Social support received by male cancer patients from friends and family may be mediated by spouse support. As a result, single male patients are at higher risk for psychological distress. Male spouses were also found to have high rates of distress. These two groups need special attention by oncologists.

The results support the assumption that married patients cope better with cancer than unmarried patients and that women cope better than men. These differences may be related to the cultural mores of Israeli society in which men are expected to play the 'hero' role or to a generally lower ability of men to use social support and of unmarried patients to get family support. Practical conclusions in terms of intervention are discussed.

No abstract

The proportion of T and B lymphocytes in the peripheral blood was determined in patients with either mammary cancer or with various pelvic malignancies. In cancer patients studied prior to irradiation the level of cells forming either E-rosettes or EAC'-rosettes was similar to that found among healthy controls. Radiation therapy resulted in a striking lymphopenia. The level of cells with T-cell markers was diminished to a greater extent than the level of cells with B-cell markers. T h e relative proportion of T-cells forming high affinity E-rosettes was not reduced following radiation, so that it can be concluded that radiation affects predominantly the subpopulation of T-cells which do not form high affinity E-rosettes. Irradiation of the pelvic area resulted in a more rapid reduction of the level of T lymphocytes than irradiation of the mediastinum, although the final relative proportions of the cells were similar in both groups of patients. The results of the present study suggest that the reduction of the level of T lymphocytes following irradiation results from its effect on the lymphocytes in the major blood vessels, and that radiation of the thymus is not a prerequisite for this phenomenon.

Our series of low-dose radiation-induced meningiomas represents one of the largest of its kind in the English literature. The patients did not differ substantially in sex ratio, tumor localization, multiplicity and histological features from the previously reported postradiation meningioma patients, except for the significantly lower tumor recurrence rate. It would seem that over the next years we will be further witnessing the deleterious effects of low-dose radiation administered in childhood.