The Role of Melanin to Dissociate Oxygen from Water to Treat Retinopathy of Prematurity.

BACKGROUND: Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) is a potentially blinding disorder that commonly afflicts premature infants who are born prior to 31weeks of gestation or with a body weight less than 1250 grams (about 2.75 pounds). Another risk factor is excessive oxygen in incubators, which can lead to blindness. A compounding factor is that survival rates for premature infants are rising with concomitantly more cases of ROP. We have reported an unsuspected intrinsic property of melanin to dissociate water. This capability can be considered an alternative treatment option for adult and neonatal diseases. It is known that exogenous surfactant administration suppresses bronchopulmonary dysplasia and consequent death, randomized, controlled trials with various respiratory interventions did not show any significant reductions in morbidity and mortality rates. During a descriptive study about the three leading causes of blindness in the world, the ability of melanin to transform light energy into chemical energy through the dissociation of water molecule was unraveled. Initially, during 2 or 3 years; we tried to link together our findings with the widely accepted metabolic pathways already described in molecular pathway databases, which have been developed to collect and organize the current knowledge on metabolism scattered across a multitude of scientific evidence. OBSERVATIONS: The current report demonstrates the main problems that afflict premature babies with an emphasis on the growth of abnormal vessels in the retina, the explanation for which is unknown until date. We also reported a case of a baby who suffered digestive and respiratory problems with a brain haemorrhage that was successfully treated by laser photocoagulation. We hypothesise that most likely this effect was due to the melanin level and melanin itself produces oxygen via dissociating with water molecules. CONCLUSION: We postulate that the intrinsic effect of melanin may easily convert visible and invisible light into chemical energy via a water dissociation reaction similar to the one in plant's chlorophyll, and markedly elevated with diagnosis and treatment of the complications related to premature babies.

Assessment of genetic diversity in sesame ( Sesamum indicum L. ) detected by Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism markers

Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) is one of the oldest oil crops and is widely cultivated in Asia and Africa. To determine the level of genetic diversity in relation to geographical origins and morphological characteristics, a total of 96 accessions have been collected from different parts of the world and were analyzed using AFLP techniques. Twenty-one primer pairs generated a total of 445 bands and among them 157 (35 percent) were polymorphic. Using UPGMA clustering analysis method based on the similarity coefficient, accessions were separated into two major groups. The first group mostly consists of Eastern Asian origin and another group consists of South Asian origin. Sub-clusters separated the accessions and form distinct diversity among groups. Considering the relatednessof accessions, geographical origin and their morphological characteristics are reflected to the similarity of AFLP pattern.