Objective: Plants have been used to treat ailments since the dawn of humanity. The use of medicinal plants for various purposes such as preventing diseases, treating diseases and supporting medical treatment is increasing day by day. On the other hand, medicinal plants are important sources of raw materials for the pharmaceutical industry. It has been demonstrated that Peganum harmala L. and the phytochemicals it contains have a wide variety of pharmacological activities. P. harmala and its active ingredients can be an important resource for the pharmaceutical industry. In this review, the phytochemistry, pharmacological effects, clinical studies, and toxicity of P. harmala are discussed under the current information. Methods: Studies on P. harmala were searched using Pubmed, Scopus, Science Direct databases, and Google Scholar search engine. As a result of the searches, 96 articles were included in the study. Results: The main group of secondary metabolites responsible for the biological activities of P. harmala is alkaloids. The plant and its isolated secondary plant compounds have been shown to have many pharmacological actions, counting antiamnestic, anticancer, antidepressant, antiinflammatory, cardiovascular, gastroprotective, hepatoprotective, nephroprotective, and vasodilator activities. Studies evaluating the plant's clinical effects have been carried out in recent years. However, it has been recorded in the literature that the use of P. harmala causes poisoning with symptoms such as neurosensory symptoms, visual hallucination, bradycardia, hypotension, agitation, tremor, ataxia, and vomiting. Conclusion: Considering the pharmacological effects, the number of studies on the efficacy and safety of P. harmala and its secondary metabolites should be increased.

İҫim Gökkaya, Gülin Renda, Fatma Ayhan, Nurdan Yazici. J Pharmacopuncture 2025;28:35-46. https://doi.org/10.3831/KPI.2025.28.1.35

Background Homeopathy belongs to “Traditional and Complementary Medicine” (TCM) and is defined in the TCM regulation in Turkey as a holistic practice method that aims to improve health status with personalized medicines. The international and national literature includes a limited number of studies that examine individuals' knowledge, attitudes and behaviors toward homeopathy. Although in Turkey the Regulation on Pharmacists and Pharmacies states that the sale of homeopathic medicines is allowed only in pharmacies, no study was found that evaluated awareness about homeopathy among pharmacy students. Objective The present study aims to assess pharmacy students' knowledge and attitudes toward homeopathy and to identify the factors that influence them. Methods This descriptive study was conducted between December 1, 2021 and February 1, 2022 among the students of the Faculty of Pharmacy, Karadeniz Technical University (KTU), through a face-to-face survey. In total, 418 questionnaires suitable for data quality were included in the study. The SPSS 23.0 statistical program was used to analyze the data and the statistical significance level was taken as p < 0.05. Results It was determined that 73% of the participants had heard about TCM practices and 55% had heard of homeopathy. Students in the fifth grade (p = 0.0001) and those working in an income-generating job (p = 0.026) were found to be those most aware of homeopathy. The students of the Faculty of Pharmacy correctly knew the basic working principles of homeopathy (p = 0.002). The source from which students obtained the most information about homeopathy was undergraduate courses. 80.4% of the participants thought that homeopathy should be applied by pharmacists. 47.0% of the students wanted to learn more about homeopathy or to carry out studies in the field of homeopathy in their careers. Conclusion The results of this research revealed a high awareness amongst KTU pharmacy students about the practice of homeopathy.

Objective: Petroselinum crispum (Mill.) Fuss is a bright green biennial medicinal and aromatic herb that grows almost all over the world. Today, it is one of the most commonly used culinary herbs. In addition to its use as food, it has been shown to possess broad pharmacological activities in several in vivo and in vitro studies. This study aimed to comprehensively summarize the current studies on the traditional use, phytochemical composition, pharmacological activities, clinical studies, toxicity, and drug interactions of parsley. Result and Discussion: According to the literature data, parsley is used as a diuretic, carminative, emmenagogue and for the prevention and treatment of kidney stone formation, the treatment of conditions such as urinary tract infections and stomach disorders. Its phytochemical composition consists of flavonoids, coumarins, phenolic compounds, organic acids, carotenoids, vitamins, minerals, fixed oil, essential oil, and other compounds. Studies on P. crispum have shown that it has a wide range of pharmacological activities, including antioxidant, antibacterial, antifungal, antidiabetic, antihypertensive, antiplatelet, analgesic, antiinflammatory, antihepatotoxic, antinephrotoxic, anticancer, antiurolithiatic, wound healing, antiobesity, estrogenic and neuroprotective effects. This review comprehensively summarizes the scientific data of the last ten years (2013-2023) on P. crispum.

The use of herbal products/dietary supplements (HP/DS) in endocrinal chronic diseases is growing. However, no studies have evaluated their use in patients who present to endocrinology and metabolic diseases clinics. This descriptive study aims to investigate the rate of HP/DS use and the factors affecting this in patients who presented to Karadeniz Technical University (KTU) Farabi Hospital Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases Clinic, Türkiye between 01.11.2021 and 01.05.2022. Five hundred six questionnaires with acceptable data quality were included this investigation. The data were analyzed on SPSS version 23.0 software. The factors with the greatest effect on the use of HP/DS were determined using binary logistic regression analysis. Analysis showed that 49.4% of the participants used HP/DS. The main factors affecting the use of herbal products were age, diagnosis of the disease, and treatment compliance problems. The most frequently used products were lemon, cinnamon, black cumin, ginger, turmeric, and dill. The participants main sources of information about HP/DS were friends/relatives, the internet/social media, and television, respectively. 74.8% of the participants using HP/DS did not inform their physcisian/pharmacist about such use, although 81.8% of these nevertheless wished to receive information from these occupational groups. Herbal product monitoring in patients should be performed in collaboration with pharmacists, herbal product use should be investigated, and counseling services should be made available in order to maintain and promote public health.