John P. Merrill John P. Merrill John Putnam Merrill (March 10, 1917 – April 14, 1984) was an American physician and medical researcher. He led the team which performed the world's first successful kidney transplant. He generally credited as the "father of nephrology" or "the founder of nephrology," which is the scientific study of the kidney and its diseases. Merrill was born in 1917 in Hartford, Connecticut. After graduating from Dartmouth College in 1938, he attended the Harvard Medical School. He graduated in 1942; and he was an intern at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital. During World War II, he served for four
Circumventricular organs that information neurally to other brain regions. Through their neural circuitry, they provide direct information to the autonomic nervous system from the systemic circulation. The secretory organs include the subcommissural organ (SCO), the pituitary gland, the median eminence, and the pineal gland. These organs are responsible for secreting hormones and glycoproteins into the peripheral blood using feedback from both the brain environment and external stimuli. All of the circumventricular organs, except the subcommissural organ, contain extensive vasculature and permeable capillaries which define a sensory and secretory system within the brain. Furthermore, all CVOs contain neural tissue, enabling a neuroendocrine role.