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PHOTO BIOLOGY IN PROPHETOPATHY
I I M S submission to W H O
Muslims often pride themselves with the claim that what sets them apart from people belonging to other religions is their ability to sustain a concrete relationship between science and religion. The first command the prophet received from God was "read" enunciated in the Quran’s 96th chapter. Despite the debate the surrounds the interpretation (tafsir) of that particular command, Muslims find comfort in asserting that it is an indication that Islam is a religion of "reading". What follows is an Islamic quest for knowledge whether is in the field of math, physics, astronomy, economics or even medicine.
In that regards, Muslim scientists often find guidance in the words and practices of the Prophet Mohammad. The prophet did not confine his dealings with religion only; he also sought to address the various aspects of a Muslims life. Most important of these aspects is how to can a Muslim sustain a healthy life. Prophetic medicine refers to the actions and exact words of the prophet dealing with sicknesses, hygiene, and health in general. According to the prophet, for every disease there is a cure. Therefore, prophetic medical traditions do not stop at following the teachings of the prophets; they encourage humans to search for cures as well.
Following the prophet’s death, many scholars who have been influenced by the prophetic tradition actively sought to follow the prophet’s words and research by any means possible for different cures and medicinal procedures. For example, Ibn Qayyim Al Jawziyya produced one of the most important works about "al Tibb-ul-Nabbawi." in his 277-chapter book, AL- Jawziyya deals with different treatments of individuals as recommended by the prophet. It also talks about malpractice and hallmarks of competent doctor.
Al-Jawziyya identifies specific remedies recommended by the prophet and deals with pharmacological studies on the use of various herbs and natural substances. Al-jawziyya also elaborates on the relation between medicine and religion. 'Abd-ul-Rahman ibn abi Bakr al-Suyuiti’ wrote multiple of readings on prophetic medicine. He composed two works on prophetic medicine. One contained the practices of medicine by Mohammad and a second on sexual relations as ordered by the prophet. Al Suyti’s book divides medicine into 3 types:traditional, spiritual and preventive. He listed preventive medical measures such as food and exercise. Others taught by hadith such as epidemics, use of tooth stick (siwak) and other practices.
It is worth to mention that some of theses practices have been adopted by modern medicine and have been tested in many researches centers around the world. For example, many institutions in Egypt are involved in research on traditions remedies and many medicinal plants like the black seed is being investigated and commercialized.
The black seed is an example of a prophetic remedy that has been studies by Muslims and not Muslims. In conclusion, prophetic medicine is an authentic and valid medical system which produced remedies that have been considered as legitimate and groundbreaking by various scientists and research. Further research about prophetic medicine is being conducted in various labs around the world and the results of these research continue to be to surprising even to the most keen scientist.
Biophoton/Al alaq ---------------- A biophoton (from the Greek βιο meaning "life" and φωτο meaning "light"), synonymous with ultraweak photon emission, low-level biological chemiluminescence, ultraweak bioluminescence, dark luminescence and other similar terms, is a photon of light emitted from a biological system and detected by biological probes as part of the general weak electromagnetic radiation of living biological cells. Biophotons and their study should not be confused with bioluminescence, a term generally reserved for higher intensity luciferin/luciferase systems.
Biophotonics is the study, research and applications of photons in their interactions within and on biological systems. Topics of research pertain more generally to basic questions of biophysics and related subjects - for example, the regulation of biological functions, cell growth and differentiation, connections to so-called delayed luminescence, and spectral emissions in supermolecular processes in living tissues, etc.
The typical detected magnitude of "biophotons" in the visible and ultraviolet spectrum ranges from a few up to several hundred photons per second per square centimeter of surface area, much weaker than in the openly visible and well-researched phenomenon of normal bioluminescence, but stronger than in the thermal, or black body radiation that so-called perfect black bodies demonstrate. The detection of these photons has been made possible (and easier) by the development of more sensitive photomultiplier tubes and associated electronic equipment.
Biophotons were employed by the Stalin regime to diagnose cancer, and their discoverer, Alexander Gurwitsch was awarded the Stalin Prize. Although the method has not been tested in the west, the biophoton concept has been appropriated into the pseudoscientific jargon of alternative medicine, for example to supply a basis for supposed natural cures for cancer In the 1920s, the Russian embryologist Alexander Gurwitsch reported "ultraweak" photon emissions from living tissues in the UV-range of the spectrum. He named them "mitogenetic rays" because his experiments convinced him that they had a stimulating effect on cell division. (see Morphogenetic field) However, the failure to replicate his findings and the fact that, though cell growth can be stimulated and directed by radiation this is possible only at much higher amplitudes, evoked a general skepticism about Gurwitsch's work. In 1953 Irving Langmuir dubbed Gurwitsch's ideas pathological science.
But in the later 20th century Gurwitsch's daughter Anna, Colli, Quickenden and Inaba separately returned to the subject, referring to the phenomenon more neutrally as "dark luminescence", "low level luminescence", "ultraweak bioluminescence", or "ultraweak chemiluminescence". Their common basic hypothesis was that the phenomenon was induced from rare oxidation processes and radical reactions. Gurwitsch's basic observations were vindicated.
Proposed mechanism ------------------------------------- Chemiexcitation via oxidative stress by reactive oxygen species(ROS) and/or catalysis by enzymes (ie peroxidase, lipoxygenase) is a common event in the biomolecular milieu. Such reactions can lead to the formation of triplet excited species, which release photons upon returning to a lower energy level in a process analogous to phosphorescence. That this process is a contributing factor to spontaneous biophoton emission has been indicated by studies demonstrating that biophoton emission can be attenuated by depleting assayed tissue of antioxidants or by addition of carbonyl derivitizing agents]. Further support is provided by studies indicating that emission can be increased by addition of reactive oxygen species (ROS) .
Since there is visible bioluminescence in many bacteria and other cells it can be inferred that the (extremely small) number of photons in ultra-weak bioluminescence is a random by-product of cellular metabolism. Cellular metabolism is thought to occur in steps, each involving small energy exchanges.(See ATP) Due to a certain degree of randomness, according to the laws of thermodynamics (or statistical mechanics), it must be expected that some irregular steps will occasionally occur, "outlying states" in which, due to physiochemical energy imbalance, a photon is emitted.
Statistical mechanics in modern biology often favours an ensemble model of systems due to the large numbers of interacting molecules, etc. In chaos theory, for example, it is often suggested that the apparent randomness of systems is due to a lack of understanding of the larger system of which the given system is a component. This has led many who deal with large systems to employ statistics to explain seemingly random events as outlying effects in probability distributions.
Hypothesized involvement in cellular communication In the 1970s the then assistant professor Fritz-Albert Popp, and his research group, at the University of Marburg (Germany) showed that the spectral distribution of the emission fell over a wide range of wavelengths, from 200 to 800 nm. Popp proposed that the radiation might be both semi-periodic and coherent. This hypothesis has not won general acceptance among scientists who have studied the evidence. Popp's group, however, constructed, tested, patented, and sought to market a device for measuring biophoton emissions as a means of assessing the ripeness and general food value of fruits and vegetables.
Russian, German, and other biophotonics experts, often adopting the term "biophotons" from Popp, have theorized, like Gurwitsch, that they may be involved in various cell functions, such as mitosis, or even that they may be produced and detected by the DNA in the cell nucleus. In 1974 Dr. V.P.Kazmacheyev announced that his research team in Novosibirsk had detected intercellular communication by means of these rays.
Proponents additionally claim that studies have shown that injured cells will emit a higher biophoton rate than normal cells and that organisms with illnesses will likewise emit a brighter light, which has been interpreted as implying a sort of distress signal. These ideas tend to support Gurwitsch's original idea that biophotons may be important for the development of larger structures such as organs and organisms.
However such conclusions are debatable. Injured cells are under higher amounts of oxidative stress, which ultimately is the source of the light, and whether this constitutes a "distress signal" or simply a background chemical process is yet to be demonstrated. The difficulty of teasing out the effects of any supposed biophotons amid the other numerous chemical interactions between cells makes it difficult to devise a testable hypothesis. Most organisms are bathed in relatively high-intensity light that ought to swamp any signalling effect, although biophoton signaling might manifest through temporal patterns of distinct wavelengths or could mainly be used in deep tissues hidden from daylight (such as the human brain, which contains photoreceptor proteins). There remains little evidence in the scientific literature to support the existence of such a signaling mechanism.
Photobiology --------------------- Photobiology is the scientific study of the interactions of light (technically, non-ionizing radiation) and living organisms. The field includes the study of photosynthesis, photomorphogenesis, visual processing, circadian rhythms, bioluminescence, and ultraviolet radiation effects. The division between ionizing radiation and nonionizing radiation is typically considered to be 10 eV, the energy required to ionize an oxygen atom. Light effects on circadian rhythm ---------------------------------------------------- Numerous organisms maintain inherent individual daily rhythms to biological processes, known as circadian rhythms, that assist the organism in maintaining functional periodicity relative to the 24-hour day/night cycle of the earth. These rhythms are maintained by the individual organisms, but due to variable individuality and environmental pressures, must continually or repeatedly be reset to synch with the natural environmental cycle. In order for this to be accomplished, external factors must play some role in the synchronization, or entrainment, of the internal circadian rhythm with the external environment. Of the various factors that influence this entrainment, light exposure to the eyes is the strongest effecter Demonstrated effects All of the mechanisms of light-effected entrainment are not yet fully known, however numerous studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of light entrainment to the day/night cycle. Studies have shown that:
The timing of exposure to light influences entrainment; as seen on the phase response curve for light for a given species. In diurnal species, exposure to bright light after wakening advances the circadian rhythm, whereas exposure before sleeping delays the rhythm. The length of exposure influences entrainment. Longer exposures have a greater effect than shorter exposures. Consistent exposure has a greater effect than intermittent exposure. In rats, constant exposure eventually disrupts the cycle to the point that functions like memory and stress coping may be impaired. Intensity and wavelength of light influence entrainment. Brighter light is more effective than dim light. Dim light can effect entrainment relative to darkness. In humans, low intensity short wavelength (blue/violet) light may be equally effective as high intensity white light. Internal regulators ------------------------------ Light's effect on the circadian rhythms of all or most animals has been well-documented. However, since circadian rhythms are internal functions, the influence of external factors like light and an individual's sensitivity to them can to some degree be regulated by internal mechanisms.
In zebrafish, evidence of a negative regulation of light-dependent gene transcription has been found. In one study, overabundance of the enzyme catalase reduced the transcription of genes that were dependent on light, whereas inhibition of the enzyme resulted in increased transcription. Another study found that a deficit of the oligopeptide angiotensin in the brain of laboratory rats resulted in delayed adjustment to changes in the day/night pattern. Similarly, deficits of TrkB tyrosine kinase in mice, a receptor for brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), result in a decrease of the ability to entrain to shifts in the day/night cycle. Internal conditions may thus sway the effectiveness of entrainment to light. All mechanisms behind the process are not yet fully understood.
Other factors --------------------- Although many researchers consider light to be the strongest cue for entrainment, it is by no means the only factor acting on circadian rhythms. Other factors may enhance or decrease the effectiveness of entrainment. For instance, physical activity like exercise when coupled with light exposure results in a somewhat stronger entrainment response. Other factors such as music and administration of the neurohormone melatonin have shown similar effects. Numerous other factors affect entrainment as well. These include feeding schedules, temperature, pharmacology, locomotor stimuli, social interaction, sexual stimuli and stress
Photoperiodism ------------------------ In plants Many flowering plants use a photoreceptor protein, such as phytochrome or cryptochrome, to sense seasonal changes in night length, or photoperiod, which they take as signals to flower. In a further subdivision, obligate photoperiodic plants absolutely require a long or short enough night before flowering, whereas facultative photoperiodic plants are more likely to flower under the appropriate light conditions, but will eventually flower regardless of night length.
Photoperiodic flowering plants are classified as long-day plants or short-day plants, though the regulatory mechanism is actually governed by hours of darkness, not the length of the day.
Modern biologists believe that it is the coincidence of the active forms of phytochrome or cryptochrome, created by light during the daytime, with the rhythms of the circadian clock that allows plants to measure the length of the night. Other than flowering, photoperiodism in plants includes the growth of stems or roots during certain seasons, or the loss of leaves.
Long-day plants ------------------------ A long-day plant requires fewer than a certain number of hours of darkness in each 24-hour period to induce flowering. These plants typically flower in the northern hemisphere during late spring or early summer as days are getting longer. In the Northern Hemisphere, the longest day of the year is on or about 21 June (solstice). After that date, days grow shorter (i.e. nights grow longer) until 21 December (solstice). This situation is reversed in the Southern Hemisphere (i.e. longest day is 21 December and shortest day is 21 June). In some parts of the world, however, "winter" or "summer" might refer to rainy versus dry seasons, respectively, rather than the coolest or warmest time of year.
Some long-day obligate plants are:
Carnation (Dianthus) Henbane (Hyoscyamus) Oat (Avena) Ryegrass (Lolium) Clover (Trifolium) Bellflower (Campanula carpatica) Some long-day facultative plants are:
Pea (Pisum sativum) Barley (Hordeum vulgare) Lettuce (Lactuca sativa) Wheat (Triticum aestivum, spring wheat cultivars) Turnip (Brassica rapa) Arabidopsis thaliana (model organism) Short-day plants ---------------------- Short-day plants flower when the night is longer than a critical length. They cannot flower under long days or if a pulse of artificial light is shone on the plant for several minutes during the middle of the night; they require a consolidated period of darkness before floral development can begin. Natural nighttime light, such as moonlight or lightning, is not of sufficient brightness or duration to interrupt flowering.
In general, short-day (i.e. long-night) plants flower as days grow shorter (and nights grow longer) after 21 June in the Northern Hemisphere, which is during summer or fall. The length of the dark period required to induce flowering differs among species and varieties of a species.
Photoperiod affects flowering when the shoot is induced to produce floral buds instead of leaves and lateral buds. Note that some species must pass through a "juvenile" period during which they cannot be induced to flower -- common cocklebur is an example of a plant species with a remarkably short period of juvenility and plants can be induced to flower when quite small.
Some short-day obligate plants are:
Chrysanthemum Coffee Poinsettia Strawberry Tobacco, var. Maryland Mammouth Common duckweed, (Lemna minor) Cocklebur (Xanthium) Maize - tropical cultivars only Some short-day facultative plants are:
Hemp (Cannabis) Cotton (Gossypium) Rice Sugar cane Day-neutral plants Day-neutral plants, such as cucumbers, roses and tomatoes, do not initiate flowering based on photoperiodism at all; they flower regardless of the night length. They may initiate flowering after attaining a certain overall developmental stage or age, or in response to alternative environmental stimuli, such as vernalization (a period of low temperature), rather than in response to photoperiod.
In animals Daylength, and thus knowledge of the season of the year, is vital to many animals. A number of biological and behavioural changes are dependent on this knowledge. Together with temperature changes, photoperiod provokes changes in the colour of fur and feathers, migration, entry into hibernation, sexual behaviour, and even the resizing of sexual organs.
In mammals, for example, daylength is registered in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), which is informed by retinal light-sensitive ganglion cells, which are not involved in vision. The information travels through the retinohypothalamic tract (RHT).
Birds', such as the canary, singing frequency depends on the photoperiod. In the spring when the photoperiod increases (more daylight), the male canary's testes grow. As the testes grow, more androgens are secreted and song frequency increases. During autumn when the photoperiod decreases (less daylight), the male canary's testes regress and androgen levels dramatically drop resulting in decreased singing frequency. Not only is singing frequency dependent on the photoperiod but also song repertoire. The long photoperiod of spring results in a greater song repertoire. Autumn's shorter photoperiod results in a reduction in song repertoire. These behavioral photoperiod changes in male canaries are caused by changes in the song center of the brain. As the photoperiod increases so does the high vocal center (HVC) and the robust nucleus of the archistriatum (RA). When the photoperiod decreases these areas of the brain regress
Chronobiology --------------------- Chronobiology is a field of biology that examines periodic (cyclic) phenomena in living organisms and their adaptation to solar and lunar related rhythms. These cycles are known as biological rhythms. "Chrono" pertains to time and "biology" pertains to the study, or science, of life. The related terms chronomics and chronome have been used in some cases to describe either the molecular mechanisms involved in chronobiological phenomena or the more quantitative aspects of chronobiology, particularly where comparison of cycles between organisms is required.
Chronobiological studies include but are not limited to comparative anatomy, physiology, genetics, molecular biology and behavior of organisms within biological rhythms mechanics. Other aspects include development, reproduction, ecology and evolution.
The variations of the timing and duration of biological activity in living organisms occur for many essential biological processes. These occur (a) in animals (eating, sleeping, mating, hibernating, migration, cellular regeneration, etc.), (b) in plants (leaf movements, photosynthetic reactions, etc.), and in microbial organisms such as fungi and protozoa. They have even been found in bacteria, especially among the cyanobacteria (aka blue-green algae, see bacterial circadian rhythms). The most important rhythm in chronobiology is the circadian rhythm, a roughly 24 hour-cycle shown by physiological processes in all these organisms. The term circadian comes from the Latin circa, meaning "around" and dies, "day", meaning "approximately a day."
The circadian rhythm can further be broken down into routine cycles during the 24-hour day:
Diurnal, which describes organisms active during daytime Nocturnal, which describes organisms active in the night Crepuscular, which describes animals primarily active during the dawn and dusk (ex: white-tailed deer, some bats) Many other important cycles are also studied, including:
Infradian rhythms, which are cycles longer than a day, such as the annual migration or reproduction cycles found in certain animals or the human menstrual cycle. Ultradian rhythms, which are cycles shorter than 24 hours, such as the 90-minute REM cycle, the 4-hour nasal cycle, or the 3-hour cycle of growth hormone production. Tidal rhythms, commonly observed in marine life, which follow the roughly 12-hour transition from high to low tide and back. Gene oscillations — some genes are expressed more during certain hours of the day than during other hours. A circadian cycle was first observed in the 18th century in the movement of plant leaves by the French scientist Jean-Jacques d'Ortous de Mairan (for a description of circadian rhythms in plants by de Mairan, Linnaeus, and Darwin see this page). In 1751 Swedish botanist and naturalist Carolus Linnaeus (Carl von Linné) designed a floral clock using certain species of flowering plants. By arranging the selected species in a circular pattern, he designed a clock that indicated the time of day by the flowers that were open at each given hour. For example, among members of the daisy family, he used the hawk's beard plant which opened its flowers at 6:30 AM and the hawkbit which did not open its flowers until 7 AM.
The 1960 symposium at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory laid the groundwork for the field of chronobiology.
It was also in 1960 that Patricia DeCoursey invented the phase response curve, since one of the major tools used in the field.
Franz Halberg of the University of Minnesota, who coined the word circadian, is widely considered the "father of American chronobiology". However, it was Colin Pittendrigh and not Halberg who was elected to lead the Society for Research in Biological Rhythms in the 1970s. Halberg wanted more emphasis on the human and medical issues while Pittendrigh had his background more in evolution and ecology. With Pittendrigh as leader, the Society members did basic research on all types of organisms, plants as well as animals. More recently it has been difficult to get funding for such research on any other organisms than mice, rats, humans[4][5] and fruit flies.
[edit] Recent developments More recently, light therapy and melatonin administration have been explored by Dr. Alfred J. Lewy (OHSU), Dr. Josephine Arendt (University of Surrey, UK) and other researchers as a means to reset animal and human circadian rhythms. Humans can be morning people or evening people; these variations are called chronotypes for which there are various assessment tools and biological markers.
In the second half of 20th century, substantial contributions and formalizations have been made by Europeans such as Jürgen Aschoff and Colin Pittendrigh, who pursued different but complementary views on the phenomenon of entrainment of the circadian system by light (parametric, continuous, tonic, gradual vs. nonparametric, discrete, phasic, instantaneous, respectively; see this historical article, subscription required).
There is also a food-entrainable biological clock, which is not confined to the suprachiasmatic nucleus. The location of this clock has been disputed. Working with mice, however, Fuller et al. concluded that the food-entrainable clock seems to be located in the dorsomedial hypothalamus. During restricted feeding, it takes over control of such functions as activity timing, increasing the chances of the animal successfully locating food resources. Other fields Chronobiology is an interdisciplinary field of investigation. It interacts with medical and other research fields such as sleep medicine, endocrinology, geriatrics, sports medicine, space medicine and photoperiodism The unsubstantiated theory of biorhythms, which is said to describe a set of cyclic variations in human behaviour based on physiological and emotional cycles, is not a part of chronobiology
Florigen ------------- Florigen (or flowering hormone) is the term used to describe the hypothesized hormone-like molecules responsible for controlling and/or triggering flowering in plants. Florigen is produced in the leaves and acts in the shoot apical meristem of buds and growing tips. It is known to be graft-transmissible and even functions between species. However despite having been sought since the 1930s, the exact nature of florigen is still a mystery Mechanism -------------------- Central to the hunt for florigen is an understanding of how plants use seasonal changes in day length to mediate flowering, a mechanism known as photoperiodism. Plants which exhibit photoperiodism may be either 'short day' or 'long day' plants, which in order to flower require short days or long days respectively. Although plants in fact determine day length from night length.
The current model suggests the involvement of multiple different factors. Research into florigen is predominately centred around the model organism and long day plant, Arabidopsis thaliana. Whilst much of the florigen pathways appear to be well conserved in other studied species, variations do exist. The mechanism may be broken down into three stages: photoperiod-regulated Initiation, signal Translocation via the phloem, and induction of Flowering at the shoot apical meristem.
Initiation -------------- In Arabidopsis, the signal is initiated by the production of messenger RNA (mRNA) coding a transcription factor called CONSTANS (CO). CO mRNA is produced approximately 12 hours after dawn, a cycle regulated by the plant's biological clock. This mRNA is then translated into CO protein. However CO protein is stable only in light, so levels stay low throughout short days and are only able to peak at dusk during long days when there is still a little light. CO protein promotes transcription of another gene called Flowering Locus T (FT). By this mechanism, CO protein may only reach levels capable of promoting FT transcription when exposed to long days. Hence the transmission of florigen, and so the induction of flowering, relies on a comparison between the plant's perception of day/night and its own internal biological clock.
Translocation The FT protein resulting from the short period of CO transcription factor activity is then transported via the phloem to the shoot apical meristem.
Flowering At the shoot apical meristem the FT protein is thought to interact with another transcription factor, FD protein, to activate floral identity genes, thus inducing flowering.[7][8] Specifically, arrival of FT at the shoot apical meristem and formation of this FT/FD heterodimer is followed by the increased expression of: SUPPRESSOR OF OVEREXPRESSION OF CONSTANS 1 (SOC1),[9] LEAFY (LFY),[10] APETALA 1 (AP1),[7] SEPALLATA 3 (SEP3) and FRUITFUL (FUL).[11]
Research history ----------------------------- Florigen was first described by Russian plant physiologist Mikhail Chailakhyan in 1937, who demonstrated that floral induction can be transmitted through a graft from an induced plant to one that has not been induced to flower. Anton Lang showed that several long-day plants and biennials could be made to flower by treatment with gibberellin, when grown under a non-flower-inducing (or non-inducing) photoperiod. This led to the suggestion that florigen may be made up of two classes of flowering hormones: Gibberellins and Anthesins. It was later postulated that during non-inducing photoperiods, long-day plants produce anthesin, but no gibberellin while short-day plants produce gibberellin but no anthesin. However, these findings did not account for the fact that short-day plants grown under non-inducing conditions (thus producing gibberellin) will not cause flowering of grafted long-day plants that are also under noninductive conditions (thus producing anthesin).
Problems with isolating florigen and the inconsistent results acquired led to the suggestion that florigen does not exist; rather, a particular ratio of other hormones must be achieved for the plant to flower. However more recent findings indicate that florigen does exist and is produced, or at least activated, in the leaves of the plant and that this signal is then transported via the phloem to the growing tip at the shoot apical meristem where the signal acts by inducing flowering. www.iimsonline.blogspot.com |