Preparation of Herbal Extracts for Intestinal Immune Modulation Activity Based on In Vitro Screening and In Vivo Evaluation of Zingiber officinale Rosc. Extracts.

Ten traditional herbal extracts effective against diarrhea, infectious diseases, and bacterial activity were selected and analyzed for Peyer's patch cell-mediated intestinal immunomodulatory activity in vitro and in vivo. Among the 10 herbal extracts, Zingiber officinale Rosc. (ZO) extract induced the highest secretion of immunoglobulin A (IgA) and granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) in the cells of Peyer's patches. Furthermore, animal experiments showed that IA production was enhanced with the oral administration of ZO extract (100 mg/kg and 300 mg/kg) for 10 days. In addition, 6-, 8-, 10-gingerol, and 6-, 8-, 10-shogaol, the six major index compounds of ZO extract, were analyzed using HPLC. Our study findings confirm the intestinal immunomodulatory activity of ZO extract and lay a strong foundation for future analytical studies aimed at determining the active components of ZO extracts.

Development and verification of an alcohol craving-induction tool using virtual reality: craving characteristics in social pressure situation.

Alcoholism is a disease that affects parts of the brain that control emotion, decisions, and behavior. Therapy for people with alcoholism must address coping skills for facing high-risk situations. Therefore, it is important to develop tools to mimic such conditions. Cue exposure therapy (CET) provides high-risk situations during treatment, which raises the individual's ability to recognize that alcohol craving is being induced. Using CET, it is hard to simulate situations that induce alcohol craving. By contrast, virtual reality (VR) approaches can present realistic situations that cannot be experienced directly in CET. Therefore, we hypothesized that is possible to model social pressure situations using VR. We developed a VR system for inducing alcohol craving under social pressure situations and measured both the induced alcohol craving and head gaze of participants. A 2 x 2 experimental model (alcohol-related locality vs. social pressure) was designed. In situations without an avatar (no social pressure), more alcohol craving was induced if alcohol was present than if it was not. And more alcohol craving was induced in situations with an avatar (social pressure) than in situations without an avatar (no social pressure). The difference of angle between the direction of head gazing and the direction of alcohol or avatar was smaller in situations with an avatar alone (social pressure) than in situations with alcohol alone. In situations with both alcohol and an avatar, the angle between the direction of head gaze and the direction of the avatar was smaller than between the direction of head gaze and the direction of the alcohol. Considering the results, this VR system induces alcohol craving using an avatar that can express various social pressure situations.

Social pressure-induced craving in patients with alcohol dependence: application of virtual reality to coping skill training.

OBJECTIVE: This study was conducted to assess the interaction between alcohol cues and social pressure in the induction of alcohol craving. METHODS: Fourteen male patients with alcohol dependence and 14 age-matched social drinkers completed a virtual reality coping skill training program composed of four blocks according to the presence of alcohol cues (x2) and social pressure (x2). Before and after each block, the craving levels were measured using a visual analogue scale. RESULTS: Patients with alcohol dependence reported extremely high levels of craving immediately upon exposure to a virtual environment with alcohol cues, regardless of social pressure. In contrast, the craving levels of social drinkers were influenced by social pressure from virtual avatars. CONCLUSION: Our findings imply that an alcohol cue-laden environment should interfere with the ability to use coping skills against social pressure in real-life situations.