Letter from the editor

Abstract

It is my privilege to address you for the first time as European Editor of JVPT, a function that was offered to me on the suggestion of the Board of EAVPT. In this capacity, I am the successor of Prof. Peter Lees, who has served both EAVPT and JVPT for many years. I am convinced that I speak for all of you when I say that without Prof. Peter Lees the Journal would never have survived the last decade. Echoing the words of Jim Riviere, I want to express my own sincere gratitude and great appreciation to Peter for all the time and effort he invested in the Journal. Peter, many, many thanks again! The great challenge facing Jim Riviere and myself is to build, together with Mark Papich, Linda Franken-Horspool, Cyril Clarke and, last but not least, our production editor, Julie-Ann Goodlet-Rowley, a successful team to keep the Journal alive and maintain its high scientific standard. In his Editorial [see Vol. 29(1)], Jim Riviere already informed you about a number of changes to the Journal, the first of which being the move to an online submission and reviewing system. Thanks are due to all the people at Blackwell Publishing, in particular Stephen Wymbs, Julie-Ann Goodlet-Rowley and Amy McCallum, for their support and assistance during this transition. I would like to extend my apologies once again to those authors who were asked in December 2005 to resubmit their manuscripts in January 2006 when the online system became fully operational. The transition also explains why the first issues in 2006 show signs of cachexia – changes always take longer than expected! Technological change is one of the driving forces of research and development in many areas. This decade will be remembered for its implementation of the – omics. Genomics, proteomics and metabonomics, and an increasing number of derivatives thereof, such as chromosonomics, allergenomics, cellomics, chromatinomics, computional RNomics, ethnogenomics or environomics (for more omics, see http://www.genomicglossaries.com) have become driving forces in biomedical sciences and led to the coining of the term systems biology (for reference, see Witkamp JVPT28, 235–245, 2005), which still sounds strange to a non-native English speaker. However, if I go back to my veterinary background, this phrase sounds perfect. From the very beginning, veterinary medicine has dealt with biological systems whilst trying to understand the evolutionary pathways that have lead to distinct (species) differences in the expression of enzymes, receptors and signal transduction molecules. The term biological systems will be perfectly understood by veterinary practitioners used to thinking of high-yielding dairy cows that require skilled management of nutrition and disease control to maintain production and fertility whilst guaranteeing the animal's well-being. The modern interpretation of biological systems refers also to the integration of bio-medical research and information technology, often connecting different Universities and different scientific traditions. The veterinary profession, a small sub-population in the world of medical research, has – somewhat involuntarily – acquired the skills to cooperate with and endorse the achievements of other disciplines. We should consider this both as a privilege and a challenge! JVPT is devoted to pharmacology in veterinary medicine and open to contributions from the area of applied therapeutics as well as veterinary toxicology. JVPT readily accepts submissions from associated bio-medical disciplines that support our understanding of the pathophysiology and epidemiology of diseases (including intoxications) leading ultimately to the identification of new therapeutic targets and intervention strategies. JVPT is the official Journal of the leading discipline-orientated Academies and Associations in America, Europe and Australia. The Journal thus forms a bridge and information forum for all colleagues associated with these organizations. I would like, therefore, to use this opportunity to invite you to share not only your recent scientific results with us, but also to keep us informed of relevant trends and developments. Finally, I would like to encourage you to send to us, the Editorial team, your personal suggestions on and proposals for improvement of the content and lay-out of the JVPT and on the types of manuscripts you would like to see in the Journal in the future. I look forward to hearing from you!