The High-Risk Plaque Initiative: Primary Prevention of Atherothrombotic Events in the Asymptomatic Population

The High-Risk Plaque (HRP) Initiative is a research and development effort to advance the understanding, recognition, and management of asymptomatic individuals at risk for a near-term atherothrombotic event such as myocardial infarction or stroke. Clinical studies using the newest technologies have been initiated, including the BioImage Study in which novel approaches are tested in a typical health plan population. Asymptomatic at-risk individuals were enrolled, including a survey-only group (n = 865), a group undergoing traditional risk factor scoring (n = 718), and a group in which all were assessed for both risk factors and subclinical atherosclerosis (n = 6104). The latter two groups underwent baseline examination in a dedicated mobile facility equipped with advanced imaging tools suitable for noninvasive screening for subclinical atherosclerosis (coronary artery calcium by computed tomography [CT], carotid and aortic disease by ultrasound, and ankle-brachial index). Selected participants were offered advanced imaging (contrast-enhanced CT, magnetic resonance imaging, and positron emission tomography/CT). Plasma, PAXgene RNA, and DNA samples were obtained for biomarker discovery studies. All individuals will be followed until 600 major atherothrombotic events have occurred in those undergoing imaging

Comparative review of human and canine osteosarcoma: morphology, epidemiology, prognosis, treatment and genetics

Osteosarcoma (OSA) is a rare cancer in people. However OSA incidence rates in dogs are 27 times higher than in people. Prognosis in both species is poor, with five year osteosarcoma survival rates in people not having improved in decades. For dogs, one year survival rates are only around ~45%. Improved and novel treatment regimens are urgently required to improve survival in both humans and dogs with OSA. Utilising information from genetic studies could assist in this in both species, with the higher incidence rates in dogs contributing to the dog population being a good model of human disease. This review compares the clinical characteristics, gross morphology and histopathology, aetiology, epidemiology, and genetics of canine and human osteosarcoma. Finally, the current position of canine osteosarcoma genetic research is discussed and areas for additional work within the canine population are identified

It Takes Two to Tango: We-Intentionality and the Dynamics of Social Norms

Margaret Thatcher’s “There is no such thing as society” is one of the defining statements of her premiership, describing a world in which only individuals exist and each and everyone needs to take responsibility for their own actions. The spirit of individualism also pervades the social sciences, starting with microeconomic theory but further invading other social sciences in the form of rational choice, exchange or game theory. It is futile to ask which came first, the individualisation of society or the victory of individualism in the social sciences. They feed back into each other like most social phenomena