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Notes that loot boxes are digital containers of randomised rewards available in many video games, and that due to similarities between some loot boxes and traditional forms of gambling, concerns regarding the relationship between spending on loot boxes in video games and symptoms of problematic gambling have been expressed by policy makers and the general public. Presents the first investigation of these concerns in large cross-sectional cross-national samples from three countries (Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia, and the United States). Determines the relationship between problem gambling symptoms and loot box spending, as well as the consistency of this relationship across these three countries. Source: National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa, licensed by the Department of Internal Affairs for re-use under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 New Zealand Licence.

Loot boxes are randomised rewards available in some video games, often purchasable for real-world money. Loot boxes have been likened to conventional forms of gambling and may satisfy legal requirements to be considered bona fide gambling in some jurisdictions. Research has consistently shown that people with problem gambling symptoms report spending more on these mechanisms than people without such symptoms. However, a significant gap in our current understanding is whether engaging with these mechanisms is associated with harm. Here we examine the prevalence rates of severe psychological distress among purchasers of loot boxes relative to non-purchasers. A reanalysis of two cross-sectional surveys collected online via online collection platforms. Participants were 2432 Aotearoa New Zealand, Australian, and United States residents recruited through online survey. Our results show that purchasers of loot boxes are at approximately 1.87 times higher risk of severe psychological distress on a standardised clinical screening tool than people who do not purchase loot boxes. These relative risk rates are not due to gender, age, spending on other video game related purchases, or problem gambling symptoms. Individuals who purchased loot boxes appeared to also have higher risk of severe psychological distress irrespective of demographic characteristics or problem gambling status. Loot boxes appear to be associated with significantly higher risk of experiencing psychological harm even for players without problem gambling symptoms.

According to Melinda Cooper’s Family Values, neoliberal and socially conservative policies have come together throughout the 20th century to support the normative family as the primary tool to internalize the costs of individual behavior and to privatize distribution. Despite a wealth of research and detailed policy analysis, Cooper’s work suffers from both ideological blinders and an overly narrow vision of the family itself. Cooper’s work ultimately fails to take the family seriously as an emergent and self-reproducing institution that is unlikely to be replaced fully in any sense by government policies, however well framed. Her analysis also fails to provide a good-faith analysis of the neoliberal and socially conservative scholars she discusses. At the same time, Cooper’s analysis is a useful one for classical liberal and libertarian thinkers who have, in the past, struggled to know what to do with the family as an institution and how to balance concerns about state coercion against concerns about coercion in the private sphere. It therefore provides a call for classical liberal and libertarian scholars to think more seriously about the family and how a narrow focus on freedom from government might ignore real and serious threats to human freedom in other areas.

Microtransactions provide optional, virtual, video game goods that, for an additional cost to the player, provide additional game content and alter the gameplay experience. Loot boxes—a specific form of microtransaction—offer randomised rewards in exchange for payment, and are argued to be structurally and psychologically similar to gambling. Nascent research suggests that a link exists between autism and both problematic gaming and problematic gambling. Here, we investigated the relationships between autistic characteristics and experiences, and excessive video gaming and microtransaction expenditure. A sample of 1178 adults from Australia, Aotearoa, and The United States were recruited from Prolific Academic, and completed a survey measuring in-game expenditure, autistic characteristics and experiences, problematic gaming, problematic gambling, and risky loot box use. Analyses showed positive associations between autistic characteristics and experiences with problematic gaming and problem gambling symptomatology. However, results also showed a small, negative association between autistic characteristics and experiences and spending on loot boxes when problem gambling symptoms, problematic gaming, and risky loot box use were statistically controlled for. These results suggest that autistic gamers may be vulnerable to problematic gaming and gambling, but that this effect does not extend to the purchasing of microtransactions.

Delivery represents a significant barrier to the clinical advancement of oligonucleotide therapeutics for the treatment of neurological disorders, such as Huntington's disease. Small, endogenous vesicles known as exosomes have the potential to act as oligonucleotide delivery vehicles, but robust and scalable methods for loading RNA therapeutic cargo into exosomes are lacking. Here, we show that hydrophobically modified small interfering RNAs (hsiRNAs) efficiently load into exosomes upon co-incubation, without altering vesicle size distribution or integrity. Exosomes loaded with hsiRNAs targeting Huntingtin mRNA were efficiently internalized by mouse primary cortical neurons and promoted dose-dependent silencing of Huntingtin mRNA and protein. Unilateral infusion of hsiRNA-loaded exosomes, but not hsiRNAs alone, into mouse striatum resulted in bilateral oligonucleotide distribution and statistically significant bilateral silencing of up to 35% of Huntingtin mRNA. The broad distribution and efficacy of hsiRNA-loaded exosomes delivered to brain is expected to advance the development of therapies for the treatment of Huntington's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders.

Social scientists and science communicators are concerned about the apparent discrepancy between the scientific consensus on climate change (Anderegg et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci 107:12107–12109, 2010; Doran and Zimmerman EOS Trans Am Geophys Union 90:22–3, 2009) and the general public’s views (Knight Environ Sociol 2:101–113, 2016; Lee et al. Nat Clim Chang 5:1014–1020, 2015). It is reasoned that increased public awareness and perceived threat of climate change may pressure governments to enact policy to counteract climate change (e.g. setting stringent carbon emissions targets). Despite a logical link between public awareness and government-set emissions targets, this relationship remains untested. We examined the relationship between public awareness about and perceived threat of climate change and governmental emissions targets across 71 countries and 1 region. We found a positive association between the proportions of a country’s population that are aware of climate change and the unconditional emissions reduction targets set by that country in the Paris Agreement (Rogelj et al. Nature 534:631–639, 2016). However, the proportion of people in a country who perceive climate change as a personal threat was not associated with higher emissions reduction targets. Our results suggest that public awareness may be an important part of garnering the public support required for policies designed to mitigate climate change to succeed.

COVID-19 has prompted widespread self-isolation and citywide/countrywide lockdowns. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has encouraged increased digital social activities such as video game play to counteract social isolation during the pandemic. However, there is active debate about the potential for video game overuse, and some video games contain randomised purchases (loot boxes) that may psychologically approximate gambling. In this pre-registered study, we examined the effects of self-isolation and quarantine on excessive gaming and loot box spending. We recruited 1,144 (619 male, 499 female, 26 other) Australian, Aotearoa New Zealand, and US residents who self reported being quarantined or self-isolating ( n  = 447) or not ( n  = 619) during the COVID-19 pandemic to a cross-sectional natural experiment. We compared the associations between problem gambling symptomology, excessive gaming and loot box spending for isolated and non-isolated participants. Participants completed the Kessler-10 Psychological Distress Scale, Problem Gambling Severity Index, Internet Gaming Disorder Checklist, a measure of risky engagement with loot boxes, concern about contamination, and reported money spent on loot boxes in the past month, as well as whether they were quarantined or under self-isolation during the pandemic. Although, in our data, excessive gaming and loot box spending were not higher for isolated (self-isolated/ quarantined) compared to non-isolated gamers, the established association between problem gambling symptomology and loot box spending was stronger among isolated gamers than those not isolated. Concerns about being contaminated by germs was also significantly associated with greater excessive gaming and, to a lesser extent, loot box spending irrespective of isolation status. Gamers might be managing concerns about the pandemic with greater video game use, and more problem gamblers may be purchasing loot boxes during the pandemic. It is unclear whether these relationships may represent temporary coping mechanisms which abate when COVID-19 ends. Re-examination as the pandemic subsides may be required. More generally, the results suggest that social isolation during the pandemic may inflate the effect size of some media psychology and gaming effects. We urge caution not to generalise psychological findings from research conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic to be necessarily representative of the magnitude of relationships when not in a pandemic.

Background Delusions are a hallmark feature of psychotic disorders and lead to significant clinical and functional impairment. Internalizing symptoms—such as symptoms of depression, anxiety, and trauma exposure—are commonly cited to be related to delusions and delusional ideation and are often associated with deficits in social functioning. While emerging studies are investigating the impact of low social engagement on psychotic-like experiences, little work has examined the relationship between social engagement, internalizing symptoms, and delusional ideation, specifically. Methods Using general population data from the Nathan Kline Institute-Rockland (NKI-Rockland) database ( N  = 526), we examined the relationships between self-reported delusional ideation, internalizing symptoms, and social engagement and tested four indirect effect models to understand how these factors interrelate. Results Delusional ideation was significantly associated with both increased internalizing symptoms ( r =  0.41, p <  0.001) and lower social engagement ( r =  − 0.14, p =  0.001). Within aspects of social engagement, perceived emotional support showed the strongest relationship with delusional ideation ( r =  − 0.17, p <  0.001). Lower social engagement was also significantly associated with increased internalizing symptoms ( r =  − 0.29, p <  0.001). Cross-sectional models suggest that internalizing symptoms have a significant indirect effect on the association between delusional ideation and social engagement. Conclusions These findings reveal that elevated delusional ideation in the general population is associated with lower social engagement. Elevated internalizing symptoms appear to play a critical role in reducing engagement, possibly exacerbating delusional thinking. Future work should examine the causal and temporal relationships between these factors.

Loot boxes are purchasable digital containers in video games that hold randomised rewards. Many loot boxes meet both psychological and legal criteria for gambling. Previous studies have linked risky engagement with, and increased spending on, loot boxes with both problem gambling and excessive gaming symptomatology. Given similarities between loot boxes and conventional gambling, and the well documented relationship between alcohol and gambling, this study examined whether loot box spending was associated with drinking behaviours. In a pre-registered study, participants ( N  = 199) from Australia, Aotearoa (New Zealand), and the United States completed an online survey assessing alcohol consumption, loot box spending behaviours, and problem gambling and gaming symptomatology. Small-to-moderate positive correlations between drinking during gaming sessions and increased risky loot box engagement and spending were observed. In contrast, measures of problematic alcohol consumption did not correlate with increased spending or risky engagement with loot boxes. Results suggest that drinking alcohol while gaming may be associated with risky engagement with, and increased spending on, loot boxes.