Fatal interstitial pulmonary disease in a patient with dyskeratosis congenita after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation

Local control rate by radical radiation therapy was analyzed in 33 patients with a piriform sinus cancer. Twenty-five patients (76%) were in stage T3 + T4. Local recurrence-free survival at 3 years was 49% in T1 + T2 and 25% in T3 + T4 (p = 0.01). In T1 + T2 lesions, a biologically effective dose for an acute reaction over 80 Gy and total treatment time less than 70 days appeared to improve local control. In T3 + T4 lesions, good radiation response assessed by the regaining of laryngeal mobility affected local control favorably. An esophageal involvement and destruction of the laryngeal cartilage as well as soft tissue extension precluded the possibility of local control by radiation therapy alone. In addition to the T-stage, other tumor factors should also be considered for predicting local control with radiation therapy.     

High-throughput of DNA sequencing by automated machines

I describe recent advance of DNA sequencing technology including automated machines. The human genome project, particularly large-scale DNA sequencing, forces us to handle numbers of samples simultaneously and rapidly. This lead us to develop new technologies. I herein introduce current progress of sequencing technologies and automated machines.     

Pattern modification of a neuronal network for individual-cell-based electrophysiological measurement using photothermal etching of an agarose architecture with a multielectrode array

A new type of individual-cell-based on-chip multielectrode array (MEA) cell-cultivation system with an agarose microchamber (AMC) array for topographical control of the network patterns of a living neuronal network has been developed. The advantages of this system are that it allows control of the cell positions and numbers for cultivation using AMCs, as well as easy and flexible control of the pattern of connections between the AMCs through photothermal etching where a portion of the agarose layer is melted with a 1480 nm infrared laser beam. With adequate laser power, narrow micrometer-order grooves (microchannels) can easily be fabricated that can be used to combine neighbouring AMCs to enable topographical control of the neural network pattern. Using this system, an individual-cell-based neural network pattern was formed of rat hippocampal cells within the AMC array without cells escaping from the electrode positions in the microchamber during an eight-day cultivation, and could record cell firing in response to 1.5 V, 500 kHz stimulation through an electrode. This demonstrated the potential of the on-chip AMCMEA cell cultivation system for long-term single-cell-based electrophysiological measurement of a neural network system.     

Fabrication of on-chip microcapillary using photosensitive glass

The on-chip microcapillary applying for electrophoresis analysis device has been fabricated on photosensitive glass. This process can make a high aspect-ratio channel structure. The channel-depth can be controlled by varying wet-etching time without widening the channel width because the substrate material has vertical high etch rate selectivity. This high aspect-ratio structure obtains a long optical path and appropriate sample volume resulting in high-sensitivity for various analyses. The fabrication process is simpler than a usual glass micromachining process because of photo-resistless lithography process. In order to smooth the channel surface and to attach a cover glass onto the substrate, a polysilazane coating process is proposed and revealed to be effective. We are indebted to Dr. N. Sawanobori (SUMITA OPTICAL GLASS, INC., Japan) for photosensitive glass and Dr. T. Ishikawa (TONEN CORPORATION, Japan) for polysilazane. They have given valuable advice for fabrication process in this study. This work was partially supported by the Grant-in-Aid for Science Research (No. 13450146) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS).     

Secure optical data storage with random phase key codes by use of a configuration of a joint transform correlator

A secure optical storage based on a configuration of a joint transform correlator by use of a photorefractive material is presented. A key code designed through the use of an optimized algorithm so that its Fourier transform has a uniform amplitude distribution and a uniformly random phase distribution is introduced. Original two-dimensional data and the key code are placed side-by-side at the input plane. Both of them are stored in a photorefractive material as a joint power spectrum. The retrieval of the original data can be achieved with the same key code. We can record multiple two-dimensional data in the same crystal by angular multiplexing and/or key code multiplexing.     

Chemiluminescence detection for a microchip capillary electrophoresis system fabricated in poly(dimethylsiloxane)

Chemiluminescence (CL) detection integrated with a microchip capillary electrophoresis (MCE) system that was fabricated in poly(dimethylsiloxane) was demonstrated for chemical and biochemical analyses. Two model CL systems were involved here: metal ion-catalyzed luminol-peroxide reaction and dansyl species conjugated peroxalate-peroxide reaction. Different strategies based on three chip patterns (cross, cross combining with Y, and cross combining with V) to perform on-line CL detection for MCE were evaluated and compared in terms of sensitivity, reproducibility, and peak symmetry. The chip pattern of cross combining with Y proved to be promising for the luminol-peroxide CL system, while the chip pattern of cross combining with V was preferred for the peroxalate-peroxide system where CL reagent could not be effectively transported by electroosmotic flow. A detection limit down to submicromolar concentrations (midattomole) was achieved with good reproducibility and symmetric peak shape. Successful separation of three metal cations such as Cr(III), Co(II), and Cu(II) and chiral recognition of dansyl phenylalanine enantiomers within 1 min revealed distinct advantages of combining MCE with CL detection for rapid and sensitive analyses.     

Bidirectional Data Injection Operation of Hybrid Integrated SOA–MZI All-Optical Wavelength Converter

A bidirectional data signal input scheme of a semiconductor optical amplifier--Mach-Zehnder interferometer (SOA-MZI) wavelength converter was proposed and experimentally verified for a nonreturn-to-zero (NRZ)-format signal. Theoretical analyses reveal that it is possible to mitigate the patterning effect induced by cross-gain modulation (XGM) by utilizing the difference of the ratio between the XGM and cross-phase modulation on the injection directions of data signals. A hybrid integrated SOA-MZI all-optical wavelength converter, in which the coupling loss between the SOA and the silica waveguide was as small as 1 dB owing to a unique active alignment technique, was used for the experiment. We have verified the superior characteristics of the proposed operation scheme for the first time. Error-free wavelength-conversion operation for an NRZ signal at 40 Gb/s was confirmed     

In-Plane Coupling of Light From InP-Based Photonic Crystal Band-Edge Lasers Into Single-Mode Waveguides

In this paper, we analyze the coupling of light from photonic-crystal band-edge lasers into single-mode waveguides. Both active and passive devices lie in the same plane and coupling of light is achieved by using parabolic and nanotapers in InP based epitaxial structures. Two- and three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain methods are employed to analyze these devices. Coupling efficiencies higher than 80% can be obtained with parabolic couplers. We also present laser configurations that can reduce multiwavelength coupling of light into single-mode waveguides, using structures that are similar to coupled cavity Fabry-Peacuterot lasers     

Color displays and flexible displays using quick‐response liquid‐powder technology for electronic paper

Abstract— Color displays and flexible displays that use electronic liquid powder have been developed. Novel types of color displays using either a colored powder or a color filter are discussed. We have also developed a flexible display with low‐cost substrate films with a high‐throughput roll‐to‐roll manufacturing method. These technologies enable a QR‐LPD to be widely used as an electronic‐paper display.