Laser

The latest solution to chronic snoring that doesn't respond to other treatments is surgery. But laser-assisted uvulo-palatoplasty isn't as drastic as its name sounds. The laser operation "is like a facelift for the back of the throat," said Dr. Marvin Fried of Boston, chairman of the laser committee for the American Academy of Otolaryngology. In Philadelphia, doctors at Pennsylvania Hospital and Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, among others, are using the procedure. Of the 50 patients treated at Pennsylvania Hospital, according to otolaryngologist Dr. Marc Rosen, 85 percent have been cured by this surgery.

Greg Maddux has told the Atlanta Braves he would like to undergo corrective laser eye surgery so he would no longer have to wear contact lenses. "He's been talking about it since he got down here," manager Bobby Cox said yesterday. "I don't know if he'll have it. " Maddux, who wears contact lenses when pitching and small, wire-rimmed glasses off the field, has said if he had the surgery he probably wouldn't even miss a start. "It's no big deal," Maddux told the Orlando Sentinel.

A former Edison High School student with no previous criminal record has been ordered to spend a year and a half in federal prison for pointing a green laser light into the cockpit of a city police helicopter in October 2008. It was unclear whether Lenny Tavarez, 22, of Philadelphia, knew that it was a police helicopter or that the laser could cause a crash. Police Lt. Anthony Ginaldi said he was temporarily blinded and lost control of the aircraft until colleague Chris Clemens took control as they flew over a city neighborhood.

Q: My son has warts on the bottom of his foot. He has been treated with chemicals and freezing without success. The doctor wants to use a laser to cut them out. Is it safe? A: Warts on the sole of the foot are called plantar warts and are often difficult to cure. Warts caused by a virus can appear anywhere on the body but are especially painful on the sole of the foot. They can be differentiated from a simple callus by the pain elicited by squeezing them. Slow growing, warts usually disappear without any treatment over a period of six months to two years, but can often spread if picked at. They can be treated by local application of acids (most commonly made from aspirin)

The Pentagon is designing a portable laser that will enable U.S. troops to temporarily blind enemy soldiers and their growing arsenal of light-sensitive weapons, according to congressional testimony. The first-of-its-kind program, dubbed "Dazer" by Army officials, is designed to "flash-blind" enemy troops and render the growing number of light-intensifying battlefield sensors temporarily inoperative, an Army spokesman said. "It's not a lethal weapon - it's not going to blind a person permanently," said the spokesman, Maj. Richard Bridges.

Robert Levis is a bandleader of sorts. His instruments are lasers. And his goal is to make molecules dance. At Temple University, Levis shoots high-energy, ultra-fast lasers to break apart molecules and sometimes recombine them into new forms not found in nature. Among the possibilities: new drugs, ultra-small computer circuitry, and movies that can actually show the movement of subatomic particles. Levis, 42, head of Temple's chemistry department, is one of a handful of scientists using finely tuned lasers to tweak the very building blocks of matter.

It's light-up time on the Parkway at 8 tonight as developer Willard Rouse 3rd salutes the almost-completion of One Liberty Place with a laser and fireworks show. The 13-minute show, staged from Eakins Oval at the base of the Art Museum steps, will be choreographed to George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue. " Laser beams will bounce off reflecting plates on the 58th floor of the city's tallest skyscraper, under construction at 17th and Market streets. The city has decided the show will be a traffic-stopper.

SOMETHING'S amiss, something's awry. Elton John's specs are no longer, thanks to his eyes. John, who has used part of his performance earnings to accumulate eyewear, says he plans to have laser surgery in February so that he won't need to use his 4,000 eyepieces. "I'm so fed up with 'Where are they?' I can't see anything, so why wait?" he said yesterday in a televised interview. How could he miss eyeglasses with flashing lights? Or mini-wipers and sun visors? How, we ask!

Tony Zulli's 1987 bypass surgery cleared up the pain that shot through his left leg whenever he walked - but not before it knocked him out of action for a while. He spent 14 days in the hospital and another three weeks recuperating at home before resuming normal activities, and he had to put himself through the strain of a three-hour operation, general anesthesia and post-operative pain. But on Tuesday, just four days after having the same sort of artery blockage corrected in his right leg, Zulli was headed home to Fox Chase from Metropolitan Hospital-Parkview.

CEP Industries Inc., a Gloucester Township company that develops and markets video laser-technology products, has filed for protection from its creditors under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. In its petition filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Camden, the company listed assets of $295,000 and liabilities of $6 million. CEP's largest creditors are Momentum Manufacturing of Herkimer, N.Y., which is owed $3.12 million, and Vidmar Inc. of Blackwood, which is owed $1.4 million.

3-D LASER lights, drive-in movies and sports complexes don't usually mix, though they sound as if they should, don't they? This weekend, the three converge for a multimedia music experience, "Laser Light Show," in a parking lot near Citizens Bank Park. With more than 10 acclaimed DJs performing house and electronica music, plus live rock bands, this event will make tremendous noise. Headliner DJ Scotto is producer of one of New York's first electronica dance-music events, Nocturnal Audio Sensory Awakening (a/k/a/ N.A.S.A)

On the second night of the university's three-stop Anger Management tour, an anguished alumnus said: "He's the single most important Penn Stater in the history of the university. " Paul Berg, winner of the 1980 Nobel Prize in chemistry? Sweater-vesting Rick Santorum? No, Joe Paterno, the football coach who put the "Happy" in Happy Valley and then, with his November ouster in the wake of the school's sex-abuse scandal and cover-up, turned Penn State nation truly blue. Sadly, the graduate is correct.

Thirty-year-old Canadian Joel Zimmerman probably didn't start life wanting to lead a nation of techno-house fanatics to distraction. Heck, there was barely a nation of electro-fans to speak of when the Ontario-born producer began making music. And once he strapped on a giant mouse head, adopting a new persona, things changed. He became larger than life, bigger than the catchy but minimal progressive house sounds and laser-filled shows he became known for. Deadmau5 (pronounced "dead mouse")

NEWARK, N.J. - Authorities are investigating two reports of lasers being pointed at aircraft bound for Newark Liberty International Airport. Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Jim Peters says the crew of United Airlines Flight 330 reported seeing a laser pointed at the aircraft about 15 miles southwest of the airport shortly after 8 p.m. Tuesday. The plane landed safely at Newark. A Cessna corporate jet en route from Dallas to Newark reported illumination by a green laser around 9 p.m. about 21/2 miles from Somerset Airport.

A man was arrested for shining a laser pointer at an officer as he drove his squad car in Fairhill, police said Wednesday. A sergeant in the 25th District was responding to a call for backup about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday on Mutter Street near Somerset when a blinding light caused him to slam on the brakes. "When he was able to regain his sight, he noticed that somebody was shining a laser directly into his line of vision," said Capt. Frank Vanore, supervising officer of the 25th District.

The Ocean City, N.J., Council has adopted an ordinance banning the sale or possession of high-powered laser pointers in the Shore town. The measure approved Thursday was prompted by an incident in which a man shined a laser at a Coast Guard helicopter last month. Lasers pointed at cockpits can blind pilots and have caused aborted missions. The ordinance outlaws the sale and possession of laser pointers that exceed one milliwatt of output. They're mostly green lasers, not the less-powerful red and yellow varieties.

The Ocean City Council has adopted an ordinance banning the sale or possession of high-powered laser pointers in the Shore town. The measure approved Thursday was prompted by an incident in which a man shined a laser at a Coast Guard helicopter last month. Lasers pointed at cockpits can potentially blind pilots and have caused aborted missions. The new ordinance outlaws the sale and possession of laser pointers that exceed 1 milliwatt of output. They're mostly green lasers, not the less-powerful red and yellow varieties.