Scientists Discover Gene That Could Predict Exactly What time We'll Die

Gene that predicts what time of day we'll die: Discovery could help determine when stroke or heart patients should take medication

Scientists have discovered a gene variation that affects the human body clock so profoundly that it even predicts the time of day when an individual is most likely to die.
Researchers hope the findings could eventually be used to determine when heart or stroke patients should take medication to make it most effective, or when hospital patients should be monitored most closely.
The US team discovered the gene variation by accident when they were investigating the development of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease.

They looked at the sleeping patterns of 1,200 healthy 65-year-olds who were also given annual neurological and psychiatric assessments.

Differences: Those with the AA or AG genotype died just before 11am on average, but those with the GG genotype tended to die at just before 6pm
They found a single molecule near a gene called ‘Period 1’ that had as its base either adenine (A) or guanine (G).
Type A is more common by a ratio of six to four, so because people have two sets of chromosomes, an individual has a 36 per cent chance of having two As, a 16 per cent chance of having two Gs, and a 48 per cent chance of an A and a G.

The findings, published in the Annals of Neurology, showed that those with a AA genotype tend naturally to wake up about an hour earlier than those with GG, and the AGs wake up almost exactly in the middle.
They also showed that those with the AA or AG genotype died just before 11am on average, but those with the GG genotype tended to die at just before 6pm.

The study’s lead author Andrew Lim, from the Department of Neurology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts, said: ‘The internal “biological clock” regulates many aspects of human biology and behaviour. It also influences the timing of acute medical events like stroke and heart attack.’
Clifford Saper, chief of neurology at BIDMC, said: ‘So there is really a gene that predicts the time of day that you’ll die. Not the date, fortunately, but the time of day.’

There is no on-going negotiation with Boko Haram - President Jonathan

President Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday, dismissed insinuations of  a secret dialogue between the administration and the Boko Haram just as he declared former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s invasion of Odi in Bayelsa State in 1999 as a failure that did not help to curb militancy in the Niger Delta region.

Speaking on nationwide television media chat, the president also gave a robust defence of the administration’s fight against corruption as he set a 2014 date on the decision whether he would contest the next presidential election or not.

In the two-hour broadcast session on television and radio network, President Jonathan also pledged to align himself with Nigerians if the citizens choose to retain the two-term tenure system for executive office holders.
The Media Chat programme anchored by the Nigeria Television Authority, NTA’s, Kudu Abubakar had the Chairman of the Editorial Board of Vanguard, Mr. Ikeddy Isiguzo, Editor of The Guardian Mr. Martins Oloja and Gbemi Olujobi, Editor Saturday Mirror, as panelists.

The President denied insinuations of the declining dominance of his party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the country following consecutive election losses in Edo and Ondo states.

He also rebuffed reports of the cancellation of the contract between the administration and Manitoba Hydro Limited for the management of the transmission lines of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN.

Questions were also drawn from Nigerians through text messages and twitter. In one of such questions where the sender said the president would go down in history as the best president if he fixes the Benin-Ore Road and solves the power problem, Dr Jonathan responded that he would be the best president.

Asked to respond to claims of backroom dialogue with Boko Haram following the group’s offer for dialogue, President Jonathan said:

“Presently, government is not dialoguing with any group. There is no dialogue between the Boko Haram and government. Though there was a news item talking about dialogue, but the Boko Haram group is yet to come out. So there is nobody to dialogue with.”

Against the claims by former President Obasanjo that more force as was used in Odi would have helped to dislodge the Boko Haram insurgents, President Jonathan said:

“I can give you the narrative of what led to the Odi crisis. The peak of the militancy was when 12 police officers were killed, that was cold blooded murder and that made the Federal government to now invade Odi. After that invasion, myself and the governor entered Odi, ordinarily, the governor and his deputy are not supposed to move under such situation, but we entered and saw some dead people. Most of the people that died in Odi were mostly old men, women and children, none of the militants was killed.

Odi invasioin was a failure

 “If bombarding Odi was to solve the problem, then it was never solved and of course if the attack on Odi  had solved the problem of militancy in the Niger Delta, then the Yar’ Adua government would not have come up with the Amnesty programme. So, that should tell you that the attack on Odi never solved the militancy problem and we had more challenges after that attack on Odi.”

Responding to a question on whether he would be contesting the 2015 presidential elections, Dr. Jonathan replied:

“I plead with journalists; it is too early to ask a sitting president whether or not he will contest elections and this is one of the reasons we agitated for this single tenure issue. Because if a president tells you today that he is contesting election, it will generate a lot of issues. If I say I am not contesting election, my cabinet members will easily resign and go because all of them are qualified to contest that position.

“There is a four-year tenure which is quite short if you look at the African scenario. Most other African countries have six years and some seven years. Four years is very short time for a president to make an impact. Immediately you start talking about elections, you get diverted, give us time. Before you ask Mr. President whether he will contest or not, give me time. I don’t want to distract members of my cabinet.

“To know if I would contest again, I will ask you to wait till 2014. Give me some time for me and my cabinet to do our work. I do not want to distract my team in our quest.”

Asked if his party, the PDP was losing its dominance in the polity following two straight losses in gubernatorial elections in Edo and Ondo States, he said:

“It is even dangerous for this country if PDP, for example, should control all the states. Then there is no democracy and that is one of the challenges that we have conducting PDP primaries, because in some states, you look at the primaries as the election before the election. Immediately you secure the PDP ticket, you are already the governor, it is not in the best interest of this country.

“The PDP worked very hard, the PDP got second position in Ondo election and in some of them, the difference was quite narrow. Except for Imo State, in Ondo and Edo states that you mentioned, we contested against incumbent governors.

“If you look at the whole scenario around Ondo State, Mimiko, himself was a PDP man. When Mimiko contested the election the first time, his running mate was the state chairman of the PDP. It was more like a PDP family but divided into two, so that I don’t see that as a major challenge to PDP. It is all for PDP to go back in that state and put its house in order. I believe that in the next election, the PDP family will come together and PDP will rule Ondo State. We will win naturally immediately we put our house in order because we are all PDP members.”

On corruption

On the issue of graft, President Jonathan said his administration’s major imprints in the battle against corruption had been positive, noting that the battle was started by attacking electoral corruption which he noted was the mother of all corruption.

“We decided to sanitise the electoral system, dealing with corruption associated with the electoral process. In most cases, people manipulate themselves into office; state governors, local government chairmen and others manipulate themselves into offices without being voted for, thereby posing as problems for the country.

“We are aware that dealing with corruption associated with the electoral process will ensure that corruption is dealt with totally.

“We have done very well on various fronts in terms of fighting corruption. We have sanitized the fertilizer subsidy process; we have tried in sanitizing the electoral process; we have now started the audit of the oil sector, pointing to the fact that we are in the process of sanitizing the sector.

“If you ask the average Nigerian, they will say it is all because of corruption, and that because of corruption that is why there is a pot hole somewhere and that accidents are caused by corruption. We just believe that everything is caused by corruption. The retreat we conducted and are applying to do certain things including correctional orders, you will be surprised that most people who voted, gave corruption less than 20 per cent.

“But in terms of perfection, we believe that corruption is the cause of all our problems. Corruption is there and we will continue to fight corruption, no doubt about that. But this government has tried to investigate the corruption associated with the elections, we have sanitised it, the corruption associated with procurement of fertilizer is enormous, we have sanitised and we are now dealing with petroleum products, we will go ahead and sanitise it. We will surely sanitise this country.”

The Manitoba contract

Asked if the contract with Manitoba has been cancelled, the president said: ”Manitoba’s contract has not been revoked. There were some issues raised because of misunderstanding. In 2006 when privatization started, Manitoba and others also bidded and as that time the BPE that handled the whole transaction noticed that there were some confusion and they placed procurement of Manitoba as a consultant to manage our transmission and set the process the proces of the privatization.

“Former heads of state are probably shareholders in some companies I don’t think they own any company of their own but no matter what, these companies bidded and they will be assessed technically so you will not know if it is owned by a former head of state or not.”

“The companies that qualify technically will now go into the financial round.
Investment in refineries

President Jonathan also said that the present fuel crisis across the country would be resolved only if private investors were attracted to build refineries in the country.

He said the administration was working towards adopting the Canadian model. According to him Canada has 16 refineries owned by private individuals, but managed under a deregulated system.

He maintained that for the private sector to be encouraged to invest in building refineries, the issue of subsidy must be resolved.

“For those people who have been given licenses to build refineries do so, the government must be seen to resolve the issue of subsidy, as people will be concerned about what gets to them after investing huge resources in that venture,” he stated.

He appealed to Nigerians to exercise patience and bear with the government, saying that the government has commenced the process of sanitizing the oil industry and that when the process is completed, the issue of fuel scarcity will be addressed.

He said, “There are a lot of issues associated with the current fuel situation in Nigeria. There is also the human factor. In Benin Republic, for example, there is no fuel queue, but all their fuel is from Nigeria. When we are through with sanitizing the oil sector, the system will improve and fuel queues will go away.”

How to know your girlfriend is using you.

While some men don’t want to settle down and claim a girlfriend, most men don’t need any “girl…friends” either. After all, what man wants to just “hang out” with a beautiful woman?
That’s what his boys are for. It’s totally possible for men and women to be platonic friends, but that’s not normally how it starts.

The man is attracted to a woman, he asks her out, and they spend time together. But then somewhere along the line, said man falls into the dreaded “friend zone” – and he has no idea how he got there. He’s not sure if she’s playing hard to get, or if he’s been hoodwinked – and while he’s trying to figure it all out, the woman knows exactly what she’s doing. If you’re not sure if you’re being played for a fool, here are some signs that she just might be using you.

1. You Are Her Personal Chauffeur

You have a car…she doesn’t. This is not a big deal, and being the gentleman you are, you have no problem picking her up for dates. But after a while, you’re not just picking her up to go to the movies. You’re driving her to work, to her doctor’s appointment and even to her friends’ house. As a matter of fact, she asks you to drive her AND her friends around – to the club, the mall, wherever. But she’s attractive, so you do it, even if it’s totally out of your way. The way you see it, she’ll think you’re such a nice guy that she might even invite you INSIDE of her home one day.

But she doesn’t, and you barely get a kiss on the cheek for all of the gas you’ve burnt up.  If she’s given you ZERO indication that she’s even remotely physically attracted to you, then she’s using you for a ride. Unless you’ve at least gotten to second base, keep your car parked and let her figure out how to get around herself.

2. You’re Her Flunky

It’s not enough that you drive her around, but sometimes she sends you out WITHOUT HER to run her errands. She asks you, in that ever so sweet voice of hers, to pick up her dry cleaning “since it’s on your way home.” She has to work late, so she wants to know if you’d be a dear and walk her precious dog for her. And you do it, because you figure that’s what a good boyfriend would do, right? Right.

Problem is, you’re not her boyfriend, you’re her errand boy; and any hopes you had of becoming her boyfriend went out the window along with your dignity. She’s not going to date you because she doesn’t respect you. Some women don’t like a guy who does whatever she says or who she can walk all over. What you see as kindness, she may view as weakness. It’s sad but true. There’s nothing wrong with being a good friend, if that’s all you want to be. But if you want more, and she’s not giving it to you, despite all of your good intentions, then bounce…and let her hire an assistant.

3. You Are Her “Go-To” Date

If you find that she only wants to go OUT – to the movies, a concert or to her favorite restaurant, chances are she just wants to get out of the house and you are her “go-to” date. Every time she calls, you’re always available…probably because you sit around waiting for your phone to ring. She knows this, and she also knows that you will do anything to be in her presence. If she’s always busy when you invite her to your crib or you’ve never seen the inside of her place, then she probably doesn’t want to be anywhere where something could jump off…and she’d have to turn you down. Just once or twice, be busy when she calls or tell her “no” to an outside date and see how she reacts. If she’s bent out of shape or stops calling, then you’ll know she’s probably not that into you.

4. You Pay For ALL Dates

Not only are you her “go-to” date – you also PAY for ALL of the dates. Some women expect men to pay for all dates, and some men even agree with that. But you shouldn’t be going broke while you’re trying to figure if she actually even likes you. If you’ve got the means to stick it out until she magically falls in love with you, then rock on. But if you have to take out a small loan just to keep courting this woman, while she NEVER ever offers to pay for anything, then stop…now. See how long she wants to “date” you when you tell her that you forgot your wallet.

5. You Pay Her Bills

It’s one thing to pay for dates, but it’s another thing to pay her rent. There’s nothing wrong with helping out a friend in need, or LOANING someone some money until they get on their feet. But unless you are her MAN, and you KNOW this, then there is no way you should be paying for anything that’s in her name. Men and women use each other all the time for different things, but you’re a straight up sucka if she hands you a utility bill and you actually pay it…regularly. And don’t try taking her to court when she drops you for some other fool and you’re out hundreds or thousands of dollars. She’ll claim it was a “gift” and you’ll never get your money back. Listen to what I’m telling you and save yourself from having to learn an expensive lesson on your own.

6. You’re Mr. Fix It

You’ve let it be known that you’re pretty handy when it comes to fixing things, so she invites you over one Saturday afternoon to “help” her paint her house. You think it’ll earn you some cool points – and you’ll get to be INSIDE her place and you can seduce her while you wait for the paint to dry. WRONG! All she’s going to do is find a way to be busy “doing something else” while you paint, and when you’re done, she’ll suddenly need a ride to Home Depot to pick up some things for the next project you’ll be working on. So you drive her there (See #1) and pay for all the materials (See #5) and then go back to her place to install her new cabinets, hang some shelves and fix her leaky faucet. She doesn’t even offer to feed you (See #4).  She rushes you out of her house when the work is done because she’s “tired” (has a date with someone else) so you leave, hoping for another chance to get closer to her bedroom. You, my friend, have been had. Next time, tell her to hire a contractor and keep it moving.

7. You’re Her Confidante

So by now, you realize that you’re in the” friend zone”, but you don’t care. You think you still have a chance to woo her, so you continue to be her shoulder to cry on hoping that one day she’ll come to her senses and realize what a wonderful, caring, compassionate man you are. So you endure endless hours of her late night calls crying to you about the jerk who broke her heart (again). You encourage her complaints about all the no-good men out there and remind her that if she were your woman, you’d never hurt her and treat her like the queen that she is. Little do you know, she’s a glutton for punishment, only likes “bad boys” and thinks nice guys like you are weak and pathetic. Dude, run…or else she’ll just continue to use you up and walk all over you. You’re wasting your time if you think she’ll change her mind about you – and if she finally ever does, it’ll be too late…because you will have found a woman who appreciates you.

8. You’re Her Sex Toy

Now, this might not be a problem for most men out there, but if you are genuinely interested in having a real relationship, getting married and having kids one day, then you might want to find a woman who wants you for more than sex. Believe it or not, there are women out there, like men, who have jump-offs who they will never be seen out in public with. The sex is earth shattering, but she doesn’t want a relationship, OR, she doesn’t want a relationship with YOU. Maybe you’re too short, don’t have a job, have multiple children with multiple women, have some teeth missing…who knows. Either way, she doesn’t want her girlfriends to know about you, so you become her dirty little secret and she calls you after midnight to come by and crack her back. Now, again…some, if not most, men would be fine with this arrangement. But if you’ve somehow caught feelings for her, then it’s best you leave now before your heart gets broken into a million little pieces once she finds a guy she can actually be seen in daylight with.

Where is Patience Goodluck Jonathan?

Despite her return to Nigeria in pomp and circumstance about one month ago, First Lady Patience Jonathan is still sick.
Shortly after the public relations exercise that attended her return, she retired into a medically-induced bed rest that has her kept her away from the public, unable to attend to official duties.

On October 26th Mrs. Jonathan appeared with her husband and the Ondo State governor, Olusegun Mimiko and his wife to cut her 55th birthday cake in the presidential villa, since then she has disappeared from the public.
A presidency source stated that Mrs. Jonathan’s doctors in Germany have also continued to visit and watch her recovery.
When Mrs. Jonathan returned from a prolonged medical trip to Germany in October she spoke effusively about being given a second chance, but denied having been in a hospital.
The publicity given her return was designed to end all forms of speculation about her true condition because the presidency had badly miscalculated by not revealing her actual medical status to the country.
Since her return, Mrs. Jonathan has not been able to accompany her husband on any official trips in or outside of Nigeria, including visits to her home state of Rivers, or that of Mr. Jonathan, Bayelsa.
In addition to all this, she has not attended to her duties in Bayelsa as Permanent Secretary, a position she seized with grand fanfare months before she left the country on an extended trip she said was not for hospital treatment purposes.
It is unclear how long Mrs. Jonathan’s bed-rest will continue as she remains inaccessible to the public, or how her absence is impacting her official duties in both Abuja and Bayelsa

Nollywood Actor, Pete Eneh Fails to pull through Amputation

The Nigerian movie industry otherwise known as Nollywood recorded another setback, Thursday, when it lost  one of its veteran actors, Pete Eneh  to the cold hands of death.

Pete lost the battle for his life days after he had one of his legs amputated  due to infection , at  Park Lane hospital in  Enugu. The amputation was earlier reported by Greenwich News. His health was said to have deteriorated after the amputation.

Confirming the news of his death,  former Chairman of  Enugu State chapter of Actors Guild of Nigeria, AGN, Mr. Ofiafuluagu Mbaka, said, the celebrated actor died around 1 pm yesterday, in Enugu, though he could not give more details about his death.

The infection, according to reports, started last year, after he had an injury on his leg.
His case got worse when he couldn’t get proper medical attention. The actor was said to have been amputated to stop the infection from spreading to other parts of his body.

Eneh was a visible member of Nollywood.   He featured in hit  Nollywood movies such as “Lonely Life”,  “Divided Kingdom”, “Prince of Ignorance”,  “Heavy Rain”, “Naomi ”, “Not Your Wealth”among other movies.