OBJECTIVE Stem cell treatment is a well-recognized experimental treatment among patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), for which there are high expectations of a positive impact. Acupuncture with bee venom is one of the most popular complementary and alternative treatments for PD. Patient knowledge and attitudes towards these experimental treatments are unknown. METHODS Using a 12-item quest...

Bee pollen is pollen granules packed by honey bees and is widely consumed as natural healthy supplements. Bee pollen-induced anaphylaxis has rarely been reported, and its allergenic components have never been studied. A 40-year-old male came to the emergency room with generalized urticaria, facial edema, dyspnea, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and diarrhea 1 hour after ingesting one tablespo...

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a progressive and autoimmune neurodegenerative disease of the central nervous system (CNS). This disease is recognized through symptoms like inflammation, demyelination and the destruction of neurological actions. Experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE) is a widely accepted animal model for MS. EAE is created in animals by injecting the tissue of myelin basic pr...

Human victims of a massive number of stings have been steadily increasing since the invasion of Africanized honey bees (Apis mellifera) to the United States in 1990. Multiple honey bee stings may result in venom toxicity, leading to renal failure and even death. Here we tested the efficacy of methyl anthranilate as a honey bee repellent during a massive defensive response by Africanized honey b...

The aim of this study was to investigate the protective effects of phospholipase A2 (PLA2) from bee venom against acetaminophen-induced hepatotoxicity through CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ T cells (Treg) in mice. Acetaminophen (APAP) is a widely used antipyretic and analgesic, but an acute or cumulative overdose of acetaminophen can cause severe hepatic failure. Tregs have been reported to possess protective...

Aquapuncture is a modified acupuncture technique and it is generally accepted that it has a greater therapeutic effect than acupuncture because of the combination of the acupoint stimulation and the pharmacological effect of the drugs. However, to date, the mechanisms underlying the effects of aquapuncture remain unclear. We hypothesized that both the change in the local spatial configuration a...

468 Urticarial Vasculitis After Bee-sting Therapy June-Hyuk Lee, Sung Woo Park, An-Soo Jang, DoJin Kim, and ChoonSik Park. Respiratory and allergy, Soonchunhyang University Bucheon Hospital, Bucheon, South Korea; Division of Respiratory and Allergy Medicine, Soonchunhyang University Hospital, College of Medicine, Bucheon, South Korea. Background: Bee-sting therapy is one of the oriental traditi...

The venom of the European honey bee Apis mellifera is an intricate mixture of chemical compositions, including proteins, peptides, enzymes, and other small molecules. Lately, there has been growing interest in the use of melittin, due to its wide range of biological and potential therapeutic applications. Melittin, which is considered to be an antimicrobial, antitumor, and antiinflammatory pept...

The preparation of a pure, monoiodinated derivative of mast cell-degranulating peptide (MCD peptide), the mast cell-degranulating peptide from bee venom, has enabled us to identify binding sites in rat brain membranes that have a high affinity and specificity for this peptide. These binding sites are evenly distributed throughout the brain and copurify with synaptic membranes. Saturation-bindin...

468 Urticarial Vasculitis After Bee-sting Therapy June-Hyuk Lee, Sung Woo Park, An-Soo Jang, DoJin Kim, and ChoonSik Park. Respiratory and allergy, Soonchunhyang University Bucheon Hospital, Bucheon, South Korea; Division of Respiratory and Allergy Medicine, Soonchunhyang University Hospital, College of Medicine, Bucheon, South Korea. Background: Bee-sting therapy is one of the oriental traditi...