An intervention to help people manage excessive videogaming and research to design new treatments to prevent a common inflammatory arthritis have received NHMRC (National Health and Medical Research Council) grants.
Professor Daniel Johnson will lead an international team of researchers for the $1.05 million study which will co-design with players a solution to minimise harm and treat problematic play, while also identifying ways to maximise the benefits of videogame play.
"The 13-fold increase in videogame play in the past decade has raised concerns about the potential for negative outcomes such as depression, anxiety, social isolation and suicide," Professor Johnson said.
"The majority of videogame players are aged 15 to 34 year-olds play videogames, and this is the peak age for the onset of mental health problems.
"However, we also know from our research videogaming has positive benefits for this age group: moderate levels of playing are associated with positive emotions, improved mood, emotion regulation and emotional stability.
"Playing video games can be a healthy means of relaxation, stress reduction and socialising - many gamers will tell you they have built great friendships online.
"People who play video games in moderation have been shown to be less depressed and have higher self-esteem compared to those who don't play or who play excessively.
"Videogame playing is ubiquitous and so this project aims to harness and maintain the benefits of playing while protecting against excessive detrimental use."
Professor Johnson said the proposed intervention would use videogame players' popular communication software, Discord, so that they will be reached in the digital environment they already inhabit.
"Our previous research has identified the potential key role that need satisfaction from gaming and obsessive passion plays in understanding problematic play and IGD."
Professor Johnson's QUT team members are Associate Professor Melanie White, Dr Selen Turkay, Professor David Lovell, Associate Professor Dimitri Perrin and Dr Bernd Ploderer.
This project involves collaborators from the University of Saskatchewan, University of York, University of Quebec, University of Queensland and Flinders University.
Associate Professor Tony Kenna will lead an international team in a $1million project, Defining the inflammatory T cell landscape in ankylosing spondylitis.
Professor Kenna said the multidisciplinary team would identify key inflammatory triggers in ankylosing spondylitis, an arthritis that affects 1 in 200 Australians and causes extreme pain, disability and loss of quality of life.
"Ankylosing spondylitis, or AS for short, is a common inflammatory arthritis that first presents in the late teens and progresses inexorably to an eventual stage of fusion of joints of the spine and pelvis." Professor Kenna said.
"There are no effective therapies for AS, however, broad-spectrum anti-inflammatory drugs provide some relief from pain.
"These treatments currently only provide symptomatic relief while reducing patients' immune defences."
Professor Kenna said the aim of the research was to answer the question AS patients have spent decades asking, 'what causes my disease?'.
"We have discovered that CD8 T cells, which drive an inflammatory response targeting a person's own tissue, are found in ankylosing spondylitis patients along with the gene for human leukocyte agent (HLA-B27) which has long been associated with AS," he said.
"We aim to characterise the precise CD8 T cell clones that are unique and abundant in people with AS who are HLA-B27+ to advance basic understanding of AS immunobiology, define the triggers that drive inflammation in AS, and open avenues for harnessing biomarkers for improved diagnostics.
"This new knowledge is critical for the development of targeted therapies informed by underlying disease mechanisms rather than borrowed from other diseases or extrapolated from animal studies."
Professor Kenna's co QUT researchers are Dr Zhixiu Li and Dr Peter Sternes.
This project involves collaborators from Diamantina Institute, University of Leeds, University of Campaigna Luigi Vanvitelli, Monash University and the University of Melbourne.
