It’s being hailed as one of the most dramatic breakthroughs in the use of stem cell therapy to treat medical conditions. A group of Italian researchers announced this week that they have successfully used stem cell therapy to reverse blindness caused as a result of burn injuries to the eye.

The researchers treated these patients with transplants consisting of the patient’s own stem cells. In all, 107 patients were treated with stem cell therapy to treat their blindness. The treatment was found to be completely successful in 82 of the patients, and partially successful in 14 others. The researchers monitored the patients over a period of years, and found that in some patients, the benefits of the stem cell therapy lasted for up to 10 years.

These persons had become blind because of burn injuries to the eye from splashing heavy-duty cleansers and cleaning solutions at home or in the workplace. These burn injuries had caused corneal damage, and until now, the only treatment programs that these patients could hope for, were corneal transplants in which the patients received artificial corneas, or stem cell transplants from a cadaver. Both procedures are very risky. In a corneal transplant, there's always the risk of infection and glaucoma, while in a stem cell transplant from a cadaver, there is a high risk of rejection.

In this new study however, researchers used stem cells from the healthy eye, and transplanted these into the damaged eye. That means there was no chance of rejection. However, the patients who might benefit from this therapy need to have at least one healthy eye. This treatment will not work in persons who are blind in both eyes. It can also offer no benefits to persons with optic nerve damage or macular degeneration.

Stem cell therapy has been used with some degree of success in treating a number of cancers, and research into its use is ongoing in the treatment of brain injury, spinal cord injury and other debilitating injuries. However, its use in the treatment of blindness and eye injuries has been relatively low profile, at least until now. California burn injury lawyers, who follow stem cell therapy research initiatives, will be very encouraged at these new developments.

The death of a California letter carrier earlier this month, after a serious injury sustained during a dog bite in May, has once again highlighted the special dangers that postal workers face from vicious dogs.

Eddie Lin had been going about his normal mail delivery duties on May 23rd, when he happened to catch the attention of a Rottweiler in a house. What happened next was the stuff of every letter carrier's nightmare. The animal managed to make its way out of the house, and chased Lin down the road. It finally lunged at the letter carrier, knocking him to the ground. Lin hit his head on the ground, and suffered serious brain injuries. He was found by a passerby a little while later. He was rushed to the hospital, where he remained in intensive care until he died on June 3rd. It's not known yet if the Rottweiler managed to bite Lynn.

Oceanside police are investigating the incident, and the US Postal Inspection Service has already started its investigations into the attack. The Rottweiler has since been euthanized. Police have not determined if they are going to bring criminal charges against the owner of the dog.

The attack came just at the end of National Dog Bite Prevention Week, a nationwide effort supported by dog bite attorneys in Los Angeles, and aimed at bringing attention to the approximately 1.4 million dog bites that occur in the US every year. Postal workers, because of the nature of their duties, are at a much higher risk of suffering a dog bite than the general population. According to the Postal Service, last year more than 2,800 mail carriers suffered dog bite incidents. Letter carriers in California seem to be especially prone to dog bite attacks. Most of these attacks occurred in the Orange County and Los Angeles county areas.

There is much that property owners can do to prevent their dogs from attacking postal workers. Have warning signs posted outside the gate, informing visitors of a dog on the premises. Make sure your dog is totally secured when the mail carrier comes in to deliver the mail. Make sure your dog is restrained, and unable to escape your property.

It's back to Scandal Island for Britney Spears. This time, the troubled pop queen is facing the prospect of an embarrassing sexual harassment lawsuit filed by a former bodyguard. The bodyguard in question, 29-year-old Fernando Flores alleges that he was the object of unwanted attention from the pop queen. Flores has just quit his job as Spears’ bodyguard.

Flores has not yet gone ahead with his sexual harassment lawsuit against Spears, but is reportedly considering doing so. According to his friends and family, Spears had a propensity for parading around naked in front of him. She often made unwelcome advances, including inviting him into the bedroom. Flores says he was under constant pressure to respond to her advances, and feared that if he didn't do so, he would lose his job.

Being bodyguard to one of the world's most desirable women might be a dream job for many, but Flores says it was a complete nightmare. She constantly ran around the house without any clothes on, and was always yelling at her bodyguards. However, he bore it all until the day Spears was photographed without wearing underclothes. Her father blamed her bodyguards, including Flores, for allowing her to run out of the house without wearing a bra. While all the bodyguards seem to have taken the brunt of Spears’ behavior, it seems to have been Flores to whom Spears took a special liking.

Inviting someone into your bedroom and running around naked in front of them might constitute harassment under California law. Typically, a Los Angeles sexual harassment lawyer might be able to file a claim if the situation includes:

• Unwanted sexual advances
• Making comments of a sexual nature
• Making sexual slurs
• Making obscene gestures
• Making offers of promotions and other employment benefits in exchange for sexual favors
• Making threats after the victim rejects sexual advances
• Mistreatment based on gender
• Physical harassment by touching and groping

There are many factors that Metrolink accident lawyers would blame for the declining standards of safety recently on Southern California’s commuter system. These include lack of oversight, regulatory apathy, and poor employee training. It seems like we can also add sabotage to that list. According to Metrolink, one of its engineers was found tampering with the surveillance cameras that were recently installed in response to the deadly Chatsworth train accident in 2008.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the engineer who works for an operating contractor was found trying to block the cameras at least three times. The engineer has now been barred from working on any Metrolink train. This was not the first time that engineers and conductors have been found trying to sabotage - which is what this really is - video surveillance systems. In March, another engineer was found trying to use a piece of paper to block the camera. Investigations into that incident are still ongoing.

Any Los Angeles personal injury attorney would be shocked to learn that this particular engineer is still running Metrolink trains. We’re almost afraid to ask why this engineer is still being allowed to run the trains. It shouldn't take an investigation to know when a crew member simply does not believe in high adherence to safety standards. It was an engineer texting at the controls of the train that resulted in the deadly crash which killed 25 people and injured more than 130 others. It was the deadliest train accident in Southern California in recent history, and soon after, Metrolink installed the surveillance cameras.

The unions have been opposed to the surveillance cameras from the very beginning. In fact, the union currently has a lawsuit pending against the use of the surveillance cameras. Earlier this year, the union also created a ruckus over the use of psychological assessment testing to screen potential candidates for important operator positions at Metrolink.

The next step in the battle against distracted driving seems to be The Pledge. Talk show queen Oprah Winfrey set off the trend on 30 April this year, when her show featured a special segment called “National No Phone Zone Day.”

On that show, which was graced by the likes of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, as well as representatives of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Governor’s Highway Safety Association, Oprah took the pledge to never use a cell phone while driving and to make the car a “no phone zone.” She also asked for viewers to do the same. People were asked to sign up for the pledge on the website, and promise never to use their cell phones while at the wheel.

This week, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa took the pledge to never indulge in text messaging while driving, although not on Oprah's website. The mayor has written a special piece for Huffington Post, announcing his pledge and calling on the more than 37,000 employees of the city to do the same. The mayor is taking part in a special anti-distracted driving campaign by AT&T to combat texting while driving. The campaign is supported by the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles Fire Department. These are some of the people who see firsthand the effects of texting while driving-related accidents.

Any Los Angeles personal injury attorney however, will be even more excited to note that the Los Angeles Unified School District is participating in the campaign. Teenagers are some of the biggest users of texting devices, and distracted driving has added another risk to the already high accident potential of these motorists. Getting school authorities to become more involved not just in raising awareness about the problem, but in nudging students to switch off their cell phones while driving, is no small feat, and is likely to reap great results.

Here is a list that won't have too many surprises for any Los Angeles personal injury attorney. Thedailybeast.com has compiled a list of the top 100 deadliest and most crash-prone highways in the country. At least two California highways feature in the top 10 on the list.

The list rates highways based on the number of fatal accidents that occurred on the highways during summer between 2004 and 2008, the number of fatal accidents per mile, and the total number of fatalities that occurred on the highway. The data includes accident information during June, July and August of 2004, through June, July and August of 2008.

Interstate 15 in California comes in at number four on the list. This highway runs across more than 207 miles. Between summer of 2004 and summer of 2008, there were 437 fatal accidents on this stretch of highway, and these resulted in a total of 506 fatalities. That made it an average of 1.52 fatal accidents per mile.

At number five was Interstate 10 which runs across more than 242 in-state miles. Between summer of 2004 and summer 2008, there were a total of 341 fatal accidents on this road and these resulted in a total of 387 fatalities. This highway had an average of 1.41 fatal accidents per mile. There are a number of other California highways that feature in the top 100.

Not all the highways are dangerous because they are badly maintained or poorly designed. In fact, California has a pretty decent record in road maintenance. Some states like New Jersey have traditionally had some of the worst highways in the country. That's why you find so many New Jersey highways on the list.

However, California’s highways might be more dangerous because they're used by larger numbers of motorists. There are other internal factors that contribute to high fatality rates on a highway. For instance, low seat belt usage rates translate into high fatality numbers. That means that there are some highways in the country on which failing to buckle up, could be akin to suicide.

No birthday party is complete without a bouncy house or bouncy castle. More and more parents actually install these at their homes for their children to frolic in. However, these cute looking inflatable rides are responsible for injuring tens of thousands of children every year. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, more than 30,000 children are injured in these inflatable rides every year. Of these, about 85% involve children below 15 years old.

According to California ride inspectors, the biggest factors in inflatable ride injuries are poor installation of the ride. These rides are often found in local community-run carnivals, where the standards of safety may be lacking. For instance, inflatable rides are meant to be held down using sandbags and stakes. However, it's not uncommon to find rides being held down by buckets of water. Improper inflation procedures can end with the bouncy house deflating, injuring children.

Inflatable ride injuries also often occur when children hurt themselves after other children fall while on them. This especially occurs when there are too many children on a single ride. A larger, heavier child can easily fall on smaller ones with serious injuries, including spinal cord injuries and head injuries. Children may fall off the inflatable ride on the surrounding concrete, and hurt themselves. These injuries can be prevented if the ground around the ride has been padded. However not every amusement park or carnival will take great care with safety precautions, especially when it comes to inflatable rides that look reasonably safe.

Los Angeles personal injury attorneys believe that it’s important for parents to inspect an inflatable ride before allowing their children on it. If the ride is crowded with far too many children, look for another ride. Also, avoid a ride that has several bigger children playing with smaller ones. The ground around the ride must preferably be padded, and not made of hard concrete. Also, look at the ride operator. If he seems preoccupied and least interested in the behavior of the children on the ride, you might be in for trouble.

Sometimes a good deed just won't go unpunished.

A man went to check on an alarm he heard two doors down from his home, and was attacked by a police dog which bit through his little finger. A nerve was injured in the bite.

Kevin Oglesby says he heard an alarm go off and went to check on his neighbor's property before going back to check out his own, as well.

Once in his own backyard, he says he was alerted to what he called a "presence," and turned around. He was rushed by a german shepherd, and held still in the hope this would prevent the situation from getting worse. He said from seeing television, he knew not to try to run or resist.

Oglesby said that the dog jumped over the fence with its handler trying to catch up. The dog's leash was not in the handler's hand. Oglesby further said the handler was telling the dog to release, over and over, and did physically pull the dog off Oglesby.

"I just stood there watching and watched it sinking its teeth in and out," Oglesby said. "I may be only a little fella but I've got quite a high threshold of pain."

Surgeons at a nearby hospital were able to fix the injured man's severed nerve.

Oglesby contacted the Weekend Herald after reading about a police dog attacking a lawnmowing contractor who was trying to help officers track the 14-year-old driver of a stolen car in Avondale on Thursday.

According to the dog's handler, the shepherd was following its training. It had noticed Oglesby's scent at the crime scene and followed like it had been trained to do. The dog has been stood down until it can be evaluated as to whether it is fit for duty.

Oglesby said he felt no ill will and accepted the handler's apology.

Ten-year-old William Wyatt Kunert of Cheyenne, Wyo., didn't hesitate when a dog attacked him and his 2-year-old brother, Jordan Martinez.

The brothers were on their own front porch when a neighbor's pit bull managed to jump over the fence around its yard and charged the boys. The fence in question was 4 feet high, but the animal still managed to get over it.

Kunert, who has been attacked by dogs in the past, got Jordan into the house and tried to slam the door against the pit bull. But the dog got there too fast for that, and clamped onto Kunert's leg for long, painful minutes. The bite left severe injuries that required multiple surgeries to repair.

According to William's mother, the dog would probably have killed Jordan if it had gotten a hold of him instead of the older boy, given the severity of William's injuries.

Kunert said he knew the dog was going to bite him if he got Jordan out of the way, but he did it anyway, even though he has scars on his face from an equally painful bite in the past.

Kunert's brave actions have been rewarded, however. The American Medical Response Team gave the young hero their Everyday Heroes award in honor of his courage.

A representative of the AMRT said that courage is more about acting despite fear than about not having it, and said that Kunert's actions are an example of everything Emergency Responders stand for. Officials praised his actions, calling him a "hero among heroes" at the ceremony. Kunert is the first recipient of the new award, making the occasion all the more special to him and his family.

For his part, Kunert has recovered well from his injuries. He is able to play normally, without any serious, lasting damage from the attack.

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Police have identified the 7-year-old child who was killed on Wednesday when his father's motorcycle collided with a car. The impact threw Victor Camacho 22 feet from the impact and killed him. Victor and his older brother, 8, were riding on the motorcycle with their father, though the older boy was not seriously hurt in the impact. The boys' father was uninjured.

Camacho's motorcycle was heading northbound, and a car that was parked on the curb pulled away to make a U-turn. The motorcycle struck the car a moment later, throwing Victor over the vehicle, where he landed on the other side, apparently killed on impact.

According to police Sergeant Tim Bedwell, the car appears to have not yielded to the motorcycle. The police are continuing to investigate the matter.

Further complicating the matter is the fact that it is illegal for more than one passenger to be present on a motorcycle. Only one passenger is permitted, and must ride behind the motorcycle operator. Victor's older brother was riding in front of their father. Additionally, Victor's helmet was not properly fitted for his size, and came off in the impact. A proper helmet might have kept the injuries in the fall to a minimum.

Victor's older brother suffered minor abrasions to his face, but was otherwise doing fine at the hospital.

Charges in the case have yet to be filed, as the police are continuing to investigate. The police have not released any names, and it is unclear where the identification of young Victor came from. A 19-year-old woman was identified as the driver of the other vehicle but, again, her name has not been released.

Both drivers permitted the police to take drug and alcohol tests. Until these results are returned, police are declining to file charges or mention what potential charges might be considered.

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