The relationship of basic need satisfaction, motivational climate and personality to well-being and stress patterns among elite athletes : An explorative study

This study investigated whether need satisfaction, need dissatisfaction, motivational climate, perfectionism and self-esteem relate to athletes’ discrete profiles of hedonic and eudaimonic well-being and perceived stress. Participants were 103 elite active orienteers (49 men and 54 women; mean age = 22.3 ± 4.4) who clustered into three distinctive well-being and stress patterns: Cluster 1 (lower well-being/higher stress; n = 26), Cluster 2 (higher well-being/lower stress; n = 39), and Cluster 3 (moderate well-being/moderate stress; n = 36). Cluster 1 and 2 constituted distinct well-being/stress profiles and differed significantly (p < .01) in mastery-oriented climate, need satisfaction, need dissatisfaction, perfectionistic concerns and self-esteem scores. A discriminant analysis showed these five variables to correctly assign 88 % of Cluster 1 and 2 participants into their respective groups, although mastery-oriented climate was revealed as a less influential indicator (function loading <.40). The substantial function loading of need dissatisfaction supports the importance of assessing both need satisfaction and dissatisfaction as they contribute uniquely to well-being

Perfectionism and emotion regulation in coaches: A test of the 2 × 2 model of dispositional perfectionism

The manner in which coaches regulate their emotions has implications for their performance and well-being. Drawing on research that has found perfectionism to predict emotion regulation in other settings, this study adopted the 2 × 2 model of perfectionism to examine whether subtypes of perfectionism among coaches were associated with variation in the use of emotion regulation strategies. Coaches (N = 238, M age = 23.92, SD = 10.32) from various sports completed measures of perfectionism (personal standards and evaluative concerns) and emotion regulation strategies (expressive suppression, cognitive reappraisal, and control of anger directed inwards and outwards). Moderated hierarchical regression provided mixed support for the 2 × 2 model. As expected, pure personal standards perfectionism (high standards/low concerns) was generally associated with the highest capacity for emotion regulation and pure evaluative concerns perfectionism (low standards/high concerns) with the lowest. Unexpectedly, mixed perfectionism (high standards/high concerns) was associated with the highest level of expressive suppression, suggesting that in some instances standards might exacerbate rather than attenuate concerns

Complement in cancer: untangling an intricate relationship

In tumour immunology, complement has traditionally been considered as an adjunctive component that enhances the cytolytic effects of antibody-based immunotherapies, such as rituximab. Remarkably, research in the past decade has uncovered novel molecular mechanisms linking imbalanced complement activation in the tumour microenvironment with inflammation and suppression of antitumour immune responses. These findings have prompted new interest in manipulating the complement system for cancer therapy. This Review summarizes our current understanding of complement-mediated effector functions in the tumour microenvironment, focusing on how complement activation can act as a negative or positive regulator of tumorigenesis. It also offers insight into clinical aspects, including the feasibility of using complement biomarkers for cancer diagnosis and the use of complement inhibitors during cancer treatment