A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial to Examine the Impact of a Therapy Dog Intervention on Loneliness in Hospitalized Older Adults.

Background And Objectives: Loneliness is linked to significant health threats and is potentially more dangerous than obesity; it affects as many as 29% of noninstitutionalized older adults. Loneliness is exacerbated for those who require inpatient rehabilitation, are displaced from their social networks, spend little time receiving therapy, and are physically inactive and socially isolated. Emerging evidence suggests that companion animals provide a number of health and well-being benefits and that interacting with a trained therapy dog may reduce loneliness.

Mesoscale functional architecture in medial posterior parietal cortex.

The posterior parietal cortex () in mice has various functions including multisensory integration, vision-guided behaviors, working memory, and posture control. However, an integrated understanding of these functions and their cortical localizations in and around the PPC and higher visual areas (), has not been completely elucidated. Here we simultaneously imaged the activity of thousands of neurons within a 3 × 3 mm field-of-view, including eight cortical areas around the PPC, during behavior with a two-photon mesoscope.

Rod inputs arrive at horizontal cell somas in mouse retina solely via rod-cone coupling.

Rod and cone photoreceptor cells selectively contact different compartments of axon-bearing retinal horizontal cells in the retina. Cones synapse exclusively on the soma whereas rods synapse exclusively on a large axon terminal compartment. The possibility that rod signals can travel down the axon from terminal to soma has been proposed to allow spectrally opponent interactions between rods and cones, but there is conflicting data about whether this actually occurs.

Positivity and Follow-up Testing of Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae Infections in Universally Screened Female Basic Military Trainees.

Introduction: Follow-up testing is recommended three months after patients initially test positive with Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) and Neisseria gonorrhoeae (GC). Follow-up testing adherence in the United States has been reported below one third of women, even in universally insured populations. We assessed both the positivity of CT and GC infections in female basic military trainees and the rates of follow-up testing for those who tested positive.