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Video: Hafjell World Cup Track
Sep 7, 2012 at 12:22
Anders Håheim
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Damage Inc. - Hafjell World Cup Track
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Views: 29,402
Comments: 8
: Mathias Jørgensen and Hans Petter Gjevik test the World Cup track in Hafjell Bikepark.
Filmed and edited
: Anders Håheim
: Warp Riders - Black Widow
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159 Comments
+ 49
(Sep 7, 2012 at 12:37)
I do not the direction the UCI World Cup tracks are heading... Aside from one technical section in the woods, this track is an oversized bike park... Its like driving a F1 on a go cart track. Overkill!
+ 4
(Sep 7, 2012 at 13:04)
Agreed. Track is pretty much flat out except for the two rock gardens. It's still going to be fun to watch but I'd imagine the times are going to very close.
+ 108
(Sep 7, 2012 at 13:05)
I think you accidentally a word.
+ 9
(Sep 7, 2012 at 13:08)
I was going to post something similar until I saw your post. I love bike park but the WC tracks should have at least 1-2 high speed off camber turns. Yeah, the last wooded section looks like a World Cup track. The rest looks not even as hard as what I ride weekly at Mountain Creek, NJ.
+ 10
(Sep 7, 2012 at 13:16)
Stevie Smith for the win. Winning the Air DH a coulple weeks ago should help on this course.
+ 3
(Sep 7, 2012 at 13:26)
The word yall are looking for is LIKE...
+ 61
(Sep 7, 2012 at 13:39)
Why did champery go?
Why is a track that resembles a bastard child of crabapple, wind ham and a soccer field at the end, the last WC?
Why is there only one Canadian track, in Québec, which has been used, and reused time and time again?
Why are there no western North American stops, even though many of the top racers including gwin are from the west coast?
Why is 4X not a UCI series?
Why isn't the UCI dead already?
+ 11
(Sep 7, 2012 at 13:56)
Why so many rhetorical questions?
To answer a lot of what you just wrote, race series have to make bank, or they won't survive. The UCI makes its dolla through road cycling, it's a much bigger and more profitable area. It's not going to give lots of money to a niche cycling sport like DH out of the love of its heart, nor should it. Plus, the truth of the matter is, very few resorts or locations actually
to put on world cups, there's very little financial gain and a colossal possibility for loss (literally $100k+ could be flushed away if it doesn't go to plan). The result is that the few places that have a lot of experience in running World Cups do it again and again, because they know how to make it work - Fort William, Mont Sainte Anne, Maribor etc. If you want to know why there were no World Cups in the USA for years, google
"What happened to Angel Fire?"
. No-one wanted to after that debacle.
+ 16
(Sep 7, 2012 at 14:41)
And everyone was complaining about Val d'Isère being not enough like a bike park. There is no pleasing you guys.
+ 5
(Sep 7, 2012 at 15:02)
Exactly Cyrix! People just love to bitch but seem to forget that DH isn't all just about technical sketchy shoots and roots, there has to be some of both. What do more and more people think of when they think DH? Whistler. What do most people think of when you say Whistler? A-Line. It's only normal that the UCI make more and more tracks that look like bike park tracks with shorter technical sections because that's what the general public think of and want to see when they hear DH.
And yeah MaxBerkowitz, most of your questions pretty much answer themselves. And quite honestly, if you're sick of Mont Saint-Anne you clearly do not get what's up with that place. Ride it once and then tell me you still want to see it gone. It's the track that separates the men from the children, it's been there since the beginning and people still find it's sketchy and tough as hell. And the reason why UCI can't get in to Western North American stops, it's because nobody there wants the UCI's business, which quite frankly is f*cking fine with me.
+ 14
(Sep 7, 2012 at 15:20)
Looks like a good mix of everything to me if they tape it nice and wide, some nice big crowd pleasing jumps, some nice big rock gardens to sort the men from the boys and a pedally motorway to make sure your fit enough to be considered a professional athlete. At the end of the day your gunna have to be a decent all round rider to win here. The racers who are only fast at techy tracks won't and the guys who are only fast on open-full-gas-all-the-way tracks won't either. Stop complaining, also as harriieee (sort of) said bike parks already have the infrastructure to run a large race. and think about this for a second: if world cups are held at bike parks more often they will have to up the difficulty of the tracks at the bike park making them more fun for all the 'serious' riders who are complaining about the world cup/ bike park tracks being too mellow.
+ 11
(Sep 7, 2012 at 15:26)
To all those complaining about the track... have any of you actually been there and ridden it? It seems really stupid to judge a track that you've never been to based off a singular edit.
The saying, "it does no justice" can easily be applied here. How about you all hold off on the judgement and hate until we get reactions from the people who are going to race it. That sounds sensible doesn't it?
+ 2
(Sep 7, 2012 at 15:42)
To Alex-Mtl Sun Peaks resort wants and has been trying to get a world cup stop for several years. So yeah western Canada DOES want to host a race...
+ 5
(Sep 7, 2012 at 15:42)
You are running your mouth already? Just wait for Willingen next year and imaging a giant 4x track for a wc dh race...
+ 11
(Sep 7, 2012 at 16:53)
cant we all just agree that this was a good track preview
- 4
(Sep 7, 2012 at 17:30)
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Yeah, Mountain Creek has better trails. That was boring.
+ 1
(Sep 7, 2012 at 17:32)
Back in the day... The Day DH was born actually, it was all technical and with no suspension. Now, its flat and flowy with smooth berms and doubles and we have loads of suspension... If they keep building trails like this, The DH bike as we know it shrink and the ever so popular AM bikes will reign. Alex-MtL, Val D'isere is an awesome track. So is Sainte-Anne and Val di sole... DH is not what we think about when we think of Whistler its freeriding . Leave the no nonsense hardcore speed demons show us just how fast they can go through some gnarly shit and the freeriders show us how freaking huge they can go off doubles and drops... And in between we have a special event, its called Crankworx...
- 7
(Sep 7, 2012 at 18:06)
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guess what this track looks ratheer sh*t
+ 0
(Sep 7, 2012 at 19:11)
@scott-Townes ...the point is that I am comparing it to other helmet cam footage of places I have ridden and/or have feedback on. By that method I have a good handle to judge based on looking at my own footage from my cam as well. Unless they have a different lens I think it's somewhat of a decent tool for judgement.
Both sides of the argument making good points. I will say that I've never seen a race I didn't like. I know that expecting every track to be like MSA in unfair but after all they are man made. Money drives everything though, I guess people want more jumps.
+ 1
(Sep 7, 2012 at 19:24)
I'd be down with a course like the garbo dh being a wc track or the canadian open... but not at whistler UCI would f*ck up crankworx big time with rules like "stay off hecklers rock"
+ 2
(Sep 7, 2012 at 19:45)
Joey- Comparing a track that you've never been to, to Mountain Creek NJ helmet cam footage is incredibly dumb. Don't take that personal but man... really? You must not ride many places or much at all if you think helmet cam footage is a decent tool for judging... judging a track that you've never seen in person or ridden no less. They didn't add in jumps because it somehow creates more revenue for the event either, that's absurd to think that. Its located in a bike park and as we all know, well maybe not yourself, a lot of trails in bike parks usually have machine-made jumps, berms and other features. Here's a quote from Kopaczus, a member who has actually ridden the course... "That rockgarden at 2:07 is deceptively steep."
Again, wait until the best in the world ride it and give their opinion before you make absurd claims like you can ride it no problem. You just sound like an overly cocky rider, even though I doubt that was your intention.
+ 0
(Sep 7, 2012 at 19:59)
Hey man, calm down. I only ride one trail, ever. Wow. Meet me if you want. Trestle next week, Steamboat the week after, then back to Mountain Creek, then Launch and finally Snowshoe to finish the year. So clearly I ride wherever and whenever possible. Also it's pretty clear I love bike parks. I also don't distinguish between "man-made" and "machine made". Either way a human designed it and operated the machinery. I don't get your point there. The fact is I am excited for this race just noting the overall increase in park-like features and my feelings about that. I said it below, I don't know if I'm upset about the tracks getting easier or excited that I can ride them now.
+ 3
(Sep 7, 2012 at 20:01)
Why not take it back to Canberra? It looks easy but it canhurt those that underestimate it, its dry and dusty and its the perfect time as MTB is growing with the younger generation getting into. Seriously its growing down here. There were easily over 700 kids at the CORC MTB school championships wth people coming from 5 hours away for the 9am start.
+ 2
(Sep 7, 2012 at 20:25)
Ah shit, sorry Joey... I really was not trying to insult you but I guess I did anyways. I apologize for that and please don't think I'm angry towards you. By machine-made, I mean man-made because they usually use bobcats and other machinery for resort bike parks. Judging from the video I wouldn't doubt if a majority of people on this site could get down this trail but my point is that you cannot judge how easy or hard a track is by comparing it to helmet cam footage of places you've ridden before. To say WC tracks are getting easier is pretty subjective as well because its one thing to ride a trail to get down it but its a whole different story to ride it at WC speed. You literally have to ride different lines that some people may not even see as possible in order to maintain speed and get the fastest line possible but I'm very sure you know that by watching past WC events. The only trips back east I take are usually for X-Mas so riding with you will probably not be possible, which sucks because riding with locals is insanely better
- 1
(Sep 7, 2012 at 22:37)
It's not called A-Line anymore, it's called GAY-Line. Bring back the roots, rocks, and off camber sections to World Cup DH racing and make it a mans sport once again. Val d' Isere is the only track that makes a real difference anymore. Everything else may as well be DH BMX.
- 1
(Sep 7, 2012 at 22:57)
looks bad
+ 10
(Sep 8, 2012 at 0:46)
Hehe you guys are soooo funnyyyyyy. The vid does not show even a bit of what rock gardens are like, it's a quite bad vid actualy if they wanted to show the track. The second last woods is pretty much something like a cementery of hige rocks of fridge and dishwasher size, you come in after two burms and you either go flat out or you die. There is no safe line, there is only balls out line. Lower woods is no better. I never ever came upon a place like that where I thought that my Nomad is waaaaaaay to small. Walked the lower part of Val Di Sole track this year and that looks way more rideable than Middle woods in Hafjell. From what MtSt Anne looks like on vids, Hafjell is very similar.
- 3
(Sep 8, 2012 at 1:48)
this could be won by fmba riders... uci dhi lost it.
- 5
(Sep 8, 2012 at 3:44)
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wouldn't even class that as a downhill track. It's more freeride than anything else.
+ 8
(Sep 8, 2012 at 4:22)
Is this the same track that hosted european championship couple of years back? The track is rad though, It has something for everyone.
+ 1
(Sep 8, 2012 at 8:52)
yup highrider005
+ 2
(Sep 8, 2012 at 12:53)
: I hear what your saying about AM bikes. And consider that Steve Smith won the last Air DH on an AM bike.
Of course, A-Line is as smooth as it gets and manages to prove that 6" is more then enough for a lot of the jumps on that trail.
Hell! I'm at Snowshoe now and was tempted yesterday to bring my AM bike instead of my DH rig.
You're right! A DH course that can be run on an AM bike isn't a World Class/Cup DH track.
+ 4
(Sep 8, 2012 at 13:30)
You people have some serious stuff going on, you haven't seen the course and you talk BS, the middle and lower woods are barely rideable by AM bike (Im sure non of you arguing here would do it) and are quite challenging on DH rig. Shut the hell up...
+ 1
(Sep 8, 2012 at 13:51)
: I sure hope you're not directing this at me. I actually agree with you. :-)
+ 2
(Sep 8, 2012 at 14:12)
At the end of the day - riding a course and going full tilt race speed are different - the guys in the video are not doing it at race speed by any means, the tree wood sections all look like at full titl you'd have to be on your game and yeah everyone ragged on Val dIsere when they first saw that but it was a great race. This will be too. Bring it on!
+ 5
(Sep 8, 2012 at 14:50)
Just like to say this video looks like a fairer representation of the track:
The video in the post looks a little selective after having watched a full headcam run!
+ 1
(Sep 8, 2012 at 15:16)
I don't think it's a matter of the video or the footage. Its pretty clear what this track is, and I'm sure that wooded and rocky section is plenty technical. But my main point and problem is there isn't enough of that. Just because there is one small steep techy section that may challenge even WC riders doesn't make it a suitable world cup track when the other 90% of the track is a glorified bike park. There needs to be more than just a small section to challenge these guys.
- 1
(Sep 8, 2012 at 16:37)
Sino- Unless you've raced WC I don't think you should speak for the WC riders and what they need or want.... and to let you know edits don't show every inch of the trail... its kinda what makes an edit an edit...
+ 2
(Sep 8, 2012 at 18:02)
Oh I'm sorry Scott, I didn't realize that we all had to be World Cup racers to comment on a track. I'm sure some guys like this type of course because it requires alot less skill to ride and I know that that there are WC racers who don't. I've heard and read plenty of quotes from guys stating just that.
And I've watched helmet cam footage of the entire track (like someone posted above) not just the edit. It looks like a fun course but like I said there looks like one tough steep section and not much else in the way of a challenge for World Cup riders. I don't need to be a world cup rider to see that.
+ 4
(Sep 8, 2012 at 18:05)
why do people always assume you can judge a track by a video? look at whistler for example you dont see them but trust me youll know when your on them and everything looks way easier on helmet cam
+ 1
(Sep 8, 2012 at 18:06)
wow I left out words there^ I was talking about whistler and how you cant even see the braking bumps on video...
+ 6
(Sep 9, 2012 at 0:07)
Here is a descent video of what the track is like.. The rock garden at 1:56 is REALLY technical and yo can make A LOT of time up if you get through there clean..
+ 1
(Sep 9, 2012 at 0:55)
Sino- really?, haha. Again, lack of experience and straight up ignorance leads to absurd judgments from helmet cams and edits alike. If you think helmet cams give you an accurate image of what the track is like is only proof of your ignorance. Just shut up until the experienced guys give an opinion because you just look stupid otherwise... especially when people who have actually ridden the trail tell you that you're being stupid.
+ 1
(Sep 9, 2012 at 1:15)
ok if its so easy!! you race it a win it then...
+ 4
(Sep 9, 2012 at 7:52)
Why doesnt everyone take Plattekill Mountains slogan to heart and just... Shut Up and Ride!!
+ 0
(Sep 9, 2012 at 11:39)
Scott why are you still stuck on the helmet cam thing? I've seen 2 videos, one from the helmet cam and the edit in this post. And both show the same thing, A track with one steep techy section and not much else.
And please stop using the old "you've never ridden it" argument. Again it has nothing to do with my skill level or how hard it might be for me to ride. Do you watch the NFL or NBA or any other professional sports? Have you ever watched your favorite team and said that a certain player wasn't any good? I'm sure you have and it would be ridiculous for me to say that you are unqualified to say that since your not a pro ball player because you don't have to be a professional athlete to tell when a guy sucks.
Same here. It doesn't take a top level rider to see that this track doesnt offer much of a challenge for the best riders in the world outside of one difficult section. I've seen tracks that are difficult on video plenty of times and I can see this one. Big tabletops, big smooth berms, and long grassy speed sections are what they are, and are just not that challenging to the best riders in the world. I'm sure it will be a fun track and the race will be good because they always are, but the truth is that the track is on the soft side. I'm not sure why you are so defensive about it.
+ 3
(Sep 9, 2012 at 12:42)
video doesn't show the steepness or the condition the dirt is like, look at mount 7 psychosis it looks ridiculously easy on helmet cam yet it is one of the gnarliest and hardest tracks in the world
+ 0
(Sep 9, 2012 at 13:49)
Finn - I know that in general helmet cams make things look easier than they are. I have looked at plenty of trails on helmet cams and thought one thing, then had a completely different opinion after actually seeing and riding said trail. I think people are misunderstanding me a little here. I'm not saying the course is easy or isn't challenging overall. I'm sure it is. Keep in mind my context here, which is comparison to other world cup venues. Outside of the one steep rocky section it seems on the tame side, thats all I'm saying.
+ 2
(Sep 9, 2012 at 15:01)
I see where your going now.... ya it isnt nearly as awesome as champery but look on the bright side stevie has another chance to win!
+ 1
(Sep 9, 2012 at 15:16)
The track really has it all. The fast big jumps at the beginning are pretty rough and rutted and don't look like they'd be fun. Some fast technical sections where riders can really carry speed, fast flat out open parts that require endurance to keep up speed, awesome fast berms and some very tight technical ones, steep slow technical sections, and the end looks like it'd be boring, but once the event is set up and the ring is set up with all the spectators and fanfare it will look much different.
+ 1
(Sep 9, 2012 at 15:20)
I would like to see a Stevie Smith, Sam Hill, Steve Peat podium. All three deserve a WC win this year!
+ 0
(Sep 9, 2012 at 22:08)
Finn-I think Stevie would have a chance on any track, not just a fast and flowy one. cyrix-I'm sure the race will be good, they always are. Like I was saying above, from my selfish fan perspective I think the races are the most fun to watch on the real beastly tracks that really beat these guys up. Joey-I'd add Gee to that list. I know alot of people dont like him but the dude has been damn consistent this year and has ridden well enough to win a few times only to be edged out. He's the only guy to podium at every WC race this year.
+ 2
(Sep 9, 2012 at 23:49)
Id be down with rachel and gee winning! both deserve wins
+ 3
(Sep 10, 2012 at 1:47)
I deserved sugar in my morning coffee, and it wasn't there
+ 1
(Sep 10, 2012 at 12:18)
"The Day DH was born actually, it was all technical and with no suspension. Now, its flat and flowy with smooth berms and doubles and we have loads of suspension... If they keep building trails like this, The DH bike as we know it shrink and the ever so popular AM bikes will reign."
Hey Scary, I agree with you that the tracks are changing to highspeed motorways but I don't think they've necessarily gotten any easier. They're just getting faster.
There is, however, a definite trend towards smoothing out the trail and it's not a new one, it's just been gaining much more momentum in the past 7-8 years with improvements in suspension control and frame designs, as well as this new trend towards bigger wheels.
+ 1
(Sep 10, 2012 at 12:39)
Dingo- the first DH races were not all technical, most of them were actually down fire roads and on grassy ski slopes. If they were more technical than today's tracks, no one would have been able to make it down them with the rigs they had back then.
+ 1
(Sep 10, 2012 at 13:36)
Yeah I realised I should have cut the first sentence out of that quote... but "oh well". The rest still stands. Tracks are "generally" getting easier/less technical because the sport is growing in popularity and now has to cater to a much larger group of new riders. Seems to me like that trend is also creeping into the world cups.
I guess it's true what they say about trends and how they tend to be cyclical. We're back to wide bars, big wheels and faster courses.
+ 1
(Sep 10, 2012 at 14:39)
They didn't have wide handlebars back then... unless you were on some futuristic stuff, haha.
+ 2
(Sep 10, 2012 at 17:01)
scott-dave... When DH started and when I started racing, you were 1 year old... Tracks weren't groomed, they were as nature decided they were. There were no berms, no tables, very little fire roads or grassy sections. At least not for long. We tore into the natural soil so quick that it wasn't long until we exposed roots and rocks. Tracks were very technical. Ste-Anne today is not far from what Sainte-Anne was 20 years ago... Same goes for Bromont and many other world class tracks we did back then like Rocky mountain house(that we boycotted because it was to technical and long) and Silverstar mountain resort.
Honestly, 80% of DHers on this site can go fast over tables, berms and wide open speed traps, what separates us from WC is what these guys are able to do through the gnarly shit...
+ 1
(Sep 10, 2012 at 17:17)
Scary- Just because I was a baby when you were plummeting downhill, that doesn't mean that I couldn't learn/hear about how it was later on in my life. Also, respectfully, you're a bit off on that. The first timed DH races were happening in Cali years before I was born (very early 80s, late 70s) and they were down fire roads on klunkers. I'm pretty sure there's some documentary floating around about these guys.
That doesn't mean it was the same for you in your area when the first ones were taking place so it is cool to hear about different people's experiences/stories about the early races.
+ 1
(Sep 10, 2012 at 17:58)
So technically, you were about 5 years old when the first DH races were taking place
+ 1
(Sep 10, 2012 at 18:21)
There were some crazy dudes going ''down the hill'' on standard build bikes before 1990... But it was in 1990 that the DH mountain bike scene came to life with DH specific components and the UCI mountain bike championship... I did some ''DH'' with standard build bikes as well but the essence of the sport really became clear with the technological advancements. I remember thinking that the SoftRide suspension stem was the greatest invention ever because it enabled us to go so much faster. Then came the suspension forks, V-Brakes, and DH specific. Wow, we thought we couldn't possibly go any faster. Boy were we ever wrong.
+ 1
(Sep 10, 2012 at 18:54)
oops... DH specific tires***
+ 1
(Sep 10, 2012 at 19:55)
Ah so we're talking about two completely different times then. I was referencing the first DH races and you were talking about the first DH races with DH specific rigs/components. I can see why there was some confusion there. That's crazy to hear how a stem could make that much of a difference or how there were DH specific V-brakes. I'm going to message you because I don't want to piss everyone off with more updates in their profiles, haha.
+ 1
(Sep 12, 2012 at 7:05)
I wonder if the injury rate is influencing how tracks are designed.
One thing is certain, a place like Whistler is good for the sport because it has tons of smooth, rolling highway like trails. I see families there. Mom's with their kids, either following, or in tow. And plenty of older people that no longer want to ride the chop.
When I was at Snowshoe, guess what most people were riding. The flow / jump trails in Western Territories or Raging Bull (with those dumb wall rides) / Lucid. They all had bikes with plenty of travel, but the whole time I was there I only saw one other person riding any of the tech stuff.
Whistler wasn't that much different. I saw far fewer people on Upper Angry Pirate or Original Sin then A/B line, Blue Velvet, Crank it up, etc....
But whatever the case, I like all of it and we should make a point to keep it all. I like the idea of my kids riding with me even if it's just something like Powerline or B Line where they don't have to have that much skill.
+ 2
(Sep 12, 2012 at 14:33)
BDKR- the reason you see only a fraction of people riding the tech stuff is because of two reasons
1. The number of people who have just begun riding in the past few years greatly outnumbers the number of people who have been riding a majority of their lives. Its creating a new class of rider- the park rat. Its very similar to skiing and park rats in skiing. Its not an insult though, its just what people prefer to ride.
2. Although I prefer tech and fun I have to admit that fast flowy trails are incredible and more laps are possible on those so I wouldn't doubt if some people who can ride tech. prefer to spend more of their time on smooth/fast jump trails.
+ 1
(Sep 12, 2012 at 15:28)
cant believe this is still going, these tracks are in here for variety to give everyone a chance, if everything was identical to champery wouldnt you be pissed watching hill and hart decimating the field on it?
+ 1
(Sep 12, 2012 at 22:12)
Okay, I'm gonna go ride Trestle tomorrow and talk about track types all day at the base. Maybe a little pink bike from my phone. Stand next to my bike comparing my kit to other riders. Okay then I'll see you back here for the second week of this. Wow! At this point I can't wait for the race. We've been hyping it all week!!!!!!
+ 1
(Sep 12, 2012 at 23:40)
I'm heading there tomorrow, I just heard from my buddies I'll be in the cabin next to DeVinvi team's cabin. So you guys better buy me a flight to Vancouver, prepare some guided tour for northshore trails and heli in Whistler - or I'm gonna waste Stevie Smith a night before the race! I'm Polish and I'll bring lots of Vodka. You have time till tomorrow, PM me for passenger details! Make it a national effort!
+ 1
(Sep 13, 2012 at 1:59)
hahah how wrong were all you whinging tarts about it being an easy track and not WC standard muahaha!
+ 1
(Sep 13, 2012 at 7:11)
: Yeah, the flowy stuff with big jumps are fun. LOL!
+ 1
(Sep 13, 2012 at 12:26)
this track is different from others, and thats what you want, you dont want every track to be similar, otherwise there just going to be riding the same thing all the time, different racers will be better or worse in different types of terrain
+ 18
(Sep 7, 2012 at 12:28)
+ 3
(Sep 7, 2012 at 19:22)
I dont think my gf would like that...
+ 1
(Sep 7, 2012 at 20:40)
this is going to be a cool race! over winner is in the books, worlds is done. only bad part is no CG. would love to see some one throw a dirty sanchez on of the upper hits tho!
+ 1
(Sep 8, 2012 at 19:41)
I think this is going to be a gong show of a coarse. On a few parts of this I can just imagine some of the drifts. Gonna be great.
+ 14
(Sep 7, 2012 at 13:38)
This track is definitely more technical then it appears in this awesome video! That said its probobly far from the hardest track this season, but it's really fun, fast and it's gott a little bitt of everything.
- 7
(Sep 7, 2012 at 13:44)
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Sorry, but a jump section followed by miles of berms and a few wood sections, finished by a grassy sprint, is not WC level.
Dont get me wrong Norway, looks like a fun track to shred but nothing to make the top pros worry.
Not the greatest track to finish off a "a-line" worlds.
+ 21
(Sep 7, 2012 at 16:40)
Well Max you're lucky you are not a World Cup rider, so you don't have to ride it :o)
+ 14
(Sep 7, 2012 at 12:34)
First part looks like Crab Apple hits.....nice vid....get a way better feel for the course than a helmet cam!
+ 9
(Sep 7, 2012 at 13:15)
That rockgarden at 2:07 is deceptively steep. Been there at 2010 european cup, many good looking crashes there
Oh and the entire bike park is awesome, so many trails to choose from
+ 6
(Sep 8, 2012 at 0:48)
I admit that this track has a few bike-park segments, because hafjell is... wait for it... A Bike-park. However this video does not do the the technical parts justice, getting through the rockiest section is an achievment in itself, carrying speed is extremely difficult. You could probably all ride through it, but i am really looking forward to see someone riding it fast for a change...
+ 6
(Sep 8, 2012 at 2:17)
Oh, so THAT's what they where doing. Now I feel like a bit of a douche as we asked the guy with the cable cam to move his ladder out of the way...
As for the track, it's proper fun and it wasn't like anyone complained when they hosted the european champs on the track back in 2010. The middle forest/rock garden is downright manly, and the lower one is also a bit b*lls to the wall. And I can tell you, the lower one gets slippier than free lube night at the Blue Oyster bar in the wet so rain would definitely shake things up.
All in all, even though it isn't the techiest or the gnarliest course on the circiut, we can expect some exciting racing and I am dead stoked to be there riding, watching and shooting pictures all of next week!
+ 9
(Sep 7, 2012 at 12:43)
I f**king love Damage Inc videos, sick track too
+ 9
(Sep 7, 2012 at 12:39)
i am going there, stoked too see Gwin, Minaar, Hill and Peaty
+ 4
(Sep 7, 2012 at 13:03)
i think this track is great, very unique and fresh comparing to other WC tracks. some parts of track need changes, but overall it is good track. there is not much space to gain valuable time so riders will have to push it very hard. might be a chance for other riders to get in top 10, not just the big boys.
+ 4
(Sep 8, 2012 at 20:30)
Haters can hate all day, but you will have to hate next year 2 since Hafjell is also on the show list for 2013! So shut the f**k up and watch how everything unfolds.. First time WCDH in Norway and so many haters.. Support your game and not your ego.. EVERYONE who has been to Hafjell knows its the shit in Scandinavia.. I FLIPPIN LOVE HAFJELL!
+ 6
(Sep 7, 2012 at 12:46)
I really hope that the world cup tracks are not heading the way of bike park trails...that is not WC DH.
- 1
(Sep 7, 2012 at 13:17)
agreed. If they would re-film Strength in Numbers, Follow Me, or any riding film like that the bike park segments and the WC segments are going to start looking the same. Eh, can't find progress. But this, I don't see it as progress. Course looks like its meant for a 7" bike
+ 3
(Sep 7, 2012 at 13:45)
Its kinda looked like a few (admittedly pretty rough rock gardens) linked by bike park trail. Not what I would call a WC track. Would still love to ride it though.
+ 1
(Sep 7, 2012 at 21:22)
What would you class as a world cup dh track then?
+ 1
(Sep 8, 2012 at 2:41)
la bresse, val di sole, fort william? something to offer a challenge in terms of technicality rather than who can send the biggest jumps or scrubs
+ 1
(Sep 8, 2012 at 3:20)
admittedly there are elements of a great world cup track like the bottom section but i dont think its enough to replace a great track like champery personally. still looks good though
+ 1
(Sep 8, 2012 at 14:16)
La Bresee was hardly a technical course - I seem to remember the last time they were there everyone pulled it apart for being a wide open field. val di sole has already been in the series so they probably thought they'd go for a bit of variety in track style, fort william - couple of big technical bits then an enormous bike park style motorway finish. Every track has to be differents otherwise they'd just hold it int he same place. You get 100 plus riders doing 20-30 pracice runs on that over the weekend and it will get worked over - I bet come race Sunday I wouldnt want to ride it. And probably nor would you, especially at race speed.
+ 1
(Sep 9, 2012 at 0:28)
bring back schladming! such a sick track
+ 2
(Sep 7, 2012 at 15:20)
I think this track looks mint, will be interesting to see the splits, many think it is going to be close.... Looks like the kind of track for mistakes and some of those rocks say... pedal strike and crash to me. Will be interesting, something fresh and different...
- 5
(Sep 7, 2012 at 16:36)
(Below Threshold)
show comment
Peddle strike and crash? There is 2 maybe 3 parts that could even happen compared to rock gardens in other WC venues. So, for 99.9% of the riders, they arent going to crash or get hung up at all. This course is weak.
+ 5
(Sep 7, 2012 at 15:06)
Say what you will about the track for WC purposes, but the video was awesome. Damage Inc. always puts out quality stuff.
+ 1
(Sep 9, 2012 at 2:34)
To ride the worldcup you have to be good at everything! So I think its good that the tracks contain a mix o terrain. And this track is most certanly, in my mind, a much more fun trach then the one in south africa!! There you can talk about AM! Should be a fun and fast track to watch looking forward to it!!
+ 5
(Sep 7, 2012 at 12:44)
looks long and very random..
+ 1
(Sep 8, 2012 at 1:00)
Track does look pretty fun has to be said! But I really want them to bring back tracks like bromont champery schladming camberra they were insane tracks that tested a rider! Such a shame as well seeing as champery just gets over grown when there isn't a race there! I expect the towns people would be Extactic seeig as there is nothing else going on during the summer with it being so far out!
+ 4
(Sep 7, 2012 at 18:23)
Looks awesome to me, quit all the bitching.
+ 4
(Sep 7, 2012 at 15:21)
Bring back Angel Fire WC with its endless rock gardens.
+ 1
(Sep 7, 2012 at 15:28)
I think it looks quite fun. Maybe it is better suited for less travel, but there are sections that will be crucial in regards to time gain/loss that will be exciting to watch.
+ 4
(Sep 7, 2012 at 12:30)
First section looks like they modeled it after Crabapple hits.
+ 2
(Sep 8, 2012 at 1:56)
Starts with a big double, small double, two long high speed jumps and ends with a 15-20m corner before you hit the first woodsection.
It's got a beautiful view over the whol valley and the photogs/sponsors/crowd/riders gonna love it.
+ 2
(Sep 7, 2012 at 16:34)
Looks super fun and the wc boys can make any track rowdy don't worry it'll be a good race
+ 2
(Sep 7, 2012 at 13:17)
Sick video will be there next w/e , pretty exciting ! Anyone from stockholm/sweden going ? trying organise a carpool !
+ 0
(Sep 7, 2012 at 14:35)
this will still be good to watch as is any WC DH race, but why they have replaced champerey with this i do not know! I think someone news gonna take the win personally! Pretty disappointed...
+ 3
(Sep 7, 2012 at 12:45)
YES. that just looks like balls to the walls fun!
+ 4
(Sep 7, 2012 at 12:30)
sweet video
+ 2
(Sep 7, 2012 at 12:55)
and where is the WC DH track? as I really dont see it there...
+ 2
(Sep 8, 2012 at 17:33)
There is a wc planned at sunpeaks in BC for 2014
+ 1
(Sep 8, 2012 at 16:52)
Val di Sole, Peitermaritzburg, Fort William, were the only races worth watching this year.
+ 1
(Sep 7, 2012 at 17:26)
Are those two riders pros? They look a little slow. Faster than I'll ever be, just sayin.
+ 1
(Sep 7, 2012 at 17:36)
Slow and taking easy lines..
+ 1
(Sep 10, 2012 at 12:03)
No. They are born in 1995 and 1996, but they're still pretty damn fast though, and they are doing well in the norwegian competitions.
+ 1
(Sep 7, 2012 at 14:21)
At the start of the course it looks like crabapple lol The location and layout look so familiar hah
+ 1
(Sep 10, 2012 at 7:03)
Stop your bitching!!
+ 1
(Sep 7, 2012 at 13:10)
2:50ish - I wonder if the inside line will be in play once the course is taped, or if it'll be cut out
+ 2
(Sep 7, 2012 at 13:24)
This track has got BRAYTON written all over it
+ 1
(Sep 11, 2012 at 12:41)
Here is the "A-line" track in Hafjell.
+ 1
(Sep 10, 2012 at 8:35)
Helmet-cam from the track last year on Dirt:
+ 3
(Sep 7, 2012 at 15:52)
bring back Schladming!
+ 1
(Sep 10, 2012 at 18:39)
Yeahhh. Totally agree. Schladming kicks ass. Most fun trail I've ridden. That and the Mt 7 psychosis trail in Golden, BC
+ 1
(Sep 10, 2012 at 2:39)
I think that this track will look awesome when its taped up and the WC circus is in town!!
+ 1
(Sep 8, 2012 at 6:53)
What you guys talking about... ? the track looks sick.. and if it rains hard its gunna be super sickness!!!
+ 2
(Sep 7, 2012 at 16:27)
3:03 thought that was huge berm
+ 1
(Sep 9, 2012 at 3:39)
At least this video has more coverage than red bull will give us...
+ 1
(Sep 9, 2012 at 10:16)
ha ha, to be fair the red bull coverage is better than the year before, would be nice if they could cover more of the track
+ 1
(Sep 7, 2012 at 19:12)
now that is my kind of track
+ 1
(Sep 7, 2012 at 17:05)
Yeah, that doesnt seem like a typical WC course. But it could be cool.
+ 1
(Sep 7, 2012 at 16:46)
poderia aumentar a velocidade !!!
+ 2
(Sep 7, 2012 at 22:23)
^^whatever he said??!!
+ 0
(Sep 7, 2012 at 12:53)
Looks like another fast easy course. What the hell happened to the gnar factor that WC courses are supposed to be known for?
+ 8
(Sep 7, 2012 at 12:59)
easy course? thats a pretty bold statement haha
- 19
(Sep 7, 2012 at 13:09)
(Below Threshold)
show comment
I could ride this track with a roadbike... That's what I call an easy track, just like last week... Entertaining yes.Wow factor, no.
- 1
(Sep 7, 2012 at 13:09)
yeah! doesn't look as hard as my local bike park. The old US Open course at Mountain Creek was harder I think. Berms are for fun time shredding. LAUNCH bike park in Pennsylvania has 10X the gnar of that track, place is 70% rocks.
+ 19
(Sep 7, 2012 at 13:15)
talk is cheap. anyone can watch a vid and say "thats easy"
+ 2
(Sep 7, 2012 at 13:23)
Riding it fast like them isn't "easy"! However most normal (traditionally) world cup courses would be nearly impossible to navigate for novice/intermediates. Watch Earthed 5...you will see pros wrecking all over in practice.
+ 10
(Sep 7, 2012 at 13:27)
Shit looks way different in videos , you can never see how steep/off camber/ or tech as f*ck it is in videos.
I'd say it's 100 percent different in person.
+ 1
(Sep 7, 2012 at 13:33)
I agree video can be deceiving. However, its bike park. Enough said. It is built to be fun. Nothing wrong with it. I don't know whether I am upset about the course being easier or excited about the fact that I can ride them now.
+ 1
(Sep 8, 2012 at 15:24)
I agree with Joey. A good world cup track should make an intermediate rider like myself cringe and ask how the f*ck those riders even get through some sections. This just isn't doing that, at on video yet.
+ 1
(Sep 7, 2012 at 14:30)
I want to see someone beast it out on a all mountain bike
- 1
(Sep 7, 2012 at 16:37)
Or a bmx bike!
+ 1
(Sep 7, 2012 at 12:46)
This track is made for Greg Minnaar....
+ 1
(Sep 7, 2012 at 12:58)
Gee or Stevie, perhaps even Hannah, I would really like to see Troy finish in the top ten.
+ 4
(Sep 7, 2012 at 13:27)
Just in case you missed the World Champs - Troy is out of action untill next season due to dislocated shoulder...which is such a shame..
+ 1
(Sep 10, 2012 at 7:42)
Didn`t know it will require surgery
+ 1
(Sep 9, 2012 at 12:41)
So Stoked
+ 1
(Sep 7, 2012 at 17:04)
+ 1
(Sep 7, 2012 at 18:42)
I would hit that!
- 2
(Sep 8, 2012 at 2:36)
Below threshold threads are hidden
- 21
(Sep 7, 2012 at 12:26)
+ 13
(Sep 7, 2012 at 12:30)
Well done, your mother must be so proud.
- 2
(Sep 7, 2012 at 12:41)
She is.
- 4
(Sep 7, 2012 at 22:13)
track looks shit!
- 4
(Sep 8, 2012 at 3:06)
No need of brakes on this track
+ 3
(Sep 10, 2012 at 13:17)
I'll give you my bike if you do this track brakeless without crashing. (Turner DHR DW-Link) You have everyone on PB as witness.
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subset: commoncrawl


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text:
Welcome to WebmasterWorld Guest from 220.127.116.11
Forum Moderators: Robert Charlton & goodroi
So: if your pages are still supplemental, feel free to write to sesnyc06 [at] gmail.com with the subject line of "stillsupplemental" (all one word), and I'll ask someone to check the emails out.
Hope that helps, and I'm glad that lots of people are seeing a full recovery,
[edited by: Brett_Tabke at 5:20 pm (utc) on Mar. 22, 2006]
I believe they said no 'major' changes, I don't think most people see any 'major' changes... if any at all
--- Instead it is a fundamental change to their infrastructure, new bot, new indexes, etc.
I guess they would create a new bot and build a new index to have the same results?!?!?!
---(possible even all pages that are new since January-ish).
You've got to be kidding... 80% of my site has been built since then... all there!
---Yes this may well get rid of some Spam, but it will also get rid of all of the quailty content too.
I suppose everyone should expect to see '0 results found' pretty soon! That would be a bad business move...
---I guess you are just lucky that you aren't effefcted (yet). Maybe you should just count your blessings instead if coming over all smug?
I just try to build quality, useful websites... a strategy that's worked for me for almost 10 years...
Has anyone else seen this type of behavior recently? Wondering if this an isolated issue or not. I've just setup a Google Sitemap with all of the new URLs and submitted successfully... next step will be to create one with the old URLs and see if they reindex the redirect.
joined:Oct 27, 2001
votes: 0
Trouble is, their new bot and/or index contains a serious bug that indiscriminately discards perfectly good pages (possible even all pages that are new since January-ish).
If that's the case, isn't it reasonable to assume that they'll work on identifying and fixing the bug after the rollout is complete? Maybe I'm naive, but I don't think Google wants to discard "perfectly good pages" at random or to dump all pages that have been published since January.
Re Your Post:
"Where is Google pulling titles from lately?
We're ranked well for a particular KW but where they are pulling the title from has me completely stumped! "
I've noticed that for some results google has been returning our DMOZ/Google directory title and description, for others a mixture of the 2.
Then there is the index cache date at the bottom, which will say something like: 20 march, but when you click on the cached page link it'll give a variety of cache dated pages - anywhere from dec 2005 to 20 march 2006 at the moment.
can you al look in your logs and see if both Googlebots are visiting your site if you had damage last weeks?
Also if you are not affected can you see or both or only 1 bot is crwaling your site.
Perhaps there is a conflict between these 2.
old : Googlebot/2.1 (+http://www.google.com/bot.html)
new : Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; Googlebot/2.1; +http://www.google.com/bot.html)
This has nothing to do with them getting rid of MFA junk or autogenerated spam or attacking mega sized sites, it is a bug. pure, plain and simple. I know of several other "authority" sites that have been hit the same way the one site of ours has been. GG says its a bug, MC says its a bug and all of my teams research says its a bug.
the first is the current url and version..the second is indented..its last years version of the same url and showing as supplemental...a clear example of the same url being listed twice..once as a supplemental and once as a normal index listing..showing to me google is treating them as sperate urls even though its the same one...either the current url is getting the old urls ranking (in thats its ranked supplemental), or having one url treated as two urls means u cant help but trip a duplicate filter....
the difference between the two versions is not the content but a series of links to inner pages that were removed.....
It seems to me that they most certainly are not aware of any problem with BD. Only today, Matt Cutts was proudly announcing that the complete rollout is now only days away - with just two bugless, fully-functioning, non BD DCs remaining. Hooray!
A few weeks back Google thought they might have a minor problem. Matt Cutts then announced that the minor problem had been fixed. One or two people then thanked him profusely. And here we all still are.
Those of us who have been effected know that there is a problem, but Google absolutely do not. It's not like they are quietly beavering away at a fix. They aren't. Because they have yet to acknowledge or even notice that it's broken.
We�re down to just 1-2 data centers left in the switchover to Bigdaddy. It�s possible that the Bigdaddy switchover will be complete in the next week or two. Just as a reminder, Bigdaddy is a software upgrade to Google�s infrastructure that provides the framework for a lot of improvements to core search quality in the coming months (smarter redirect handling, improved canonicalization, etc.). A team of dedicated people has worked very hard on this change; props to them for the code, sweat, and hours they�ve put into it.Matt Cutts
If Google is doing this with other websites, the quality of Google search results has just taken a major dive. I can see why they might want to truncate the titles of sites that simply contain strings of spammy words, but removing the spam-free description of a website from the displayed title makes no sense and will only confuse users.
I do not understand this at all, how can both be? If it has a cache date of just a few days old, why would it still show sup? Could it be that the page was crawled within the past few days but G has not reindexed it as of yet and when it does it will no longer show supplemental?
Sure hope somebody can explain this to me where it will make some sense.
Summary :
1 page is showing - almost zero Google traffic
total estimated pages for caching around 95,200
viewed first 999 results, assume the rest are similar
Home Page cached 8 Mar ,
all remaining pages 42,099 supplementals
last caches around 25jul05
Home Page cached 8 Mar ,
all remaining pages 23,099 supplementals
last caches around 25jul05
Home Page cached 8 Mar,
all remaining pages 23,109 supplementals
last caches around 25jul05
301 redirects from old to new pages done around 21 Feb
Site Maps submitted around 21 Feb
March Traffic
Overall traffic down around 60-70% thru Google
Is this pattern shared amongst webmasters?
7 out of first 10 pages cached in March 06
last 3 out of 10 cached in June 05
remainder 99% url only.
Just changed since last night!
The June 05 cache date starts at position # 11
remainder of site 98% is url only.
Here's where the problem defines itself:
All DC's still show a very nasty June 05 cache date 404 page (which happens to be an https page which never really existed) showing up as an indication of where the bots get hung (around position 11 - 14, with indications that it is progressively moving down the list).
I suppose this is slow progress.
after about 10 results, all data centers show https pages, presumably as duplicates - and the site only has 1 genuine https page.
This 1 key https page has been modified with robots noindex nofollow to stop the bots.
Please Google, send a newly-smartened up Bot our way that can solve this problem.
It might be smart to remove all non-www 301's and request anyone linking to your site with a 302 redirect remove the link, and just make better links to the site.
I do not expect a fix if its been this long.
< continued here: [webmasterworld.com...] >
[edited by: tedster at 5:29 am (utc) on Mar. 25, 2006]


text:
Matzke - Porter
Sarah Matzke and Brian Porter announce their engagement.
Parents of the couple are Bud and Audrey Matzke of Marion, ND.; and Bob and LuAnn Porter of Detroit Lakes.
Sarah graduated from North Dakota State University and is employed by MeritCare Child Development Center, Fargo, ND.
Brian graduated from Minnesota State University Moorhead and is employed by Pepsi Americas, Fargo, ND.
An Oct. 11, 2008 wedding is planned at Hope Lutheran - South Campus, Fargo, ND


text:
A plan to three- or five-lane two roads in southeastern Clarke County will go to the Athens-Clarke County Commission in April or May.
Residents raised few objections at a public hearing Monday night to proposed improvements to Old Lexington Road and the southern stretch of Barnett Shoals Road, a main path for commuters from southeast Clarke, Oconee and Oglethorpe counties. Development there is expected to double or triple traffic in the next 20 years.
The plan presented Monday calls for adding lanes to the Barnett Shoals-Whitehall Road intersection; widening Barnett Shoals Road from that intersection to Old Lexington Road to five lanes; adding center turn lanes to other portions of Barnett Shoals and Old Lexington roads; rebuilding the Barnett Shoals-Old Lexington Road intersection; and adding several traffic signals to the corridors. The roads also will include bicycle lanes and sidewalks.
"I think what it shows is there's more traffic coming through there than people thought," said Commissioner Doug Lowry, who represents the area. "It's probably needed."
The corridor-wide plan grew out of a proposal last year to rebuild the Barnett Shoals-Old Lexington Road intersection; that intersection still is slated for improvement, but commissioners will have the option of doing any part of Monday's plan first, said David Clark, director of the county transportation department.
Realigning the intersection is still a priority, Lowry said, though officials haven't decided whether to build a T-shaped intersection or a one-way circle called a roundabout.
Many residents prefer a roundabout, but a roundabout would only last 10 to 15 years before traffic becomes too heavy for a roundabout to handle, Clark said.
Portions of the plan will be implemented between now and 2026, and it will be up to commissioners to set priorities and find the money, Clark said.
"What we're looking at is a 20-year window," he said. "We're not looking at a project we can get constructed in the next two to three years."
Sales tax revenue has been set aside for the Barnett Shoals-Old Lexington intersection, along with two other intersections in other parts of Athens, but there's no funding for the rest of the project. The commission could choose to redirect some of about $2.2 million earmarked for intersection improvements to other proposed improvements.
Some residents challenged the county's growth projections, saying they don't believe the area will be entirely built out by 2026.
Clark said the county based its estimates on zoning in the county's land-use plan, and on population projections for Oconee and Oglethorpe counties, to project how many cars will be traveling on each road.
Study results
The traffic study, conducted last April, projects:
26,800 cars per day on Barnett Shoals between Whitehall and Old Lexington roads in 2026, compared to 15,050 now.
9,600 cars on Barnett Shoals east of Whit Davis Road, compared to 3,275 now.
5,900 cars on Barnett Shoals north of the Oconee County line, compared to 1,500 now.
11,900 cars on Old Lexington Road east of Gaines Court, compared to 5,500 now.
7,500 cars on Old Lexington Road west of Morton Road, compared to 1,625 now.
© 2017. All Rights Reserved. | Contact Us


text: Hello everyone, Brought the new (to me) bass to rehearsal last night (Ibanez SR800 '91 two band EQ) and I was a bit surprised at the bass' weak output signal strength and lack of volume when compared to my other bass (Ibanez RB800). This being my first low impedance bass I'm not sure if this is normal or if I have something wrong with the circuitry. I have searched TB and ran into a thread suggesting a volume pedal. Any information will be greatly appreciated.


text:
The intestinal alkaline phosphatase gene (ALPI) encodes a digestive brush-border enzyme, which is highly upregulated during small intestinal epithelial cell differentiation. To identify new putative promoter motifs responsible for the regulation of ALPI expression during differentiation of the enterocytes, we have conducted a computer-assisted cis-element search of the proximal human ALPI promoter sequence. A putative recognition site for the transcription factor hepatocyte nuclear factor (HNF)-4 was predicted at the positions from −94 to −82 in relation to the translational start site. The ability of HNF-4α to stimulate the expression from the ALPI promoter was investigated in the nonintestinal Hela cell line. Cotransfection with an HNF-4α expression vector demonstrated a direct activation of the ALPI promoter through this −94 to −82 element. EMSA showed that HNF-4α from nuclear extracts of differentiated intestinal epithelial cells (Caco-2) bound with high affinity to the predicted HNF-4 binding site. A 521 bp promoter fragment containing the HNF-4 binding site demonstrated a differentiation-dependent increase in promoter activity in Caco-2 cells. The presence of the HNF-4 binding site was necessary for this increase to occur.
- intestinal alkaline phosphatase
- transcriptional regulation
the small intestinal epithelium is a dynamic structure that undergoes a highly regulated process of cell proliferation, migration, and differentiation (12, 21, 27). A multitude of small intestinal in situ hybridization experiments have been reported (for an overview see the crypt villus in situ hybridization database, see Ref. 18). Such studies have led to the realization that the differentiation process in the absorptive enterocytes in the adult small intestine is associated with the appearance of mRNAs for a large set of enterocyte-specific genes at the epithelial crypt villus junction.
Early studies of the genes encoding the intestinal digestive brush-border hydrolases aminopeptidase N (ANPEP), lactase-phlorizin-hydrolase (LCT), and sucrase-isomaltase (SI) have revealed that the presence of binding sites for the transcription factors hepatocyte nuclear factor 1 (HNF-1) (15, 16, 23, 33) and the caudal-related homeobox (CDX) member CDX-2 (24, 29) are common to the promoters of these genes that are expressed in a differentiation-specific manner along the crypt villus axis in the intestinal epithelium. The more general importance of the HNF-1 and CDX-2 transcription factors for gene expression in differentiated small intestinal epithelial cells have subsequently been stressed by the finding of binding sites for the two factors in the promoters of several other intestinally expressed genes such as calbindin-D9k (11), guanylin (7), and lysophospholipase (25).
HNF-4 belongs to the nuclear receptor superfamily and is expressed in several endodermally derived tissues including the liver, pancreas, and intestine. HNF-4 is known to play a pivotal role in the regulation of the expression of genes encoding proteins involved in hepatic lipid homeostasis (for a review see Ref. 31). In the intestine, HNF-4 is known to be important for the promoter activity of the genes encoding the apolipoproteins (8, 10).
Human intestinal alkaline phosphatase (ALPI) is an intestinal brush-border hydrolase transcriptionally upregulated during enterocyte differentiation. The molecular mechanisms involved in the transcriptional regulation of this gene have recently been addressed (5, 6, 9). Data from the initial characterization of the ALPI promoter have shown that the −179 through −49 segment of the proximal promoter is essential for specific expression during differentiation of the intestinal-like colon carcinoma HT-29 cell line. A cis-element (called IF-III) positioned at −163 to −135 upstream of the translational start site (in the following presentation we will adopt this numbering, which was introduced in Ref. 9) binds Sp1 and Sp3 (6, 9). Subsequently, the gut-enriched Krüppel-like factor 4 (KLF4) has also been demonstrated to bind to the IF-III element. KLF4 is preferentially expressed in differentiated intestinal epithelial cells and the binding of KLF4 to the ALPI promoter has therefore been hypothesized to be important for the differentiation-dependent ALPI expression in the enterocytes (5).
The present study was undertaken to investigate whether other transcription factors expressed in intestinal epithelial cells contribute to the differentiation-dependent expression of the ALPI gene in the small intestine. We report here the presence of a hitherto unidentified potential HNF-4 binding site positioned between two regions [intestinal alkaline phosphatase footprint (IF)-IV and IF-V] that are downstream of the IF-III region and that have also previously been shown to interact with nuclear proteins from intestinal cells (9). Moreover, our analyses demonstrate that this HNF-4 binding site at position −94 to −82 in the proximal human ALPI promoter is indeed functional. Using EMSA in combination with a specific HNF-4α antibody, we found that HNF-4α have a high affinity for this motif, and in addition, we show that HNF-4α, via this site, stimulates transcription from a 521 bp ALPI promoter construct in differentiated but not in undifferentiated Caco-2 cells. Moreover, the expression is differentiation-dependent because it increases during differentiation and the increase is absolutely dependent on the presence of the HNF-4 binding site.
Plasmid constructs.
Genomic human DNA (0.5 μg) was used as a template in a PCR using Taq DNA polymerase (Fermentas, Vilnius, Lithuania) to amplify a 521-bp fragment (from positions −566 to −45 using the numbering suggested in Ref. 9) of the ALPI gene. In the 5′ primer (5′-CAGCTAGCCATCTACCTGTGCAAGGGAA-3′) an NheI site (underlined) was introduced, whereas in the 3′ primer (5′-TTAGATCTGAAGTGGGGACACCAGGAACC-3′) a BglII site was added. The PCR fragment was cloned in front of the luciferase reporter gene in the NheI and BglII sites of pGL3-Basic vector (Promega, Madison, WI) to generate the reporter plasmid pALPI_566. In addition, two 5′ promoter deletion constructs with 5′ ends corresponding to positions −143 and −83 in the ALPI gene, respectively, were produced by PCR using the pALPI_566 construct as template. The 5′ primers used for these constructs were 5′-CAGCTAGCAAGATGGACACCAGGGGTGT-3′ and 5′-CAGCTAGCTCCCCTGATTTAAACCCAGG-3′, respectively.
Site-directed mutagenesis of the HNF-4 site in the ALPI promoter was also performed using a PCR strategy. Overlapping PCR fragments carrying the mutation were annealed, and the whole fragment was amplified by using flanking primers. One PCR reaction with the primers 5′-CTAGCAAAATAGGCTGTCCC-3′ (corresponding to nucleotides 4760–4779 of the pGL3-Basic vector), 5′-GTTTAAATCAGGGGAGGACTCGAGCCCTGGCTGTAAATGCTC-3′ (corresponding to nucleotides −68 to −109 of the ALPI gene; underlined nucleotides denote the mutation), and 1 ng of the plasmid pALPI_566 as template generated a 563-bp fragment of the ALPI promoter. A second PCR reaction with the primers 5′-GAGCATTTACAGCCAGGGCTCGAGTCCTCCCCTGATTTAAAC-3′ (corresponding to nucleotides −109 to −68 of the ALPI gene; underlined nucleotides denotes the mutation), 5′-GCCTTATGCAGTTGCTCTCC-3′ (corresponding to nucleotides 101–120 of the pGL3-Basic vector), and 1 ng of the plasmid pALPI_566 as template generated a 186-bp fragment of the ALPI promoter/luciferase fusion in pALPI_566. Each of the generated fragments (1 ng) were combined and used as templates in a third PCR reaction using the flanking primers from the pGL3-Basic vector generating a 706-bp fragment corresponding to the ALPI promoter with a mutation in the HNF-4 site fused to the 5′ end of the luciferase gene. This fragment was digested with the restriction enzymes NheI and BglII, and the released ALPI promoter fragment cloned into the pGL3-Basic vector digested with the same enzymes. All constructs were sequenced using the BigDye Terminator v3.1 Cycle Sequencing Kit and the Avant 3100 Genetic Analyzer (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA) to verify the sequences of the cloned DNA fragments.
Cell culture and transfections.
Caco-2 (human colon carcinoma cell line) and Hela (human cervix epithelial carcinoma cell line) cells were cultured in minimal essential medium (Invitrogen Life Technologies, Carlsbad, CA) containing 10% FCS. For transient transfections, Caco-2 and Hela cells were seeded in 24-well plates 1 day before transfection (3 × 104 cells/well). The Exgen500 (Fermentas UAB) transfection reagent was used according to the manufactures instructions. In brief, a total of 1 μg DNA and 3.3 μl Exgen500 were diluted in 150 mM NaCl to a final volume of 50 μl. For each transfection, 250 ng luciferase reporter plasmid and 125 ng of β-galactosidase expression plasmid (pCMVlacZ; Promega) were used. In some transfections 250 ng of a HNF-4α expression plasmid (pRHNF-4 kindly provided by Dr. F. M. Sladeck, University of California Riverside, CA) were added. The total amount of DNA was adjusted to 1 μg by adding pBluescript SK+ (Stratagene, La Jolla, CA). Medium was changed 3 h after transfection and the cells were harvested after 48 h (undifferentiated) or 10 days after transfection (differentiated) as described previously (28, 30). Protein extracts from the harvested cells were analyzed for luciferase and β-galactosidase activities using the Tropix Dual Light system (Applied Biosystems). The luciferase activity was corrected for transfection efficiency by β-galactosidase expression measurements and normalized to the expression of pALPI_566. Four to six replicates of each experiment were performed.
Generation of pools of stably transfected Caco-2 cells carrying either the pALPI_566 or the pALPI_566ΔHNF-4 promoter constructs was done essentially as previously described (14). The ALPI promoter/reporter construct (20.4 μg), the CMVLACZ construct (1.8 μg), and the neomycin resistance expression plasmid (1.8 μg) RSVNEO (3) was mixed with 120 μl Exgen500 according the manufacturer's protocol and added to exponentially growing Caco-2 cells. Forty-eight hours after the addition of the DNA, the cells were trypsinized and divided among three 75-cm2 culture flasks in minimal essential medium supplemented with 10% FCS, and 1 mg/ml G418. After 3 wk of selection, ∼30 clones were visible per flask. Clones from each flask were released by trypsination, pooled, and passaged once before they were seeded at a density of 2 × 104 cells/cm2. Cells were harvested either 48 h after seeding (undifferentiated) or 2 wk after seeding (differentiated). Protein extracts and measurements of luciferase and β-galactosidase activities were performed as described above. The APLI promoter-driven luciferase activity was normalized to the measured β-galactosidase activity. Three different pools of cells were analyzed for each of the two ALPI promoter constructs.
Nuclear extracts and EMSA.
Nuclear extracts were prepared from (1) exponentially growing (2 days after seeding) and from 14 days postconfluent, Caco-2 cultures followed by concentration using ammonium sulfate precipitation as described previously (17). DNA mobility shift assays were performed with the following double-stranded oligonucleotides HNF-4 (5′-CCAGGGGCAAAGTCCTCCCCTGA-3′) and SP-1 (5′-AGGGGAGGACTTTGCCCCTGGCT-3′). Two complementary oligonucleotides (1,000 pmol each) were annealed, and 5 pmol of the annealed oligonucleotides were 5′ end-labeled with [γ32P]ATP using T4 polynucleotide kinase. Labeled products were purified on a Sephadex G-25 column (Amersham-Bioscience, Uppsala, Sweden). Nuclear extracts (3 μg for the experiments shown in Figs. 1 and 2 and 2 μg for the experiment shown in Fig. 4) obtained from Caco-2 cells were incubated with 1,000 ng of the nonspecific competitor poly(dI-dC) for 10 min on ice in 1× binding buffer (in mM: 25 Tris·HCl, pH 7.5, 5 MgCl, 60 KCl, 0.5 EDTA, 1 DTT, and 0.5 PMSF plus 5% Ficoll 400 and 2.5% glycerol). We then added 10 fmol of 32P-labeled probes, and incubation was prolonged for 20 min on ice (in a final volume of 12 μl). In some assays, unlabeled double-stranded oligonucleotides were added in 100-fold molar excess along with the labeled probe. Where indicated, 2 μg of specific HNF-4α antibody (SC-8987; Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Santa Cruz, CA) was added to the incubation mixture, and the incubation was prolonged for 10 min at 37°C before addition of the probe. The samples were then loaded onto a 5% polyacrylamide gel and electrophoresed at 120 V for 1.5 h in 0.5 × 45 mM Tris-borate, pH 8.3, 1 mM EDTA (TBE) buffer. The gel was dried and used to expose a PhosphorImager screen, which was scanned using a PhosphorImager (Molecular Dynamics, Sunnyvale, CA).
Chromatin immunoprecipitation.
Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) was performed essentially as described in Ref. 2. In brief, 48-h cultures and 14 days postconfluent Caco-2 cell cultures were fixed by addition of 37% formaldehyde to a final concentration of 1% followed by 10 min of incubation at room temperature. Cells were subsequently harvested by scraping in SDS buffer [50 mM Tris·HCl, pH 8.1, 1% SDS, 100 mM NaCl, 5 mM EDTA, and protease inhibitor cocktail (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO) in a 100-fold dilution], and counted. Cells were sonicated to achieve an average genomic DNA size of 500–1,000 bp. The sonicated mixture was stored frozen (−80°C) in 300-μl aliquots. Each sample was diluted in 1,200 μl ChIP dilution buffer [1% Triton X-100, 150 mM NaCl, 2 mM EDTA, 20 mM Tris·HCl, pH 8.1, and protease inhibitor cocktail (Sigma-Aldrich) and mixed with 25 μl protein A beads (50% slurry Protein A-Sepharose; Amersham-Bioscience, Uppsala, Sweden) in Tris-EDTA buffer containing 0.2 mg/ml sonicated calf sperm DNA, and 0.5 mg/ml lipid-free BSA] followed by centrifugation at 20,000 g for 30 min. The supernatant was immunoprecipitated with 2 μg HNF-4α antibody (SC-8987; Santa Cruz Biotechnology) at 4°C with continuous mixing overnight. Debris was pelleted (20,000 g for 20 min), and the supernatant was transferred to a new tube containing 25 μl protein A beads [50% slurry protein A-Sepharose (Amersham-Bioscience) in Tris-EDTA buffer containing 0.2 mg/ml sonicated calf sperm DNA and 0.5 mg/ml lipid-free BSA] and allowed to incubate for 2 h at 4°C with continuous mixing. The precipitate was harvested, and the pelleted protein A-Sepharose was resuspended, incubated on ice for 4 min, and washed once in buffer 1 (0.1% SDS, 1% Triton X-100, 150 mM NaCl, 2 mM EDTA, 20 mM Tris·HCl, pH 8.1, protease inhibitors), twice in buffer 2 (0.1% SDS, 1% Triton X-100, 500 mM NaCl, 2 mM EDTA, 20 mM Tris·HCl, pH 8.1), once in buffer 3 (0.25 LiCl, 1% deoxycholate, 1% Nonidet P-40, 0.5 mM EGTA, 10 mM Tris·HCl, pH 8.1, protease inhibitors) and two times in Tris-EDTA buffer. Finally, the DNA was eluted by resuspending the pellet in 300 μl 1% SDS and 0.1 M NaHCO3 followed by an incubation at 65°C for 30 min and a brief centrifugation. To the supernatant, 12 μl 5M NaCl was added and decross-linking continued overnight at 65°C followed by the addition of 250 μl proteinase K and incubation at 55°C for 2 h. Subsequently, 55 μl of 4 M LiCl was added. The DNA was then purified by phenol extraction and ethanol precipitation.
Quantitative PCR.
Quantitative PCR was performed on 5 μl ChIP DNA with the LightCycler FastStart DNA MasterPLUS SYBR Green I (Roche, Basel, Switzerland) system in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions. Ten picomoles of each primer for human ALPI (5′-TTCAGCAAGCTTGGCTTCAGGT-3′ and 5′CAGGCTGCCTGGGTTTAAATCA-3′) and human ANPEP (5′-GCCAAGGCTACAGATGAAGG-3′ and 5′-TCCCTGACCTCTCCATGAAC-3′) were used to generate an ALPI promoter fragment of 127 bp (including the region of potential HNF-4 binding) and a 147 bp product of the ANPEP intron 1. Before the actual quantifications of ChIP DNA were performed, a control procedure was carried out for the specificity of the amplification with the LightCycler instrument. The PCR products obtained by the LightCycler PCR amplification protocol were spun out of the capillary tubes and analyzed on a 3% agarose gel to verify their size. The sequences of the products were also determined by direct sequencing of the PCR products and their identity with the expected products confirmed. A melting point analysis is routinely carried out at the end of the LightCycler PCR amplification protocol and the melting curve profile of the analyzed PCR products for the ALPI promoter and the ANPEP intron 1 was recorded and stored. For the actual quantifications of ChIP DNA, a total of 40 cycles were performed on the LightCycler (Roche, Basel, Switzerland), and resulting amplification curves were analyzed using the second derivative method setting in the LightCycler software (Roche) to determine the crossing point. The number of template copies was determined using serial dilutions of the purified PCR products as templates in separate PCR reactions. In all ChIP real-time PCR quantifications the melting curve analysis showed only the expected peak.
MatInspector analysis.
The MatInspector professional program 5.1 (20) was used in a computer-assisted search for the presence of possible transcription factor binding sites within the sequence of the 521-bp ALPI promoter segment cloned (ALPI_566).
HNF-4 binds to a cis-element in the human ALPI promoter.
To identify potential motifs that could confer enterocyte-specific regulation of the human ALPI promoter, we performed a computer-assisted analysis of the proximal upstream region of this gene. No motifs for HNF-1 or CDX-2 were predicted within this region; however, a putative binding site for HNF-4 was identified at positions from −94 to −82, which is between the previously identified IF-IV and IF-V regions (Fig. 1) that interact with proteins from nuclei of HT-29 colon carcinoma cells (9). The ability of HNF-4 to regulate and bind to the ALPI proximal promoter was therefore investigated. The colon carcinoma cell line Caco-2 was chosen as a cell model for small intestinal epithelial cells in the subsequent analysis because preconfluent Caco-2 cells resemble undifferentiated crypt cells and postconfluent Caco-2 cells after 1–2 wk in culture display-differentiated enterocyte characteristics that also include the expression alkaline phosphatase activity (19).
EMSA and super-shift assays were carried out using nuclear extracts from 14-days postconfluent Caco-2 cells, an HNF-4α specific antibody and a double-stranded oligonucleotide probe corresponding to positions −97 to −75 in the ALPI promoter. Proteins present in the Caco-2 nuclear extracts bind to the radiolabeled probe, as revealed by the presence of one intensive band (Fig. 1, lane 1). The band disappears after the addition of the same unlabeled oligonucleotide in 100-fold molar excess (Fig. 1, lane 2). On contrary, binding of nuclear extracts to the probe is not affected by the addition of an unlabeled unrelated double-stranded oligonucleotide corresponding to the Sp1 motif described in the aminopeptidase N promoter (15) (Fig. 1, lane 3). This suggests that the band represents a sequence-specific protein DNA interaction. The addition of an HNF-4α-specific antibody results in a further decrease in the mobility of the protein-DNA complex. Thus the HNF-4α antibody produces a complete super shift of the radioactive probe with the Caco-2 nuclear extract (Fig. 1, lane 4). This indicates that HNF-4α is the dominating protein, which binds to the double-stranded ALPI HNF-4 oligonucleotide probe in nuclear extracts from differentiated Caco-2 cells.
The effect of HNF-4 on ALPI promoter activity was studied in the nonintestinal Hela cell line that does not express ALPI or HNF-4 endogenously. Transient cotransfection assays were carried out with four reporter constructs including three ALPI promoter constructs with a different length of 5′ flanking sequences (with 5′ ends at positions −566, −143, and −83 in the ALPI upstream region, respectively) and a mutated version of the longest ALPI promoter (ending at position −566) construct carrying a mutation in the predicted HNF-4 binding site. All ALPI promoter constructs were placed in front of the firefly luciferase gene. As shown in Fig. 2, cotransfection with the HNF-4 expression plasmid increased significantly the transcription from the −521 and −143 ALPI promoter deletion constructs that both included the predicted HNF-4 binding site in the ALPI promoter. In contrast, the activity of both the −83 ALPI promoter deletion construct and the −521 promoter construct with a mutation in the predicted HNF-4 binding site were not stimulated when cotransfected with the HNF-4 expression construct. Moreover, as seen also in Fig. 2, a double-stranded oligonucleotide with a sequence corresponding to the mutated ALPI HNF-4 binding site used in the promoter construct pALPI_566ΔHNF-4 cannot compete out the binding of nuclear proteins from differentiated Caco-2 cells to the ALPI HNF-4 probe. These results show that HNF-4 can activate transcription of the ALPI promoter and that this activation is dependent on the presence of the predicted HNF-4 binding site.
HNF-4 stimulates ALPI promoter activity in differentiated Caco-2 cells.
To clarify the role of HNF-4 on the regulation of the differentiation-dependent ALPI gene expression in an intestinal cell line, transfection experiments were performed in Caco-2 cells with the wild-type (pALPI_566) as well as with the pALPI_566ΔHNF-4 ALPI promoter construct with the HNF-4 binding site mutated. Two different transfection strategies were used. In a first series of transfections a recently developed transient transfection protocol (28, 30) for the analysis of differentiation-dependent promoter activity in Caco-2 cells was used. Transfected cells were harvested at their undifferentiated state (48 h after transfection) or in their differentiated state (10 days after transfection) and assayed for reporter gene luciferase activity. As seen in Fig. 3A the wild-type 521 bp ALPI promoter construct is able to mediate a differentiation-dependent twofold increase in promoter activity in Caco-2 cells. In contrast, the activity of the ALPI promoter construct carrying the HNF-4 binding site mutation is decreased during differentiation of Caco-2 cells. The overall differentiation-dependent increase in ALPI promoter activity in Caco-2 cells was, however, relatively low. In transient transfections, the reporter construct remains as episomal DNA in the cells. One explanation might therefore be that integration of the reporter construct into the genome of Caco-2 cells and subsequent organization into chromatin is required to yield a high effect of differentiation on the promoter activity. A second series of transfections were therefore carried out in combination with an expression construct yielding resistance to the G418 selective agent. Pools of the derived stably transfected cellular clones were subsequently analyzed for differentiation-dependent activity from the pALPI_566 wild-type construct and the pALPI_56ΔHNF-4 mutated construct. As seen in Fig. 3B the promoter activity of the wild-type ALPI promoter construct was strongly increased (almost 300-fold) in differentiated Caco-2 cells compared with the undifferentiated Caco-2 cells. The ALPI promoter construct with the mutated HNF-4 site demonstrated only, however, a small twofold increase in promoter activity in the differentiated Caco-2 cells. These results support a role of the HNF-4 site in the ALPI promoter for its differentiation-dependent activity in intestinal epithelial cells.
ALPI HNF-4 binding site is occupied in both undifferentiated and differentiated Caco-2 cells.
The change in the binding of nuclear proteins to the predicted ALPI HNF-4 binding site during differentiation of the Caco-2 cells was investigated by EMSA analysis. As seen in Fig. 4, there was no significant change in the binding to the ALPI HNF-4 site during differentiation of the Caco-2 cells. To investigate further the dynamics of HNF-4 association with the endogenous ALPI promoter in Caco-2 cells, we performed ChIP with an antibody specific to HNF-4α. The ChIP procedure involves the cross-linking of nuclear proteins to the DNA in vivo. The cross-linked chromatin is subsequently fragmented and immunoprecipitated using an antibody specific to the transcription factor under investigation. A key point in the procedure is the quantification of an enrichment of specific DNA regions carrying binding sites for the factor under investigation. The enrichment is most efficiently quantified by a quantitative PCR procedure. In this regard, it is important that only the specific DNA fragment is amplified and subsequently quantified. For the present study, two sets of primers were designed: one set of primers that can be used in PCR to amplify the ALPI promoter region including the predicted HNF-4 binding site and another set of primers that the can be used for PCR amplification of a region in intron 1 of the aminopeptidase N gene (ANPEP). This intronic ANPEP region serves as a control and does not contain a predicted HNF-4 binding site. With the input DNA used for ChIP, the primers specifically amplified the predicted regions (Fig. 5) using the LightCycler real-time PCR instrument. In addition, a melting curve analysis (Fig. 5) showed that each fragment has a well-defined melting point. Melting point analysis was subsequently used to verify that the quantitative measurements were indeed performed on the correct and specific PCR products.
As seen in Fig. 6, quantitative PCR on ChIP DNA from both differentiated and undifferentiated Caco-2 cells shows that the ALPI promoter fragments are specifically enriched by immunoprecipitation with the HNF-4 antibody compared with the ANPEP intron 1 region not suspected to bind HNF-4. This suggests that HNF-4α is associated with the ALPI promoter in both undifferentiated and differentiated Caco-2 cells. Taken together with the EMSA analysis in Fig. 4, results suggest that little or no change occurs in the binding of HNF-4 to the binding site in ALPI promoter during differentiation of the Caco-2 cells.
Role of HNF-4 in transcriptional activation of intestinal ALPI gene expression.
In the present study, we have extended the investigations of the human ALPI proximal promoter and identified a previously unreported HNF-4 cis-element at the positions from −94 to −82. We discovered the HNF-4 binding site during a computer search with the MatInspector program (20) of the ALPI promoter for binding sites defined by position-specific weight matrices available in the Transfac database (32). The matrix with the ID: V$HNF4_01; gave a very high score (0.909) for the −94 to −82 ALPI promoter region. The consensus HNF-4 binding sequence defined by the V$HNF4_01 matrix is 5′-RGGNCAAAGKTCA-3′ (R = purine; K = G, T; N = G, A, C, T). This ALPI HNF-4 binding site is located immediately between the IF-IV and IF-V regions previously reported to interact with nuclear proteins from HT-29 cells. In our analysis, we have used the Caco-2 cell line, and this might explain why the HNF-4 region was not reported to be protected in the DNase I foot printing carried out by Kim et al. (9). Recently, the IF-III region (from positions −163 to −135) was reported to interact with the KLF4 transcription factor, and it was speculated that this interaction might be important for the increase in ALPI promoter activity during enterocytes differentiation (5). In the present work, we show that the region from positions −566 to −45 of the ALPI promoter displays a differentiation-dependent increase in promoter activity in Caco-2 cells. This increase is abolished by mutation of the HNF-4 site. The IF-III region with the KLF4 site is therefore not sufficient to secure a differentiation-dependent increase in promoter activity in Caco-2 cells, although the site is likely to contribute to the overall activity of the promoter. Data from the ChIP experiment showed binding of HNF-4 at the ALPI promoter in both undifferentiated and differentiated Caco-2 cells in vivo, which suggests that HNF-4 associates with the ALPI promoter before differentiation and before the increase in ALPI transcription that occurs at differentiation. This apparent paradox might be explained by the fact that HNF-4 can associate with both the transcriptional coactivators p160 and p300 as well as with the transcriptional corepressor NCOR2 (also known as SMRT) (26).
Similar findings of occupancy of an HNF-4 binding site before promoter activation have been found for the association of HNF-4 with the α1-antitrypsin (α1-AT) promoter during differentiation of Caco-2 cells (22). In the case of the α1-AT promoter, the HNF-4 binding was increased during differentiation, but the binding of HNF-4 to the α1-AT promoter was maximal 2 days before the promoter was switched on. The eventual trigger of α1-AT transcription was thought to be chromatin remodeling (22), and the acetylation of histone 3 in nucelosomes on the α1-AT promoter was increased during Caco-2 differentiation before transcriptional initiation (22). For the ALPI promoter, an increase in histone H3 acetylation in nucleosomes surrounding the ALPI has similarly been demonstrated (6). Moreover, in the present study, it is demonstrated that the ALPI promoter responds much stronger to the differentiation of the Caco-2 cells when it is integrated into the genome compared with its differentiation-dependent response when it is present as episomal DNA. The strongly increased activity observed for the ALPI promoter in response to Caco-2 differentiation did, however, also depend on the presence of the HNF-4 binding site when the construct was integrated into the host cell genome. All of these findings might suggest that HNF-4 recruit additional chromatin modifying cofactors to the ALPI promoter as well as to other intestinal HNF-4 binding promoters during differentiation. The possibility that repressors are recruited in the undifferentiated state and activators in the differentiated state is appealing although not yet proven.
HNF-4 as a regulator of an intestinal lipid absorption program?
As stated in the introduction, the studies on especially the SI and LCT genes encoding the intestinal disaccharidases sucrase-isomaltase and lactase-phlorizin hydrolase suggest that the combination of CDX-2 and HNF-1 binding sites are typical to one subset of intestinal specific promoters.
In the liver, HNF-4 is essential for hepatic lipid homeostasis. Liver-specific inactivation of the HNF-4 gene results in defect lipoprotein synthesis, hepatic lipid accumulation and reduced serum cholesterol and triglyceride levels (4). This knowledge therefore might suggest that genes encoding proteins involved in intestinal lipid absorption might constitute another subset of HNF-4 responsive genes. It has recently been established that inactivation of the ALPI expression in mice, leads to increased fat absorption during a high-fat diet (13), thus directly proving a role for the ALPI gene in intestinal lipid absorption. The ALPI gene therefore seems to be a valid member of the proposed subset of small intestinal HNF-4 target genes encoding proteins involved in lipid absorption.
This work was supported by grants from The Danish Medical Research Council, The Novo Nordic Foundation, The Lundbeck Foundation, and the Alfred Nielsen and Wife's foundation.
We thank L.-L. Laustsen and J. Møller for excellent technical assistance and Dr. F. Sladek for the kind gift of the HNF-4α expression vector.
The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. The article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.
- Copyright © 2005 the American Physiological Society


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Peanut Butter Dog Treats
Peanut Butter Ice Cubes Will Keep Pup Cool and Happy
With the temps rising (and the fact that North and I would eat just about anything containing peanut butter) I was excited to try a few of the peanut butter goodies that my new Organic Dog Biscuit Cookbook – a July Must Have – offered up. One of the easiest and best suited for the recent hot weather are the Peanut Butter Ice Cubes! Is there a more delicious way to stay cool on a hot day in the city? I don't think there is.
Check out the insanely easy recipe for these cool treats when you
Cool Peanut Butter Cubes For Dogs
The Organic Dog Biscuit Cookbook
- 3 cups Plain Non-Fat Yogurt
- 1 cup Unsalted Peanut Butter
- 1 tbsp. Honey
Combine all ingredients and whisk thoroughly. Pour mixture into ice cube trays and freeze solid (at least two hours).
Serve to your pup one cube at a time for some seriously enjoyable icy cool treats!
- Category
- Other, Snacks
- Cuisine
- Other


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Bill Paxton, he of the James Cameron movies and the guy most people mistaken for Bill Pullman and vice versa, is in talks to direct the big-screen adaptation of the TV show "Kung Fu" for Legendary Entertainment.
Paxton, who is no stranger to feature film directing (he directed the surprisingly good "Frailty" in 2001 and the golfing movie "The Greatest Game Ever Played" in 2005), would helm the big screen version of the 1970s TV show from a script by John McLaughlin ("Black Swan").
Paxton is the third director attached to the movie. Max Makowski surfaced as a candidate back in 2007, and a few months before that, the Hughes Brothers were supposed to direct.
Said to have originally been conceived by Bruce Lee before it was absconded by Warner Bros., "Kung Fu" the TV show ran for three seasons and starred David Carradine as a slow-moving, slow-talking Shaolin monk hiding out in the American Wild West for a crime back home that he did not commit. While dodging Chinese assassins, our hero also wanders the American landscape battling racists, gunfighters, and your usual assortment of Wild West-era evildoers.
The TV show was revitalized in the 1980s as a standalone movie called "Kung Fu: The Movie", with Carradine once again back as Kwai Chang Caine, who must battle, in a bit of irony, Bruce Lee's son, Brandon Lee. The show resurfaced yet again in 1993 as an ongoing action-adventure syndicated TV show, once again starring Carradine, this time as a descendent of his original TV show character, and co-starring Chris Potter as his gun-toting cop son. It was, er, you know, it was a syndicated action show in the '90s, there were a lot of these back then. Still, the show ran for 4 seasons, one longer than the original series, so that's something.
Via : Deadline


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The story you are about to read is true. I know it is true because, well frankly, it is about me. It takes place in the grocery store about 7-8 years ago, BC (Before Children). My wife and I were doing our weekly shopping. As we walked through the produce section, she noticed that cucumbers were on sale. She asked me to pick a few out and put them in our basket.
Now before you fall asleep, let me say that my grocery shopping "jobs" are very specific. Push basket, get items I am asked to get, and make sure we do not leave anything off the grocery list. This last "job" is the key to the story. I am responsible for the list. As such, I am given the privilege of handling a pen or pencil to cross items off the list. Again, I am in charge of the list. This is key!
You see, cucumbers were NOT on our list. For many people, this would be no big deal, but I guess I have some type of personality quirk. As keeper of the list, I need to make sure that all items are present and accounted for. If it isn't on the list, I cannot account for it. Now, you see my dilemma – right?!
Ok, so I'm a little peculiar about my list, but I NEVER had an item left behind – and I wasn't about to do so this time. I needed a plan to adjust for this new twist in our shopping, but without distracting me from my "job" of managing the list. So I did the only thing I could think of. I simply added cucumbers to the list and promptly crossed them off.
Job done. Disaster averted. Relationship still in tact!
So, why do I share this story? Well, I was thinking today about the complexity we often assign to challenges in schools that, when and if we thought for a moment, are not all that difficult to resolve. Instead of just going with a proven, simple, and effective solution, we sometimes get caught up in the moment and look to be the most creative problem solver.
As educational leaders, we are always under tremendous pressure. This can cause us to be unclear in our thinking. One way I have tried to "clear the fog" is to remind myself to remain student-centered and mission focused. Every potential challenge is not necessarily a reason to dig deep into your cache of solutions.
Often, simple and effective are more important.
Now if you will excuse me, I have a grocery list to prepare. I wonder if cucumbers are on sale?


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RAW is one of the most exciting, and certainly the largest, collection of fine, natural, organic and biodynamic wine artisans ever to come together in the capital. The two-day celebration of some of the best wine talent in the world offers visitors the chance to sample hundreds of wines from 150 growers. As well as tastings, the show features talks from the world's leading experts and a selection of incredible food by renowned artisan food producers and restaurants. The independent fair is organised by Isabelle Legeron MW – the first French female to earn the accolade of Master of Wine and the first MW to focus exclusively on natural wine.
This day the Fair is open to the Public.