Chest

I have a chronic dull ache around the left side of my breastbone, which sometimes radiates to my shoulder. What could cause this, and what treatment would you recommend? There are many causes of chronic chest pain. Two of the most common are costochondritis (inflammation of the cartilage attaching the ribs to the sternum or breastbone) and intercostal myalgia (an irritation of the muscles between the ribs). These diagnoses are often difficult to establish because the pains are vague and there are no confirming lab tests.

Defense lawyers produced computer-enhanced photographs yesterday purporting to show the word "Bryan" carved in script less than a half-inch long on Myla Friedman's chest. The defense contends the word was carved by a knife-wielding Bryan Edwards during a life-and-death struggle that led to Edwards' being shot to death. The bizarre twist in Friedman's murder trial came hours before defense attorneys Dennis Cogan and Norris Gelman rested their case after a 3 1/2-week trial before Common Pleas Judge Juanita Kidd Stout, who is hearing the case without a jury.

Police are investigating the death of 21-year-old man found in his Kensington home with a puncture wound in his chest. Firefighters first responded to a medical call for someone who had stopped breathing at the house on the 2600 block about 7:45 a.m., officials said. But after the man was pronounced dead at 8 a.m., a police crime scene unit was called to the address. Police said that while the man had a puncture would to the chest, investigators are awaiting the results of an autopsy to establish the cause of death.

A man was in critical condition after being shot in the chest late Thursday afternoon in the city's Wissinoming section, police said. The shooting happened shortly after 5 p.m. in the 5700 block of Ditman Street, police said. The victim, whose age was not immediately available, was taken to Aria Health-Torresdale Campus. No arrests were reported. - Robert Moran

Police are investigating the murder of a Tacony man inside a home Friday night. About 11:30 p.m., police found a 50-year-old man stabbed once in the chest inside a residence in the 6200 block of Cottage Street, police said. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Police have not released the victim's name or any motive or suspects. - Mike Newall

If you have a few thousand burning a hole in your pocket and you love auctions, you have two items next week on which to bid: a walnut chest of drawers that belonged to an early governor of Delaware and a 50-year-old first edition of Whiz Comics. The winning bids for the two pieces are expected to be about the same - anywhere from $18,000 to $25,000. The chest of drawers will be offered by Pook & Pook Inc., next Saturday at the second session of a two-day sale at the Ludwig's Corner Fire Company social hall.

Whenever the names Whitney, Rockefeller or Vanderbilt appear in an ad for an estate sale, it is worth checking out. The Elizabeth Whitney Tippett estate sale held at Weschler's in Washington last month was a good example. At first glance the sale appeared to be a typical auction of the contents of a country house. But among the American and English furniture, the silver, the English sporting pictures, Staffordshire figures, gold hunting trophies - and a tribe of weathered cigar-store Indians - was a very rare Pennsylvania painted chest of drawers.

A woman was shot outside a Northeast Philadelphia apartment yesterday during a prank that police said was linked to an ethnic tradition. Police said Dingus Day, celebrated Easter Monday by some Polish people, includes soaking friends, relatives or neighbors with water in fun. Yesterday, when Dolores Montone, 49, startled a friend by throwing water on him, he accidentally shot her in the chest with a handgun, police said. Montone was treated at Frankford Hospital's Torresdale Campus and later released.

Yes, Dolly Parton says, she has had plastic surgery - "nips and tucks and trims and sucks . . . eyes and chin and back again. " And there's more where that came from in Parton's new autobiography, "Dolly: My Life and Other Unfinished Business. " "It is not only a right but an obligation for a woman, especially a woman in the public eye, to look as good as she can. It's like keeping up a racehorse or a show dog. " So yes, Parton says, she has had her breasts done, too. "I said, 'Do whatever you have to do to make 'em firm, make 'em stand up. "'

Boston Red Sox manager Terry Francona, who was taken to a New York hospital from Yankee Stadium yesterday morning with "stiffness" in his chest, won't travel with the team to Toronto for its weekend series, Glenn Geffner, a Red Sox spokesman, said. Francona, 45, was "resting comfortably" at the Cornell Medical Center and awaiting test results, Geffner said. The former Phillies manager will be transferred by helicopter to a hospital in Boston. He will be admitted under the supervision of Red Sox physician Thomas Gill.

These inexpensive gadgets will help you maximize summer fitness goals. They travel easily, too. 1. ePulse2 The first strapless, continuous heart-rate monitor, pedometer and calorimeter. No more chest strap, no more complicated watch, no more periodic heart-rate measurements. Strap this baby on your arm and watch it go to work. Three for one, under $100. 2. WEIGHTED JUMP ROPE Takes personal fitness into the stratosphere - if you are up for a challenge. Torches calories, significantly increases strength and improves coordination, agility and endurance.

PHILADELPHIA A 15-year-old boy was shot in the chest Sunday afternoon in the 400 block of East Washington Lane in the city's East Germantown section, police said. The boy, whom police have not identified, was shot once in the left side of the chest at 3:30 p.m. and was listed in extremely critical condition at Einstein Medical Center Sunday evening. - Claudia Vargas

DEAR ABBY: Before we met, my girlfriend got large breast implants. I think they're a terrible turnoff, but I don't know how to tell her. Should I try to overlook this because I love her, or can I tell her the truth about why our love life is sometimes not so hot? She walks around the house bare-chested and obviously thinks I find her breasts a big turn-on. I have faked it for five years. What should I do? - Not That Excited in Colorado DEAR NOT THAT EXCITED: Your letter is a lesson about the danger of "faking it. " Level with your girlfriend, but without using the words "terrible" and "turnoff.

NASCAR drivers do it. So does the WNBA and English Premier League soccer. Why not politicians? A petition posted today on the White House website cheekily proposes that politicos wear patches that would display the names of their individual and corporate sponsors. Any politician receiving money from big private interests would be required to wear the patches during all official duties and visits to constituents. It's not the first time someone has come up with the idea ( change.org circulated a similar petition last year)

FORMER ATHLETE-turned-restaurant manager Stephanie Varela, 29, attributed her sweating, shortness of breath and slight chest pains to the stress of hard work and rushing around. Neither she nor the paramedics would realize she was having a heart attack. It happened on a Saturday evening last September, the Philadelphia resident recalled recently. "I was on the phone trying to calm down an irate guest, and the minute I hung up, it felt like someone was sitting on my chest. I felt this stabbing pain in my shoulder that traveled down to my arm, elbow and finally to my fingers, which went numb.

A 23-year-old man was in critical condition with multiple stab wounds after an attack early Sunday morning in Southwest Philadelphia. The stabbing occurred shortly after midnight on the 6400 block of Woodland Avenue. Police said the victim was stabbed in the face, chest, back, and left arm. He was taken to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, where he was listed in critical condition. No arrests had been made.   Contact Jonathan Lai at 856-779-3220, jlai@phillynews.com , or on Twitter @elaijuh.

Philadelphia police were trying Sunday to identify a man who was shot and killed Saturday afternoon in North Philadelphia. The victim, a black man who appeared to be in his 20s, was shot once in the chest around 3:45 p.m. in the 5900 block of East Wister Street, police said. He was pronounced dead minutes later at Einstein Medical Center. There were no suspects. - John P. Martin

Homicide detectives were investigating the fatal Saturday afternoon shooting of a man in the Germantown section of Philadelphia. Investigators said the shooting happened about 3:45 p.m. on the 5900 block of East Wister Street. The victim was reportedly shot once in the chest. He was taken to Einstein Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead just after 4 p.m. The victim's identity was being withheld until police notified his family.    - Suzette Parmley

A young man was in critical condition after being shot through the chest Saturday in Northeast Philadelphia, police said. The man, whom police did not identify, was struck in the right side of the chest by a bullet that exited out his back. The shooting took place at 1:39 p.m. in the 2600 block of Welsh Road, police said. The man, believed to be about 20, was transported to Aria Health-Torresdale Campus. - Jonathan Lai