Embedding a Culture of Interdisciplinary Open Research in Criminal Justice: A New Partnership for Ireland

This special edition of the Irish Probation Journal celebrates its excellent track record of publishing open access criminal justice research and building links among researchers, practitioners and policymakers on the island of Ireland. Both probation services have expressed strong commitments to partnership working and to using research and evidence to inform their practices and decision-making, using the Journal to facilitate these discussions. With this in mind, it is important to consider how we can build on this open, collaborative approach to research, evidence-based policy and practice and publishing into the future. This article represents the first output from a National Open Research Forum-funded project that aims to embed a culture of interdisciplinary open research in the field of criminal justice. The setting for this project is Ireland. Its authors are among the many research, criminal justice and community-sector professionals who represent their organisations on the new Criminal justice Open Research Dialogue (CORD) Partnership, launched as part of the funded project. The article was developed collaboratively during the CORD Partnership’s first event in Maynooth in January 2024, and then subsequently via an open authorship process through which partners could become named authors. It contextualises the establishment of the CORD Partnership, outlining what we mean by a ‘culture of open research’ and situating our goals in Ireland’s research and criminal justice policy frameworks. The piece then outlines the Partnership’s agreed purposes and principles and provides some opening considerations as to the criminal justice sector’s open-research needs. It concludes by describing the CORD Partnership’s next steps. The views expressed here represent those of the named authors only, not of their organisations, nor of anyone who participates in the CORD Partnership but is not a named author on the article. This project has received funding from Ireland’s National Open Research Forum (NORF) under the 2023 Open Research Fund. NORF is funded by the Higher Education Authority (HEA) on behalf of the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (DFHERIS

Play, Learn, and Teach Outdoors—Network (PLaTO-Net): terminology, taxonomy, and ontology

Background: A recent dialogue in the feld of play, learn, and teach outdoors (referred to as “PLaTO” hereafter) demonstrated the need for developing harmonized and consensus-based terminology, taxonomy, and ontology for PLaTO. This is important as the feld evolves and diversifes in its approaches, contents, and contexts over time and in diferent countries, cultures, and settings. Within this paper, we report the systematic and iterative processes under‑taken to achieve this objective, which has built on the creation of the global PLaTO-Network (PLaTO-Net). Methods: This project comprised of four major methodological phases. First, a systematic scoping review was conducted to identify common terms and defnitions used pertaining to PLaTO. Second, based on the results of the scoping review, a draft set of key terms, taxonomy, and ontology were developed, and shared with PLaTO members, who provided feedback via four rounds of consultation. Third, PLaTO terminology, taxonomy, and ontology were then fnalized based on the feedback received from 50 international PLaTO member participants who responded to≥3 rounds of the consultation survey and dialogue. Finally, eforts to share and disseminate project outcomes were made through diferent online platforms. Results: This paper presents the fnal defnitions and taxonomy of 31 PLaTO terms along with the PLaTO-Net ontol‑ogy model. The model incorporates other relevant concepts in recognition that all the aspects of the model are interrelated and interconnected. The fnal terminology, taxonomy, and ontology are intended to be applicable to, and relevant for, all people encompassing various identities (e.g., age, gender, culture, ethnicity, ability). Conclusions: This project contributes to advancing PLaTO-based research and facilitating intersectoral and inter‑disciplinary collaboration, with the long-term goal of fostering and strengthening PLaTO’s synergistic linkages with healthy living, environmental stewardship, climate action, and planetary health agendas. Notably, PLaTO terminology, taxonomy and ontology will continue to evolve, and PLaTO-Net is committed to advancing and periodically updating harmonized knowledge and understanding in the vast and interrelated areas of PLaTO

2025 Position statement on active outdoor play

Background: In 2015, the Position Statement on Active Outdoor Play was released in Canada, emphasizing the critical role of active outdoor play—with its risks—in fostering children’s healthy development. Building on this foundation, a 10-year update of the Position Statement on Active Outdoor Play (AOP10) was initiated to broaden its scope and impact, by encompassing all age groups and extending its reach conceptually and globally. Here we explain and present the new 2025 Position Statement. Methods: Development of the 2025 Position Statement was informed by 18 rigorous literature reviews, a series of leadership group meetings, three rounds of draft AOP10 surveys, followed by extensive communication, translation, production, and dissemination activities. Results: The 2025 Position Statement on Active Outdoor Play states: “Active outdoor play promotes holistic health and well-being for people of all ages, communities, and environments, and for our entire planet. It is critical given the multiple global challenges we face today (e.g., social and health inequities, climate change and digital addiction). Together, as a collective of the outdoor play sector, we recommend increasing opportunities for active outdoor play in all settings where people live, learn, work, and play. To achieve this, it is important to collaborate across sectors, settings, and societies to preserve, promote, and value equitable access to active play outdoors and in nature.” We also provide key evidence pertaining to the nine core themes that informed the development of the 2025 Position Statement and offer recommendations across sectors, calling for multi-sectoral, multi-level collaborations. Across all three survey rounds, responses indicated strong support for the 2025 Position Statement and its supporting content (Round 3: 93–98%). Comprehensive, proactive knowledge translation and dissemination plans were executed to maximize the reach and impact of the 2025 Position Statement. Conclusions: The 2025 Position Statement calls for systemic changes that prioritize equitable access to active outdoor play opportunities and aims to create healthier communities. Achieved through international collaboration and consensus, the 2025 Position Statement aspires to connect, advise, inspire, and activate active outdoor play worldwide

Kinase pathways involved in insulin gene regulation

Understanding how the insulin gene is regulated is essential to developing new treatments for diabetes mellitus. The aim of this study was to characterise, in detail, the effect of stress, glucose and insulin on three protein kinases, p38, JNK and PKB in pancreatic β cells. p38 was found to be active in both INS-1 and MIN-6 cells in response to the stress inducing agents anisomycin, UV and sodium arsenite. Physiologically high levels of glucose failed to result in p38 activation. Experiments were undertaken to characterise the effect of p38 overexpression on the activity of the rat insulin promoter. p38 overexpression resulted in a 10 fold increase in rat insulin promoter activity under conditions of high glucose however cells treated with the stress inducing agents UV and sodium arsenite showed a decrease in rat insulin promoter activity relative to controls. JNK was also detected in INS-1 and MIN-6 cells. JNK activity was increased by the cellular stresses of UV, sodium arsenite and anisomycin, but not by physiologically high levels of glucose. Overexpression of the transcription factor c-Jun inhibited the rat insulin gene promoter's response to glucose but overexpression of JNK had no effect. Furthermore JNK and c-Jun overexpression did not alter the size of the transcription factor PDX-1. PKB activity was found to be high in untreated INS-1 cells and could only be activated using significant quantities of insulin over a long time period. PKB overexpression in INS-1 cells led to a 10-20 fold increase in the activity of the rat insulin promoter under conditions of both low and high glucose. Further experiments were undertaken to evaluate the use of an adenoviral system to overexpress PKB in β cells in a controlled manner. Finally, a pilot study was undertaken to examine the effect of overexpressing Ngn3, a transcription factor essential to the development of the pancreas in rat liver cells.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Presence of WT1 in nuclear messenger RNP particles in the human acute myeloid leukemia cell lines HL60 and K562

The WT1 gene is a key player in acute myeloid leukaemia, in which it is frequently over-expressed. WT1 encodes a multifunctional zinc finger protein transcription factor, which also binds mRNA. Thus increasing evidence suggests that WT1 works both at the DNA and mRNA level, not only in the urogenital system but also in other contexts. Nuclear poly(A)+ mRNP particles were isolated by oligo(dT) chromatography from the human acute myeloid leukemia cell lines HL60 and K562, and analysed by Western blotting and 2D minigels. MALDI-TOF demonstrated the presence of hnRNP proteins, splice factors, and unexpectedly vimentin in the mRNP fraction. WT1 was also shown to be present in nuclear mRNP particles suggesting that in leukaemia, and by extension in all cancers in which it is involved, WT1 works both at the DNA and mRNA target level. © 2006 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved

The synthesis of isotopically labelled glucosinolates for analysis and metabolic studies

Glucosinolates are dietary natural products with important cancer chemoprevention proper-ties. The syntheses of a number of stable isotopically labelled ((2) H, C-13) glucosinolates, and their desulfo-analogues, are described. These compounds are used as internal standards for analysis and for metabolic studies. Copyright (c) 2007 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.</p

New insights into the function of the Wilms tumor suppressor gene WT1 in podocytes

The Wilms tumor suppressor gene WT1 is essential for early urogenital development: homozygous mutations in WT1 result in embryonic lethality due to a failure in the development of kidneys and gonads. In the adult kidney, WT1 expression is limited to the glomerular podocytes. Several human nephrotic diseases arise from mutations of the WT1 gene, including mutations that affect its zinc-fingers and alternative splicing of +/-KTS isoforms. These include WAGR (for Wilms tumor, aniridia, genitourinary anomalies, and mental retardation), and Frasier and Denys-Drash syndromes. Recent advances including the development of transgenic mouse models and conditionally immortalized podocyte cell lines are beginning to shed light on WT1's crucial role in podocyte function. Copyright © 2008 the American Physiological Society

The Wilms' tumor 1 (WT1) gene (+KTS isoform) functions with a CTE to enhance translation from an unspliced RNA with a retained intron

The Wilms' tumor 1 (WT1) gene plays an important role in mammalian urogenital development, and dysregulation of this gene is observed in many human cancers. Alternative splicing of WT1 RNA leads to the expression of two major protein isoforms, WT1(+KTS) and WT1(-KTS). Whereas WT1(-KTS) acts as a transcriptional regulator, no clear function has been ascribed to WT1(+KTS), despite the fact that this protein is crucial for normal development. Here we show that WT1(+KTS) functions to enhance expression from RNA possessing a retained intron and containing either a cellular or viral constitutive transport element (CTE). WT1(+KTS) expression increases the levels of unspliced RNA containing a CTE and specifically promotes the association of this RNA with polyribosomes. These studies provide further support for links between different steps in RNA metabolism and for the existence of post-transcriptional operons. © 2006 by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press