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Vibrio vulnificus is a ubiquitous estuarine microorganism but causes fatal systemic infections in immunocompromised humans, cultured eels or shrimps. An extracellular metalloprotease VVP/VvpE has been reported to be a potential virulence factor of the bacterium; however, a few strains isolated from a diseased eel or shrimp were recently found to produce a serine protease termed VvsA, but not VVP/VvpE. In the present study, we found that these strains had lost the 80 kb genomic region including the gene encoding VVP/VvpE. We also purified VvsA from the culture supernatant through ammonium sulfate fractionation, gel filtration and ion-exchange column chromatography, and the enzyme was demonstrated to be a chymotrypsin-like protease, as well as those from some vibrios. The gene vvsA was shown to constitute an operon with a downstream gene vvsB, and several Vibrio species were found to have orthologues of vvsAB. These findings indicate that the genes vvp/vvpE and vvsAB might be mobile genetic elements.

XY stages driving an electron beam (EB) mastering system for high density optical recording has been designed and prototyped. This system has some unique techniques for subnanometer accuracy, i.e. super-polygon approximation for spiral writing, auto focus adjusting, highly precise position-detecting, and a 32-bit data format. The system demonstrated fine pits writing with a small size of 50×80 nm and an accuracy of position of about 1.6 nm ( σ ) in a rotation direction. We confirmed that the mastering system can be applied to fabrication of 40 Gb/in 2 fine pit patterns. Furthermore, this system has the potential to write a fine pit pattern of over 100 Gb/in 2 .

In this study, we investigated the limitations of optical reading of very fine pits using conventional optics, immersion lens optics and near-field optics. Using very fine pits 160 nm in size using a lens with a numerical aperture (NA) of 0.95 (17 Gb/in2). In addition, an oil immersion lens optics with a NA of 1.4 read fine pits only 100 nm in size (45 Gb/in2). Advanced near-field optics is a promising tool for achieving ultrahigh-density optical reading of trillion bits/in2.

子宮頸管ポリープは中年女性の子宮頸部にしぼしばみられる疾患で, その大部分が良性であり, 悪性像を呈することはきわめてまれである.われわれは子宮頸管ポリープに発生した上皮内癌の1例を経験したので報告する.症例は55歳, 主婦. 主訴は不正性器出血. 子宮頸部の擦過細胞診に異型細胞が出現し, 検査のため来院した. 子宮口より有茎ポリープの突出が認められ除去された. 組織学的に上皮内癌は子宮頸管ポリープに限局していることがわかり, その後に行われた切除子宮のどこにも癌は証明されなかった.

Prototyped XY-stages driving electron beam (EB) writing system is developed to research the possibility to write fine patterns. High density optical recording pattern with 25 Gbit/in/sup 2/ is demonstrated. It is also clear that EB writing (drawing) system has a potential to achieve a required fine pattern for 100 Gbit/in/sup 2/.