A 96-Channel FPGA-based Time-to-Digital Converter

We describe an FPGA-based, 96-channel, time-to-digital converter (TDC) intended for use with the Central Outer Tracker (COT) in the CDF Experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron. The COT system is digitized and read out by 315 TDC cards, each serving 96 wires of the chamber. The TDC is physically configured as a 9U VME card. The functionality is almost entirely programmed in firmware in two Altera Stratix FPGA's. The special capabilities of this device are the availability of 840 MHz LVDS inputs, multiple phase-locked clock modules, and abundant memory. The TDC system operates with an input resolution of 1.2 ns. Each input can accept up to 7 hits per collision. The time-to-digital conversion is done by first sampling each of the 96 inputs in 1.2-ns bins and filling a circular memory; the memory addresses of logical transitions (edges) in the input data are then translated into the time of arrival and width of the COT pulses. Memory pipelines with a depth of 5.5 $\mu$s allow deadtime-less operation in the first-level trigger. The TDC VME interface allows a 64-bit Chain Block Transfer of multiple boards in a crate with transfer-rates up to 47 Mbytes/sec. The TDC also contains a separately-programmed data path that produces prompt trigger data every Tevatron crossing. The full TDC design and multi-card test results are described. The physical simplicity ensures low-maintenance; the functionality being in firmware allows reprogramming for other applications.Comment: 32 pages, 13 figure

"You're never making just one decision" : exploring the lived experiences of ambulance Emergency Operations Centre personnel

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of ambulance dispatch personnel, identifying key stressors and their impact on staff well-being. METHODS: Qualitative methodology was used. Nine semistructured interviews were conducted with National Health Service (NHS) ambulance Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) dispatch personnel in the UK between July and August 2014. Participants were asked about their experiences of the role, stress experienced and current strategies they use to deal with stress. Transcripts were analysed using an inductive, bottom-up thematic analysis. RESULTS: Three key themes were identified: (1) 'How dispatch is perceived by others', (2) 'What dispatch really involves' and (3) 'Dealing with the stresses of dispatch'. All participants expressed pride in their work, but felt overloaded by the workload and undervalued by others. Several sources of additional stress, not directly related to the execution of their work, were identified, including the need to mentally unwind from work at the end of a shift. Participants were able to identify a number of ways in which they currently manage work-related stress, but they also suggested changes the organisation could put in place in order to reduce stress in the working environment. CONCLUSIONS: Building on existing theory on work stress and postwork recovery, it was concluded that EOC dispatch staff require greater support at work, including skills training to promote postshift recovery, in order to reduce the likelihood of sickness absence, and prevent work-related fatigue

Integration of hybridization-based markers (overgos) into physical maps for comparative and evolutionary explorations in the genus Oryza and in Sorghum

BACKGROUND: With the completion of the genome sequence for rice (Oryza sativa L.), the focus of rice genomics research has shifted to the comparison of the rice genome with genomes of other species for gene cloning, breeding, and evolutionary studies. The genus Oryza includes 23 species that shared a common ancestor 8–10 million years ago making this an ideal model for investigations into the processes underlying domestication, as many of the Oryza species are still undergoing domestication. This study integrates high-throughput, hybridization-based markers with BAC end sequence and fingerprint data to construct physical maps of rice chromosome 1 orthologues in two wild Oryza species. Similar studies were undertaken in Sorghum bicolor, a species which diverged from cultivated rice 40–50 million years ago. RESULTS: Overgo markers, in conjunction with fingerprint and BAC end sequence data, were used to build sequence-ready BAC contigs for two wild Oryza species. The markers drove contig merges to construct physical maps syntenic to rice chromosome 1 in the wild species and provided evidence for at least one rearrangement on chromosome 1 of the O. sativa versus Oryza officinalis comparative map. When rice overgos were aligned to available S. bicolor sequence, 29% of the overgos aligned with three or fewer mismatches; of these, 41% gave positive hybridization signals. Overgo hybridization patterns supported colinearity of loci in regions of sorghum chromosome 3 and rice chromosome 1 and suggested that a possible genomic inversion occurred in this syntenic region in one of the two genomes after the divergence of S. bicolor and O. sativa. CONCLUSION: The results of this study emphasize the importance of identifying conserved sequences in the reference sequence when designing overgo probes in order for those probes to hybridize successfully in distantly related species. As interspecific markers, overgos can be used successfully to construct physical maps in species which diverged less than 8 million years ago, and can be used in a more limited fashion to examine colinearity among species which diverged as much as 40 million years ago. Additionally, overgos are able to provide evidence of genomic rearrangements in comparative physical mapping studies

Situation professionnelle à long terme après un cancer : étude réalisée à partir de registres de population

International audienceIntroduction: Few studies have explored the long-term occupational situation after cancer. The aim of our study were to study the employment status among long-term cancer survivors and to compare it to cancer-free controls from the general population at 5, 10 or 15 years after cancer diagnosis.Methods: From data of a registry-based study, long-term survivors from breast,cervical and colorectal cancer, randomly selected from three tumor registries in France, were compared to cancer-free controls randomly selected from electoral lists. We selected active cancer survivors and cancer-free controls aged less than 60 at the time of the survey. We have studied the employment status of cases vs. controls and the factors associated with employment status.Results: At 5, 10 or 15 years after diagnosis, we did not observe any significant difference in employment status between cases and controls. Among cases, 17% had lost their jobs. Older age, lower incomes, lower education, a short-term employment contract, the presence of co-morbidities, fatigue and a worse quality of life were associated with job loss.Discussion: Although the employment status of the cases was comparable to that of the controls, efforts should be intensified to make it easier for patients diagnosed with cancer to return to work

Expression of interleukin 3 and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor receptor common chain βc, β_IT in normal haematopoiesis: lineage specificity and proliferation-independent induction

Interleukin 3 (IL-3), granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and interleukin 5 (IL-5) exert their biological activities through interaction with cell-surface receptors that consist of two subunits, a specific α subunit and a common β transducing subunit (βc). We have evaluated the expression of βc on purified haematopoietic progenitor cells (HPCs) induced to unilineage differentiation/maturation through the erythroid (E), granulocytic (G), megakaryocytic (Mk) or monocytic (Mo) lineage, HPCs displayed low βc expression, which increased during the initial stages of HPC differentiation along the E, G, Mo or Mk lineages. At later stages of differentiation, βc chain expression increased in both G and Mo lineages, was expressed at low levels in the Mk lineage and declined to undetectable levels in the E lineage. Analysis of the full-length βc and intracytoplasmically truncated βc (βIT) mRNAs showed that the former was predominant in the G and Mo lineages, whereas the latter was prevalent in the E and Mk lineages. The βc induction takes place even in the absence of cell cycling. Thus, incubation of HPCs with graded amounts of IL-3 showed that the initial induction of βc expression is unrelated to cell proliferation. Furthermore, circulating monocytes and granulocytes exhibit a low level of βc expression that is greatly stimulated following incubation with either IL-3 or GM-CSF.</p