Understanding growth and age of red tree corals (Primnoa pacifica) in the North Pacific Ocean.

Massive, long-lived deep-sea red tree corals (Primnoa pacifica) form a solid, layered axis comprised of calcite and gorgonin skeleton. They are abundant on the outer continental shelf and upper slope of the Northeast Pacific, providing habitat for fish and invertebrates. Yet, their large size and arborescent morphology makes them susceptible to disturbance from fishing activities.

The impact of Value Incentive Program (VIP) on the quality of hospital care for acute stroke in Korea.

Objectives: This study aims to analyze the impact of Value Incentive Program (VIP) on the quality improvement of acute stroke care, and to determine the difference of effect by the size of hospitals.

Interventions: Adopting the VIP on the fifth acute stroke quality assessment.

Design/setting/participants: Using paired t-test and student t-test, we compared the quality assessment results of the third assessment, which was publicly reported without the VIP implementation and the fifth assessment, on which the VIP was applied.

Donor BMI >30 Is Not a Contraindication for Live Liver Donation.

The increased prevalence of obesity worldwide threatens the pool of living liver donors. Although the negative effects of graft steatosis on liver donation and transplantation are well known, the impact of obesity in the absence of hepatic steatosis on outcome of living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) is unknown. Consequently, we compared the outcome of LDLT using donors with BMI <30 versus donors with BMI ≥30.

Risk factors in patients with rapid recurrent hepatitis C virus-related cirrhosis within 1 year after liver transplantation.

Background: Recurrent cirrhosis (RC) due to pretransplant underlying disease leads to organ failure and subsequent death after orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). RC occurs in up to 30% of patients with recurrent hepatitis C (HCV) within 5 years after OLT. We sought to identify early risk factors for rapid RC within the first year after OLT in HCV-positive patients.