At the heart of sentencing: exploring whether more compassionate delivery of sentencing remarks increases public concern for people who offend.

Compassion has the capacity to change how we think and feel about people who offend, enabling us to understand individual and systemic causes of criminality and whether, and in what circumstances, desistance is possible. Across two experiments, our research examined whether a more compassionate sentencing delivery, firstly, in written sentencing remarks and, secondly, in videoed sentencing remarks, stimulated more concern for sentenced offenders amongst members of the Australian public. Our results suggest that it is possible to alter the features of a written or orally-delivered sentence, so that it is recognisably more compassionate. Further, engagement with compassion-enhanced sentencing remarks altered criminal justice spending preferences, reducing the proportion of the criminal justice budget that the public believed should be spent on imprisonment and increasing that to be spent on rehabilitation.

Maternal upbringing and selective breeding for voluntary exercise behavior modify patterns of DNA methylation and expression of genes in the mouse brain.

Selective breeding has been utilized to study the genetic basis of exercise behavior, but research suggests that epigenetic mechanisms, such as DNA methylation, also contribute to this behavior. In a previous study, we demonstrated that the brains of mice from a genetically selected high runner (HR) line have sex-specific changes in DNA methylation patterns in genes known to be genomically imprinted compared to those from a non-selected control (C) line. Through cross-fostering, we also found that maternal upbringing can modify the DNA methylation patterns of additional genes. Here, we identify an additional set of genes in which DNA methylation patterns and gene expression may be altered by selection for increased wheel-running activity and maternal upbringing. We performed bisulfite sequencing and gene expression assays of 14 genes in the brain and found alterations in DNA methylation and gene expression for Bdnf, Pde4d and Grin2b. Decreases in Bdnf methylation correlated with significant increases in Bdnf gene expression in the hippocampus of HR compared to C mice. Cross-fostering also influenced the DNA methylation patterns for Pde4d in the cortex and Grin2b in the hippocampus, with associated changes in gene expression. We also found that the DNA methylation patterns for Atrx and Oxtr in the cortex and Atrx and Bdnf in the hippocampus were further modified by sex. Together with our previous study, these results suggest that DNA methylation and the resulting change in gene expression may interact with early-life influences to shape adult exercise behavior.

"People say you're going home, but I don't have a home": Housing After Prison.

Recidivism in Australia is high, especially in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). While high-quality stable housing has been shown to reduce recidivism, people released from prison face many barriers in obtaining housing. This paper reports on a qualitative study exploring the housing experiences of 11 people released from prison in the ACT. Participants felt the importance of housing for reintegration and avoiding recidivism, but reported many challenges, including issues relating to lack of pre-release planning, income and employment, drug use, difficulties and delays with accessing social housing, and complying with parole or bail conditions. We recommend increased investment in services to assist people in prison with organizing housing before release. Furthermore, as housing is a foundational need for reintegration and drug use is high among the prison population in the ACT, Housing First initiatives may be the most appropriate model for providing accommodation and reducing recidivism.

"I Would Just Feel Really Relaxed and at Peace": Findings From a Pilot Prison Yoga Program in Australia.

International research provides support for yoga as a well-being intervention in prison. No systematic research has been undertaken in Australia to assess the effectiveness of prison yoga programs. In 2017, the authors, in partnership with Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Corrective Services and the Yoga Foundation, introduced a weekly pilot yoga program at the ACT prison. This article presents quantitative and qualitative findings from the program. Although the small sample size (n = 8) is acknowledged, our findings indicate that participants attained statistically and clinically significant benefit from the program, demonstrated by improvements in their levels of depression, anxiety, self-esteem, goal-direction, negative affect, and non-acceptance. They also reported improved flexibility, sleep and relaxation, pain reduction, and identified improvements in their mental well-being, commenting that the program made them feel "calm" and "at peace." The article concludes by advocating for the expansion of such programs in Australian prisons and further research on such programs.

Novel tools for genetic manipulation of follicle stem cells in the Drosophila ovary reveal an integrin-dependent transition from quiescence to proliferation.

In many tissues, the presence of stem cells is inferred by the capacity of the tissue to maintain homeostasis and undergo repair after injury. Isolation of self-renewing cells with the ability to generate the full array of cells within a given tissue strongly supports this idea, but the identification and genetic manipulation of individual stem cells within their niche remain a challenge. Here we present novel methods for marking and genetically altering epithelial follicle stem cells (FSCs) within the Drosophila ovary. Using these new tools, we define a sequential multistep process that comprises transitioning of FSCs from quiescence to proliferation. We further demonstrate that integrins are cell-autonomously required within FSCs to provide directional signals that are necessary at each step of this process. These methods may be used to define precise roles for specific genes in the sequential events that occur during FSC division after a period of quiescence.

Dopaminergic and serotonergic autoreceptor stimulation effects are equivalent and additive in the suppression of spontaneous and cocaine induced locomotor activity.

We used the D(2) receptor agonist, apomorphine (APO) and the 5-HT(1A) receptor agonist, 8-OHDPAT (8OH) in a low dose range to stimulate autoreceptors and in this way assess the separate and combined effects of reduced DA and 5-HT activity upon spontaneous and cocaine induced locomotor behavior. Two separate experiments were conducted. In the first experiment, separate groups of rats (N=10) were tested with either saline, 8OH, APO or 8OH plus APO (0.01, 0.025, 0.05 mg/kg). At 0.05 mg/kg, 8OH and APO induced similar dose related decreases (up to approximately 50%) in locomotor activity. The combined 8OH plus APO treatment induced dose-related decreases in locomotion (approximately 90%). At the 0.05 mg/kg dose level, the drug treatments given separately blocked cocaine induced increases in activity and the 8OH and APO inhibitory effects were again additive. In the second experiment, separate groups (N=10) received saline, 0.05 mg/kg APO, 0.05 mg/kg 8OH or 0.05 mg/kg APO plus 0.05 mg/kg 8OH. As in the first experiment, the 8OH and APO given separately reduced locomotor activity by approximately 50% and when given together, locomotor activity was virtually eliminated (reduced 80-90%). When the combined APO/8OH group also received the 5-HT(1A) antagonist, WAY 100635 (0.05 mg/kg), the effect on activity was equivalent to 0.05 mg/kg APO alone. Ex vivo neurochemical measurement of dopamine (DA) and serotonin (5-HT) metabolism confirmed that the APO decreased DA turnover, 8OH decreased 5-HT turnover and the combined treatment reduced both the DA and 5-HT turnover. Thus, for both spontaneous and cocaine induced locomotor behavior, the low dose 8OH and APO treatments suppressed locomotor activity and these effects were additive. These findings indicate that DA and 5-HT systems contribute separately to motoric activation. These results suggest that it is important to consider both DA and 5-HT contributions to disorders of motoric impoverishment such as Parkinson's disease as well as to hyperkinetic states such as those induced by stimulant drugs.