A Case Study of Stress-Induced Alopecia Areata Treated with Hominis Placenta Pharmacopunture

The purpose of this study is to report the clinical application of Hominis Placenta Pharmacopunture for Alopecia areata. Patient was diagnosed as stress-induced Alopecia areata 1 years ago. To reduce symptom, we treated a patient 8 times using Hominis Placenta Pharmacopunture. Hominis Placenta was injected subcutaneously into the lesion of head scalp alopecia. According to photographs, the lesion had been replaced with new terminal hair and the size of the lesion had decreased. This case has shown that stress-induced Alopecia areata patient could be treated by Hominis Placenta Pharmacopunture.

Case Study of a Patient with Trigger Finger after Conducting Pharmacopuncture according to the Progress

Our study purpose was to report the clinical application of five different pharmacopunctures (Sweet BV, Scolopendrae Corpus, Chukyu, Cervi Parvum Cornu, and Hominis Placenta) for trigger finger. A patient was admitted to Ba-reun-mom S Korean Medicine Clinic and diagnosed with trigger finger. Because the effects of each pharmacopuncture have been confirmed in various acute to chronic cases, we treated a patient diagnosed with trigger finger using pharmacopunctures Sweet BV and Scolopendrae Corpus at the acute phase, Chukyu pharmacopuncture at the acute to chronic phase, and pharmacopunctures Cervi Parvum Cornu and Hominis Placenta at the chronic phase. This case was measured and assessed by Quinnell's classification of triggering and visual analogue scale (VAS) scores. After treatment, the patient's fifth finger pain and function were improved. The VAS score decreased from 5 to 0. The Quinnell's classification of triggering score decreased from 2 to 0. This case indicated that a patient with trigger finger could be treated by five pharmacopuncture treatments according to the treatment regimen and disease progress.

Bacterial Reverse Mutation Test of Verbenalin

Objectives

Verbenalin is a compound found in herbs such as Cornus officinalis and Verbena officinalis. This study investigated whether verbenalin is safe by analyzing its mutagenicity.

Methods

To examine the mutagenic potential of verbenalin, a bacterial reverse mutation test (Ames test) was conducted with Salmonella typhimurium and Escherichia coli strains. Experiments with and without metabolic activity were performed.

Results

The mean colony number was less than double that of the control. Growth inhibition and precipitation of verbenalin were not apparent in all strains at different concentrations regardless of metabolic activity.

Conclusion

Verbenalin did not show any signs of mutagenicity in this study. Additional toxicity studies including repeated oral toxicity, reproductive toxicity, and carcinogenicity tests are needed.

Improvement Effect of Soyeom Pharmacopuncture on Gout via NLRP3 Inflammasome Regulation

Objectives

Gout is an inflammatory arthritis of the joints and soft tissues occurring due to deposition of monosodium urate (MSU) crystals, which are caused by persistent hyperuricemia. Soyeom pharmacopuncture is one treatment method that has been traditionally used for pain management in Oriental medicine. However, studies on its effect in reducing gout pain have been insufficient. Therefore, we selected Soyeom pharmacopuncture among natural products used in Korea as the new target of our study.

Methods

The effects of Soyeom pharmacopuncture were examined in mouse models of acute gout induced by injection of MSU crystals into footpads. IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α production were examined by immunoblotting and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay as hallmarks of NLRP3 inflammasome and cytokine activation.

Results

Soyeom pharmacopuncture reduced foot edema in gout-induced mice, as well as IL-1β, nitrite, IL-6, and TNF-α production. Moreover, Soyeom pharmacopuncture also reduced MSU-induced gout inflammatory gene expressions, specifically those in the NF-kB pathway.

Conclusion

Pharmacopuncture may serve as a new solution for other inflammatory diseases as well. Through active follow-up studies, we could thoroughly understand the clinical value of Soyeom pharmacopuncture.

A Novel Treatment Strategy by Natural Products in NLRP3 Inflammasome-Mediated Neuroinflammation in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Disease

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD) are the most common neurodegenerative diseases. Many studies have demonstrated that the release of NLRP3 inflammasome-mediated proinflammatory cytokines by the excessive activation of microglia is associated with the pathogenesis of AD and PD and suggested that the NLRP3 inflammasome plays an important role in AD and PD development. In both diseases, various stimuli, such as Aβ and α-synuclein, accelerate the formation of the NLRP3 inflammasome in microglia and induce pyroptosis through the expression of interleukin (IL)-1β, caspase-1, etc., where neuroinflammation contributes to gradual progression and deterioration. However, despite intensive research, the exact function and regulation of the NLRP3 inflammasome has not yet been clearly identified. Moreover, there have not yet been any experiments of clinical use, although many studies have recently been conducted to improve treatment of inflammatory diseases using various inhibitors for NLRP3 inflammasome pathways. However, recent studies have reported that various natural products show improvement effects in the in vivo models of AD and PD through the regulation of NLRP3 inflammasome assembly. Therefore, the present review provides an overview of natural extraction studies aimed at the prevention or treatment of NLRP3 inflammasome-mediated neurological disorders. It is suggested that the discovery and development of these various natural products could be a potential strategy for NLRP3 inflammasome-mediated AD and PD treatment.

A Review on Studies of Marijuana for Alzheimer's Disease - Focusing on CBD, THC

Objectives

This study was to discuss the research trend of dementia treatment using cannabis for the purpose of providing the basis of cannabis use for medical purposes in the future.

Methods

This study searched publications, which were registered to databases or published by Aug 22, 2019, and targeted the full-text or abstracts of these publications. We selected the final nine studies met all selection criteria.

Results

These results implied that the CBD components of cannabis might be useful to treat and prevent AD because CBD components could suppress the main causal factors of AD. Moreover, it was suggested that using CBD and THC together could be more useful than using CBD or THC alone.

Conclusion

We hope that there will be a solid foundation to use cannabis for medical use by continuously evaluating the possibility of using cannabis for clinical purposes as a dementia treatment substance and cannabis can be used as a positive tool.

The association between paralytic side and health-related quality of life in facial palsy: a cross-sectional study of the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2008-2012)

Background

Facial palsy is known to have correlations with low level of quality of life. However, little is known about the association between preference based health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and paralytic side of facial palsy.

Methods

This study used Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES, 2008–2012) data, only when the facial palsy examination had been included in the survey contents. Hierarchical regression analyses were used to obtain optimal regression coefficients in the association between paralytic side of the facial palsy and HRQoL measured by EuroQoL-5 Dimension (EQ-5D). We also analyzed the association between the deteriorated domains of EQ-5D and facial palsy in both subgroups by using multiple logistic regression models.

Results

We included the data of 28,106 participants aged ≥19 years who were examined as facial palsy according to House-Brackmann score and completed EQ-5D questionnaire in KNHANES 2008–2012. The mean EQ-5D score was significantly low and percentages of deteriorated numbers in its domains were significantly high in facial palsy group.

Conclusions

These results show that, after adjusting for confounding variables, left facial palsy is associated with impaired HRQoL compared with right-sided palsy. Among the domains of EQ-5D, only ‘self-care’ domain was directly affected by the disease in left facial palsy patients. These findings could be used in developing model and conducting analyses of economic evaluation about facial palsy interventions.