Needle

• Simon Carter’s stunning forthcoming collection of photographs, The Art of Climbing (2024), illustrates the heights reached by this mutually supportive partnership.
• They beautifully capture breathtaking feats of strength and agility made possible by some of the world’s most extraordinary geological formations.
• As a recognisable leisure pursuit, recreational rock-climbing began in the late 18th century as part of the wider development of mountaineering.

• He founded a four-generation dynasty of photographic climbers based in Chamonix, France, at the mountain’s base.
• This family’s work illustrates the extraordinary development of climbing photography across the ages.

Global climbing photography

In the second half of the 19th century, photographs became more important for climbing.

• The Alpine Journal, the publication of the world’s first climbing club founded in 1857, reproduced its first mountaineering photograph in 1865.
• Later the same decade, they published guidance for aspiring climbing photographers in the article Notes on Photography in the High Alps.
• The climbers, authors and photographers George and Ashley Abraham were particularly important in the development of the kind of sports-climbing photography featured in Carter’s new book.

• The careers of two of the most highly regarded mountaineering photographers of this period reveal how climbing was becoming increasingly global, moving beyond “the playground of Europe” (the mountaineer Leslie Stephen’s term for the Alps).
• During their trip he produced some of the finest photographs of climbing in the world’s highest mountains.

Extreme climbing, extreme photography

• It is indicative of the close relation between photography and climbing, even in the most extreme locations, that one of the great mountaineering mysteries is the question of what happened to George Mallory’s and Andrew Irvine’s camera on their fatal attempt on Mount Everest in 1824.
• The Art of Climbing fully justifies the implicit claim of its title, revealing that photography has not only offered a spectacular record of achievement on rock but, as a form, has reached the elevated heights of art.

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Simon Bainbridge does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

• Sol-Millennium, manufacturer of medical devices, including syringes for medicine delivery and testing, issued a statement regarding March 19th update to the FDA’s Safety Communication (“Evaluating Plastic Syringes Made in China for Potential Device Failures”) and a Warning Letter to Sol-Millennium.
• Since November 2023, Sol-Millennium has been providing reports of actions it has taken to address any findings identified in the Warning Letter.
• The principal focus of the Warning Letter is on our 510(k) and whether our “combination” products (needle + syringe attached) constitute a significant change or modification in design that could significantly alter the safety and effectiveness of the devices.
• These are the two manufacturers cited in the FDA’s Safety Communication Letter that the FDA recommends to “Immediately transition away from using plastic syringes manufactured” by these manufactures… “[because of] potential quality and performance issues”.

• Needlesticks are an often-overlooked challenge but can be one of the most traumatic aspects of a patient's hospital stay.
• Moreover, 77% of patients are unaware that regardless of what conditions they may have, patients should expect no more than two needlestick attempts from one clinician.
• Unsurprisingly, the survey highlights strong concern from nurses on the impact of repeated needlesticks to the patient care experience.
• A strong majority of nurses agree that repeated needlesticks negatively impact the patient experience and say that alternatives are needed to reduce the number of needlesticks patients encounter (92% and 91%, respectively).

• In case you’re wondering, the human urethra is a tube that carries urine from the bladder to outside the body.
• Some people find it sexually pleasurable to insert objects – known as sounds, which are typically small glass or metal rods – or even fluid into the urethra.
• Many objects have been used for sounding, however, and that’s one of the reasons the practice is so hazardous.
• The urethra is a narrow outflow tube, usually less than 9mm wide, so squeezing objects into it isn’t usually recommended.
• Megalouretha can lead to retention of objects in the urethra or bladder from clinical examinations such as cervical screening.

Risky business

• It takes several turns to pass through the pelvic floor muscles, prostate and then, if inserted far enough, the bladder.
• Urethral damage exposes the underlying connective tissues which can cause blood in the urine, as well as erectile dysfunction and even bladder rupture.
• Trauma and damage may lead to further narrowing of the urethra in later life which may require medical intervention.

Sounds painful

• But sounding can be highly sexually gratifying for some people.
• The arousal and subsequent stimulation of the erectile tissue of the penis and clitoris usually occurs through one of two mechanisms: psychogenic (images or thoughts) or reflexogenic (touching).
• The reflexogenic pathway is served by nerves which also innervate the lining of the urethra – the dorsal nerve(s) of the penis or clitoris.

Adam Taylor does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.