Headaches

A dream had carried the boys so far from home, some 5,000 miles across the ocean to a cramped and dingy apartment in Philadelphia: a hope that ice hockey could change their lives. Ivan Pravilov could fulfill that dream, they were told. He could take them from the daily grind of post-communist Ukraine to the gleaming ice of the NHL. He'd done it before. He'd done if for Andrei Zyuzin, who went on to play for six NHL teams. He'd done it for Konstantin Kalmikov, a third-round draft pick of the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1996.

If you're one of the 18 million Americans who suffer from migraines, you might find some relief by changing what you eat, suggests Ladies' Home Journal magazine. About 30 percent of migraines appear to be triggered by food. (Other causes include hormonal changes, stress, excessive smoking, even strong odors and bright lights.) Listed here are the most common troublemakers for people who are prone to migraines. CHOCOLATE: It contains phenylethylamine, which constricts blood vessels in the head.

Flyers star defenseman Chris Pronger will visit with two Pittsburgh concussion specialists on Wednesday, and the club hopes they can explain the cause of his headaches. A local doctor on Monday said a blow to the eye - which Pronger suffered on Oct. 24 against Toronto - can cause a concussion. After taking an inadvertent stick to the eye and missing six games, Pronger returned and played five games. He was then sidelined because the team said he was suffering from a virus.

NutraSweet, the popular sugar substitute that has been a center of controversy since it was allowed on the market, does not cause severe headaches, according to a new study. Researchers, whose work was financed by the National Institutes of Health and the NutraSweet Co., tested people who believed that NutraSweet, which is known generically as aspartame, gave them headaches and found they were just as likely to get headaches after consuming dummy substitutes. The conclusion of researchers at Duke University in North Carolina was the second vote of confidence for NutraSweet last week.

Let's be frank for a moment. It might be nice if Philadelphia hosted the 2004 Democratic National Convention. But the Dems would have to spend mighty liberally if they came here, because with its financial woes and urban wounds, the city simply cannot afford wooing and holding a convention in the near future. The city had to raise $66 million in 2000 for the GOP convention, largely with the help of potent former Gov. Tom Ridge. His successor, lame duck Gov. Schweiker, is preoccupied with a state debt and a promise of $75 million for Philadelphia schools.

Common Pleas Judge Court Leon Katz ruled yesterday that a woman had failed to prove that she was unable to use psychic powers she said she possessed because of a reaction she suffered to medical tests performed 10 years ago. Katz ruled that the jury could not award Judith Richardson Haimes damages from Temple University Hospital and a staff physician, based on the loss of her business as a professional psychic. Katz ruled shortly after Haimes had rested her case that she "has failed to produce any expert testimony that her headaches and subsequent inability to practice her occupation as a psychic were caused by the defendants' conduct.

About 100 people were evacuated Monday from the Acme grocery store at the Lawrence Park Shopping Center after noxious fumes caused headaches, dizziness and vomiting among customers and employees. Fourteen people reported lung and eye irritation, which was caused by an unidentified substance. Nine were taken to Mercy Haverford Hospital, of whom three were admitted for observation even though they were listed in good condition. The hospitalized adults were released yesterday morning, said hospital spokeswoman Rebecca Rabalsky.

There's a vein in Dave Hisler's right temple. Around Malvern Prep, and especially to members of the track team, it's known as "the vein. " Hisler, the Inter-Ac League's top sprinter, has asthma. When he runs, he gets pounding, vein-popping, asthma-induced migraine headaches. The harder he runs, the more his head hurts. "I'll be fine during a race and for a minute or two afterwards," Hisler said. "Then, all of a sudden, my head starts pounding. It kills me. The vein (in his temple)

Sports and concussions are a common combination. A 1991 survey by the National Center for Health Statistics found that 300,000 Americans had suffered a concussion involving loss of consciousness while engaged in sports or recreational activities during the previous year. The technical definition of a concussion, said Thomas Gennarelli, the Flyers' team neurosurgeon, is a "temporary disturbance of neurological function due to trauma. " Concussions occur when the head moves violently.

As she stood to speak in the Great Hall of Bryn Mawr College's M. Carey Thomas Library yesterday afternoon, graduate student Amanda Adams complained of burning in her sinuses and a headache. They are symptoms she is familiar with, she said. And she also thinks she knows the cause: studying and working in the building. She is not the only one. Shortly after renovation work was begun on cavernous Great Hall in December, students and faculty and staff members say they have been bothered by various ills, from memory loss to respiratory problems.

With each passing day, the list of plaintiffs filing concussion lawsuits against the NFL grows. At last check, more than 2,100 former players have filed suit against the league in 74 separate lawsuits, most of which have been consolidated in federal court in Philadelphia. By the end of the summer, the number of plaintiffs could exceed 3,000. The list of plaintiffs includes Hall of Famers like Lem Barney and Joe DeLamielleure and Rickey Jackson and Paul Krause, and Super Bowl MVPs like Mark Rypien and Dexter Jackson.

It is a sight that is quickly getting old in this series. Boston's Kevin Garnett is out near the free-throw line just in time to welcome the basketball into his hands. Then, in a mad dash, Sixers center Spencer Hawes - or whichever Sixer is assigned the job of making Garnett's work a little more difficult than it seems - runs at him, arms outstretched in an effort to disrupt his rhythm. But the end result is pretty much the same. Swish. Two more points. The Celtics have gotten two very good performances from Rajon Rondo, and on Wednesday, in their Game 3 rout of the Sixers, Paul Pierce awoke from the slumber of shooting 5 for 20 through the first two games to score 24 points as the Celtics took a two-games-to-one lead in the best-of-seven, second-round playoff series.

MENTAWAI ISLANDS, Indonesia - Mamat Evendi straps on his primitive breathing device: a garden hose attached to a compressor on the back of his wooden fishing boat. Pulling down his goggles, he splashes into the crystal blue water. A few minutes later he's flashing a thumbs-up, pointing first to a massive, coral-encrusted anchor, then a bronze cannon and finally, peeking up from the sand, the buried deck of a 17th-century European ship. Nearby are pieces of blue-and-white ceramics. A tiny perfume bottle.

The rising cost of health insurance has been at the top of the worst-problems list for small-business owners for more than a decade. Every five years, the National Federation of Independent Business has surveyed its 350,000 member firms to identify top problems. On a random list of 75 problems, the cost of health insurance has always ranked among the worst. And, it will probably continue to hold top billing with the new health-care law, regardless of how the Supreme Court rules on its constitutionality.

If Drexel, now tied for first place in the Colonial Athletic Association, keeps winning basketball games but doesn't win the conference tournament, the NCAA selection committee will have a big job on its hands. The gap between Drexel's schedule on paper and its ability on the court could be the widest in college basketball. Ultimately, the committee will have to choose between the schedule and the team itself - and that could be bad news for the Dragons. No doubt, Drexel's Bracket Buster game at Cleveland State on Saturday is a must-not-lose.

Hundreds of Philadelphia's biggest commercial property owners have appealed their current property taxes, creating painful financial uncertainty for a city and school district already battered by budget cuts. The owners, including the landlords of nine of the city's 10 most valuable properties, are trying to benefit from a ruling last summer by an obscure state board that could trim property-tax collections this year, possibly by as much as $80 million, based on pending appeals on nonresidential tax bills.

The headaches and dizziness that made it difficult for him to even get out of bed now gone, Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Kris Letang returned to practice Tuesday for the first time in nearly two months after a concussion suffered against Montreal in late November. Letang was greeted by a chorus of sticks clacking on the ice when he joined his teammates on the Consol Energy Center surface in Pittsburgh. The 24-year-old Letang hasn't played since taking an elbow to the head on Nov. 26. "It's been a rough time, honestly, sitting at home," Letang said.

When 3D TVs were introduced in 2009, it seemed only a matter of time until we would all be wearing sunglasses at night. But things change at laser speed in the $190 billion-per-year consumer-electronics industry. Now, despite steep holiday discounts, the enhanced 3D models are struggling to hold on to market share. The special-effect sets - which sell for $1,000 to $4,000 - are prisoners of their own technology. "As the prices have come down, the new barriers [for customers]

Flyers star defenseman Chris Pronger will visit with two Pittsburgh concussion specialists on Wednesday, and the club hopes they can explain the cause of his headaches. A local doctor on Monday said a blow to the eye - which Pronger suffered on Oct. 24 against Toronto - can cause a concussion. After taking an inadvertent stick to the eye and missing six games, Pronger returned and played five games. He was then sidelined because the team said he was suffering from a virus.