BACKGROUND Bites by poisonous European snakes of the genus Vipera lead to local tissue damage and systemic symptoms such as generalized oedema, hypotension, gastrointestinal symptoms, haemolysis and renal dysfunction. Not rarely anaphylactic symptoms like urticaria, localized angioedema and asthma are observed. OBJECTIVE To look for snake venom-specific immunoglobulin (Ig) E antibodies in pat...

BACKGROUND Burkholderia pseudomallei are the causative agent of melioidosis. Increasing resistance of the disease to antibiotics is a severe problem in treatment regime and has led to intensification of the search for new drugs. Antimicrobial peptides are the most ubiquitous in nature as part of the innate immune system and host defense mechanism. METHODS Here, we investigated a group of veno...

Background Honey bee (HB) venom immunotherapy (HBVIT) reduces the frequency of immediate generalised reactions (IGR) to subsequent sting by only ~ 80% and in the process induces IGR in many subjects. In influenza vaccine studies delta inulin adjuvant enhanced immunogenicity and provided antigen-sparing without any adverse reactions. In an ongoing double-blinded clinical trial we are studying th...

Lupus is a systemic autoimmune disease of an unknown origin, and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) can be triggered by numerous stimuli. Bee venom therapy is an alternative therapy that is believed to be effective for various kinds of arthritis. We present here a case of a 49-year-old female who experienced a new onset lupus after undergoing bee venom therapy, and this looked like a case of an...

The venom of Apis mellifera (honey bee) has been reported to play a role in immunotherapy, but existing evidence to support its immuno-modulatory claims is insufficient. Four fractions from whole bee venom (BV) were separated using medium pressure liquid chromatography. Their ability to induce the production of cytokines TNFα, IL-1β and IL-6 in phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate (PMA)-treated U937...

OBJECTIVES This case report is to present a complete recovery from Kaposi's varicelliform eruption (KVE) that occurred in a patient with atopic dermatitis by applying Korean Medicine therapies. METHODS Hwangyeonhaedoktang pharmacopuncture (HP), 0.3 mL, and 25% bee venom pharmacopuncture (BVP), 0.1 mL, were injected, 0.2 mL each, at both BL13 acupoints once a day in the morning. Acupuncture wa...

We present an in-silico-to-in-vitro approach to develop well-defined, self-assembled, rigid-cored polymeric (Polybee) nano-architecture for controlled delivery of a key component of bee venom, melittin. A competitive formulation with lipid-encapsulated (Lipobee) rigid cored micelle is also synthesized. In a series of sequential experiments, we show how nanoscale chemistry influences the deliver...

The primary somatosensory cortex (S1 area) is one of the key brain structures for central processing of somatic noxious information to produce pain perception. However, so far, the spatiotemporal characteristics of neuronal activities associated with peripheral persistent nociception have rarely been studied. In the present report, we used c-Fos as a neuronal marker to analyze spatial and tempo...

1Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University Hospital Giessen and Marburg, Justus Liebig University, Giessen, Germany 2Medical Clinic and Policlinic 3, University Hospital Giessen and Marburg, Justus Liebig University, Giessen, Germany 3Institute of Medical Psychology and Sociology, Justus-Liebig University, Giessen, Germany 4Institute of Music Science, Justus-Liebig-University, Giessen...

“Look back into the nature and then you will understand everything better.” This quote by Albert Einstein clearly point towards the paradigm shift from costlier antibiotic therapies to the old tradition remedies with minimum side effects like apitherapy. Apitherapy is the medicinal use of products made by honeybees. Therapies involving the honeybee have existed for thousands of years and some m...