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Girl frozen in time may hold key to ageing

American scientists are keenly studying the DNA of a 17-year-old girl who still has the body and behaviour of a baby

This 21'st century Peter Pan has defied scientists .A genetic condition (Anageria) opposite to progeria which some speculate Paris Hilton and many other women and MEN will kill for ! Brooke Greenberg is a miracle.


Scientists are hoping to gain new insights into the mysteries of ageing by sequencing the genome of a 17-year-old girl who has the body and behaviour of a tiny toddler.

PHOTO:Brooke Greenberg "baby", then aged 9, with sister Carly who was 6

Brooke Greenberg is old enough to drive a car and next year will be old enough to vote — but at 16lb in weight and just 30in tall, she is still the size of a one-year-old.

Until recently she had been regarded as a medical oddity but a preliminary study of her DNA has suggested her failure to grow could be linked to defects in the genes that make the rest of humanity grow old.

If confirmed, the research could give scientists a fresh understanding of ageing and even suggest new therapies for diseases linked to old age.


“We think that Brooke’s condition presents us with a unique opportunity to understand the process of ageing,” said Richard Walker, a professor at the University of South Florida School of Medicine, who is leading the research team.

“We think that she has a mutation in the genes that control her ageing and development so that she appears to have been frozen in time.

“If we can compare her genome to the normal version then we might be able to find those genes and see exactly what they do and how to control them.”

Such research will be the focus of a conference at the Royal Society in London this week to be attended by some of the world’s leading age researchers.

It follows a series of scientific breakthroughs showing that the life span of many animals can be dramatically extended by making minute changes in single genes.

The work began with tiny worms known as C elegans, which normally live for only about a fortnight. Researchers have been able to extend their life span by up to 10 weeks by making small changes in certain genes.

Scientists have gone on to discover that mutating the same genes in mice had the same effect.

“Mice are genetically very close to humans,” said Cynthia Kenyon, professor of biochemistry at the University of California, San Francisco, who is a key speaker at the Royal Society.

“The implication is that ageing is controlled by a relatively small number of genes and that we might be able to target these with new therapies that would improve the quality and length of human life.”

The laboratory findings have been supported by research into humans, focusing on families whose members are long-lived. In one recent study Eline Slagboom, professor of molecular epidemiology at Leiden University, Holland, collected data on 30,500 people in 500 long-lived families to find the metabolic and genetic factors that make them special.

“Such people simply age slower than the rest of us,” she said. “Their skin is better, they have less risk of diseases of old age like diabetes, heart disease and hypertension and their ability to metabolise lipids and other nutrients is better. The question is: what is controlling all these different manifestations of slow ageing?

“So far, the evidence suggests that there could be just a few key genes in charge of it all. If we can find out where they are and how they work, it opens the way to new therapies against the diseases of ageing that could work in all of us.”

Walker and other researchers, including Kenyon, believe that finding the cause of Brooke Greenberg’s condition could be one way to pinpoint some of those genes.

Superficially, Brooke, who lives with her parents Howard and Melanie Greenberg and her three sisters in Reisterstown, a Baltimore suburb, is frozen in time. She looks and acts as if she were a small toddler — for 17 years her family has changed her nappies, rocked her to sleep and given her cuddles.

Brooke has shown some development, including crawling, smiling and giggling when tickled but she has never learnt to speak and still has her infant teeth.

But she has also suffered a succession of life-threatening health problems, including strokes, seizures, ulcers and breathing difficulties — almost as if she were growing old despite not growing up.

Howard Greenberg, Brooke's father, said he wanted the genome research carried out in the hope it might help others.

He said: "Brooke is just a wonderful child. She is very pure. She still babbles just like a 6 month old baby but she still communicates and we always know just what she means."

Walker and his colleagues, who are working with Brooke’s parents to ensure she benefits from any research findings, have just published a research paper which suggests that in reality some parts of her body have indeed aged — but slowly and all at different rates.

“Our hypothesis is that she is suffering from damage in the gene or genes that co-ordinate the way the body develops and ages,” he said.

“If we can use her DNA to find that mutant gene then we can test it in laboratory animals to see if we can switch if off and slow down the ageing process at will.

“Just possibly it could give us an opportunity to answer the question of why we are mortal.”


Jerly Lyngdoh: World’s oldest baby:


Surgeons and pediatricians in India have been puzzled after discovering a 26-year-old man trapped inside the body and mind of a child aged between one and two years.Jerly Lyngdoh – who is still dressed in baby clothes by his parents – has a head circumference that babies 9-12 months old have, measures 84 cm like any two-year-old and weighs 22 pounds.

“Jerly’s infantile features are remarkable, and the only things he shares with an adult are his teeth,” Dr. J. Ryndong told the Hindustan Times.


According to the pediatrician, Lyngdoh suffers from poor secretion of growth hormones from the pituitary gland.


“His is a case opposite to progeria, which means advanced ageing, and we have reasons to say Jerly is a rarity,” Ryndong added. He ruled out the genetic factor, since all six of Jerly’s siblings have no physical or mental disability.


“We also plan to seek expertise from the medical world beyond to crack Jerly’s case,” the doctor said.


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Musa sacrifices goals target for Eagles

Nigeria Premier League top scorer Ahmed Musa has revised his goals target for the season after getting his first senior international call-up..

Musa, who is having a breakout season with Kano Pillars, had originally set a 20-goal target for himself this season. That figure would have obliterated the current 17-goal record set by Ishaya Jatau in 1993 and equalled by Akarandut Orok last season.

"I wanted to score 20 goals this season, and I believe I would have made it, with the way I am going," Musa, who is officially on 14 goals, told KickOffNigeria.com. "But now, I don’t think I can make it anymore.

"I will miss some matches when I go to the Super Eagles camp, and the league is almost over so it will be difficult to come back and score the goals to reach 20."

But the 17 year-old is happy to sacrifice his goals target if it gives him a chance to get in on Lars Lagerback's World Cup squad.

"I have confidence in the way I am playing, and I knew I will be invited. So I don’t mind if I don’t score the 20 goals, because playing for the national team is the dream of every player and I am happy that I got the invitation to come to camp."

With the plethora of Europe-based strikers at Lagerback's disposal, Musa is taking nothing for granted, just hoping that his abilities will see him through.

"I will try my best to make it. I know that I have good speed, and I like taking on defenders, I can cross the ball well and I can score goals. But it is the coach that will decide."

On the basis of what Ahmed has showed in the league and the recent WAFU Cup, Lagerback's job just got even harder.

Ahmed Musa Fact File:
Date Of Birth: Oct 14 1992.
State: Plateau
Height: 1.6m
Weight: 65kg
Position: Right Wing
Other positions: Centre forward, support striker, left wing
Previous clubs: Aminchi Football Academy 2008, JUTH FC 2009
Current club: Kano Pillars
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From TONY OSAUZO, Benin

Friday, April 23, 2010
About 17 private secondary schools proprietors have been arrested for allegedly forging the signature of the Edo State Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Ngozi Osarenren in their desperate bid to illegally enroll candidates for the 2010 West Africa Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSSCE).

The proprietors were alleged to have gone through the back door to get the clearance of the Ministry of Education to register extra candidates for the examination..

The commissioner, who disclosed this while addressing journalists, said her ministry had put strict measures in place to ensure a hitch-free conduct of the examination, adding that the measures were to plug loopholes that could lead to examination malpractice by some of the private schools.

She explained that schools were expected to obtain clearance from the ministry’s Department of Planning, Research and Statistics using particular form. She added that the clearance involved private schools producing the certificate of approval and renewal fees for three years up to 2008.

“The clearance is, thereafter, taken by the proprietor/proprietress to the Chief Inspector of Education of the school’s Local Government Area where the Chief Inspector of Education clears for the Junior School Certificate Examination Certificates and the number to be enrolled,” Dr. Osarenren explained.

She added that the clearance letter was to be issued by the Honourable Commissioner for Education to the West African Examinations Council for enrolment of a particular number of candidates for the school, after all processes had been checked by Director of Education.

The commissioner announced that 17 schools in Benin City were discovered to have forged her signature and official letter head paper to get clearance for enrolment and promised to release more list of offending schools.

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IS THIS FAIR ? One Man and his cohorts in Bank PHB have disrupted the careers and livelihood of over 1000 staff and their families fired recently !

EFCC seizes Atuche's multibillion naira assets *N50bn cash, 18 firms, 15 houses, 17 bank accounts
Written by Lanre Adewole
Friday, March 5, 2010

EMPOWERED accordingly by a federal high court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has seized over N50 billion, 18 companies and 15 houses from the sacked Group Managing Director of Bank PHB, Mr. Francis Atuche.


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Atuche was sacked along with heads of other nine banks by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in the wake of the discovery of alleged fraud in the banking sector running into one trillion naira.

Seventeen bank accounts belonging to him were also frozen.

In one of the accounts domiciled with the bank, N25.95 billion cash was said to have been found.

The commission will also this morning commence the sealing off of all the houses traced to him.

Commission's spokesperson, Mr. Femi Babafemi, confirmed the commencement of the exercise.

The commission had attached all the property traced to Atuche, who is standing trial for his alleged role in crippling the bank, to the Notice of Attachment placed before the trial judge, Justice A.O Ajakaye, who issued the order of temporary forfeiture on March 1, 2010.

Apart from the cash found in his bank account, Atuche also reportedly invested N1.5 billion in Honeywell Flour Mills Plc, N305,889,418 million in Arik Ltd and 500 million units of shares in Afribank Plc.

The houses traced to him are in Ikoyi, Victoria Island, Surulere, VGC Lekki, Ibusa, Delta State, Asokoro, Abuja, with a sole property at 59, Avenue Close, Avenue Road, St. John's Wood, London.

Some of the companies listed as alleged fronts in siphoning depositors' funds included, Guesstrade Services; Sentron Trading; Montra and Investico; Claremount Asset Management Limited; Arabian Probity Management; Clareville Trading and Service Limited; Commerical Trading and Services Limited; Afco Associates Limited; Trenton Trade Limited and Consolidated Business Support Limited.

He was also said to have used 15 fronts, including his wife, children and relatives.

The names listed in the court order included Elizabeth Atuche; Grace Atuche; Victor Udeh; Michael Atuche; Anthony Grace; Joseph Atuche; Nkeolisakwu Atuche; Mrs. Mariam Okonmah; Patrick Atuche and Kemi Ojelabi.

Some of the frozen accounts are SA-400221000004, 2190001272, 1160000011, PNA 0010184100002 and CA 001040100000, all domiciled in Bank PHB as well as A/C Nos; 10100061705 and CA 001020102315 belonging to Elizabeth Atuche.

Some of the houses are 2b Falomo Close, Ikoyi; 21 Kingsway Road, Ikoyi (hotel known as Clonades), 41B Anifowoshe Street, V.I, 11 Raymond Njoku Street, Ikoyi, 2000M 2 Plots of land at Ibusa, Delta State, 46 Mamman Nasir Street, off T.Y Danjuma, Asokoro, Abuja, among others.
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Are You Feeding Your Soul? Are you happy with what you see when you look in the mirror? And I’m not talking about your physical body when I ask this question — I’m talking about your spiritual body. Has your soul been getting the nourishment it needs to grow in health and strength, or have you deprived it from the Word it so desperately needs? If what you see in the mirror doesn’t even begin to reflect what you know you can be, it’s time to make a change, time to dive into God’s Word and receive all the love and forgiveness He has been waiting to give you . . . a time to release your life into God’s hands. The Word tells us, But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image (2 Corinthians 3:16-18 NLT). You may not like what you see now, but just wait. Rely on God’s faithfulness and perfect timing and begin to make changes when God shows you it is necessary. And soon, you’ll be able to look back and say, “Look where God moved me from. Look what He saved me from. I stand blessed where I am all because of the transforming grace of God.” An Evangelistic Tool The following is an evangelistic tool. Feel free to use this tool to lead someone to the Savior. It can also be used in your church. Tony lead the members of our church through this process, and then commissioned them to offer the good news to those they come in contact with in the course of their day. This is one of our outreach programs for this year. OPENING QUESTION: Has anyone ever shown you from the Bible how you can be sure you are on your way to heaven? Would you allow me to show you? I. First the Bad News a. The Problem: Every person is a sinner before a Holy God and unable to save themselves (Romans 3:10, 23). b. The Penalty: Every person is under the sentence of death and will be forever separated from God because of their sin (Romans 5:12; 6:23). I. Now the Good News a. The Provision: Through the substitutionary sacrificial death of Christ, God has addressed the sin problem for us (Romans 5:8, 17-21). b. The Pardon: God offers a free pardon and eternal life to all who place faith alone in the Lord Jesus Christ for their salvation (Romans 10:9-10; 4:4-5). CLOSING QUESTION: Would you like to trust the Lord Jesus Christ right now as your personal Savior? PRAYER: Lord Jesus thank You for dying on the cross for my sins and rising from the dead to save me. By transferring my total trust to You alone as my Savior, I now receive the forgiveness for my sins and the free gift of eternal life that You offered me.
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Love Crazy : Boy 17 Kills "girlfriend" Mum

He pursued the girl with lunatic passion, but she rebuffed his advances, until he succeeded in defiling her. But even this was not enough for Chinwikpe Ikezie. he made good his threat to kill the girl’s mother, her opposition to his advances. Abiola Azeez reports the gripping tale of a love intention gone wild.0 Was it a case of love gone sour or that of a professed love to one’s heartthrob being turned down or truncated by forces more powerful? No matter the deductions one makes out of the story, the deed has been done, and the deceased has been left for the bereaved to bury. Okwoyi Isieke Ibeku is a rural village in Umuahia North local government area of Abia State. The usually peaceful community,which is just about three kilometres away from the heart of the state capital, was thrown into mourning, anger, and confusion on Wednesday evening, when the news filtered into the community that a 17 year-old young man had murdered a 35 year old mother in a cassava farm. Members of the community, particularly the leadership of the youth, gathered and formed a search party. They went after the alleged killer, going from one neighbouring village to another, apparently to deny the murderer any form of escape and to hand him over to law enforcement agents. Their efforts paid off after much exertion of energy; the alleged murderer, Chinwikpe Okezie, who allegedly committed the heinous crime at about 5 p.m., was tracked down at about 3 a.m. the next day at a bush path in the neighbouring village. It was discovered that he had his own network of informants to help him immediately he fled the community after committing the dastardly act. Investigations conducted by FeaturesXtra revealed that Chinwikpe regularly visits Okwoyi Isieke Ibeku, which is his maternal community, where he had lived with his mother in Okwoyi Isieke Ibeku, since the mother was thrown out of her husband’s house unceremoniously. Another version to the personality of the Chinwikpes had it that his mother had no clear cut means of livelihood and was also a trouble maker in the community. This, members of the community said, made her husband to wake up one morning and engage the services a truck driver, who helped him to pack her belongings back to her community in the full glare of everyone present at the market square of the village. Her bride price was not paid. Members of the community, in separate interviews, said that Chinwikpe had, about two years ago, used a cutlass to cut the hand of one of his older kinsmen during a fight. Also, no member of the community could confirm his source of livelihood. While some said he never attended school, others said he was a drop out, while some others said he was available for any casual labour since he was not known to be on apprenticeship with anyone. Speaking with FeaturesXtra, a former youth leader of the community, Mr. Ibeabuchi Abarikwu, said the deceased, Chikamnayo Nwakaaku Young (nee Ikpo), aged 35, was a native of Okwoyi Isieke Ibeku in the Umuahia North Local government area of the state, but was married to one Abel Young, an indigene of Amankwu Amiibo in Ubakala community of Umuahia South local government area of the state. Abarikwu said the couple got separated when the man could not complete the payment of brideprice on Chikamnayo, a development which he said made her to take her children along with her to her father’s house. ”Chikamnayo is a peasant farmer. She had gone to her farm in the morning of the day of the incident. Earlier, before the day of the incident, her assailant, Chinwikpe, had been threatening her, and telling people that he would kill the woman. “Chinwikpe’s mother is from Okwoyi Isieke Ibeku, just like the deceased. Interestingly, no other girl in the community caught Chinwikpe’s admiration and love except the deceased’s daughter, Chinagorom Young, aged 17. He was trying to befriend the daughter of the deceased, which the deceased vehemently opposed, saying that her daughter is a blood sister to the boy. She said they couldn’t have any love relationship. Many people are aware of how the girl in question had rejected the advances of the boy on many occasions, yet he continued to trouble the girl. “Their neighbours even said that the boy had succeeded in raping the girl once, saying their houses are close to one another. So, because the mother refused to consent to their relationship, the boy vowed that he would kill the deceased and also rubbish the girl. “The deceased had made several complaints to elders of the community, among other people, yet no action was taken, not even calling the boy to order. “On Wednesday morning, Chikamnayo went to her farm. However, one of her friends in the community, who had a funny feeling, a sense of an impending danger, about her friend, went to her house to warn her about the ominous feeling she had about her. But the woman only met her children, who told their mother’s friend that their mother had gone to the farm. She, therefore, traced her to the farm, where she met her and told her about the feeling of danger she was having. She succeeded in persuading the deceased to come back to the village with her. “As fate would have it, the children had nothing to eat at home and the deceased decided to go back to her farm in the evening, at about 5 p.m., to get some vegetables needed to cook a meal for her children. People said immediately she left, they saw Chinwikpe trailing the deceased to the farm. “When we saw her corpse, already battered by machete cuts in the chest and back, with her face lying on the ground, we learnt that the boy was still lurking around the vicinity. Thus, we alerted everyone in the community. We also raised a search party. Do you know that it was not until 3 a.m. on Thursday that we eventually caught the boy in a neighbouring community? We then handed him over to the police. The police have since commenced investigations into the matter.” Asked what he knew of the boy previously, Ibeabuchi said:“Two years ago, when I was the youth leader in the community, Chinwikpe’s elder brother used a machete to cut the arm of one of his elder kinsmen in the community. Then, I warned his people that he should not come back to the community after the incident”, he said. Describing how they tracked the suspect down in the dead of the night, the youth leader said, “It was a tough experience. When we got the information that he was still hanging around in the area after committing the crime, we mobilised all the youth in the area and searched the community. We immediately went from Ukome to other neighbouring villages. We also gathered that some people were communicating to him through GSM phones about our journey, which we made with a car, and particularly about my personal involvement in the effort to get him. At a point, we would see him, but he would quickly hide inside the bush on seeing the head lamp of the car we were using to track him. So, at a point, I advised that we should park the car and go on foot. We then mobilised all the neighbouring communities. Again, he saw us and tried to take cover in the bush. As he was scampering out of the bush at Isieke, we caught him and handed him over to the police.” Meanwhile, a new twist was added to the story as some sympathisers of the alleged murderer insisted that Chiwinkpe was a friend to the deceased’s daughter and that she even had an issue for the alleged murderer. Speaking on this twist, a native of the village, who wanted to remain anonymous, denied such a story, describing it as a figment of the peddlers’ imagination. “They were not friends at all. The deceased’s daughter told me that the guy had made several attempts to befriend her, while the girl said she shouted ‘obara Jesus’, meaning blood of Jesus. The guy knows what that means. Yet he continued to pester her. The guy succeeded in raping the girl; the whole village can testify to this. Because of the incident, the girl cried out to the whole community. If they were friends, there would not have been such an alarm. “Because of this incident, the deceased did not hide the matter but cried out to the whole community over the sacrilegious occurence. The deceased even contacted the guy’s mother with the hope that his mother would caution him. But due to the way the guy was brought up, he never listened to his mother, as his mind was already made up. The elders were still looking into the matter until the killing of the deceased. If he was innocent or ignorant of what he did, he would not have run away. When he was eventually caught in the bush, he never argued about his offence. He never uttered a word. There was a feeling of disgust and shock because the village saw it as a sacrilege for a boy to have killed someone in his maternal home. Meanwhile, the Nigerian Tribune gathered that the case is being handled by the state Criminal Investigations Department (CID), Umuahia, while the village called on the police to look carefully into the case. They said the boy should not be allowed bail and that he should face the consequences of his action. “Our community is a law-abiding one. We could have meted out justice to him the night we caught him, but we decided to hand him over to the police immediately. We believe in the police and the court of law. Justice must take its full course. Such a thing has never happened in our place before”, he said.
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By Emeka MadunaguPublished: Saturday, 4 Apr 2009A United States federal court in Brooklyn, New York has sentenced three Nigerians to varying jail terms totaling about 17 years for defrauding American victims of over $1.2 million (N177m) in an advance-fee fraud scam.An email statement sent to our correspondent by the US Department of Justice on Friday quoted Acting Assistant Attorney General Rita M. Glavin of the Criminal Division and US Attorney Benton J. Campbell of the Eastern District of New York as saying that the Nigerians, Nnamdi Chizuba Anisiobi, Anthony Friday Ehis and Kesandu Egwuonwu, pleaded guilty in January 2008 to one count of conspiracy, eight counts of wire fraud and one count of mail fraud.The statement said the suspects were extradited to the US from Holland on February 21, 2006 after they had been arrested for defrauding their victims of various amounts. They had sent spam mails to their victims, claiming that they controlled millions of dollars. Also, the joint investigation by the US Postal Service and Dutch authorities found that they used various aliases, phone numbers and e-mail addresses.In one instance, they sent e-mails purporting to be from an individual suffering from terminal throat cancer who needed assistance distributing approximately $55m to charity. In exchange for a victim‘s help, the defendants offered to give a 20 per cent commission to the victim or a charity of his or her choice but the American victims ended up with substantial losses.The statement said that in delivering judgment on Thursday, US District Judge Dora L. Irizarry sentenced Anisiobi to 87 months in prison, while Ehis and Egwuonwu received 57 months apiece.
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