No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

Purpose: Physical activity (PA) and mental health decline in winter. One potential mechanism to improve PA and mental health is dog walking. The purpose of this thesis is to examine the impact of dog walking on mental health and seasonal changes in PA. Methods: Participants (n=50; 34 dog owners, 16 non-dog owners) wore an Actigraph accelerometer and logged all PA (including dog walking) for one week per season. They also completed mental health surveys during their initial data collection week (baseline). Using baseline data, analyses were run to see if daily dog walkers (those who reported dog walking 6+ days/week; n=20) had more PA and better mental health than non-daily dog walkers (those who reported dog walking ≤5 days/week; n=26). Analyses were also run to see if summer daily dog walkers (n=15) better maintained their PA levels from summer to winter compared to summer non-daily dog walkers (n=21), and whether dog walking automaticity predicted PA and seasonal changes in PA. Results: Daily dog walkers took 2,900 more steps/day (p=0.01), but there was no difference in MVPA/week (p=.07) or in odds of meeting PA guidelines (p=0.25). There was no difference in perceived stress or depressive symptoms between groups (p=0.41 and 0.12, respectively). Being a summer daily dog walker did not predict a smaller change in PA from summer to winter (p=0.63). Finally, a higher dog walking automaticity was predictive of higher daily steps (p=0.02) but not meeting PA guidelines (p=0.15) or maintaining PA from summer to winter (p=0.63). Conclusion: In this study, daily dog walkers took more steps than non-daily dog walkers, but they did not have better mental health and still observed a decrease in PA from summer to winter. Future research with larger, more diverse samples is needed to understand the impact routine dog walking has on mental health and seasonal PA changes.

Djur är allmänt kända för att ha en positiv inverkan på sjukvårdspatienters hälsa. Huruvida hundägande kan bibehålla god hälsa för pensionärer är dock inte lika studerat. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka om husdjursägande påverkar äldre personers hälsa och välbefinnande, med avstamp i teorierna aktivitetsperspektivet, biofilihypotesen och KASAM. Åtta hundägare mellan 68-76 år har intervjuats om sin hälsa, livsstil och sociala vanor. Materialet analyserades och placerades i allmänna teman, som visar de återkommande svaren. Av resultatet framkommer att deltagarna tyckte att deras hundar var av stor betydelse när det gällde att upprätthålla en aktiv livsstil, vilket i sin tur hade en positiv effekt på deras fysiska hälsa. Vissa deltagare fann också att deras mentala hälsa hade förbättrats på grund av deras hund. Mer specifikt beskrevs den ömsesidiga kopplingen mellan hund och ägare och den övergripande känslan av att deras hund förstår dem och deras humör. Dessutom bidrog hundarna till ett förbättrat socialt liv. Både som sällskap, men även som en anledning till att träffa nya människor och upprätthålla relationer med andra hundägare. Några utmaningar med hundägande presenterades också. Ekonomiska belastningar och begränsningar i deltagarnas vardag visade sig vara mest utbredd. Hundägandet förklarades dock ha en i första hand positiv inverkan på deltagarnas hälsa och välbefinnande och majoriteten av deltagarna ansåg hundar som användbara i socialt arbete. / Therapy animals are widely known for serving a positive impact on patients’ health. However, whether dog ownership can perpetuate good health for senior citizens, is not as widely explored. The purpose of this study is to research if pet ownership influence seniors’ health and well-being, with the theoretical standpoint of three theories or concepts: Activity Theory of Aging, The Biophilia hypothesis, and Sense of Coherence. Eight dog owners between the ages of 68-76 has been interviewed about their health, lifestyle and social habits.The material was analyzed and put into general themes, which displays the recurring responses. The results showed that the participants found their dogs to be of great importance when it came to maintaining an active lifestyle, which in turn had a positive effect on their physical health. Some participants also found their mental health to have improved because of their dog. More specifically, the mutual connection between dog and owner and the overall feeling that their dog understands them and their moods. Moreover, their dogs contributed to an enhanced social life. Both at home as company, as well as a contributing factor in meeting new people and maintaining relationships with other dog owners. Some challenges with dog ownership were also presented. Financial burdens and limitations in the participants everydaylife showed to be most prevalent. However, dog ownership was declared to have a primarilypositive impact on the participants health and well-being and the majority of participants considered dogs to be useful in social work.

Yes / The ideology and politics of Hindu nationalism has always been predicated on an antagonistic discursive construction of ‘dangerous others,’ notably Muslims but also Christians. This construct has served to define India as first and foremost a Hindu nation, thereby de facto relegating religious minorities to the status of not properly belonging to the nation. However, under the leadership of the current Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Hindu nationalism has acquired an unprecedented political force. A key consequence of this has been that the discursive construction of dangerous others is now increasingly being written into law, through a process of Hindu nationalist statecraft. The result is, we argue, not just a de facto but increasingly also a de jure marginalization and stigmatization of religious minorities. We substantiate this argument by analysing the intent and effect of recent pieces of legislation in two Indian states regulating, among other things, religious conversions, inter-faith relationships, and population growth. Conceiving of such laws as dog-whistle legislation, we argue that they are, in fact, geared towards the legal consolidation of India as a Hindu state. We also analyse the intimate entanglement between these laws and the collective violence of vigilante groups against those minorities that Hindu nationalists frame as dangerous, anti-national others.

Corneal ulceration with prolonged healing following Nd:YAG laser cyclophotocoagulation in dogs is a frequent complication. It is hypothesized that these corneal ulcerations may be a form of neurotrophic keratitis due to laser-induced damage to corneal innervation. Fifteen clinically normal dogs had the neodymium:yttrium aluminum garnet(Nd:YAG) laser cyclophotocoagulation performed on the left eye. Each treated eye received 100 Joules of laser energy. Corneal touch threshold (CTT) and Schirmer I tear tests (STT) were performed before the surgery and on days 1,3,5,7,9,11, and 13 post-laser treatment. Applanation tonometry was performed before surgery and twice daily for 14 days post-laser treatment. Eyes were enucleated after 14 days and corneal nerves were stained using a gold chloride technique. Major nerve bundles entering the cornea were quantitated by quadrant, using camera lucida reproductions. Nerve bundle diameters were measured using NIH image computer software on computer-scanned images. Statistical methods included repeated values for analysis of variance for CTT, STT and IOP, and a paired t-test for nerve diameters and bundles. All laser treated eyes had significantly higher CTTs (P<0.05) compared to control eyes for all measurements. Six out of fifteen dogs had evidence of ulcerative keratitis. Intraocular pressure was significantly lower in laser treated eyes compared to control eyes in the a.m. on days 2-9,and 14, and in the p.m. on days 2-11 using a Bonferroni-corrected alpha level (P<0.0039). A significant decrease of one nerve bundle per corneal quadrant was found between the laser treated and control eyes. There was no significant difference in STT or nerve bundle diameters between laser treated and control eyes. Nd:YAG laser cyclophotocoagulation effectively reduces IOP while increasing CTT. The procedure also causes a significant decrease in the number of major nerve bundles entering the cornea, but has no effect on the diameter of those bundles. These findings support the hypothesis that nerve damage and corneal hypoesthesia are etiologic factors in ulcerative keratitis following Nd:YAG laser cyclophotocoagulation. / Master of Science

The purpose of this study was to compare CT and radiography for diagnosing the presence and severity of middle ear disease in dogs with chronic otitis externa. Thirty-one dogs that were presented for a total ear canal ablation and bulla osteotomy were recruited. Three normal dogs served as controls. All dogs were examined using radiography and CT. Three radiologists independently evaluated imaging studies in random order. A visual analog scale method was used for scoring certainty and severity of middle ear disease. Surgical findings were recorded intra-operatively. Bulla lining samples were submitted for histopathology and scored by a single pathologist who also used a visual analog scale system. Findings from both modalities agreed more closely with surgical findings than with histopathology findings. With either surgery or histopathology as the gold standard, CT was more sensitive than and as specific as radiographs for predicting presence and severity of middle ear disease. Overall severity of middle ear disease was lower in the right versus the left ears. For CT, inter-observer variance of middle ear certainty was 217.04 while radiographic variance was 126.14 on the side with lower severity estimates. Both radiography and CT were more accurate for predicting the severity of the disease than its presence. Findings indicate that CT is more accurate and reliable than radiography in diagnosing middle ear disease for dogs with chronic otitis externa, but only when severity of disease is moderate or high. With low severity of disease, reader diagnostic certainty for both modalities becomes more variable. / Master of Science