Brain

BURBANK — As a 27-year-old Eagle Rock woman suspected of slaying her 20-month-old baby awaited arraignment, the woman’s father was distraught over charges he said are unbelievable. Ana Regina Lim was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of murder after County-USC Medical Center doctors declared her daughter, Mikea Lim, brain-dead on Tuesday. Mikea had been in a coma since March 5, when her grandparents took her from their Glendale home — where the mother and child were staying — to Glendale Memorial Hospital with head injuries, police said.

GLENDALE — A 27-year-old Eagle Rock woman was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of murder after police said she caused head injuries to her 20-month-old baby that have doctors keeping the child alive artificially. Ana Regina Lim was arrested after County-USC Medical Center doctors declared her daughter, Mikea Lim, brain-dead on Tuesday, Glendale Police Officer John Balian said. Mikea had been in a coma since March 5, when her grandparents took her from their Glendale home — where the mother and child were staying — to Glendale Memorial Hospital with head injuries, Balian said.

GLENDALE — Tom Fry, a longtime staple in the Flintridge Prep community as a coach and teacher, who was revered by colleagues and his family, lost a seven-month battle with a malignant brain tumor Wednesday night. He was 52. Fry, a 1975 Crescenta Valley High and 1979 Occidental College graduate, died at his brother’s home in La Cañada Flintridge. He had taught history and served as an assistant football coach after joining Flintridge Prep in 1990. Fry, who was active in numerous sporting and academic events at Flintridge Prep, was diagnosed with a tumor in late March before undergoing surgery in early April at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, Rick Fry, one of Tom’s two older brothers, said.

Instructor Curtis Adney places a transparent copy of his high school report card on the overhead projector. Not a pretty picture. Three Ds and two Fs. Then Adney places another transparent copy of another report card, this time from College of the Sequoias. Straight A’s. “Everyone has the brain power to get all A’s,” Adney says. “Everyone in this class has the natural brain capacity to get all A’s in school.” For students, the ability to turn grades around is as simple as making key lifestyle and academic changes, with a few tips and tricks along the way. Such is the cornerstone of Adney’s class, Natural A’s, at Toll Middle School Monday afternoons, presented by the Glendale Community College Services Education Program.

Unable to walk or talk, 8-year-old Aidan Leung may be headed to a precedent-setting case before the California Supreme Court that centers on a lawsuit in which his family won an estimated $96-million judgment against Verdugo Hills Hospital for negligence shortly after he was born. [Correction appended. See below for details.] An appellate court wiped out that verdict on March 23, reducing the hospital’s liability to about $100,000. But in an unusual step, the justices asked the Supreme Court to reverse their ruling and “repudiate” a decades-old legal maxim, called the release rule.

NORTHEAST GLENDALE ? Dora Camp calls it the hidden injury. "With brain damage, you don't limp, there are no cuts on your face ? but the injury is there," she said. And because it is difficult to detect when someone has a brain injury just by looking at them, many sufferers try to pretend like nothing is wrong so they appear "normal," Camp said. But this 65-year-old La Crescenta resident is on a mission to educate the public on brain injuries, and help those with brain damage integrate back into the community.

Jackson Bell When rescuing stroke victims, Glendale Fire paramedics will soon be equipped with a critical new tool to minimize brain damage. The Fire Department is participating in a countywide clinical trial that will allow paramedics to administer magnesium sulfate to stroke victims before they get to the hospital. The treatment, called the Field Administration of Stroke Therapy -- Magnesium Phase 3 Clinical Trial, is expected to begin by late spring.

The key to medical advancement is not only the invention and discovery of new methods but also the skilled physician who is willing to learn and enter the latest frontiers of medicine. Onyx, a liquid embolic material, is one of those new discoveries available for patients with cerebral aneurysms, classified as “wide-neck.” George Rappard M.D., a neuroendovascular surgeon from La Cañada Flintridge, performed the first aneurysm embolization surgery using Onyx in California on Sept.

Crescenta Valley High School’s substance abuse problems are typical of substance abuse in schools across America. Fifty years ago, the biggest disciplinary problems in schools were chewing gum, throwing paper wads, getting out of line and talking in class. Now the biggest problems are substance abuse, weapons, violence, obesity, pregnancy, dropping out and suicide. How could a system managed by supposedly smart people become so dumb? Once pillars of pride in our communities, many schools are now more like prisons with high fences, metal detectors, police presence and now drug testing (“Another way to say no,” Dec. 23)