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Consumption can facilitate, accelerate, ameliorate or impede identities in transition. Earlier studies have largely examined identity transitions within the context of privileged groups of consumers, to the relative neglect of less privileged consumer groups. Stories from fostered children show how they employ symbolic consumption in their strategies to resist and counteract the threats from their earlier identities as ‘fostered children’ to their newly emergent identities as young adults. From their stories we see how they employ contingencies of self-worth in order firstly, to enhance their self-esteem in the key transitions to establishing an adult identity (becoming parents and establishing family life); and secondly to counter feelings of low self-esteem which contribute significantly to consumer marginality, vulnerability and disadvantage.

The dominant social culture for students in some parts of the world is one where excessive alcohol consumption is the accepted norm and practice. Within this context, non-participation in the prevailing alcohol culture could prevent full engagement with student social life (Nairn et al., 2006), providing a source of tension for those choosing not to consume or to consume comparatively little alcohol. This research focuses on students who adopt what Nairn et al. (2006) term ‘alternative subject positions’, who become positioned as anti-consumers because of their opposition to the norms that predominate. The challenge for these consumers involves negotiating the tensions implicit in the assumption of a self-identification as an anti-consumer of alcohol whilst maintaining an acceptable social identity, as part of the broader student culture. This paper draws on coping theory to developing understanding of this form of anti-consumption and to develop policy recommendations to address this issue.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Surgery has appeared to induce lymphocytopenia and this decrease in host defenses during postoperative period could promote both the proliferation of possible micrometastases and the implantation of surgically disseminated tumor cells. The aim of this study is to evaluate if the preoperative subcutaneous injection of IL-2 (interleukin-2) may be able to abrogate surgery-induced immunosuppression in radically operable gastric cancer and to assess its toxicity. METHODOLOGY: This phase II study included 39 consecutive patients with histologically proven gastric adenocarcinoma (M/F 26/13; mean age 68; range 48-82) who underwent radical surgery from October 1999 to December 2000. Patients were randomized to be treated with surgery alone as controls (20 patients) or surgery plus preoperative treatment with recombinant human IL-2 (19 patients). IL-2 was administered subcutaneously, at a dose of 9,000,000 IU, for three consecutive days, followed by surgery within 36 hours from IL-2 withdrawal. We considered the total lymphocyte count and lymphocyte subset (CD4, CD4/CD8) during the preoperative period, before IL-2 administration, and on the 14th and 50th day. RESULTS: Two groups were well matched for type of surgery and extent of disease. All the patients underwent radical surgery plus D2 lymphadenectomy. At baseline, there were no significant differences in total lymphocyte and lymphocyte subsets between groups. The control group showed a significant decrease of total lymphocytes, CD4 cells, and CD4/CD8 ratio at the 14th postoperative day relative to the baseline value. Among the 22 patients evaluated in the control group 13 had a decreased of CD4 under 500 cells/mm3 (65%). Instead in the IL-2 group a significant increase was observed over the control group values of total lymphocytes and CD4 cells (14th ly total and CD4: IL-2 vs. control p

Background/Aims: Tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), recognized as a tumor-host reaction, have been linked to prognosis in various tumors, with a clear positive correlation between the density of the lymphoid infiltrate at the advancing margin of the tumor and the prognosis of the patients. TILs are somewhat activated by tumor associated antigens and by IL-2 endogenous release. The aim of this study is to verify if subcutaneously administered IL-2 is able to enhance TILs in gastric cancer patients and is able to influence the prognosis of the patients. Methodology: We enrolled 39 consecutive patients with gastric adenocarcinoma. Patients were randomized to be treated with surgery alone (control group, 20 patients) or with surgery plus preoperative IL-2 (Interleukin-2) administration (treated group, 19 patients). Total lymphocytes, CD4 and CD4/CD8 were evaluated pre- and postoperatively. Peritumoral stromal reaction, neutrophils, lymphocytes and eosinophils infiltration in tumor histology were evaluated as well as survival curves and compared between the groups. Results: IL-2 treatment was safe and well tolerated, and in the IL-2 treated group a significant increase over the baseline pretreatment values of the total lymphocyte, CD4 and CD4/CD8 on both the 14th and 50th postoperative days was observed (p