Cognitive and affective determinants of decisions to attend a group psychosocial support program for women with breast cancer.

Objective: This prospective study assesses the roles of illness beliefs, emotion regulation factors, and sociodemographic characteristics in decisions to participate in a group support program for women recently diagnosed with breast cancer.

Method: Women recruited during clinic visits 2 to 4 weeks after diagnosis completed measures of affective and cognitive factors identified by Leventhal's Common-Sense Model of illness self-regulation: cancer-related distress, avoidance tendencies, beliefs that the breast cancer was caused by stress and altered immunity, and personal control beliefs. Measures of general anxiety and depression, social support, and demographic characteristics were also completed; prognostic status information was obtained from medical records.

Donor platelet and leukocyte load identify renal allografts at an increased risk of acute rejection.

Background: A reduction in acute rejection may reduce graft losses from chronic rejection, benefiting the recipient and helping ease the huge donor organ shortfall in the UK. The prediction of recipients at greater risk of acute rejection might justify the administration to them of more potent immunosuppression, but defining this group on clinical parameters has been largely unsuccessful. Events impacting on the kidney by the time of donation may, if detectable histologically, predict those kidneys more likely to undergo rejection.