Summary. In order to study the relation between plasma magnesium and blood glucose concentrations in diabetes, diurnal profiles were obtained in nine diabetic patients and five healthy subjects. A significant inverse relationship between the two variables was found in seven of the nine diabetic patients and in one healthy subject. This could not be attributed solely to changes in plasma albumin, and its mechanism is unclear. Plasma magnesium levels in diabetes are closely dependent on blood glucose concentration.

Clinical leadership is part of the curriculum for all doctors in training. This article describes one deanery's approach to developing leadership skills while improving collaborative working.

There is a wealth of evidence to highlight the importance and value of formative assessments; however, particularly for foundation doctors, these have typically been focused on assessing clinical capabilities. This HEKSS initiative encourages doctors to recognise leadership opportunities at the beginning of their careers, seeks to help them understand the importance of acquiring leadership skills and provides structured feedback to help them improve. Leadership education for doctors in training is still in its infancy.

Clinical leadership is now part of the curriculum for all doctors in training. This article describes one deanery's approach to the development of clinical leadership.

Diurnal glucose profiles have been compared in ten insulin dependent diabetics receiving, firstly, a twice-daily soluble insulin (SI): isophane insulin (NPHI) insulin (30% SI, 70% NPHI). For each patient the two regimens gave similar profiles though nocturnal blood glucose control was better on Mixtard. HbA1 values were similar on the two regimens. The findings show that, using highly purified formulations, small changes in insulin proportions in twice-daily SI: NPHI regimens may be irrelevant to diabetic control; they also suggest that highly purified NPHI may have a substantially shorter duration of action than its older counterpart and that the convenient regimen of twice-daily Mixtard is usually as good as any more complicated 'tailormade' regimen of highly purified insulins.