31.   HHS was cautiously optimistic, said John Nelson, who oversees the transplant program for HHS.

32.   In a controversial regulation, the organization running the transplant program under an HHS contract was ordered to send more organs to the sickest patients.

33.   Jindal, who was educated in India, has served for the past three years as surgeon and director of a university transplant program at Glasgow University.

34.   No transplant program currently exists in Sicily, and Naples is the only city south of Rome with a liver transplant program.

35.   The study challenges an orthodoxy in some transplant programs that argues it is best to wait until a patient officially is declared dead before raising the issue of donation.

36.   The United Network for Organ Sharing, which runs the transplant program and strongly objected to the first regulation, was reviewing the changes and had no immediate comment.

37.   Transplant programs have been reluctant to accept kidney donations from living strangers for several reasons, including concern about exposing the donor to the risks of surgery.