, with highest expression levels seen in normal developing kidneys, where it is distributed in a punctate pattern at the basal surface of ureteric bud epithelia. Overexpression in ureteric epithelial cell membranes of an inhibitory pMyr-GFP-PKD1 fusion protein via a retroviral (VVC) delivery system and microinjection into the ureteric bud lumen of embryonic day 11 mouse metanephric kidneys resulted in disrupted branching morphogenesis. Using confocal quantitative analysis, significant reductions were measured in the numbers of ureteric bud branch points and tips, as well as in the total ureteric bud length, volume and area, while significant increases were seen as dilations of the terminal branches, where significant increases in outer diameter and volumes were measured. Microinjection of an activating 5TM-GFP-PKD1 fusion protein had an opposite effect and showed significant increases in ureteric bud length and area. These are the first studies to experimentally manipulate polycystin-1 expression by transduction in the embryonic mouse kidney and suggest that polycystin-1 plays a critical role in the regulation of epithelial morphogenesis during renal development.

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The production, transportation, storage, and waste of food products have a significant impact on the environment. We investigated whether displaying products in ascending order of their carbon footprint in an online supermarket environment can shift consumer choices towards more sustainable options. We also examined whether the effect of the ordering intervention differs when the ordering is overt, where information about the ordering is explicit, compared to when it is covert and participants are not told about the ordering. We conducted a three-arm parallel-group randomised trial using 1842 online panel participants from England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, who had previously shopped online. Participants shopped for a meal for two, choosing one product from each of six product categories in a simulated online supermarket environment. Six products were shown in a vertical list on each product category page. Products were randomly ordered for the control arm, whereas the products were ordered by carbon footprint in the covert and overt ordering arms. In the overt ordering arm, a statement was displayed in a box at the top of each product page about the ordering of the products. The primary outcome was whether one of the three most sustainable products was chosen in each product category. There was no effect of the covert ordering intervention on the probability of choosing more sustainable products compared with the control arm (OR = 0.97, 95% CI 0.88-1.07, p = 0.533). Furthermore, we could not reject the hypothesis that the effects of the covert ordering intervention and overt ordering intervention do not differ (p = 0.594). Analysis of the control condition showed that the positioning of products had no effect on choices, which may explain why re-ordering products also had no effect. In the overt condition, only 19.5% of people correctly answered that the products were ordered according to sustainability in a follow-up question, suggesting that they didn’t notice the statement.

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