Brain Damage

When Sherry Aikens left her job at a Philadelphia athletic apparel company to stay home with her daughter, she started making children's clothing on her own. Having now sold more than 3,000 of her customized satin and felt superhero and princess capes, Babypop is one of the top sellers on Etsy, a Web site that features unique handmade products from more than 200,000 artists around the world. But a new federal law targeting dangerous chemicals in toys may leave Aikens - and thousands of craftspeople - in need of their own cape.

Upper Darby police were searching yesterday for a man accused of beating his 3-month-old son, causing brain damage that could be permanent. Henry Paris III, 32, of the 3700 block of Taylor Avenue in Drexel Hill, fled Thursday night in a white Nissan sedan bearing Pennsylvania tag GWK-2718. He is wanted on charges including aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of a child, and could face up to 20 years in prison, said Police Superintendent Michael J. Chitwood. Police believe Paris may have fled to New York City, where he has friends.

As we enter the final days of a seemingly endless election campaign, opinion polls continue to identify a substantial fraction of voters who consider themselves "undecided. " Comedians and other commentators have portrayed these people as fools, unable to choose even when confronted with the starkest of contrasts. Recent research in neuroscience and psychology, however, suggests most undecided voters may be smarter than you think. Even when it takes no more than a second, decision-making is thought to involve two parts: gathering evidence and committing to a choice.

With the death penalty hanging in the balance, for more than four hours yesterday two experts offered conflicting testimony in Common Pleas Court over the question of whether convicted killer Bryan McDonald is mentally retarded. On Friday, Judge Jeffrey P. Minehart convicted McDonald of murder, attempted rape and related offenses in the death of Nicole Reilly, 15. Her bruised and battered body was found Aug. 24, 2004, in a lot between Martha and Hagert Streets in Kensington, blocks away from the neighborhood where both the teen and her killer lived.

A Queens man accused of assaulting two women in South Philadelphia, one of whom leaped from a third-floor window after being raped, in February was arrested in New York this week, police said yesterday. David Rosario, 35, who also goes by the name Julio, was arrested Wednesday and charged with rape and related offenses. Rosario is accused of attacking the two women in February after guests at an informal party had left and he refused to go, police said yesterday. The 30-year-old rape victim jumped from a third-floor window of her apartment to escape.

Aging NFL retirees told Congress yesterday that playing professional football left them with broken bodies, brain damage and empty bank accounts. Lawmakers said they may get involved if a better pension and disability system isn't created. Former players told a sympathetic House Judiciary subcommittee tales of multiple surgeries, dementia and homelessness, all while trying to fight through the red tape of the National Football League and the NFL Players Association's disability system.

The NFL hopes to conduct pre-training camp neurological tests on players to determine susceptibility to concussions. Commissioner Roger Goodell said yesterday during a meeting with sports editors in New York that the league's medical committee has been working on a way to implement mandatory tests, perhaps as early as this summer when training camps open. That comes after a session at March's league meetings in Arizona in which officials and coaches agreed that head injuries need the closest monitoring.

Anthony Jeune, the Camden Catholic High basketball standout who was involved in a serious car accident Saturday morning, remained in critical but stable condition last night at Cooper University Hospital in Camden, but one of the doctors who is treating him said the 18-year-old senior "has an excellent chance of survival and an excellent chance of recovering. " Steven Ross, a doctor at Cooper, said Jeune had shown positive signs since he was admitted to the hospital at 8:10 a.m. Saturday.

A 6-week-old Camden child was near death last night after a severe beating Saturday by her father, authorities said. Ciarra Cox was on life support at Cooper University Hospital with a fractured skull, brain damage, and several broken ribs, according to a statement of probable cause. The statement also reported that death was imminent. Clifton Cox, 25, of East Camden, was charged with aggravated assault and held at the Camden County jail after failing to post $25,000 bail, said Bill Shralow, spokesman for the Camden County Prosecutor's Office.

What caused Terri Schiavo's brain damage remains a mystery, but Florida medical authorities said yesterday the injury was "massive" and "irreversible," and left her blind. An autopsy on the former Montgomery County woman, who became the focus of a nationwide debate about life and death, found that her brain had atrophied to less than half the normal size, medical examiner Jon Thogmartin said during a news conference in Largo, Fla. "There was massive neuronal loss," Thogmartin, chief medical examiner for Pasco and Pinellas Counties, said, referring to brain cells.