<p>Syftet med denna deskriptiva litteraturstudie var att beskriva vilken inverkan sällskapsdjur har på äldre personers hälsa och välbefinnande. Totalt 18 vetenskapliga artiklar inkluderades dessa återfanns i databaserna Cinahl, Science Direct och Academic Search Elite samt via andra artiklars referenslistor. Studierna som gjorts om djurens inverkan på äldre personer som bor i det egna hemmet genomfördes med enkäter och intervjuer. Resultatet visade att djurägarna var mindre missnöjda med sin sociala och emotionella situation än de som inte ägde djur. Hos hemmaboende personer med Alzheimers sjukdom visade det sig att interaktioner med sällskapsdjur minskade humör- och psykomotoriska störningar såsom aggression, hyperaktivitet, hallucinationer och känslor av oro. Även en påverkan på den fysiska hälsan hos djurägare återfanns då de fick mer motion än vad icke djurägare fick. Djurägarnas ADL förmåga bibehölls i större utsträckning över tid i jämförelse med de äldre som inte ägde något djur. De flesta studier som gjorts om sällskapsdjurens påverkan på äldre personer inom äldreomsorgen har varit av experimentell karaktär. Sällskapsdjuren hade flera effekter på de äldre; det sociala samspelet och de verbala interaktionerna ökade, känslan av depression och ensamhet minskade. En klar fysisk förbättring kunde påvisas i form av minskade muskelspänningar och trötthet, ökat nutritionsintag och lägre blodtryck. Bland äldre dementa personer påvisades en markant minskning av oro och aggressivitet då de deltog i djurterapi.</p> / <p>The aim of this descriptive literature review was to describe the impact of pets on the health and well being of elderly persons. A total of 18 studies were included which were found in Cinahl, Science Direct and Academic Search Elite and from other article references. Questionnaires and interviews were used to asses the impact of pets on elderly persons living at home. The result showed that pet owners were more satisfied with the social and emotional situation compared to non-pet owners. Persons with Alzheimer’s disease living at home and interacted with pets showed a lesser degree of aggression, hyperactivity, hallucinations and anxiety than non-pet owners. Pets also had an influence on the physical health of the pet owners. They took longer walks more frequently than non-pet owners. Pet owners preserved their ADL to a greater extent compared to non-pet owners. Most studies exploring the impact of pets on elderly living in nursing homes were experimental. Pets had several effects on the elderly; the social connection and the verbal interactions increased, depression and loneliness decreased. Pets also affected the physical condition of the elderly; they had less muscle tensions and fatigue, higher nutritional intake and lower blood pressure. Among the elderly with dementia the anxiety and aggression decreased when they participated in animal assisted therapy.</p>

Syftet med denna deskriptiva litteraturstudie var att beskriva vilken inverkan sällskapsdjur har på äldre personers hälsa och välbefinnande. Totalt 18 vetenskapliga artiklar inkluderades dessa återfanns i databaserna Cinahl, Science Direct och Academic Search Elite samt via andra artiklars referenslistor. Studierna som gjorts om djurens inverkan på äldre personer som bor i det egna hemmet genomfördes med enkäter och intervjuer. Resultatet visade att djurägarna var mindre missnöjda med sin sociala och emotionella situation än de som inte ägde djur. Hos hemmaboende personer med Alzheimers sjukdom visade det sig att interaktioner med sällskapsdjur minskade humör- och psykomotoriska störningar såsom aggression, hyperaktivitet, hallucinationer och känslor av oro. Även en påverkan på den fysiska hälsan hos djurägare återfanns då de fick mer motion än vad icke djurägare fick. Djurägarnas ADL förmåga bibehölls i större utsträckning över tid i jämförelse med de äldre som inte ägde något djur. De flesta studier som gjorts om sällskapsdjurens påverkan på äldre personer inom äldreomsorgen har varit av experimentell karaktär. Sällskapsdjuren hade flera effekter på de äldre; det sociala samspelet och de verbala interaktionerna ökade, känslan av depression och ensamhet minskade. En klar fysisk förbättring kunde påvisas i form av minskade muskelspänningar och trötthet, ökat nutritionsintag och lägre blodtryck. Bland äldre dementa personer påvisades en markant minskning av oro och aggressivitet då de deltog i djurterapi. / The aim of this descriptive literature review was to describe the impact of pets on the health and well being of elderly persons. A total of 18 studies were included which were found in Cinahl, Science Direct and Academic Search Elite and from other article references. Questionnaires and interviews were used to asses the impact of pets on elderly persons living at home. The result showed that pet owners were more satisfied with the social and emotional situation compared to non-pet owners. Persons with Alzheimer’s disease living at home and interacted with pets showed a lesser degree of aggression, hyperactivity, hallucinations and anxiety than non-pet owners. Pets also had an influence on the physical health of the pet owners. They took longer walks more frequently than non-pet owners. Pet owners preserved their ADL to a greater extent compared to non-pet owners. Most studies exploring the impact of pets on elderly living in nursing homes were experimental. Pets had several effects on the elderly; the social connection and the verbal interactions increased, depression and loneliness decreased. Pets also affected the physical condition of the elderly; they had less muscle tensions and fatigue, higher nutritional intake and lower blood pressure. Among the elderly with dementia the anxiety and aggression decreased when they participated in animal assisted therapy.

This thesis is an investigation of the use of various infection control practices, including hand hygiene, in companion animal veterinary clinics and a public petting zoo. Video observation of petting zoo visitors found overall hand hygiene compliance was 58% (340/583). Improved signage with offering hand sanitizer (odds ratio (OR) 3.38, p<0.001) and verbal hand hygiene reminders (OR 1.73, p=0.037) had a significant positive association with compliance. Video observation of preoperative preparation practices in ten veterinary clinics found contact times with preparatory solutions were often shorter than recommended: 10-462s for patients and 7-529s for surgeons using soap and water. Practices that did not conform to guidelines available in major companion animal surgical textbooks were commonly observed. A survey of veterinary staff found that over 80% of respondents ranked hand hygiene as of high importance in all clinical situations queried. The most frequently reported reason for not performing hand hygiene was forgetting to do so (40%, 141/353). Video observation of various infection control practices in 47 veterinary clinics found that poor sharps handling practices were common, yet only one needlestick injury was observed. Exam tables were cleaned following 76% (2015/2646) of appointments, and contact time with spray used to do so ranged from 0-4611s (mean 39s, median 9s). Appropriate personal protective clothing was worn for 72% (3518/4903) of staff-animal contacts. Video observation of hand hygiene practices in 38 veterinary clinics found overall hand hygiene compliance was 14% (1473/10894). Soap and water was used for 87% (1182/1353) of observed hand hygiene attempts with a mean contact time of 4s (median 2s, range 1-49s). A hand hygiene poster campaign had no significant effect on compliance. There is clearly room for improvement with regard to many frequently used infection control measures in veterinary clinics in Ontario. Use of active interventions to improve practices such as hand hygiene should be investigated in clinics, as such measures have been effective in other settings. The video monitoring system used in this research may be a useful tool for conducting these and similar studies in the future. A better infection control culture needs to be established in veterinary medicine. Accompanying data files are located at: http://hdl.handle.net/10864/10445 / Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Ontario Veterinary College Pet Trust, Canada Foundation for Innovation

Rabies management can be described as successful only if examined through a human health perspective. Negating companion animal health outcomes in rabies management creates systemic failures as cats and dogs are significant within our society and bridge humans and wildlife in rabies transmission. A shifting pet ownership culture has created opportunities for increased rabies risk. This thesis applied the One Health concept to the rabies management system in an Ontario municipality. The One Health concept considers that the health of humans is inherently connected to the health of companion animals and their shared environment. A mixed methods design informed a visual conceptualization of the rabies management system. Factors influencing human and companion animal health outcomes were identified through multivariable logistic regression models. The human outcome of interest was the recommendation of rabies post-exposure prophylaxis after a potential rabies exposure by a companion animal; the companion animal outcomes were receiving a post-incident rabies vaccine, being euthanized for rabies testing and being placed under observation. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with private veterinarians to understand their perceived role in rabies management. Rabies management is more complex than linear interactions and processes that occur to protect human health. An explicit link between the human and companion animal health outcomes was found. Companion animal species appeared as an influential factor and indicates that ownership practices differ between cats and dogs. This implies that veterinarians are not effectively leveraged as the link between public health and pet owners. Indeed, veterinarian’s approach their rabies management roles based on their prioritization of the seriousness of rabies compared to the risk. Through the application of One Health thinking to the municipal rabies management system, it is clear that there is a public-private divide where mitigating human rabies exposures conflicts with the prevention of rabies in companion animals.

Bakgrund och problemformulering Barn som vårdas på sjukhus kan uppleva det som skrämmande och obehagligt. De känner oro, ångest och det kanske blir en skräckfylld upplevelse. Rädsla för smärtsamma ingrepp som procedurer med nålar är vanliga. Många studier har visat att djurassisterad terapi/aktivitet har en positiv effekt som kompletterande behandling för barnens hälsa. Hur upplever barn sällskapsdjur vid sjukhusvården? Vad ger sällskapsdjur för effekt hos barn som vårdas på sjukhus? Studien är en litteraturstudie som handlar om att undersöka detta. Syfte Beskriva barns upplevelser av sällskapsdjur vid sjukhusvård Metod Studien utfördes som en litteraturöversikt av både kvantitativa och kvalitativa artiklar enligt Friberg (2018). Sökning gjordes i databaserna CHINAHL, MEDLINE, PUDMED samt även manuell sökning. En kombination av sökbegrepp användes för att skapa ett avgränsat urval av artiklarna som svarade mot syftet. Resultat 10 artiklar granskades som gällde djurassisterad terapi, djurassisterad aktivitet och djurassisterad innervation inom sjukhusvården. Analysen av artiklarna visade hur barn upplevde en reducerad ångest, oro, smärta och ökade sin sociala kommunikation. Analysen visade även att det gav en positiv effekt som distraktion mot smärta, exempel vid blodprovstagning. Barnen beskriver att deras sjukhusminnen blev mer positiva med hunden som interaktion. Diskussion Sällskapsdjur som omvårdnadsalternativ på sjukhus har visat sig ha en positiv effekt för barnen. Resultaten visade att djurassisterad terapi, djurassisterad aktivitet och djurassisterad innervation kan underlätta kommunikation, ge positiva känslor, fysisk avkoppling och motivation för aktivering. Dessa resultat är värdefulla för framtida forskning för att kunna framhålla sällskapsdjur som en kompletterande behandling för barn på sjukhus.

Twelve pairs of cadaveric pelvic limbs were harvested from skeletally mature dogs. Tibias were randomly assigned pairwise to two study groups: locking buttress screw fixation (LBS) and bone-screw-fastener fixation (BSF). A tibial plateau leveling osteotomy (TPLO) was performed. Each specimen was positioned in a servohydraulic testing machine to simulate physiological orientation and loading at the mid-point of the stance phase at the walk. Cyclic loading was performed for 30,000 cycles at 4Hz with a peak-load of 1000N. The cyclic test was then continued by stepwise increasing the peak-load at a rate of 75N per 500 cycles until failure of the construct. The findings of this current study suggest that stabilization of the TPLO with BSF in the proximal part of a locking TPLO plate provided similar biomechanical stability under cyclic axial loading conditions as the LBS. BSF may be an acceptable alternative to LBS for TPLO.

Cyclosporine and prednisone are immunosuppressive drugs that are commonly used in combination for the treatment of immune-mediated diseases, and have been shown to individually cause significant suppression of IL-2. Currently, no studies have been performed to determine how a combination of the two drugs would impact suppression of IL-2, and if an additive or synergistic effect on cytokine production could be demonstrated, as in studies of other species. An additive effect of immunosuppression associated with this drug combination could allow clinicians to decrease dosages of drugs, thereby reducing drug costs and minimizing adverse drug side effects. In a cross-over study design using six healthy dogs, the expression of IL-2 was affected with administration of cyclosporine, prednisone, or a combination of each drug. However, there was no significant difference in the level of immunosuppression compared to cyclosporine alone. Small sample size and the dosages of each drug used potentially affected the strength of the results.

Thirty-two canine tibiae with patellae and patellar tendons were harvested from 17 skeletally mature cadavers. Each tibia was randomly allocated to a construct group: plate and pin (Plate), plate with countersink compression screw (HCS), plate with tension band (TB), or plate with HCS and TB (HCSTB). Samples were loaded by distraction until failure. The stiffness, yield load, and ultimate load were compared between each fixation method. No difference in stiffness of the constructs was detected between groups. Yield load and ultimate load for the HCSTB group was greater than the TB group, the HCS group, and the Plate group. CBLO fixation augmented with a TB and HCS provided a stronger construct that withstood a greater yield load and ultimate load than either augmentation strategy alone. Augmenting a CBLO fixation with a TB and a HCS can provide increased construct strength.

This study sought to understand the culture-sharing group of people working within the shelter area of a Pacific Northwest animal shelter through the Ethnography of Communication. About 63% of households in the United States live with a companion animal (Risley-Curtis et al., 2006). Recently, there has been a shift toward closer examination into the ways in which humans interact with animals, particularly companion animals. The guiding questions of this study were: RQ1: What are the cultural communication forms performed in the context of the humane society? RQ2: How do shelter workers communicate about companion animals? RQ3: What cultural meanings are instantiated through communication in this context? This qualitative research approach included 40 hours of participant observation, individual interviews and an analysis of a set of documents and artifacts. Utilizing the Ethnography of Communication components, thematic and pattern analysis, findings revealed use of three main communication forms within the shelter: verbal, written and nonverbal communication and the overarching key theme of relational bonding occurring within an animal-centric organization among 4 relational categories: A. Shelter animals and shelter animals, B. Shelter animals and shelter workers, C. Shelter workers and shelter workers and D. Shelter workers and the public. Processes leading to relational bonding are delineated including detailed speech as well as aspects of "broken bonds" and euthanasia and it's effects within a "no-kill" organization.

No description available.