A sought after anti-aging beauty expert

In the past, surgery was the main option to correct under eye bags - with a procedure called "Blepharoplasty". Blepharoplasty is basically surgical cutting, whereby excess tissue such as skin and fat are removed or repositioned -- cutting away skin and tissue to even out the texture under the eyes. The EyeRise procedure provides a minimally invasive way to replace volume under the eyes exactly where it is lost - in a natural way, without cutting, and without a needle entering the delicate areas in the eyelids.

The EyeRise technique utilizes a flexible medical instrument called a cannula which is virtually painless and avoids the trauma and bruising of a needle. This flexible cannula applies a dermal filler to restore volume under the skin and correct eye bags, puffiness and wrinkles. Dr. Bracci is a distinguished physician who has advanced this technique.

According to Dr. Bracci, "The bags under the eyes seen with aging are mainly a result of loss of supportive structures under the skin, so it makes sense to replace this tissue rather than remove more tissue with surgery. The flexible cannula technique allows precise control to position the fillers. Many patients can restore the volume that is lost under the skin in the eye area with EyeRise and appear natural and rested.”

A sought after anti-aging beauty expert, Dr. Stephen P. Bracci is an accomplished expert and visionary in the procedures of non-surgical cosmetics. VERVE is also committed to using anti-aging skincare products and cosmetic procedures that make you look great, not fake. At VERVE, Dr. Bracci offers the most results-driven treatment options in non-surgical cosmetic medicine, from the revolutionary wrinkle reducing product, Botox® Cosmetic, to the non-surgical face sculpting cosmetic injectable wrinkle fillers Restylane®, Sculptra® Aesthetic, Radiesse®, and Juvederm®. Dr. Bracci also uses non-ablative lasers like Fraxel® re:fine to treat unwanted sun and age spots, fine lines, acne scars, and melasma, and Thermage® to help smooth and contour your skin. VERVE headquarters are located in NYC's midtown Manhattan, with a second location in Paramus, NJ.

Flour poured into pool, hypodermic needles found in used car

The following items were taken from Lombard Police Department reports:

Mischievous conduct

A resident of the 700 block of South Fairfield Avenue told police he responded to his doorbell ringing July 24 and found a Roman candle in a planter next to the door. The man was not injured. Police found firework debris in the area.

Failure to reduce speed

A 25-year-old Naperville man was charged with failing to reduce speed to avoid an accident, speeding, having no insurance, and drunken driving after he struck a fence in the 1400 block of South Fairfield Avenue.

Criminal damage to property

A light was broken and a statue shattered in the 300 block of East Harrison Street July 24.

Two cement lion statues were stolen and two planters were broken July 24 at a house in the 600 block of Fairfield Avenue.

Bags of flour were poured into a pool in the 500 block of Woodland Avenue July 24.

Suspicious circumstance

A resident reported finding a silver spoon and hypodermic needles in a plastic bag hidden in the dashboard of a car he recently purchased.

Forked River Man Found With Hypodermic Needle In Court

A Forked River man was arrested after a hypodermic needle was observed protruding from his pocket during a court session.

Ryan Bacan, 24, was before the judge facing previous charges for drugs and driving while intoxicated at 10:40 a.m. on Tuesday, July 19, when the hypodermic needle was noticed.

Patrolman Peter Donahue responded to the court and arrested Bacon.

He was charged with possession of a hypodermic needle and set to the Ocean County Jail. Bacon was unable to post his bail, which was set at $1,000.

Bacon hit a utility pole on at the intersection of Route 9 and Beach Boulevard on Wednesday, June 22. He was charged with DWI, reckless driving, possession of a controlled dangerous substance in a motor vehicle, possession of heroin, and possession of a hypodermic needle.

Bacon was also arrested at 8:30 p.m. on April 13 after officers were dispatched to a two-car accident on Route 9, near the Lacey Mall. Bacon was charged with DWI, reckless driving, failure to maintain lane, and possession of a controlled dangerous substance in a motor vehicle.

Big Truck + Small Space = Big Problem

We need one of two things: smaller trucks or larger overpasses.

At least, that seems to be the case in Chatham Borough, where too-tall trucks seem to have a habit of trying to squeeze through too-small spaces—one in particular.

Chatham Borough Police said this past week a truck suffered extensive damage after the driver tried to cross under the train overpass on Watchung Avenue. But that tidbit probably didn't feel like news to a lot of people in Chatham.

After all, back in mid-May, Chatham Patch ran a similar article: Truck Strikes Watchung Avenue Overpass. And just a few weeks before that:Trucks Strike Railroad Overpass on Watchung Avenue. That's right—trucks. Plural. In that story, two trucks had hit the overpass in 48 hours.

But wait, there's more:

In April, a truck driver was charged with leaving the scene of an accident, after ... you guessed it ...allegedly striking the Watchung Avenue overpass.

And in February, a truck struck the overpass, spilling large pipes onto the road.

We even found an awfully familiar story from last July.

One of our commenters offered a suggestion as to why this keeps happening: "Maybe the signage is not written in truckdriver-ese."

Each Monday, Patch takes a peek at some of the more surprising, shocking, stunning and occasionally silly police-related incidents reported throughout New Jersey for "OMGs from NJ PDs." Some of the other reports:

We Don't Like Their Style, But We Do Like Their Taste: Livingston police said some shoplifters and their friends had their eyes on some very expensive prizes recently. They're accused of fleeing a designer boutique with two Hermès purses—together worth $17,300. The handmade purses are often carried by A-List celebrities—but if you're going for high-end class, you should more carefullypick and choose who among the rich and famous you mimic.

Is that a Needle Down Your Pants, Or ... A 28-year-old Ogdensburg man was arrested after, police said, they found 47 decks of heroin and a hypodermic needle in the crotch of his pants. We're going to limit the commentary on this one to: Ouch! Ouch! Yowza! Ouch!

No, No, You Only Have to Deliver the Letter: Warren police tell us that they stopped by Winding Ridge Way to investigate a fairly strange report of criminal mischief. Someone had uprooted a mailbox from the ground, and apparently thrown it, damaging a light post. What's more, someone had thrown a neighbor's mailbox as well, police said. That's a special delivery the street could have done without.

Obama administration opposes restrictions on abortion, needle exchange in DC

The Obama administration opposes efforts by Congress to restrict funding for needle exchange and abortions for poor women in the District of Columbia.

The administration issued a policy statement Wednesday about a D.C. appropriations bill that’s headed for the House floor. The bill would bar the district from using local taxpayer dollars to fund abortions for poor women. Historically, such funding has been allowed only when Democrats have controlled the White House and both houses of Congress.

The administration says the funding restriction undermines D.C. home rule. It also says Congress should not ban federal funding for needle exchange in the district, noting that such funding is allowed elsewhere if local officials deem the programs effective.

However, Obama did not threaten to veto the spending bill over the D.C. issues.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Driver with child faces drug chages

A 22-year-old Rutland woman is due in court today, after Manchester police stopped her for erratic driving Saturday and allegedly found her "extremely impaired" by narcotics and in possession of hypodermic needles with her young child in the car.

Manchester Police said Tiffanie Felix, of Rutland City, was stopped on Route 7A around 1:35 p.m. Saturday for erratic driving. She was impaired by narcotics, police said. Police said they found two hypodermic needles "that appeared to be used for injecting heroin."

Felix is currently on conditions of release in Rutland County for distribution of heroin, according to police.

A 2-year-old child and a male passenger were also in the vehicle. Felix was arrested and processed for driving while under the influence of drugs, violation of conditions of release, cruelty to children and possession of paraphernalia. She was been held at Marble Valley Correctional Facility for lack of $25,000 bail. She is scheduled to be arraigned in Bennington Superior Court Criminal Division today.

Manchester Police said they were assisted by a Vermont State Police drug recognition expert.

Ulster County man charged for possession of hypodermic needles

An Ulster County man faces traffic and drug charges after police stopped him for using a cell phone while driving and allegedly found two hypodermic needles in his pocket, police said.

The Ulster County Sheriff’s Office charged the 28-year-old Pine Bush man with two counts of criminal possession of a hypodermic instrument and second-degree aggravated unlicensed operation, misdemeanors, and for using a cell phone while driving, a violation.

Police stopped the man on Route 299 Saturday at 6:57 a.m. and learned that his license was suspended multiple times, and that he was wanted by police in the Town of Wallkill, City of Middletown and the Town of Shawangunk for various offenses, the Sheriff’s Office said.

Police took the man into custody for the warrants and searched him, prior to putting him in a police car. Police found two needles in his pants pocket, the Sheriff’s Office said.

The man was arraigned in the Town of New Paltz court and sent to Ulster County Jail on $500 cash bail. He is due to return to court today at 6 p.m.

The Journal typically does not print the names of people charged with misdemeanors.

Masonic lab program has been training researchers for 50 years

College student Dona Occhipinti, of Rome, is spending her summer searching for a needle in a genetic haystack – mutations responsible for cardiac arrhythmias.

Occhipinti’s search is part of the Masonic Medical Research Laboratory’s Summer Fellowship Program. For years, the program has been looking to the future, teaching college students like this year’s 11 participants about cutting-edge medical research, and training the next generation of scientists. But this year, the program also is looking to the past as it celebrates a milestone – its 50th anniversary.

For fellows, this now historic program provides an opportunity to work in an award-winning facility known for its groundbreaking research on the treatment and prevention of cardiac diseases such as the irregular heart rhythms known as arrhythmias.

They get to see classroom lessons applied in a laboratory, determine whether they enjoy research, possibly get their name published on a journal article and build up their resumes for medical or graduate school.

For the researchers who mentor them, it’s a way to interest students in science and fuel the breakthrough discoveries of tomorrow.

“I consider that we have a responsibility to motivate students to pursue a career in the live sciences, whether it be in research, whether it be in medicine,” said Charles Antzelevitch, the Utica lab’s executive director and director of research.

The goal is to help bright students pursue careers related to medicine, he said.

And it appears to be working.

Many of the program’s more than 300 alumni have ended up in related careers: doctors, medical researchers, a physician assistant, a veterinarian and a dentist, for example.

‘Keep the new discoveries coming’

Only a few weeks into the 10-week fellowship, Occhipinti, a rising sophomore at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, seemed confident as she discussed the genetic research she’s conducting. She threw around terms such as “sodium channels,” “preliminary chain reactions,” “DNA extraction” and “nucleotides” as if she were a seasoned professional.

“I wasn’t sure what to expect when I came here,” Occhipinti said. “I really, really enjoy what I’m doing. It was a good surprise.”

Now the biology major who had planned a career in surgery is at least considering other options, she said. She may decide to get both a medical degree and a doctorate so she can do more basic research.

But working in the medical field is still a definite for the student who’s always had a natural gift for science. Medicine provides a way to use that talent to help people, she said.

“To say that you change lives on a daily basis is a remarkable thing,” she said.

Occhipinti found out about the fellowship program about six years ago, long before she started college, when one of the fellows presented a summary talk on his research at a SUNYIT science and math camp she attended. He told the kids to keep Masonic in mind when they were older and Occhipinti did.

Now she – along with the other fellows – will be presenting her own oral research summary on July 28, at the end of the 10-week fellowship. The talks, given in a scientific format, will explain their hypotheses, research methods, results and conclusions, said Jonathan Cordeiro, the Masonic laboratory’s education officer and a research scientist in electrophysiology.

Cordeiro said he also tries to get his students published in a scientific journal, whether as a short abstract or, if they’re successful enough, as a full-length paper. Two students from a few years ago just had an article accepted into the American Journal of Physiology, he said.

Being published is a major accomplishment for an undergraduate, and a positive addition to a resumé.
“You need something to sort of distance yourself from the other applicants coming into medical school,” Cordeiro said.

Ryan Pfeiffer, supervisor of genetic screening at the laboratory, said having the fellows at the lab is a positive for the researchers as well.

“It’s fun for everybody. You’re teaching them to troubleshoot the problems you encounter in research. And working side by side and training someone keeps things interesting for us as well,” he said.

But the larger mission, he said, is “creating the scientist of the future, getting people interested … to keep the new discoveries coming and move science forward.”