Gently massaging a preterm baby's leg for two minutes before a heel stick to obtain blood samples is safe and helps reduce the pain response. Pain was assessed by the neonatal infant pain scale, heart rate, respiratory rate, and oxygen saturation and serum cortisol concentrations measured from the blood samples. Both the pain score and the heart rate after heel stick were higher among babies who were not massaged. The other outcome measures were unaffected (Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health 2006;42: 505-8).

Minerva is looking forward to the Harveian oration by Sir Michael Marmot on “Health in an Unequal World.” The gilt edged reminder bears eloquent testimony to current inequalities, stipulating a dress code of black tie and decorations with “carriages” at 10.45 pm.

Doctors' surgeries can participate in a scheme that recycles empty printer cartridges, each one generating £1 for the World Cancer Research Fund. At present only 10% of the 65 million cartridges bought in the United Kingdom each year are recycled, leaving the others gathering dust or filling up landfill sites, where they take up to 1000 years to decompose. Freepost cartridge recycling envelopes can be distributed in surgeries for …