Brain Injury

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- They call Elena Berezhnaya figure skating's fragile vase, a woman who lay near death with a brain injury just 15 months ago, yet who is back on the ice, skating and reaching for medals.Last night, Berezhnaya and her new Russian pairs partner, Anton Sikharulidze, brought drama to the World Figure Skating Championships. They soared into third place in the short program and the crowd stood and roared, admiring a soulful performance and acknowledging Berezhnaya's grit and grace.

A 20-year-old Baltimore man serving an 18-month prison sentence on drug distribution and gun convictions at a correctional facility in Cumberland was severely beaten there Monday and is now close to death, according to his family and state corrections officials. Jerod Pridget of East Baltimore was found unresponsive and with "severe head trauma" in his cell at the Western Correctional Institution just before noon Monday and was rushed to Western Maryland Regional Medical Center, officials said.

Medical experts outside the NFL have long disagreed - sometimes vehemently - with the findings of the league's concussion committee. Now, some of those experts will get a chance to make their points in person. Commissioner Roger Goodell has summoned physicians and athletic trainers from every team, as well as his concussion committee, to a summit on mild traumatic brain injury June 19 in Chicago. In a move that is being applauded outside NFL circles and was first reported by ESPN.

A Baltimore Circuit Court jury awarded $8 million yesterday to an 8-year-old boy who was poisoned by lead paint found in the East Eager Street house his mother rented.The 12-member jury issued the award against Michael Thompson, the landlord of the property. Mr. Thompson, of the 800 block of Wedgewood Road, could not be reached for comment, and it was unclear whether he had a lawyer. He has 30 days to appeal the jury award.Mr. Thompson didn't appear in court yesterday and has never challenged the lawsuit filed on behalf of the child on Aug. 21, 1986.

Dawn Marie Gallis doesn't remember the night she was beaten and leftfor dead, dumped in a bed of leaves beneath an old door in a wooded area in Brooklyn Park. But she says the explanation given by her attacker, who was sentenced yesterday to 10 years in prison, can't be true.David Lee Stanfield, 22, maintained that he picked up the 26-year-old woman outside a bar at closing time in Nov. 3, 1990, and droveto a secluded area, where they had sex. He says he assaulted Gallis during a fight prompted by her subsequent demand for $100.

There is no other thrill quite like it. Nothing that plummets you, hurtles you, twists you and turns you at the speeds and dizzying heights of the newest generation of roller coasters. Amusement park engineers design the swings, flips and drops to create the illusion of risk. But doctors, regulators and lawyers are saying that the danger isn't imaginary. Even as millions are flocking to parks, critics of the rides contend that thrill-seekers' brains are being rattled around in their skulls - causing the brain to bleed and tear, which could result in permanent damage or death.

The Ravens confirmed what Tom Zbikowski suggested Saturday by listing the starting strong safety as doubtful for Monday night's game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Coach John Harbaugh said Zbikowski - who has been dogged by symptoms stemming from the concussion he sustained in the Ravens' 17-point win against the New York Jets on Oct. 2 - still has not been cleared for contact. Zbikowski practiced on a limited basis for the second time this week, but he was kept out of all contact drills.

If the NFL is feeling pressure about facing hundreds of concussion-related lawsuits now, Troy Polamalu's startling admission Wednesday might have league officials feeling even more stressed about what the future holds. In a radio interview with Dan Patrick, the Pittsburgh Steeler's hard-hitting safety copped to having suffered at least eight or nine concussions during his career. And he added he expected the number to be higher by the time he retires. He also told Patrick that he had lied about having a concussion in order to get back into a game.

As a defensive tackle, Poly coach Larry Webster experienced full-contact practice almost every day of his 20-year playing career, usually twice a day. It wouldn't be easy for the former Raven to adjust to coaching a football team that could soon be limited to hitting live only once or twice a week during the regular season, one of the steps being considered by a Maryland State Department of Education task force studying ways to prevent concussions in...

Tax on tickets should aid those who are injured The Sun recently ran an article outlining Maryland House Speaker Casper R. Taylor Jr.'s proposal to fund the Hagerstown Shock Trauma Center by imposing a surcharge on traffic tickets, an idea that appears to be gaining momentum with legislators ("Trauma surgeons' payment discussed," Aug. 23). A similar plan has been proposed the past two years as part of legislation sponsored by state Sen. Delores G. Kelley and Del. Jacob J. Mohorovic Jr. Their bill would fund critically needed services for the 6,000 Marylanders who suffer a traumatic brain injury each year through a traffic ticket surcharge.