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Archive for August, 2011

Gregg Mozgala Fights Cerebral Palsy with Dance

Tuesday, August 30th, 2011

Anyone who knows or has met a person with cerebral palsy (CP) is likely to be immediately aware of the challenges faced by those with this condition. Depending on the severity of their disability, a person with mild CP may have an odd gait while serious cases may require a wheelchair. This is because the brain signals that control movement do not work properly, usually due to brain damage during birth or early in a person’s life.

While there is no known cure for CP, Gregg Mozgala, an actor in his 30s with the disability, didn’t let that stop him from learning how to dance. Profiled in the New York Times, Gregg and his choreographer Tamar Rogoff worked on a dance routine for Gregg that dramatically changed Gregg’s body and his ability to move.

Learning to Dance

In the article, Gregg says that even before his dance project, his condition was less severe than most. He could walk after 12 years of physical therapy as a child. However, his posture and gait remained abnormal, and his upper body deformed itself in an attempt to counterbalance the problems with his legs.

The Theater Breaking Through Barriers is a performance group based around bringing together actors with disabilities and those without. Gregg was playing the lead male role in “Romeo and Juliet” when Tamar discovered him. They soon began working together, unsure of what to expect because of Gregg’s CP and Tamar’s ambitions as a choreographer.

It proved to be a great match. (more…)

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Three Generations of Family Killed Due to Tire Malfunction

Monday, August 29th, 2011

Recently, a family returning home to New York City from Disney World in Florida experienced a disastrous car crash, killing three generations of their family. The driver, her mother and the driver’s grandmother were all killed when a tire blew out on their Ford Expedition. Five other family members in the car were rushed to a nearby hospital.

While it’s too early in the investigation to tell if the tire malfunction was due to a manufacturing defect or maintenance, whatever the cause was will do little to ease the pain of this family’s loss.

Tips on Tire Safety

Unless tires look low on air they are easy to ignore. However, even normal wear and tear can make them more susceptible to catastrophic failure like a blowout. Also, manufacturing defects can cause dramatic failures in tires that look perfectly normal.

Tire traction depends on proper inflation levels, as specified on the sidewall of the tire or the vehicle’s user manual. Remember that inflation levels depend on the weight of the vehicle and should be adjusted accordingly – especially on a long road trip like the one this family was taking when their tire failed. Also, tires have what’s called a wear bar running perpendicular to the direction of tire travel. (more…)

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Duragesic Patch to Blame for Overdose & Wrongful Deaths

Thursday, August 25th, 2011

Duragesic (sometimes spelled Durogesic) is the trade name for fentanyl pain patches, a powerful pain treatment. Fentanyl is an opioid, like morphine or heroin, and can be extremely potent and highly addictive. Typically prescribed in the form of a patch, fentanyl is absorbed through the skin and intended for patients with persistent and severe pain who have built up a tolerance for opioid-based drugs and have been using narcotic painkillers. In other words, it isn’t for everyone, and doctors need to be extremely careful when prescribing it.

FDA Issues Stern Warnings

Almost as a testament to fentanyl’s potency, in 2005 and again in 2007, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued warnings about the drug. A number of serious side effects and several hundred deaths had been reported, most commonly due to overdose. These warnings restated safe dosage levels and cautioned against changing them without the guidance of a doctor. In some cases, patients attempted to ease increasing pain by applying more than one patch at a time, often at the suggestion of their doctors.

An additional warning cautioned against allowing the patch to be heated. When exposed to heat, the patch released the drug at a more rapid rate than intended, potentially causing an overdose. Users were advised to avoid direct sunlight, tanning beds, hot baths and spas, or the use of heating pads on injured areas with the patch.

Defective Patches Blamed For Wrongful Deaths

During investigations into patient overdoses, the FDA found leaking patches to be yet another cause for concern. Johnson & Johnson’s suppliers issued several recalls of millions of patches when it became clear that the patches were defective. Once the patch developed a leak, all control over dosage was lost, and patients were placed at an extreme risk for Fentanyl overdose and its severe effects, including death. (more…)

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Exposure To Vinyl Chloride May Cause Brain Cancers

Wednesday, August 24th, 2011

Hazardous chemicals have worked their way into our daily lives, most typically as cleaners and solvents kept around the home. Others are used in manufacturing to make the things we use every day, like certain plastics. Polyvinyl chloride is one of these plastics and goes by the user-friendly name PVC. PVC is used to make pipes for plumbing, wire coatings, packaging and other plastic products of all types.

Vinyl Chloride and PVC

Creating PVC requires vinyl chloride, a dangerous chemical compound. At room temperature, it is a colorless, sweet smelling gas. It is also explosive and carcinogenic (cancer-causing). It can be dissolved into the air we breathe, becoming other potentially dangerous chemical compounds, or dissolved into the water we drink.

McCullom Lake, Illinois and Brain Tumors

Despite the fact that we probably come into contact with products made using vinyl chloride daily, dangerous exposures to the chemical are most likely to happen in or around factories where it is used in production. In late 2010, a lawsuit was filed against chemical company Rohm and Haas, alleging a vinyl chloride leak into the groundwater and air around their factory in McCullom Lake, Illinois. The lawsuit pointed out an abnormally high incidence of brain tumors in the area, including at least 10 deaths. (more…)

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Mystery Surrounds Cause of Semi-Truck Crash Involving Train

Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011

Earlier this summer a semi-truck driver crashed into the side of an Amtrak train outside Reno, Nevada, killing six people and injuring dozens more. Investigators on the scene said the driver tried to stop but because he was killed in the accident, the cause is still a mystery.

How Could This Happen?

At the time of the accident, reports indicate that the weather was good and visibility should not have been a problem. Guardrails came down to block the train tracks from the highway and the warning lights were flashing, as they should have been. Skid marks from the truck measure the length of a football field. Investigations into the driver indicate a history of moving violations and issues related to vehicle registrations, but nothing indicating drug or alcohol abuse. Two other trucks following him on the highway both managed to stop without incident.

National Railway Safety

In 2010, 737 people were killed as a result of accidents with trains, according to the Federal Railroad Administration’s Office of Safety Analysis. Thousands more were injured. Despite the many advancements in train safety and addition of guardrails and flashing lights at intersections to alert drivers, accidents still happen. Some intersections of railroad and highway have little more than a stop sign and a warning that there is a railroad.

Who To Blame?

While the cause of the Nevada accident is still being investigated, these accidents do not have to happen. (more…)

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