Chair massage for patients and carers: a pilot service in an outpatient setting of a cancer care hospital.

Purpose: To gather patient and carer evaluations of a 20 min chair massage treatment provided one afternoon a week in an outpatient waiting area.

Method: Information gathered over a year included documented evaluation of chair massage, pre- and post-treatment well-being scores (visual analogue scale).

Results: Both patients (n=224) and carers (n=185) positively evaluated the treatment.

Effect of alcohol on the lactate/pyruvate ratio of recently injured adults.

Objective: To compare the ability of plasma (lactate) and the plasma lactate/pyruvate (L/P) ratio to predict shock-related outcome after injury and also to examine the influence of plasma ethanol on any relationships found.

Design: Prospective observational study.

Setting: Emergency departments in the UK and the Republic of South Africa.

Euglycemic hyperinsulinemia augments the cytokine and endocrine responses to endotoxin in humans.

Type 2 diabetes is associated with biochemical evidence of low-grade inflammation, and experimental studies have suggested that both insulin and glucose affect inflammatory responses. To determine the effect of in vivo changes in glucose availability and plasma insulin concentrations in humans, we administered 20 U/kg Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or saline (control) to 14 subjects during a euglycemic hyperinsulinemic clamp (n = 6) or an infusion of sterile saline (n = 8). Parallel in vitro studies on human whole blood were undertaken to determine whether there was a direct effect of glucose, insulin, and leptin on proinflammatory cytokine production.