Shower thoughts: why scientists should spend more time in the rain.

Stormwater is a vital resource and dynamic driver of terrestrial ecosystem processes. However, processes controlling interactions during and shortly after storms are often poorly seen and poorly sensed when direct observations are substituted with technological ones. We discuss how human observations complement technological ones and the benefits of scientists spending more time in the storm. Human observation can reveal ephemeral storm-related phenomena such as biogeochemical hot moments, organismal responses, and sedimentary processes that can then be explored in greater resolution using sensors and virtual experiments. Storm-related phenomena trigger lasting, oversized impacts on hydrologic and biogeochemical processes, organismal traits or functions, and ecosystem services at all scales. We provide examples of phenomena in forests, across disciplines and scales, that have been overlooked in past research to inspire mindful, holistic observation of ecosystems during storms. We conclude that technological observations alone are insufficient to trace the process complexity and unpredictability of fleeting biogeochemical or ecological events without the shower thoughts produced by scientists' human sensory and cognitive systems during storms.

Decreased Complication Rate Using Partially Threaded Compared With Fully Threaded Compression Screws in 4 Corner Arthrodesis: A Retrospective Study.

BACKGROUND: Scapho-lunate advanced collapse (SLAC) and scaphoid nonunion advanced collapse (SNAC) of the wrist are the most common types of wrist arthritis. We compared the union rate and complication profile of patients with SLAC and SNAC wrist undergoing 4 corner arthrodesis with partially threaded or fully threaded headless compression screws. METHODS: A single-center retrospective review was conducted to identify all patients treated for SLAC and SNAC with 4 corner fusion using headless compression screws from 2016 to 2021. A total of 33 patients undergoing surgery on 35 wrists were identified and included in the study. Demographics, comorbidities, complication profile, and radiographs were collected and compared between groups. RESULTS: One hundred percent (16/16) of partially threaded and 84.2% (16/19) of fully threaded screws demonstrated union by minimum 10-week follow-up. The total complication rate (avascular necrosis of lunate, screw loosening, etc.) was 31.4%; 52.6% of wrists implanted with fully threaded screws experienced complications compared with a 6.3% complication rate with partially threaded screws. The difference was statistically significant between the 2 groups (P = .004). CONCLUSIONS: Four corner arthrodesis using antegrade compression screws is an effective, reproducible method to achieve fusion in the wrist. The use of fully threaded screws was associated with more complications than with partially threaded screws, although union rate was not significantly different. Future studies with larger sample sizes would be useful to fully elucidate differences between these 2 constructs.

Climate warming reduces fish production and benthic habitat in Lake Tanganyika, one of the most biodiverse freshwater ecosystems.

Warming climates are rapidly transforming lake ecosystems worldwide, but the breadth of changes in tropical lakes is poorly documented. Sustainable management of freshwater fisheries and biodiversity requires accounting for historical and ongoing stressors such as climate change and harvest intensity. This is problematic in tropical Africa, where records of ecosystem change are limited and local populations rely heavily on lakes for nutrition. Here, using a ∼1,500-y paleoecological record, we show that declines in fishery species and endemic molluscs began well before commercial fishing in Lake Tanganyika, Africa's deepest and oldest lake. Paleoclimate and instrumental records demonstrate sustained warming in this lake during the last ∼150 y, which affects biota by strengthening and shallowing stratification of the water column. Reductions in lake mixing have depressed algal production and shrunk the oxygenated benthic habitat by 38% in our study areas, yielding fish and mollusc declines. Late-20th century fish fossil abundances at two of three sites were lower than at any other time in the last millennium and fell in concert with reduced diatom abundance and warming water. A negative correlation between lake temperature and fish and mollusc fossils over the last ∼500 y indicates that climate warming and intensifying stratification have almost certainly reduced potential fishery production, helping to explain ongoing declines in fish catches. Long-term declines of both benthic and pelagic species underscore the urgency of strategic efforts to sustain Lake Tanganyika's extraordinary biodiversity and ecosystem services.

Microdosimetric considerations of lung cancer risks from plutonium.

New data from the workers at the Mayak nuclear facility near Chelyabinsk, Russia, apparently show a linear increase in the risk of lung cancer with increasing dose. Furthermore, this increase occurs without a threshold. However, these conclusions are at variance with the results reported by other investigators. A possible cause of these inconsistencies could be the lack of application of microdosimetric considerations when discussing "dose" to the lung.

The afterbirth of the clinic: a Foucauldian perspective on "House M.D." and American medicine in the 21st century.

Mirroring Michel Foucault's The Birth of the Clinic (1963), which describes the philosophical shift in medical discourse in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the Fox television series House M.D. illustrates the shift in medical discourse emerging today. While Dr. Gregory House is Foucault's modern physician made flesh -- an objective scientist who has perfected the medical gaze (le regard) and communicates directly with diseases instead of patients -- his staff act as postmodern foils. They provide a parable about the state of biomedicine, still steeped in modernity but forced into a postmodern, managed care world. House M.D., however, is more than a mere depiction of the modern-postmodern tension that exists in today's exam rooms. It is an indication of a transition period in American medicine. House M.D. nostalgically celebrates what once was and simultaneously questions what currently is, while what is about to be is in the midst of becoming.