Witnessing Self-Affirming Moments in Persons with Dementia While Interacting with Therapy Dogs: A Case Report.

Individuals, families, and communities are impacted by Alzheimer's disease and other dementias worldwide. In Canada and elsewhere, family members commonly see loved ones living with dementia experience difficult moments, including anxiety, stress, and fear. Struggling health care systems strive to apply the latest evidence-based interventions.

The axillary lymphoid organ - an external, experimentally accessible immune organ in the zebrafish.

Lymph nodes and other secondary lymphoid organs play critical roles in immune surveillance and immune activation in mammals, but the deep internal locations of these organs make it challenging to image and study them in living animals. Here, we describe a previously uncharacterized external immune organ in the zebrafish ideally suited for studying immune cell dynamics , the axillary lymphoid organ (ALO). This small, translucent organ has an outer cortex teeming with immune cells, an inner medulla with a mesh-like network of fibroblastic reticular cells along which immune cells migrate, and a network of lymphatic vessels draining to a large adjacent lymph sac.

The LTAR Cropland Common Experiment in the Upper Chesapeake Bay.

Dairy production is a key agricultural enterprise in the Upper Chesapeake Bay (UCB) basin, where phosphorous (P) and nitrogen (N) loading contribute to eutrophication. Import of forages and grains and application of mineral fertilizers contribute to nutrient imbalances in the basin. The UCB Long-Term Agroecosystem Research Cropland Common Experiment aims to evaluate diverse crop rotations that minimize the need for imported feed, maximize year-round living cover, and reduce nutrient losses.

The LTAR Common Experiment at Upper Chesapeake Bay: Integrated.

Corn (Zea mays) crops harvested as grain in autumn do not provide opportunity for cover crop establishment, which may be remedied by interseeding cover crops into growing corn. Grazing cover crops after corn grain harvest could provide added revenues and increase nutrient cycling in the system while providing additional ecosystem services. However, tradeoffs between cash crop productivity and cover crop inclusion, and use as grazed forage, are not fully understood.

Case report: A community case study of the human-animal bond in animal-assisted therapy: the experiences of psychiatric prisoners with therapy dogs.

Prisoners frequently experience chronic loneliness and lack social support, which can exacerbate their struggles with incarceration. According to attachment theory, individuals who are insecurely attached may be more likely to develop unstable relationships and engage in antisocial behavior as adults. In 2015 an animal-assisted therapy (AAT) program was implemented in a Canadian forensic psychiatric facility/prison, a "hybrid" facility that adheres to federal legislation regarding correctional services but follows provincial mental health legislation.

Insights into Canadians' Perceptions of Service Dogs in Public Spaces.

Unlabelled: Service Dogs (SDs) are an increasingly common type of working dog supporting people with disabilities in Canada. One of the groups being paired with SDs is Veterans diagnosed with posttraumatic stress injuries (PTSIs). In past research, Veterans have expressed stress over negative interactions with people in public spaces because an SD brings attention to their disability.

Unleashing compassionate care: canine-assisted intervention as a promising harm reduction approach to prisonization in Canada and its relevance to forensic psychiatry.

In recent years, there has been a global advancement in the offering of canine-assisted interventions (CAI) in prisons. However, these programs have focused primarily on the benefits to the dogs involved and not on the impact on the participants. The authors of this perspective study have been running a CAI program with therapy dogs, called PAWSitive Support, in a Canadian federal prison since 2016.

An Experiential Approach to Canine-Assisted Learning in Corrections for Prisoners Who Use Substances.

Canine-assisted interventions are a promising approach to help address substance use and mental health issues in prisons. However, canine-assisted interventions in prisons have not been well explored in relation to experiential learning (EL) theory, despite canine-assisted interventions and EL aligning in many ways. In this article, we discuss a canine-assisted learning and wellness program guided by EL for prisoners with substance use issues in Western Canada.

Promoting lung cancer screening of high-risk patients by primary care providers.

Background: Lung cancer screening (LCS) with low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) of the chest of eligible patients remains low. Accordingly, augmentation of appropriate LCS referrals by primary care providers (PCPs) was sought.

Methods: The quality improvement (QI) project was performed between April 2021 and June 2022.

Recognizing Zooeyia to Promote Companion Animal Welfare in Urban Bangladesh.

The One Health concept of zooeyia refers to the benefits of companion animals in human health and is gaining global research attention. This exploratory study aimed to understand contemporary experiences and perceptions of the social benefits and challenges of living with a companion animal in urban Bangladesh. Thirty-five qualitative interviews were conducted with companion animal owners (20), animal sellers (10), and livestock service department officers (5) from two major cities in Bangladesh, Dhaka and Khulna.

Remotely and collaboratively evaluating a campus-based therapy dog program during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic adversely affected the wellbeing of university students and adults in general, emphasizing the need for mental health programming that was compliant with physical distancing mandates. The present evaluation investigated mental health and social connection within the context of COVID-19 by remotely evaluating a virtual animal-assisted activity at the University of Saskatchewan - PAWS Your Stress. The purpose of this article is to outline our evaluation methods and findings, while calling specific attention to the collaborative strategies that were implemented within a remote, time-sensitive context.

Envisioning the manureshed: Toward comprehensive integration of modern crop and animal production.

The specialization and intensification of agriculture have produced incredible gains in productivity, quality, and availability of agricultural commodities but have resulted in the separation of crop and animal production. A by-product of this separation has been the accumulation of manure regions where animal production is concentrated. Enter the "manureshed," an organizing framework for integrating animal and crop production where budgeting of manure nutrients is used to strategically guide their recycling and reuse in agricultural production systems where manure resources are of highest value.

Outcomes of a controlled trial with visiting therapy dog teams on pain in adults in an emergency department.

Context: Pain is a primary reason individuals attend an Emergency Department (ED), and its management is a concern.

Objectives: Change in symptoms and physiologic variables at 3 time points pre-post a ten-minute St. John Ambulance therapy dog team visit compared to no visit in ED patients who experienced pain.

Challenges and opportunities for manureshed management across U.S. dairy systems: Case studies from four regions.

The manureshed represents cropland needed to safely assimilate manure nutrients from an animal feeding operation. Dairy manuresheds can be contained on-farm but may need to involve additional farms that can assimilate excess nutrients. We present case studies reviewing challenges and opportunities to manureshed management in four major dairy-producing states using available information on local manuresheds.

Memory-Assisted Global Impression of Change (MAGIC).

Background: The United States Food and Drug Administration is developing a series of patient-focused drug development guidance documents regarding the collection of patient experience data, including methods for understanding treatment benefit from the patient perspective. The goal of this research was to investigate the concern that the global impression of change scale is subject to recall error and thus not optimal for use as an anchor for estimating meaningful within-person change thresholds. We explored whether memory assistance for recalling baseline status would make a difference in how study participants diagnosed with Parkinson's disease (PD) responded to a patient global impression of change (PGIC) and patient global impression static (PGIS) item.

Perceptions and experiences of health care professionals and staff with animal-assisted interventions in health care settings: a qualitative systematic review protocol.

Objective: The objective of this review is to examine the perceptions and experiences of health care professionals and staff in implementing or coordinating animal-assisted interventions in health care settings.

Introduction: Animal-assisted interventions are applied in the areas of health, education, and human services to help improve individuals' health and wellness. The positive effects of animal-assisted interventions on individuals have been shown in multiple health disciplines, from pediatrics to long-term care, and include outcomes such as decreased feelings of loneliness and increased feelings of support.

Public support for harm reduction: A population survey of Canadian adults.

We described public views toward harm reduction among Canadian adults and tested a social exposure model predicting support for these contentious services, drawing on theories in the morality policy, intergroup relations, addiction, and media communication literatures. A quota sample of 4645 adults (18+ years), randomly drawn from an online research panel and stratified to match age and sex distributions of adults within and across Canadian provinces, was recruited in June 2018. Participants completed survey items assessing support for harm reduction for people who use drugs (PWUD) and for seven harm reduction interventions.

A Commentary about Lessons Learned: Transitioning a Therapy Dog Program Online during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

In 2015, the University of Saskatchewan PAWS Your Stress Therapy Dog program partnered with St. John Ambulance for therapy dog teams to visit our campus and offer attendees love, comfort and support. We recognized at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic that students, staff and faculty may require mental health support, particularly with the challenges of isolation and loneliness.