General Imamura and the Early Period of Japanese Occupation

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Anthropology of Civilization: Personal Reflections on Anthropological Approach in the Study of Muslim Societies in Southeast Asia

After pursuing a long academic career as an anthropologist, this article provides my (Mitsuo Nakamura’s) personal academic reflection of how my anthropological approach differs from Geertzian paradigm, why anthropology and Islamic studies should be bridged, and what implications of the conversation between Islamic studies, anthropology, and other social sciences are. By answering the above questions, this reflective article sheds a new light on the relationship between anthropology and Islam and Muslim studies in Southeast Asia, especially Indonesia. The anthropological studies of Muslims in Southeast Asia that have been heavily influenced by Clifford Geertz through his work, The Religion of Java (1960), are engaged critically in this article. If Geertz and his students pay a more attention to Little Tradition (local culture and practices) and avoid Great Tradition (e.g. religious concepts and teachings), my anthropological approach argues for the importance of incorporating Great Tradition, which is Islamic Studies in the case of Muslim studies in Southeast Asia, in the study of anthropology and vice versa

Demonstration of chondroitin sulfates degrading endo-β-glucuronidase activity in rabbit liver

AbstractReduced chondroitin sulfate was incubated with rabbit liver extracts followed by reduction once more with sodium [3H]borohydride, and then passed through a Sephadex G-100 column. Chondroitin sulfate obtained from the incubation medium at pH 4 was only slightly depolymerized and was highly radioactive. Paper Chromatographic analyses showed that glucuronic acid residues became exposed at the reducing terminal of chondroitin sulfate after incubation with the liver extracts. These results suggest that endo-β-glucuronidase activity which degrades chondroitin sulfate is present in the rabbit liver

Laparoscopic Partial Hepatectomy: Animal Experiments

As a first step in firmly establishing laparoscopic hepatectomy, we introduce a porcine model of laparoscopic partial hepatectomy. This procedure has been successfully performed under the normal-pressure or low-pressure pneumoperitoneum condition supported by the full-thickness abdominal wall lifting technique. An ultrasonic dissector combined with electrocautery, newly developed by Olympus Optical Corporation (Japan) was effectively utilized in facilitating safe and smooth incisions into the liver parenchyma. Although indications for this procedure seem to be limited only to peripheral lesions and not to central lesions, clinical application of this method may be useful for some patients in the near future