Prison Rehabilitation: The Sociological, Physiological, and Psychological Effects of Animal-Assisted Interventions

This paper examines animal-assisted interventions as a new form of rehabilitation in the prison setting. It focuses specifically on the multiple benefits that this form of therapy/intervention can bring to inmates, such as the reduction in recidivism and the acquirement of new skills. Additionally, this paper considers the reasons for which rehabilitation in general is necessary in order to truly transform an individual. The first section provides a brief history of AAI in the prison environment and its effects on the prisoners. The paper then transitions to an account of analyzing the sociological, physiological, and psychological effects of AAI on prisoners and offers a comparison of the different successful programs as a means to demonstrate their effectiveness and influence on further research. The final section describes the benefits of AAI for the animals, adopters, and community, thereby demonstrating that using Animal-Assisted Therapy in prisons can be beneficial on multiple levels

Elevated C-reactive protein in asymptomatic Crohn's disease patients. listen to the sound of silence

Bhattacharya et al1 confirmed and extended their previous finding2 indicating that “silent” Crohn’s disease (CD) patients (i.e., asymptomatic patients with elevated C-reactive protein [CRP] level) are a subgroup of patients at the higher risk of hospitalization and of more disabling disease

Efficacy of Prucalopride in bowel cleansing before colonoscopy. Results of a pilot study

Colonoscopy is a crucial diagnostic instrument for colorectal cancer screening and an adequate bowel preparation is definitely decisive for the success of the procedure. Especially in elderly patients, bowel cleansing is considered a big issue, because it is often poorly tolerated for many reasons (like inability to swallow large volume of liquids or unlikable taste); this can cause a suboptimal preparation that may lead to miss a neoplastic lesion. There is relatively little data about how to improve preparation tolerability. The purpose of our pilot study was to analyze the effect of prucalopride (Resolor®), a highly selective serotonin 5HT4 receptor agonist used for chronic constipation for its ability to stimulate gastrointestinal peristalsis, undertaken the day before colonoscopy, followed by half volume of polyethylene glycol solution. We found that this can be a good and safe method to achieve an adequate and better-tolerated colon cleansing