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This article compares the labor market policies (LMPs) of South Korea and Taiwan to explore the activation approaches in East Asia. These two countries took divergent paths to activation after the 1990s, and their decisive differences lay in the scale of direct job creation program as compared to vocational training and employment services. Diverse socio-economic contexts and democratic landscapes further shaped the activation repertoires available to the governments of both countries. We explain, however, this divergence chiefly through political competition employing not only programmatic but also nonprogrammatic measures, in which incumbent governments provide specific LMP measures in exchange for political support from their constituencies. Additionally, economic crises and political instability molded the diverse evolution of each country's LMP. This study contributes to the understanding of the changing dynamics of East Asian social policies and highlights the circumstances that lead to policy changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The wall plates that make up the shells of sessile barnacles are generally solid-faced, but Tetraclitella chinensis (Nilsson-Cantell, 1921) is an exception. This tetraclitid barnacle has a flattened shell of four multi-tubiferous plates, which are perforated by six large, lunule-like hollows of unclear function. We examined specimens of various sizes from Jeju Island, Korea and Kenting, Taiwan in order to describe how these hollows form. Ribs that bound marginal embayments produced by uneven diametrical growth of the plates apparently fuse to close off the hollows, a process different from that inferred herein for hollow formation in Chionochthamalus scutelliformis (Darwin, 1854). In contrast, the shell of T. multicostata (Nilsson-Cantell, 1930) has no such hollows but is externally ornamented with multiple non-anastomosing longitudinal ribs. Specimens are occasionally found that display characters of both T. chinensis and T. multicostata, having fewer than six hollows while bearing longitudinal ribs on the shell plates without hollows. We used molecular analysis based on partial sequences of two mitochondrial genes (12S rDNA and COI) and one nuclear gene (ITS1) of T. chinensis and T. multicostata from Korea, Taiwan, and China to investigate the distribution of these taxa. In a combined gene phylogenetic tree, which was supported by high bootstrap values, both T. chinensis and T. multicostata formed a single unbranched lineage. There are no obvious morphological differences in the cirri, mouthparts, and opercular plates (tergum and scutum; analyzed using non-metric multidimensional scaling of plate geometry) between T. chinensis and T. multicostata. Both morphological and molecular data suggest that T. chinensis and T. multicostata are conspecific. Tetraclita chinensis is re-described to include the morphological variation in shell form (hollowed and multicostate), and the two nominal species are formally synonymized, with T. multicostata being reduced to a junior synonym of T. chinensis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Acute coronary syndrome and sudden cardiac death are often caused by rupture and thrombosis of lipid-rich atherosclerotic coronary plaques (known as vulnerable plaques), many of which are non-flow-limiting. The safety and effectiveness of focal preventive therapy with percutaneous coronary intervention of vulnerable plaques in reducing adverse cardiac events are unknown. We aimed to assess whether preventive percutaneous coronary intervention of non-flow-limiting vulnerable plaques improves clinical outcomes compared with optimal medical therapy alone., Methods: PREVENT was a multicentre, open-label, randomised controlled trial done at 15 research hospitals in four countries (South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and New Zealand). Patients aged 18 years or older with non-flow-limiting (fractional flow reserve >0·80) vulnerable coronary plaques identified by intracoronary imaging were randomly assigned (1:1) to either percutaneous coronary intervention plus optimal medical therapy or optimal medical therapy alone, in block sizes of 4 or 6, stratified by diabetes status and the performance of percutaneous coronary intervention in a non-study target vessel. Follow-up continued annually in all enrolled patients until the last enrolled patient reached 2 years after randomisation. The primary outcome was a composite of death from cardiac causes, target-vessel myocardial infarction, ischaemia-driven target-vessel revascularisation, or hospitalisation for unstable or progressive angina, assessed in the intention-to-treat population at 2 years. Time-to-first-event estimates were calculated with the Kaplan-Meier method and were compared with the log-rank test. This report is the principal analysis from the trial and includes all long-term analysed data. The trial is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02316886, and is complete., Findings: Between Sept 23, 2015, and Sept 29, 2021, 5627 patients were screened for eligibility, 1606 of whom were enrolled and randomly assigned to percutaneous coronary intervention (n=803) or optimal medical therapy alone (n=803). 1177 (73%) patients were men and 429 (27%) were women. 2-year follow-up for the primary outcome assessment was completed in 1556 (97%) patients (percutaneous coronary intervention group n=780; optimal medical therapy group n=776). At 2 years, the primary outcome occurred in three (0·4%) patients in the percutaneous coronary intervention group and in 27 (3·4%) patients in the medical therapy group (absolute difference -3·0 percentage points [95% CI -4·4 to -1·8]; p=0·0003). The effect of preventive percutaneous coronary intervention was directionally consistent for each component of the primary composite outcome. Serious clinical or adverse events did not differ between the percutaneous coronary intervention group and the medical therapy group: at 2 years, four (0·5%) versus ten (1·3%) patients died (absolute difference -0·8 percentage points [95% CI -1·7 to 0·2]) and nine (1·1%) versus 13 (1·7%) patients had myocardial infarction (absolute difference -0·5 percentage points [-1·7 to 0·6])., Interpretation: In patients with non-flow-limiting vulnerable coronary plaques, preventive percutaneous coronary intervention reduced major adverse cardiac events arising from high-risk vulnerable plaques, compared with optimal medical therapy alone. Given that PREVENT is the first large trial to show the potential effect of the focal treatment for vulnerable plaques, these findings support consideration to expand indications for percutaneous coronary intervention to include non-flow-limiting, high-risk vulnerable plaques., Funding: The CardioVascular Research Foundation, Abbott, Yuhan Corp, CAH-Cordis, Philips, and Infraredx, a Nipro company., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests S-JP reports research grants and speaker fees from Abbott Vascular, Medtronic, Daiichi-Sankyo, ChongKunDang Pharm, Daewoong Pharm, and Edwards. D-YK reports speaker fees from Abbott Vascular, Daiichi-Sankyo, Viatris, Boryoung, and Daewoong Pharm. Y-KA reports research grants from Boston Scientific, Medtronic, Abbott, and DioMedical. C-WN reports a research grant from Abbott. J-OJ reports speaker fees from Medtronic. HS reports speaker fees from Abbott Vascular and Boston Scientific. H-LK reports grants and speaker fees from Abbott Vascular and Boston Scientific. J-YH reports research grants and speaker fees from Abbott Vascular, Biotronik, Boston Scientific, and Medtronic. K-YC reports research grant from Biotronik and Medtronik. GSM reports honoraria from Boston Scientific, Abbott, SpectraWave, and Gentuity. GWS reports speaker fees from Medtronic, Pulnovo, Infraredx, Abiomed, Abbott, Amgen, and Boehringer Ingelheim; consultant fees from Daiichi Sankyo, Ablative Solutions, CorFlow, Apollo Therapeutics, Cardiomech, Gore, Robocath, Miracor, Vectorious, Abiomed, Valfix, TherOx, HeartFlow, Neovasc, Ancora, Elucid Bio, Occlutech, Impulse Dynamics, Adona Medical, Millennia Biopharma, and Oxitope; equity or stock options from Ancora, Cagent, Applied Therapeutics, Biostar family of funds, SpectraWave, Orchestra Biomed, Aria, Cardiac Success, Valfix, and Xenter; and grants from Abbott, Abiomed, Bioventrix, Cardiovascular Systems, Phillips, Biosense-Webster, Shockwave, Vascular Dynamics, Pulnovo, and V-wave outside the submitted work; and GWS's daughter is an employee at IQVIA. D-WP reports research grants and speaker fees from Abbott Vascular, Medtronic, Daiichi-Sankyo, Edwards Lifescience, ChongKunDang Pharm, and Daewoong Pharm. All other authors declare no competing interests relevant to the contents of this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

We report the discovery of a new species of the genus Pycnogonum Brünnich, 1764 found in the shallow waters of Green Island, Taiwan. Pycnogonum (Nulloviger) granulatum sp. nov. is characterized by the presence of the granular integument, a dorsal tubercle on the proboscis, the transverse ridges on the dorsal surface of the trunk, and the spines on the ventral surface of the tibia, tarsus, and propodus having cleft tips. Because the male gonopores are present and ovigers are absent, the present species belongs to the subgenus Nulloviger. The present species has been compared with P. (N.) moolenbeeki Stock, 1992, P. (N.) lobipes Stock, 1991, P. (N.) tuberculatum Clark, 1963, P. nodulosum Döhrn, 1881, and P. spatium Takahashi, Dick Mawatari, 2007. Among the congeners, P. spatium is geographically the closest congener, of which type locality is Amami Island, Japan. The holotype of P. spatium was loaned from Hokkaido University Museum (ICHUM) and re-examined. To determine the exact gender of the holotype of P. spatium, additional investigations of the coxal pellicula and gonopores are required.

Background: The genetic structure of marine organisms in the East Asian region has long been a subject of interest. Two grapsid crab species, Hemigrapsus penicillatus (De Haan, 1835) and Hemigrapsus sanguineus (De Haan, 1835), are commonly found in the rocky intertidal zones around this region. They are known to spread via larval migration, which makes them an appropriate model species for observing the genetic structure of East Asian intertidal invertebrate animals., Objective: We investigated the genetic structure of the East Asian crabs H. penicillatus and H. sanguineus., Methods: We collected specimens of H. penicillatus from seven locations (42 individuals) and of H. sanguineus from ten locations (58 individuals) in Korea, Japan, and Taiwan. We investigated and compared the genetic diversity and structure of populations of these species using mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) sequences., Results: Our results show that both species are genetically structured between South Korea and Japan, and that the Taiwan population forms a cluster that is separate from those of the other countries. Populations of H. penicillatus contain less genetic diversity than those of H. sanguineus., Conclusion: These results suggest that there is a genetic structure between the two species at present in East Asia.

The palaemonid genus Isopericlimenaeus is currently comprised of only the type species, Isopericlimenaeus gorgonidarum, with the diagnostic character of the genus being the presence of a molar and fossa structure on both second chelipeds. Periclimenaeus uropodialis is a closely related species, which has either been considered a synonym of I. gorgonidarum or placed as a valid species in the related genus, Periclimenaeus. During fieldwork in the Philippines, Taiwan and Korea, several species of Periclimenaeus and other sponge associated shrimps belonging to the family Palaemonidae were collected, including I. gorgonidarum and P. uropodialis. Based on a morphological and molecular comparison, it is demonstrated that both taxa are conspecific and that Isopericlimenaeus is a junior synonym of Periclimenaeus.