Zoobiquity by Barbara Natterson-Horowitz Read Free Book Online Page A

samples, have comprehensive physicals, and answer question after question about their eating, exercise, work, and leisure habits.
    As the data piled up over decades, researchers began to discern patterns. High blood pressure and smoking led to heart disease. Age and gender influenced risk. It’s hard to believe that this information we now accept as routine was ever unknown. Even today, Framingham’s half century (and counting) of statistics is paying dividends as researchers mine the data for long-term trends in stroke and dementia, osteoporosis and arthritis. The iconic study is now in its third generation, having enrolled many of the children and
grandchildren
of the original participants.
    Longitudinal medical studies—those with large populations and elongated time frames—are hard to pull off. What makes them so valuable is exactly what can make them so frustrating. Even when lots of people sign up, many drop out. Participants lose interest. They forget to go to their physicals. They move away and don’t leave a forwarding address. They blow off the third or thirteenth or thirty-third questionnaire.
    But the challenge hasn’t daunted Dr. Michael Guy.In 2012 he began enrolling three thousand participants in what is perhaps the most ambitious new longitudinal study in more than a decade. Its focus is cancer in a population that has a staggering 60 percent risk of dying from the disease.
    And his research team knows for sure that their test subjects aren’t likely to cheat or fib or flee. They won’t fudge answers on their surveys or tell a researcher only what she wants to hear. They’ll be loyal and enthusiastic and obedient. The researchers know this because they chose their participants deliberately and wisely. They are all golden retrievers.
    Before you start picturing a floppy-eared puppy in a sterile wire lab cage, let me explain. The dogs enrolled in the Canine Lifetime Health Project—a long-term cancer study Guy sometimes calls “Framingham for Dogs”—are beloved pets. Recruited from normal homes all over the United States, they live in yards and bedrooms, romp with children and other dogs, eat the food their owners carefully select and prepare for them. They walk neighborhood sidewalks and play fetch in local parks.
    Like the human participants in the Framingham study, each dog in the Canine Lifetime Health Project will be followed for the rest of its life. As the data roll in, epidemiologists, oncologists, and statisticians will scrutinize the dogs’ diets to see if nutrients or portion sizes contribute to developing cancer. They will pore over environmental exposures—from secondhand smoke to household cleansers. They will measure how far the dogs live from power lines and freeways to determine whether any cancers cluster in significant ways. The researchers will analyze the genetic code of each dog, comparing it to the others and to the complete canine genome (completed in 2005 on the DNA of a female boxer named Tasha).
    This unprecedented study, undertaken by the nonprofit Morris Animal Foundation, could radically shift our approach to cancer in dogs. And the effort may yield knowledge that will benefit not only future generationsof pets but also the animals at the other end of the leash. Dog cancer has many stories to tell about human cancer: where it comes from, why it migrates, and, possibly, how to stop it in its tracks. A multispecies take on cancer research means our special relationship with man’s best friend is about to get even closer.
    Except for some grizzling on her muzzle, Tessa’s fur was glossy black—a striking contrast with her streetlight-yellow vest. The bright garment, as snug as a Partridge Family costume, was covered with embroidered patches. A few advertised dog food companies. One identified Tessa as a “Dock Dog,” an elite animal athlete whose jumping and fetching prowess makes the average pet look like a Little Leaguer going up against Derek Jeter. But the most