Constipation is not a glamorous topic, but it's certainly important, especially in older adults. As anyone who has experienced occasional or even chronic constipation can tell you, it can really put a damper on quality of life and well-being. Constipation can also cause more substantial problems, such as: * Severe abdominal pain, which can lead to emergency room visits * Hemorrhoids, which can bleed or be painful * Increased irritability, agitation, or even aggression, in people with Alzheimer's disease or other forms of dementia * Stress and/or pain that can contribute to delirium (a state of new or worse confusion that often happens when older adults are hospitalized) * Fecal incontinence, which can be caused or worsened by having a hard lump of stool lodged in the lower bowel * Avoidance of needed pain medication, due to fear of constipation Fortunately, it's usually possible to help older adults effectively manage and prevent constipation. This helps maintain well-being and quality of life, and can also improve difficult behaviors related to dementia. The trouble is that constipation is often either overlooked or sub-optimally managed by busy healthcare providers who aren't trained in geriatrics. They are often focused on more "serious" health issues. Also, since many laxatives are available over-the-counter, some providers may assume that people will treat themselves if necessary. Personally, I don't like this hands-off approach to constipation. Although several useful laxatives are indeed available over-the-counter (OTC), I've found that the average person doesn't know enough to correctly choose among them. Also, although in geriatrics we often do end up recommending or prescribing laxatives, it's vital to start by figuring out what is likely to be causing or worsening an older person's constipation. For instance, many medications can make constipation worse, so we usually make an attempt to identify and perhaps deprescribe those. In short, if you're an older adult, or if you're helping an older... According to the above context, choose the correct option to answer the following question. Question: What is probably true about those with dementia and constipated? Options: - not enough information - constipation is not too much an issue in their lives - Constipation can complicate their days even further - they can probably get good treatment if they cooperate
Constipation can complicate their days even further

Alona's persistent knocking at the door of room 412 went unanswered for three minutes as she nervously shuffled her feet. Her book bag was super-saturated with textbooks, notebooks, schedules, rough drafts, and various other forms of academic paraphernalia. It was getting heavier. She continued to knock, even though there had as yet been no answer, because the note card tacked to the right of the door indicated that these indeed were Prof. Turgy K. Sigger's office hours. She could see the light under the door and thought she had heard a groan. Just before she decided to give up, slow feet approached from the opposite side, then silence; with a dramatic turn of the knob, the door swung open. "Was this trip really necessary?" asked Prof. Sigger, blinking and brushing his oily, graying hair back into place. "These are your office hours," Alona replied. She nervously smiled, feeling the corners of her mouth twitch. Somewhere in the darkened hall, a janitor coughed. "All right," conceded Prof. Sigger. "Come in." The carpet was smothered by leaning towers of textbooks. Papers lined the left side of the desk, above which was a small note card which read "To Be Graded." On the right side, the oak finish gleamed of the mid-morning light piercing the Venetian blinds. "You've come about your final project," Prof. Sigger stated. "It's only mid-term," Alona reminded him. "Oh yes, yes," continued Prof. Sigger, without conscious embarrassment. "Mid-term grade. I think I have it here. Somewhere." His hands disappeared into the left side of his desk. "You told the class that we would get a C if we maintained that Coca-Cola isn't a crypto-fascist conspiracy." "Oh yes," said Prof. Sigger. "We were discussing social issues, as I remember. I was quoting Marx and some little idiot brought up Rush Limbaugh." "That was me," Alona muttered. According to the above context, choose the correct option to answer the following question. Question: What class does Alona need help in? Options: - History - Sociology - Political Ideologies - not enough information
not enough information

(Question)
I loved the little guy from the day she brought him home. She carried him wrapped in a sweatshirt from the shelter at the corner where she'd been saying for months she was going to go. She set him down on the hardwood floor and he clipped around like a fawn - - clip, clip -- looking through doorways and carefully eyeing us both. He was tiny but he was strong. He was muscular and sleek, like a miniature greyhound, and we both watched intently as he clipped around, soldiering things out and whining under his breath. Miss Tennessee looked at me and smiled and said: "Well honey? What do you think?" And I told her: "I love the little guy." He was never really my dog. He was more like my step-dog, but together we named him Steve. We thought it was funny, giving a dog a man's name like that. But it fit, like Miss Tennessee, which I started just to tease her about being full-grown and long- legged and pretty, but in a tomboyish way that made it both absolutely ridiculous and absolutely plausible that she had ever been Miss Anything. It always made her swallow a grin. Steve's name, on the other hand, made it sound like he wasn't a dog at all, but this little man. Miss Tennessee often called him that: the little man. Steve liked me okay but he loved Miss Tennessee. With me it was man things. After he got snipped or when he was stung by bees, down there, in grass that came up to his chin, he would come sit by me, hoping I'd understand. With her, it was everything else. When she took a bath, he stood with his paws on the side of the tub, and when she went someplace he couldn't go he stood where he last saw her and waited. If she went into a store and left us together in the car, he stood with his paws on the dashboard, waiting and crying and looking at me like maybe I was to blame. According to the above context, choose the correct option to answer the following question. Question: Why did the author tell Miss Tennessee that he "loves the little guy"? Options: - not enough information - Because he liked the dog. - Because she went in the store and left Steve in the car. - Because she brought a dog.
(Answer)
Because he liked the dog.