ISRAEL JOURNAL OF
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VETERINARY MEDICINE home archive journal |
Vol. 63
- No. 1 2008
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Editor:
Z. TRAININ |
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Assoc. Editors:
J. BRENNER D. ELAD I. GLASS G. DANK M. MALKINSON A. NERIA G. SIMON N. SHPIGEL |
Editiotial Board:
U.
BARGAI |
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Prof. Eitan Bogin
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Cover Picture - Short-toed Eagle

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Cciraetus gallicus Short-toed Eagle The species spread throughout the Mediterranean basin, Russia, the Middle East and into parts of Asia (Pakistan, India and some Indonesian islands). In Israel it can be found in summer and during migration in spring and autumn.Adults are 63-68 cm long with an 185-195 cm wingspan and weigh 1.1-1.6 kg.The Short-toed Eagle is an accomplished flyer and spends more time on the wing than do most members of its genus. He is hunting from the air at heights of up to 500 meters. Its prey is mostly reptiles, mainly snakes, but also some lizards. Occasionally small mammals to the size of a rabbit;rarely birds and large insects.This eagle is generally very silent. On occasions it emits a variety of musical whistling notes. When breeding it lays only one egg, and it can live up to 17 years. |
This issue of the Israel Journal of Veterinary Medicine is dedicated to the memory of Professor Eitan Bogin who died from leukemia on April 20, 2007, aged 72. Eitan was born on May 3, 1934 and educated at local schools in Kfar Saba, Israel. After completing his military service he studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem from which he graduated as B.Sc. in 1959. He continued his graduate studies at the University of California, Los Angeles receiving his M.Sc. and Ph.D. from the Department of Biochemistry in 1963 and 1965. Eitan held appointments there as a Research Associate and Assistant Professor until 1970 when he returned to the Kimron Veterinary Institute in Israel where he was to direct the Department of Biochemistry until his retirement in 1999.
Eitan was a first rate biochemist who divided his time between his diagnostic laboratory at the Kimron Veterinary Institute and teaching comparative veterinary biochemistry to students at the University of Tel Aviv, and later at the Koret Veterinary School of the Hebrew University where he taught clinical pathology. He ran courses in veterinary clinical pathology in several foreign countries- Paraguay, Italy, Taiwan, Mozambique etc.
Eitan was
instrumental in establishing the International
Society for Animal Clinical Biochemistry (ISACB) in
1981, and in 1986-9 was the President of this organization.
He was also President of the World Association of Veterinary
Clinical Diagnosticians (WAVLD) in 1996-7. Among the many prestigious
awards that Eitan received, that of the American
Association for Clinical Chemistry for his
contribution to
animal clinical chemistry in 1994 is
noteworthy.
Eitan wrote over 220 scientific articles, chapters in books, and two books on clinical chemistry. He also co-authored with Dr.Y.Hartman a computer program for veterinary clinical pathology diagnosis based on artificial intelligence.
Eitan registered a number of inventions centered on diagnostic aids for the veterinary practitioner and farmer connected with detecting mastitis in dairy cattle. These included an apparatus for measuring the DNA content of liquids, specifically mastitic milk, and a kit for measuring udder infections of cows based on the milk levels of the enzyme catalase. A third diagnostic aid consisted of a paper dip stick for detecting dehydrogenase levels as a function of leukocyte milk content. A separate invention was a device that detected thawing of frozen products – food, chemicals, meat etc, which would be packaged with the product when freezing it and would indicate whether thawing had occurred during transport and storage.
Overall,
Eitan envisaged the role of his laboratory as giving
a service to the veterinary practitioner, farmer, veterinary hospital, and
scientists researching animal models of biochemical interest. He
spent much effort in establishing reference values of
blood constituents, notably enzymes, of
various domestic and wild animals and was instrumental in
establishing reference values for application internationally. Eitan
was much involved in developing animal models for
medical research and the biochemical aspects of
diseases and metabolic disorders. The biochemical aspects of
aging, heat and other stressors were also topics of research
in his laboratory. Eitan investigated liver diseases, especially the
deposition of fat in geese, dairy cattle, laying
hens, broilers and rats. Eitan extensively studied
the topic of a metabolic profile as applied to dairy
cattle by measuring over 20 blood constituents
and how they are affected by age, physiological and
nutritional status,
seasonal change, milk production and climate.
Eitan was
very interested in promoting veterinary clinical pathology
internationally, and especially in third world
countries. He often hosted visiting scientists from
these countries for short or long term visits to collaborate
onresearch projects in his laboratory. At the same time
he organized the donations of books and laboratory equipment to
laboratories in third world countries.
Eitan Bogin was a born optimist who believed
in Israel’s scientific cooperation with
other countries. He had a huge repertoire of
humorous stories and enjoyed entertaining his many
guests at home and in the laboratory. His passing is marked with deep sorrow.