The safety of bee venom as a therapeutic compound has been extensively studied, resulting in the identification of potential adverse events, which range from trivial skin reactions that usually resolve over several days to life-threating severe immunological responses such as anaphylaxis. In this systematic review, we provide a summary of the types and prevalence of adverse events associated with bee venom therapy. We searched the literature using 12 databases from their inception to June 2014, without language restrictions. We included all types of clinical studies in which bee venom was used as a key intervention and adverse events that may have been causally related to bee venom therapy were reported. A total of 145 studies, including 20 randomized controlled trials, 79 audits and cohort studies, 33 single-case studies, and 13 case series, were evaluated in this review. The median frequency of patients who experienced adverse events related to venom immunotherapy was 28.87% (interquartile range, 14.57–39.74) in the audit studies. Compared with normal saline injection, bee venom acupuncture showed a 261% increased relative risk for the occurrence of adverse events (relative risk, 3.61; 95% confidence interval, 2.10 to 6.20) in the randomized controlled trials, which might be overestimated or underestimated owing to the poor reporting quality of the included studies. Adverse events related to bee venom therapy are frequent; therefore, practitioners of bee venom therapy should be cautious when applying it in daily clinical practice, and the practitioner’s education and qualifications regarding the use of bee venom therapy should be ensured.

Background: This study aims to analyze and record orally transmitted knowledge of medicinal plants from the indigenous people living in Hallasan National Park of Korea. Methods: Data was collected through the participatory rural appraisal method involving interviews, informal meetings, open and group discussions, and overt observations with semi-structured questionnaires. Results: In this study, a total of 68 families, 141 genera, and 171 species of plants that showed 777 ways of usage were recorded. Looking into the distribution of the families, 14 species of Asteraceae occupied 11.1% of the total followed by 13 species of Rosaceae, 10 species of Rutaceae, and nine species of Apiaceae which occupied 5.0%, 7.1% and 3.0% of the whole, respectively. 32 kinds of plant-parts were used for 47 various medicinal purposes. Values for the informant consensus factor regarding the ailment categories were for birth related disorders (0.92), followed by respiratory system disorders (0.90), skin disease and disorders (0.89), genitourinary system disorders (0.87), physical pain (0.87), and other conditions. According to fidelity levels, 36 plant species resulted in fidelity levels of 100%. Conclusion: Consequently, results of this study will legally utilize to provide preparatory measures against the Nagoya Protocol (2010) about benefit-sharing for traditional knowledge of genetic resources.

Oryeong-san (ORS) is a traditional formula that has long been used for the treatment of dysfunctions of body fluids and electrolyte homeostasis in Korea, China and Japan. Recent reports have shown that ORS may suppress hypertension by controlling the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) in the kidney, but its action mechanism has not been well defined. The aim of this study was to decipher the ORS mechanisms in the treatment of hypertension using a systems pharmacology approach. The compounds of ORS were obtained from the TM-MC (database of medicinal materials and chemical compounds in Northeast Asian traditional medicine), and the drug-likeness (DL) and oral bioavailability (OB) of the compounds were evaluated. The potential targets of the compounds were identified using various pharmacology databases. To analyze the mechanisms of the ORS for hypertension, a Compound-Target-Disease (C-T-D) network was established with respect to the genes related to hypertension. A screening evaluation of the DL and OB of the ORS compounds identified a list of 232 active compounds. The pharmacological activity of the targets was investigated by exploring the interaction network between the compounds and the targets. Analysis of the interactions between the compounds and the hypertension-related targets revealed that 14 ORS compounds regulate the RAAS and vasoconstrictors in the kidney. This study used the systems pharmacology approach to decipher the mechanisms of action of ORS for the treatment of hypertension. When hypertension drugs and ORS are used in combination for treatment, possible side effects should be considered because most hypertension drugs are related to the RAAS. The results of this study may provide clues to not only analyze the pharmacological activity of ORS for the treatment of hypertension but other diseases as well.

Dry eye syndrome is the most common complication of refractive surgery. Acupuncture is widely used for the treatment of ophthalmologic diseases, but to date, few have explored the effects of acupuncture for the treatment of this condition following refractive surgery. The objective of this study is to assess the feasibility of a study design for evaluating the effectiveness of acupuncture treatment along with usual care compared with usual care only for dry eye syndrome after refractive surgery. A total of 18 patients with dry eye syndrome occurring after refractive surgery participated in this study. For 4 weeks, the acupuncture plus usual care and usual care only groups received treatment three times a week. A series of assessments, namely the ocular surface disease index (OSDI), visual analog scale for ocular discomfort, quality of life, tear film break-up time, Schirmer 1 test, and fluorescein-stained corneal-surface photography, along with other general assessments were carried out. Although preliminary, changes in OSDI from the baseline values were significantly different between the two groups at week 5 (p = 0.0003). There was a significant difference in the trends of OSDI changes between the acupuncture plus usual care and the usual care only groups (p = 0.0039). No serious adverse events were reported during the study. Four weeks of acupuncture treatment in addition to usual care is a feasible treatment for dry eye syndrome after refractive surgery. A full-scale randomized controlled trial is needed to confirm the clinical effectiveness of acupuncture.

Siguan acupoints have been used to treat gastrointestinal symptoms in acupuncture practices for a long time. This study aimed to investigate the effects of Siguan acupuncture on gastrointestinal motility under accelerated conditions using a randomized, sham-acupuncture-controlled, crossover study. Twenty-one healthy male subjects were hospitalized and randomized into either a real acupuncture group (at Siguan acupoints) or a sham acupuncture group. Subjects were administered with mosapride citrate (15 mg a day) for 2 days starting 24 hours before the first acupuncture treatment. Immediately after the administration of radio markers, acupuncture treatment was conducted 4 times at 12-hour intervals. Gastrointestinal motility was assessed using radiograph distribution of the radio-markers located in the small intestine, ascending colon, transverse colon, descending colon, rectum, and outside the body immediately after the first acupuncture treatment and at 6, 12, 24, and 48 hours. After a 2-week washout period, the real acupuncture group in the first session was treated with sham acupuncture in the second session, and vice versa. Gastrointestinal motility was generally reduced in the real acupuncture group compared with the sham acupuncture group throughout the 4 different time points. A significant difference was observed at 24 hours following the first acupuncture treatment (P<0.05).