Research and development of a high-performance differential-hybrid charge sensitive preamplifier.

A differential-hybrid charge sensitive preamplifier (CSP) was designed by taking a monolithic dual N-Channel Junction Field-effect Transistor (JFET) and a high-speed, low-noise, operational amplifier as the core parts. Input-stage of the circuit employs low-noise differential dual JFET, which ensures high input impedance and low noise. The differential dual transistor makes the quiescent point of the first-stage differential output stable, which is convenient for connecting with the post stage high-speed operational amplifier. Broadband could be amplified by connecting to the double differential dual transistors through the folded cascode-bootstrap. The amplifying circuit which replaces the interstage and post stage discrete components of a traditional CSP with integrated operational amplifier is simpler and more reliable. It simplifies the design of the quiescent point, gives full play to advantages of releasing large open-loop gain, and improves charge-voltage conversion gain stability. Particularly, the charge-voltage conversion gain is larger under a smaller feedback capacitor, thus enabling to gain better signal-noise ratio. The designed CSP was tested, reporting 3.3×1013 V/C charge sensitivity, about 90ns rise time of signals, 35:1 signal-noise ratio to gamma-rays of 137Cs (662keV) and a 0.023 fC/pF noise slope. Gamma-rays of 241Am (59.5keV) were measured by the BPX66 detector and the designed CSP under room temperature, providing 1.97% energy resolution.

In vivo selection for spine-derived highly metastatic lung cancer cells is associated with increased migration, inflammation and decreased adhesion.

We developed a murine spine metastasis model by screening five metastatic non-small cell lung cancer cell lines (PC-9, A549, NCI-H1299, NCI-H460, H2030). A549 cells displayed the highest tendency towards spine metastases. After three rounds of selection in vivo, we isolated a clone named A549L6, which induced spine metastasis in 80% of injected mice. The parameters of the A549L6 cell spinal metastatic mouse models were consistent with clinical spine metastasis features. All the spinal metastatic mice developed symptoms of nerve compression after 40 days. A549L6 cells had increased migration, invasiveness and decreased adhesion compared to the original A549L0 cells. In contrast, there was no significant differences in cell proliferation, apoptosis and sensitivity to chemotherapeutic agents such as cisplatin. Comparative transcriptomic analysis and real-time PCR analysis showed that expression of signaling molecules regulating several tumor properties including migration (MYL9), metastasis (CEACAM6, VEGFC, CX3CL1, CST1, CCL5, S100A9, IGF1, NOTCH3), adhesion (FN1, CEACAM1) and inflammation (TRAF2, NFκB2 and RelB) were altered in A549L6 cells. We suggest that migration, adhesion and inflammation related genes contribute to spine metastatic capacity.

Reset charge sensitive amplifier for NaI(Tl) gamma-ray spectrometer.

The time constant of the output signal of the front-end readout circuit of a traditional gamma-ray spectrometer with a NaI(Tl)+PMT structure is affected by temperature, measurement environment and the signal transmission cable, so it is difficult to get a good resolution spectrum, especially at higher counting rates. In this paper, a reset charge sensitive amplifier (RCSA) is designed for the gamma-ray spectrometer with a NaI(Tl)+PMT structure. The designed RCSA outputs a step signal, thus enabling the acquisition of double-exponential signals with a stable time constant by using the next stage of a CR differentiating circuit. The designed RCSA is mainly composed of a basic amplifying circuit, a reset circuit and a dark current compensation circuit. It provides the output step signal through the integration of the PMT output charge signal. When the amplitude of the step signal exceeds a preset voltage threshold, it triggers the reset circuit to generate a reset pulse (about 5µs pulse width) to reset the output signal. Experimental results demonstrated that the designed RCSA achieves a charge sensitivity of 4.26×10(10)V/C, with a zero capacitance noise of 51.09fC and a noise slope of 1.98fC/pF. Supported by the digital shaping algorithm of the digital multi-channel analyzer (DMCA), it can maintain good energy resolution with high counting rates up to 150kcps and with a temperature range from -19°C to 50°C.

Frequency spectrum analysis for spectrum stabilization in airborne gamma-ray spectrometer.

Abnormal multi-crystal spectral drifts often can be observed when power on the airborne gamma-ray spectrometer. Currently, these spectral drifts of each crystal are generally eliminated through manual adjustment, which is time-consuming and labor-ineffective. To realize this quick automatic spectrum stabilization of multi-crystal, a frequency spectrum analysis method for natural gamma-ray background spectrum is put forward in this paper to replace traditional spectrum stabilization method used characteristic peak. Based on the polynomial fitting of high harmonics in frequency spectrum and gamma-ray spectral drift, it calculates overall spectral drift of natural gamma-ray spectrum and adjusts the gain of spectrometer by this spectral drift value, thus completing quick spectrum stabilization in the power on stage of spectrometer. This method requires no manual intervention and can obtain the overall spectral drift value automatically under no time-domain pre-processing to the natural gamma-ray spectra. The spectral drift value calculated by this method has an absolute error less than five channels (1024 resolution) and a relative error smaller than 0.80%, which can satisfy the quick automatic spectrum stabilization requirement when power on the airborne gamma-ray spectrometer instead of manual operation.