One-third of hospitalized CHF patients were TD. In contrast to previous studies, increased urinary losses of thiamin were predictive of improved thiamin status. Thiamin supplementation may be protective against TD in the clinical setting. Future studies are warranted to determine if thiamin supplementation improves thiamin status and disease severity in CHF patients.

The scored Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment tool (PG-SGA), regarded as the most appropriate means of identifying malnutrition in cancer patients, is often challenging to implement in a busy outpatient setting. We assessed the validity of an abridged version of the PG-SGA (abPG-SGA), which forgoes the physical examination, and compared its usefulness in discerning malnutrition to the full PG-SGA and Malnutrition Screening Tool (MST). The nutritional status of 90 oncology outpatients receiving chemotherapy was assessed according to SGA global rating, PG-SGA, and MST. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were generated to estimate the sensitivity and specificity of various cut-off scores for malnutrition. Thirty-six percent of patients were malnourished (SGA). The abPG-SGA yielded 94% sensitivity and 78% specificity and area under the curve (AUC) = 0.956, which was slightly lower than PG-SGA (97% sensitivity, 86% specificity, AUC = 0.967) and higher than MST (81% sensitivity, 72% specificity, AUC = 0.823). Patient reported symptoms included loss of appetite (30%), altered taste (31%), fatigue (30%), and decreased ability to perform activities of daily living (53%). In conclusion, the abPG-SGA is a practical, informative and valid tool for detecting malnutrition in the outpatient oncology setting.

Summary. Continuous infusion of glucose with model assessment (CIGMA) is a new method of assessing glucose tolerance, insulin resistance and r-cell function. It consists of a continuous glucose infusion 5mg glucose/kg ideal body weight per min for 60 min, with measurement of plasma glucose and insulin concentrations. These are similar to postprandial levels, change slowly, and depend on the dynamic interaction between the insulin produced and its effect on glucose turnover. The concentrations can be interpreted using a mathematical model of glucose and insulin homeostasis to assess insulin resistance and r-cell function. In 23 subjects (12 normal and 11 with Type 2 (non-insulin-dependent diabetes) the insulin resistance measured by CIGMA correlated with that measured independently by euglycaemic clamp (Rs = 0.87, p < 0.0001). With normal insulin resistance defined as 1, the median resistance in normal subjects was 1.35 by CIGMA and 1.39 by clamp, and in diabetic patients 4.0 by CIGMA and 3.96 by clamp. In 21 subjects (10 normal and 11 Type2 diabetic) the r-cell function measured by CIGMA correlated with steady-state plasma insulin levels during hyperglycaemic clamp at 10 mmol/1 (Rs = 0.64, p< 0.002). The CIGMA coefficient of variability was 21% for resistance and 19% for r-cell function. CIGMA is a simple, non-labour-intensive method for assessing insulin resistance and r-cell function in normal and Type 2 diabetic subjects who do not have glycosuria during the test.Key words: Insulin resistance, fl-cell function, mathematical model, glucose infusion, Type 2 diabetes, plasma insulin, plasma glucose.Patients with Type 2 diabetes are usually characterised by the severity of their hyperglycaemia, as assessed by glucose tolerance tests or by fasting plasma glucose measurements. The methods available for assessing the extent to which both/q-cell function and insulin resistance contribute to this hyperglycaemia are not suitable for routine use, and in most diabetic subjects pathophysiology is not assessed. If insulin resistance and deficient/q-cell function could be readily differentiated, it might be possible to predict an individual patient's response to diet, sulphonylurea or insulin therapy.The feed-back loop between the glucose stimulation of/3-cell secretion and insulin regulation of glucose turnover in the liver, muscle and fat, plays a major r6le in the regulation of fuel supply [1]. Although this is basically a very simple homeostatic system, the interactions are sufficiently complex that the glucose and insulin responses to clinical tests are not easy to assess. Thus, interpretations of the r61es of insulin resistance and r-cell deficiency in maturity-onset diabetic subjects vary [2,3]. With the aid of mathematical models, the effects of different combinations of insulin resistance and/q-cell deficiency can be predicted [4,5].We have investigated a new method which aims to give a near-physiological stimulus and to interpret the endogenous insulin and glucose responses. A standard, constant, low-dose glucose ...