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Histiocytic sarcoma (HS) is a common tumour in flat coat retrievers (FCRs) often affecting periarticular tissues and joints. Palliative‐intent radiotherapy, seeks to achieve local tumour control, pain relief and improve limb function. However, the effect of palliative‐intent radiotherapy on analgesic levels of dogs with localised HS has not been studied. We hypothesised that palliative‐intent radiotherapy could improve lameness in dogs affected by localised HS. This study aimed to assess the impact of palliative‐intent radiotherapy on lameness of FCRs with localised HS. A retrospective cohort single institution study was performed. Medical records of FCR dogs with HS that received external beam radiotherapy between 2003 and 2022 were reviewed and included demographic, staging, severity of baseline lameness, therapeutic management and outcome data. Descriptive statistics, McNemar's chi‐squared test, Fisher's exact test and Kaplan–Meier analysis were used for statistical analysis. Thirty‐nine dogs were included with a median age of 7.2 years, 25 were male and 14 were female. HS was most commonly located in the forelimb (29 dogs, 74.3%), affecting the shoulder joint (19 dogs, 48.7%). Staging was performed in all 39 dogs with 22 (56.4%) dogs having localised HS, six (15.3%) dogs had localised HS with node metastasis and 11 (28.2%) dogs had localised HS with systemic metastasis. All dogs received palliative‐intent hypo‐fractionated radiation therapy, 32 (82%) dogs showed improvement in lameness. In conclusion, palliative intent radiation treatment has an analgesic effect reducing lameness or clinical signs associated with affected tumour‐bearing joints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental activist leaders play a critical role in organizing grassroots activism. They often do so in a voluntary capacity while enduring long periods of failure in their quest to achieve environmental goals. Through 21 interviews we investigate how environmental activist volunteer leaders experience failure and the strategies they use to overcome it. Using a two-stage reflexive thematic analysis approach, four dimensions of failure were identified: movement, campaign, organization, and individual. Participants used three overarching strategies to manage these experiences of failure: Re-evaluating outcomes, emphasizing individual benefits, and changing tactics. Our findings suggest that environmental activist volunteer leaders regularly experienced failure across all four dimensions. The strategies they used to manage failure enabled them to maintain belief that success is achievable. We conclude with a discussion of how these findings can be used to develop tools and resources to enhance activist leaders’ capacity to prevail in the face of failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]