DataSheet1_Increased HIF-2α activity in the nucleus pulposus causes intervertebral disc degeneration in the aging mouse spine.pdf

Hypoxia-inducible factors (HIFs) are essential to the homeostasis of hypoxic tissues. Although HIF-2α, is expressed in nucleus pulposus (NP) cells, consequences of elevated HIF-2 activity on disc health remains unknown. We expressed HIF-2α with proline to alanine substitutions (P405A; P531A) in the Oxygen-dependent degradation domain (HIF-2αdPA) in the NP tissue using an inducible, nucleus pulposus-specific K19CreERT allele to study HIF-2α function in the adult intervertebral disc. Expression of HIF-2α in NP impacted disc morphology, as evident from small but significantly higher scores of degeneration in NP of 24-month-old K19CreERT; HIF-2αdPA (K19-dPA) mice. Noteworthy, comparisons of grades within each genotype between 14 months and 24 months indicated that HIF-2α overexpression contributed to more pronounced changes than aging alone. The annulus fibrosus (AF) compartment in the 14-month-old K19-dPA mice exhibited lower collagen turnover and Fourier transform-infrared (FTIR) spectroscopic imaging analyses showed changes in the biochemical composition of the 14- and 24-month-old K19-dPA mice. Moreover, there were changes in aggrecan, chondroitin sulfate, and COMP abundance without alterations in NP phenotypic marker CA3, suggesting the overexpression of HIF-2α had some impact on matrix composition but not the cell phenotype. Mechanistically, the global transcriptomic analysis showed enrichment of differentially expressed genes in themes closely related to NP cell function such as cilia, SLIT/ROBO pathway, and HIF/Hypoxia signaling at both 14- and 24-month. Together, these findings underscore the role of HIF-2α in the pathogenesis of disc degeneration in the aged spine.</p

Recording, Modeling, Visualisation and GIS Applications Development for the Acropolis of Athens

This paper presents the project “Development of Geographic Information Systems at the Acropolis of Athens“, financed by the European Union and the Government of Greece. The Acropolis of Athens is one of the major archaeological sites world-wide included in the UNESCO World Heritage list. The project started in June 2007 and will finish at the end of 2008. The paper presents the motivation for the project and its aims, giving a description of the deliverables and the specifications, as well as the project difficulties. Furthermore, we present the techniques used, both photogrammetric and geodetic, for data acquisition and processing. The project is divided into three basic tasks: the geodetic one, involving field measurements for the generation of a polygonometric network and terrestrial laser scanning of the walls and Acropolis rock and also the Erechtheion monument, the photogrammetric one involving image acquisition, orientation, DSM generation and orthorectification, and finally the development of a GIS database and applications. This contribution underlines particularly the potential of combining different technologies (especially digital imaging and laser scanning) for an accurate 3D modeling of cultural heritage sites. Preliminary results are reportedISSN:1682-1750ISSN:2194-9034ISSN:1682-177