Abstract: A head assembly having a head for recording and reproducing and a head-supporting part for supporting the head includes a signal-conducting pattern formed on the head-supporting part and connected to the head and a protection member formed at a portion of the head-supporting part so as to protect the signal-conducting pattern, the portion being attached to a head-carrying unit for carrying said head assembly.

Abstract: A hydrogen bond labeling and base sequence determination method for DNA or RNA takes advantage of the complementary nature of the fundamental structure of DNA or RNA bases to bind corresponding chemical species with the base species of a denatured DNA or RNA chain. After providing an aqueous solution containing a nucleic acid, heating the aqueous solution to cleave the nucleic acid; cooling the aqueous solution and adding a base-specific labeling molecule having available hydrogen bonds to the aqueous solution, the base-specific labeling molecules bond to the available bases in a one-to-one fashion via the available hydrogen bonds. The resulting labeled molecule can be microscopically observed to determine the base sequence of the nucleic acid.