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The LF-Monopix chips are depleted monolithic active pixel sensors that follow the large-electrode design approach and implement a fast synchronous read-out architecture. They are designed in a 150 nm CMOS process and make use of large voltages (> 250 V) and highly resistive substrates (> 2 kΩ ⋅ cm) to collect charge through drift and enhance their radiation hardness. Samples of the first prototype ("LF-Monopix1") with a thickness of 100 μ m were irradiated to assess the tolerance of the chip's substrate and front-end circuitry to the surface and bulk damage doses expected at modern collider experiments. The device remained fully operational, with only a very small gain degradation and an increase in noise by less than 25 % after a total ionizing dose of 100 Mrad. Efficiency measurements in a sample exposed to a neutron fluence of 1 × 1 0 15 n eq / cm 2 showed that at least 96 % of all minimum ionizing particles going through a fully depleted detector are recorded in less than 25 ns. In the latest design ("LF-Monopix2") the column length was tripled and the pixel pitch reduced by 40 % with respect to its predecessor. The chip was successfully thinned down while keeping its breakdown voltage above 400 V and achieving a front-end threshold dispersion of ∼ 100 e − after tuning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Mallet finger injuries are usually successfully treated non-operatively with a splint. Most patients are reviewed at least twice in a clinic after the initial presentation in A&E. A new protocol promoting "self-care" was introduced at our institution. Patients were provided with structured verbal and written information, and given access to a telephone helpline. Methods A prospective electronic patient record was used to identify all patients who presented to the emergency department with a mallet finger with a minimum six month follow-up. A satisfaction and patient reported outcome measure was administered via a postal questionnaire. The response rate was 36/47 (77%). Results The median QuickDASH score was 2.3 (IQR 0 to 4.6). All patients were satisfied with the treatment plan provided. Nine used the helpline and all were satisfied with information given. Although 13 patients reported some extensor lag, or bump, they had no functional limitation. Seven patients were reviewed by the general practitioner or other clinicians during their treatment period for issues such a skin care, splint size changes or sickness certification. Five were subsequently reviewed at the end of their treatment period in a clinic at their request, or their general practitioner, but did not require further surgical intervention. Conclusions Self-care for mallet finger injuries, with adequate patient information and telephone back-up, leads to acceptable functional results and satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transmembrane protein CLPTM1L is overexpressed in non--small cell lung cancer, where it protects tumor cells from genotoxic apoptosis. Here, we show that RNA interference-mediated blockade of CLPTM1L inhibits K-Ras--induced lung tumorigenesis. CLPTM1L expression was required in vitro for morphologic transformation by H-RasV12 or K-RasV12, anchorage-independent growth, and survival of anoikis of lung tumor cells. Mechanistic investigations indicated that CLPTM1L interacts with phosphoinositide 3-kinase and is essential for Ras-induced AKT phosphorylation. Furthermore that the anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-xL is regulated by CLPTM1L independently of AKT activation. Constitutive activation of AKT or Bcl-xL rescued the transformed phenotype in CLPTM1L-depleted cells. The CLPTM1L gene lies within a cancer susceptibility locus at chromosome 5p15.33 defined by genome-wide association studies. The risk genotype at the CLPTM1L locus was associated with high expression of CLPTM1L in normal lung tissue, suggesting that cis-regulation of CLPTM1L may contribute to lung cancer risk. Taken together, our results establish a protumorigenic role for CLPTM1L that is critical for Ras-driven lung cancers, with potential implications for therapy and chemosensitization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work reports on design and performance of a depleted monolithic active pixel sensor (DMAPS) prototype manufactured in the LFoundry 150 nm CMOS process. DMAPS exploit high voltage and/or high resistivity inclusion of modern CMOS technologies to achieve substantial depletion in the sensing volume. The device used in this work, named LF-Monopix, was designed as a proof of concept of a fully monolithic sensor capable of operating in the environment of outer layers of the ATLAS Inner Tracker upgrade in 2025 for the High Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC). This type of devices has a lower production cost and lower material budget compared to presently used hybrid designs. In this work, the chip architecture will be described followed by the characterization of the different pixel flavors with an external injection signal and an iron source (5.9 keV x-rays). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BDAQ53 is a readout system and verification framework for hybrid pixel detector readout chips of the RD53 family. These chips are designed for the upgrade of the inner tracking detectors of the ATLAS and CMS experiments. BDAQ53 is used in applications where versatility and rapid customization are required, such as in laboratory testing environments, test beam campaigns, and permanent setups for quality control measurements. It consists of custom and commercial hardware, a Python-based software framework, and FPGA firmware. BDAQ53 is developed as open source software with both software and firmware being hosted in a public repository. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]