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A farewell message from Professor Vic Shille
Theriogenology 66 (2006) 3–4 www.journals.elsevierhealth.com/periodicals/the
A farewell message from Professor Vic Shille
‘‘Parting is such sweet sorrow’’. —[Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet] As always, the bard expresses himself with impact and economy of words. Indeed, parting calls forth a mixture of emotions. Retirement from a job is a special kind of parting, since the person must, in addition to experiencing the sweet and sorrowful emotions mentioned above, face such questions as ‘‘what will I do all day long?’’ or ‘‘will there be enough money?’’ and ‘‘I love my job, why must I leave?’’ and the most painful one: ‘‘nobody recognizes me any more, I am not needed.’’ After 14 years of solo small animal practice in Santa Ana, California, I decided I needed a change. I was 0093-691X/$ – see front matter # 2006 Published by Elsevier Inc. doi:10.1016/j.theriogenology.2006.04.003
admitted to graduate school at the University of California where in due time I received a Ph.D. in endocrinology and reproductive physiology. My chosen study animal was the cat. After I completed my graduate studies, I was invited to spend a year of post-doctoral work at the Swedish Agricultural University in Uppsala. Upon completion of the post-doc, I took a position of associate professor at the University of Florida. I retired twice from the University of Florida; the first time from clinical duties due to Mr. Parkinson (trembling hands neither inspire confidence in a client nor do they make surgery possible), and the second time because the Parkinsonism was advancing and I wanted to experience adventures, like parasailing, or wilderness camping, before Mr. P made it impossible to do that. But, one can’t parasail all the time. I needed an activity that would be interesting, time consuming and useful. At one time I considered raising orchids. Luckily, before I wasted a lot of money on containers, plants and fertilizer, I remembered my editorial work for Theriogenology, the international journal of animal reproduction. That was perfect. Happily, I immersed myself in other people’s ideas, their writing efforts and their mistakes. Contrary to common opinion, most editors do not enjoy rejecting papers; I for one did everything possible to improve the work before me, so it could be published, rather than rejected. My efforts were rewarded. Authors preferred to submit their manuscript to an editor who recognized the scientific value buried under grammar, translation, and sentence structure errors. Submissions to Theriogenology continued to increase by about 15–20% with each passing year, while the scientific quality index (impact factor) remained high, giving the journal never lower than third place among 96 veterinary journals. When I was not working on manuscripts, I organized
4
A farewell message from Professor Vic Shille / Theriogenology 66 (2006) 3–4
workshops of English for speakers of other languages (ESOL); these were held contemporaneously with the Annual Conference of the International Embryo Transfer Society (IETS). And then, it was time to retire again. I bade adieu to my colleagues and friends, but I could not completely give up the editor’s pencil, as I continued to help ESOL authors with their manuscripts. As mentioned earlier, reproduction of cats was my major interest as I entered graduate school. Their behavior fascinated me. They play games that are based on killing of prey (all cats) and they have mating rituals that may culminate in death of the female (snow leopard). All cats have a similar genotype, but their phenotype varies widely (lion versus bobcat versus domestic cat). And yet, each cat retains easily recognizable characteristics typical for the family Felidae. There were 32 females and 4 males (two vasectomised, two intact) housed in individual cages with doors leading to a large exercise area, where I observed the behavior of various combinations of males and females. All cats were exposed to natural daylight and all were trained to lie supine in a custom-made box for sampling of blood from the jugular vein (I used sardines to reward
them). Serum concentrations of estradiol 17beta and progesterone were measured every second day and related to behavior and changes in vaginal epithelium changes. Cats that displayed estrus were exercised separately and subjected to coitus with a vasectomised male. Serum luteinizing hormone concentrations were measured in samples taken every 15–30 min. Ovulation was observed via laparoscopy, and the interval from coitus (time 0) to ovulation was recorded. Thus, we outlined functions of the cat ovary. Further studies (under the guidance of Dr. Bill Lasley), involved development of an assay for steroid metabolites in feces, enabling frequent noninvasive sampling from free ranging species, including wild horses and dangerous species such as captive Felidae. This tale is finished. It seems fitting to end it with a quote from old William’s Hamlet: ‘‘and the rest is silence.’’ V.M. Shille Emeritus Editor-in-Chief University of Florida, Department of Large Animal Clinical Science, College of Veterinary Medicine, Gainesville, FL 32610-0136, United States
A farewell message from Professor Vic Shille
‘‘Parting is such sweet sorrow’’. —[Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet] As always, the bard expresses himself with impact and economy of words. Indeed, parting calls forth a mixture of emotions. Retirement from a job is a special kind of parting, since the person must, in addition to experiencing the sweet and sorrowful emotions mentioned above, face such questions as ‘‘what will I do all day long?’’ or ‘‘will there be enough money?’’ and ‘‘I love my job, why must I leave?’’ and the most painful one: ‘‘nobody recognizes me any more, I am not needed.’’ After 14 years of solo small animal practice in Santa Ana, California, I decided I needed a change. I was 0093-691X/$ – see front matter # 2006 Published by Elsevier Inc. doi:10.1016/j.theriogenology.2006.04.003
admitted to graduate school at the University of California where in due time I received a Ph.D. in endocrinology and reproductive physiology. My chosen study animal was the cat. After I completed my graduate studies, I was invited to spend a year of post-doctoral work at the Swedish Agricultural University in Uppsala. Upon completion of the post-doc, I took a position of associate professor at the University of Florida. I retired twice from the University of Florida; the first time from clinical duties due to Mr. Parkinson (trembling hands neither inspire confidence in a client nor do they make surgery possible), and the second time because the Parkinsonism was advancing and I wanted to experience adventures, like parasailing, or wilderness camping, before Mr. P made it impossible to do that. But, one can’t parasail all the time. I needed an activity that would be interesting, time consuming and useful. At one time I considered raising orchids. Luckily, before I wasted a lot of money on containers, plants and fertilizer, I remembered my editorial work for Theriogenology, the international journal of animal reproduction. That was perfect. Happily, I immersed myself in other people’s ideas, their writing efforts and their mistakes. Contrary to common opinion, most editors do not enjoy rejecting papers; I for one did everything possible to improve the work before me, so it could be published, rather than rejected. My efforts were rewarded. Authors preferred to submit their manuscript to an editor who recognized the scientific value buried under grammar, translation, and sentence structure errors. Submissions to Theriogenology continued to increase by about 15–20% with each passing year, while the scientific quality index (impact factor) remained high, giving the journal never lower than third place among 96 veterinary journals. When I was not working on manuscripts, I organized
4
A farewell message from Professor Vic Shille / Theriogenology 66 (2006) 3–4
workshops of English for speakers of other languages (ESOL); these were held contemporaneously with the Annual Conference of the International Embryo Transfer Society (IETS). And then, it was time to retire again. I bade adieu to my colleagues and friends, but I could not completely give up the editor’s pencil, as I continued to help ESOL authors with their manuscripts. As mentioned earlier, reproduction of cats was my major interest as I entered graduate school. Their behavior fascinated me. They play games that are based on killing of prey (all cats) and they have mating rituals that may culminate in death of the female (snow leopard). All cats have a similar genotype, but their phenotype varies widely (lion versus bobcat versus domestic cat). And yet, each cat retains easily recognizable characteristics typical for the family Felidae. There were 32 females and 4 males (two vasectomised, two intact) housed in individual cages with doors leading to a large exercise area, where I observed the behavior of various combinations of males and females. All cats were exposed to natural daylight and all were trained to lie supine in a custom-made box for sampling of blood from the jugular vein (I used sardines to reward
them). Serum concentrations of estradiol 17beta and progesterone were measured every second day and related to behavior and changes in vaginal epithelium changes. Cats that displayed estrus were exercised separately and subjected to coitus with a vasectomised male. Serum luteinizing hormone concentrations were measured in samples taken every 15–30 min. Ovulation was observed via laparoscopy, and the interval from coitus (time 0) to ovulation was recorded. Thus, we outlined functions of the cat ovary. Further studies (under the guidance of Dr. Bill Lasley), involved development of an assay for steroid metabolites in feces, enabling frequent noninvasive sampling from free ranging species, including wild horses and dangerous species such as captive Felidae. This tale is finished. It seems fitting to end it with a quote from old William’s Hamlet: ‘‘and the rest is silence.’’ V.M. Shille Emeritus Editor-in-Chief University of Florida, Department of Large Animal Clinical Science, College of Veterinary Medicine, Gainesville, FL 32610-0136, United States