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In this text he wrote in 1927, Kon Wajirô (1888-1973), an unclassifiable and prolific intellectual whose works addresses various fields such as folklore studies, architecture, urban planning, clothing studies, or drawing, reflects on the research that he and some of his colleagues undertook in the streets of Tokyo during the second half of the 1920’s. The text serves as a manifesto of modernology : a new science devoted to the fine-grained observation of daily practices of contemporary men and women – within and outside the city – that Kon whished to build as a counterpoint both to archeology and to ethnology. Kon recalls here the genesis of such a project and especially the emergency to collect life happening in front of his eyes that he felt immediately after the Great Kantô Earthquake of 1923. He also proposes numerous topics of inquiry necessary to the exhaustive and detailed compilation of present-time habits.

Context: Novel type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) susceptibility loci, identified through genome-wide association studies (GWAS), have been replicated in many European and Japanese populations. However, the association in other East Asian populations is less well characterized., Objective: To examine the effects of SNPs in CDKAL1, CDKN2A/B, IGF2BP2, HHEX, SLC30A8, PKN2, LOC387761, and KCNQ1 on risk of T2DM in Chinese, Malays, and Asian-Indians in Singapore., Design: We genotyped these candidate single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in subjects from three major ethnic groups in Asia, namely, the Chinese (2196 controls and 1541 cases), Malays (2257 controls and 1076 cases), and Asian-Indians (364 controls and 246 cases). We also performed a metaanalysis of our results with published studies in East Asians., Results: In Chinese, SNPs in CDKAL1 [odds ratio (OR) = 1.19; P = 2 x 10(-4)], HHEX (OR = 1.15; P = 0.013), and KCNQ1 (OR = 1.21; P = 3 x 10(-4)) were significantly associated with T2DM. Among Malays, SNPs in CDKN2A/B (OR = 1.22; P = 3.7 x 10(-4)), HHEX (OR = 1.12; P = 0.044), SLC30A8 (OR = 1.12; P = 0.037), and KCNQ1 (OR = 1.19-1.25; P = 0.003-2.5 x 10(-4)) showed significant association with T2DM. The combined analysis of the three ethnic groups revealed significant associations between SNPs in CDKAL1 (OR = 1.13; P = 3 x 10(-4)), CDKN2A/B (OR = 1.16; P = 9 x 10(-5)), HHEX (OR = 1.14; P = 6 x 10(-4)), and KCNQ1 (OR = 1.16-1.20; P = 3 x 10(-4) to 3 x 10(-6)) with T2DM. SLC30A8 (OR = 1.06; P = 0.039) showed association only after adjustment for gender and body mass index. Metaanalysis with data from other East Asian populations showed similar effect sizes to those observed in populations of European ancestry., Conclusions: SNPs at T2DM susceptibility loci identified through GWAS in populations of European ancestry show similar effects in Asian populations. Failure to detect these effects across different populations may be due to issues of power owing to limited sample size, lower minor allele frequency, or differences in genetic effect sizes.

We have found that five current peaks are present in the voltammograms in the positive and negative sweep directions for the oxidations of formic acid, formaldehyde, and methanol on Pt in the potential range of 0.05-1.8 V, although the experimental conditions for the peaks to appear are different. In particular, a current peak at ca. 0.6 V, the negative slope of which on the positive side is closely related to autocatalysis, inducing oscillation, has been observed even for methanol. We have clarified that the three substances produce very similar voltammograms at a very slow sweep rate, such as 0.1 mV/s, and show some of the same behaviors of the peaks in their voltammograms. All these facts support the idea that the electrochemical oxidation mechanisms for the three substances have the same dominating elementary reaction steps, which induce oscillation phenomena, although with different reaction and adsorption rate constants.

Introduction: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of selective intra-arterial calcium-stimulated hepatic venous sampling (ASVS) as a preoperative regionalisation modality for insulinomas., Design and Methods: Four patients with biochemically-proven endogenous hyperinsulinism and negative spiral computed tomographic (CT) pancreas were subjected to ASVS between October 1999 to May 2001. Results obtained from ASVS were compared with localisation studies using either magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS); and these were confirmed surgically whenever possible., Results: ASVS led to a definitive regionalisation in all 4 patients evaluated; the predicted location of the insulinoma matched the findings intraoperatively in all 3 patients who were operated upon. These were all proven to be insulinoma histologically. However, 1 patient showed a positive ASVS result in samples obtained from the left hepatic vein only. In the patient who was unable to undergo surgical resection due to other co-morbid factors, his ASVS findings were corroborated by localisation obtained from the MRI study. Conversely, EUS was found to give an incorrect localisation of insulinoma in 1 patient. Adverse effects were encountered in 3 patients (2 with mild hypotension and 1 with transient atrial fibrillation); however, premature termination of the procedure was not necessary in any of the patients., Conclusion: ASVS is accurate and reliable for regionalisation of insulinoma, especially in patients who do not have an obvious, unequivocal tumour using high quality current-generation MRI scans.