The effects of animal-assisted interactions on quality of life in children with life-threatening conditions and their parents.

Background: Children with advanced cancer and their primary caregivers may experience severe stress and anxiety in coping with their life-threatening condition. As a way to help reduce these stressors and increase overall quality of life, research suggests that animal-assisted interactions may be beneficial when integrated into palliative care.

Aims: This pilot study aims to provide evidence for the feasibility and efficacy of a randomised clinical trial using animal-assisted interactions to help improve the quality of life for children with an advanced life-threatening condition and their primary caregivers.

The Contingency of Cocaine Administration Accounts for Structural and Functional Medial Prefrontal Deficits and Increased Adrenocortical Activation.

Unlabelled: The prelimbic region (PL) of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is implicated in the relapse of drug-seeking behavior. Optimal mPFC functioning relies on synaptic connections involving dendritic spines in pyramidal neurons, whereas prefrontal dysfunction resulting from elevated glucocorticoids, stress, aging, and mental illness are each linked to decreased apical dendritic branching and spine density in pyramidal neurons in these cortical fields. The fact that cocaine use induces activation of the stress-responsive hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis raises the possibility that cocaine-related impairments in mPFC functioning may be manifested by similar changes in neuronal architecture in mPFC.

Erosion of the spinous process: a potential cause of interspinous process spacer failure.

Interspinous process spacers have recently become available for treatment of symptomatic lumbar spinal stenosis. To date, there have been few data regarding the causes of failure. The authors present 2 cases in which there was erosion of the spinous processes adjacent to the interspinous process spacers.