Biomarkers and clinical staging in psychiatry

Personalized medicine is rapidly becoming a reality in today's physical medicine. However, as yet this is largely an aspirational goal in psychiatry, despite significant advances in our understanding of the biochemical, genetic and neurobiological processes underlying major mental disorders. Preventive medicine relies on the availability of predictive tools; in psychiatry we still largely lack these. Furthermore, our current diagnostic systems, with their focus on well‐established, largely chronic illness, do not support a pre‐emptive, let alone a preventive, approach, since it is during the early stages of a disorder that interventions have the potential to offer the greatest benefit. Here, we present a clinical staging model for severe mental disorders and discuss examples of biological markers that have already undergone some systematic evaluation and that could be integrated into such a framework. The advantage of this model is that it explicitly considers the evolution of psychopathology during the development of a mental illness and emphasizes that progression of illness is by no means inevitable, but can be altered by providing appropriate interventions that target individual modifiable risk and protective factors. The specific goals of therapeutic intervention are therefore broadened to include the prevention of illness onset or progression, and to minimize the risk of harm associated with more complex treatment regimens. The staging model also facilitates the integration of new data on the biological, social and environmental factors that influence mental illness into our clinical and diagnostic infrastructure, which will provide a major step forward in the development of a truly pre‐emptive psychiatry.     

Early Childhood Music Education in Australia: A Snapshot

Policy for early childhood music education (birth to eight years of age) in Australia covers a complex and diverse range of curriculum guidelines and legislation relating to the contexts of day care, preschool, and the early years of school. Australian models and policies vary from state to state and according to setting. Furthermore, early childhood education is constantly changing and evolving, responding to new practices, altered government priorities and funding, and community needs. In this article, the author aims to provide a snapshot of the situation by reviewing and analyzing educational policies, teacher training, and providers of early childhood music programs as well as suggesting some future directions.     

A new semi-determinate tomato hybrid for early production

By using the knowledge of the genetic constitution and the characteristics of the available tomato lines for selection, there were created several dozens of hybrid combinations characterised by semi-determinate habit, with large fruits and early maturing. These hybrids were tested in preliminary and comparative trials with the hybrids Balkan F₁, Balca F₁, Žar F₁, and some others as standard varieties. These tomato hybrids were grown earlier but they are grown even today in the early production, for the market in green houses and in the open field. The hybrid Marco F₁ was the best of all. Its yield was 25 t/ha in the plastic-house (the same as in the standard), up to 32 t/ha in the open field (5 % more than in the standard). This hybrid was a few days later than Balkan, with the fruits weighting 200 grams (fruits were approximately 60 % heavier than in the standard). It possess the genetic V, F and Tm resistance.     

Early ontogeny of sunbleak

The early development of sunbleak Leucaspius delineatus , from activation of ovum to juvenile, was recorded using both living and preserved materials. Five embryonic steps, one free embryo and five larval steps were identified. Hatching occurred between 73 h 25 min and 85 h 25 min (post‐activation); the free embryo period was extremely short in duration (3–16 h). The transition from larva to juvenile occurred in c . 96 days when the fish were fully scaled and the lateral line organ clearly visible. During early development, developmental thresholds were identified between steps, which suggested possible switches in ecology, microhabitat, behaviour, performance or any combination of these. During both embryo and larva periods of development, steps increased in time duration, indicating different rates of complexity of physiological and morphological developments within each step. From the results, a 'step like' model is proposed for the early development of sunbleak.