Hasta La Gadget!

Some of us loathe to wear glasses because we think that it would make us look silly, while others do not mind having having prescription glasses on as it helps us see things with greater clarity. Others instead will opt for a pair of contact lenses that does have its fair share of advantages as well as flip side to it. The thing is, a pair of prescription glasses works great in the beginning, but over time, most of us do suffer from a deterioration in our eyesight, and that would mean making yet another trip to the optometrist to get our eyes checked out. If only there was a pair of glasses that could be adjusted accordingly, now that would be swell.

The $99.95 Adjustable Focus Reading Glasses does answer this particular clarion call perfectly, as it is touted to be the only pair of reading glasses that will adjust the focus of each lens thanks to a simple turn of a dial. Thanks to the clever use of patented fluid-injection technology that has been specially developed by a physicist at Oxford, the lenses comprise of an elastic membrane that is held between rigid polycarbonate plates. Whenever the dial on either side of the frame is turned, the elastic membrane will bow inwards or outwards, subtly changing the prescription from -4.5 diopters to +3.5 diopters. This means users are able to adjust each lens independently, and should your vision change, you can simply give the side dials another twist. Fashionistas might think twice though, although you can choose from black or brown tortoiseshell shades. This pair won’t help you read in the dark light the LED Reading Glasses though.
[ The Only Adjustable Focus Reading Glasses offers a greater degree of flexibility copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The sudden death of a healthy high school senior has ramped up attention on unregulated caffeine powder, leading federal health authorities to warn consumers to stay away from the substance.

A recent autopsy found that Logan Stiner, 18, had a lethal amount of caffeine in his system when he died May 27 at his home in LaGrange, Ohio, southwest of Cleveland. The county coroner said Stiner had more than 70 micrograms of caffeine per milliliter of blood in his system, as much as 23 times the amount of a typical coffee or soda drinker.

His mother has said she was unaware her son took caffeine powder. The prom king and wrestler was days away from graduation. He had planned to study at the University of Toledo.

“I don’t think any of us really knew that this stuff was out there,” said Jay Arbaugh, the Keystone Local Schools superintendent.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Friday that it’s investigating caffeine powder and will “consider taking regulatory action.” The agency said it was aware of the teen’s death and cautioned parents that young people could be drawn to it.

Caffeine powder is sold as a dietary supplement, so it’s not subject to the same federal regulations as certain caffeinated foods. Users add it to drinks for a pick-me-up before workouts or to control weight gain.

A minuscule amount of caffeine powder packs a punch.

Merely 1/16th of a teaspoon can contain about 200 milligrams of caffeine, roughly the equivalent found in two large cups of coffee. That means a heaping teaspoon could kill, said Dr. Robert Glatter, an emergency physician at Lenox Hill ?Hospital in New York.

The powder is almost impossible to measure with common kitchen tools, the FDA said. Volume measures like teaspoons aren’t precise enough and a scale may be needed.

“The difference between a safe amount and a lethal dose of caffeine in these powdered products is very small,” said FDA spokeswoman Jennifer Dooren.

Glatter said he’s seen several younger patients experience complications from caffeine in the last few months. Some have arrived at his hospital with high, rapid heart rates.

“They’re starting to latch on to the powders more because they see it as a more potent way to lose weight,” Glatter said.

Health officials worry about caffeine powder’s potential popularity among exercise enthusiasts and young people seeking an energy boost.

Dr. Henry Spiller directs a poison control center at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. Over a week or so this month, the center took reports of three people hospitalized for misusing caffeine powder.

“I can’t believe you can buy this,” Spiller said. “Honestly, I mean, it’s frightening. It makes no sense to me.”

Federal investigations have recently prompted some companies to pull products with added caffeine.

Last year, Wrigley halted sales and marketing of Alert caffeinated gum after FDA discussions. In 2010, the federal agency forced manufacturers of alcoholic caffeinated beverages to cease production of those drinks. Authorities also have said they would take action if they could link deaths to consumption of energy drinks.

Hospitalizations from energy drinks have been on the rise.

The number of emergency department visits involving energy drinks doubled – from 10,068 visits in 2007 to 20,783 visits in 2011, according to the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Most of the cases involved teens or young adults.

A full teaspoon of powder could contain 3,200 milligrams of caffeine.

In that concentrated amount, a person can experience adverse effects in a matter of minutes, said Dr. Bob Hoffman, a New York University medical toxicologist.

The brain becomes alert, then agitated and confused. The heartbeat picks up and can become dangerously irregular. A consumer can feel nauseous, vomit and potentially have a seizure.

“The thing about caffeine is just because you see it every day, just because it’s naturally occurring – it comes from a plant – doesn’t mean that it’s safe,” Hoffman said.

Three weeks before Stiner’s death, students at Keystone Local Schools attended an assembly on heroin overdoses and painkillers, Arbaugh, the superintendent, said. “We were addressing things we thought we should be addressing.”

Next year, he said, the dangers of caffeine powder will be added to the district’s drug and alcohol awareness programs.

STOCKTON, Calif. (AP) — The families of two slain bank robbery suspects said Friday that police in the Northern California city of Stockton acted appropriately when they engaged in a gunbattle with their sons.

Gregory Jon Martinez said he believed that police’s use of lethal force was justifiable and expressed condolences for the family of the hostage found dead after the hour-long robbery, car chase and gun battle. “We hold no animosity or blame the Stockton Police Department for behaving the way they did,” Martinez said, noting that some of his family members are in law enforcement. “We believe that given the circumstances the department behaved in a manner that was appropriate.”

His son Alex Gregory Martinez, 27, was one of two suspects killed Wednesday; a third survived after authorities said he used Misty Holt-Singh as a human shield during the gunfight with police.

The father expressed condolences to Holt-Singh’s family, hours after the victim’s family gave an emotional press conference in which they expressed compassion for the families of the dead suspects.

“We’re so, so sorry that this happened. I wish I could take away their pain,” he said.

The mother of the other slain suspect, Gilbert Renteria Jr., 30, said she believed her son was a good person who made a terrible decision that ended his life.

“We’re not just grieving for our son, we’re grieving for the woman who passed, the kids who had to run away and anyone who was traumatized,” Debra Renteria said.

Holt-Singh’s family was launching their own investigation into the incident, announcing in the press conference that they were seeking documents, dispatch logs, video and other evidence police gathered during and after the violence.

Family attorney Greg Bentley said he also wants police department guidelines and protocols for high-speed pursuits and use of deadly force as well as video taken by witnesses.

Holt-Singh, 41, was taken hostage in a Bank of West branch by AK-47 wielding robbers while her 12-year-old daughter waited outside in the car. She was shot while in the back of the suspects’ stolen SUV during the ensuing gun battle after they stopped fleeing and turned to face police with their assault rifles.

Authorities say they are still trying to determine whether the suspects or police shot Holt-Singh.

“We don’t even know who fired what, how many weapons were fired,” said San Joaquin County Deputy District Attorney Robert Himelblau. “We haven’t figured out which bad guy was firing which weapon…which bullets hit who.”

Relatives said Renteria Jr. and Martinez were distant cousins who were close to one another; they didn’t know their relationship to the surviving suspect, 19-year-old Jaime Ramos.

Ramos was to be arraigned in San Joaquin Superior Court on Monday. The district attorney said it’s likely Ramos will be charged with multiple counts of murder.

An autopsy may determine who shot Holt-Singh.

Holt-Singh and a pair of bank employees were forced into a stolen SUV at gunpoint just as police converged on the parking lot of the bank. The two bank employees survived the ordeal by either jumping or getting thrown from the SUV as it sped through town.

Police spokesman Joe Silva said one of the bank employees was initially forced to drive the SUV out of the parking lot before being shot and pushed out the door.

Most police departments discourage shooting at getaway cars during chases. But the taking of hostages and hail of bullets coming from the suspect’s vehicle forced Stockton police to make the split-second decision to use their own weapons while knowing they might harm an innocent civilian.

Stockton police also recovered Friday afternoon a dark-colored sedan captured in video dropping off the suspects. The Buick, which had no license plate, was found abandoned in a neighborhood about a 10 minutes’ drive away from the bank.

Silva said investigators are still trying to determine a motive. He said the two dead suspects were “documented” members of the Nortenos, a Northern California gang controlled from California’s prisons by the Nuestra Familia. Silva said Ramos is an “associate” of the gang.

“We don’t know if this robbery occurred to benefit the gang or for their own purposes,” Silva said.

Gregory Jon Martinez said his son was no longer active in a gang, and that he believed his son was motivated by financial need. He said his son lost his job as a forklift operator, had a drug addiction and was seeking surgical treatment for a degenerative left eye.

The suspect leaves behind a 3-year-old son, who was among more than a dozen relatives who gathered outside the family’s Catholic church to support the elder Martinez.

Renteria’s parents said their son lived at home, was unemployed, and had two children ages 4 and 6. They said he would sometimes disappear for days or weeks, but they were surprised to hear police say that was in a gang.

“If he was that kind of person out there, that never came here,” his father Gilbert Renteria said. “He was protective of all of us.”

Silva said 40 officers have been placed on paid, three-day administrative leave, a routine procedure for police-involved shootings. Silva said the department is paying other officers overtime to cover the open shifts, declining offers from neighboring agencies for additional help.

Holt-Singh’s husband, two children and sister briefly addressed the media Friday to discuss the loss of a wife, mother and sibling.

“What happened to Misty is a nightmare,” husband Paul Singh said. “It’s something I would never want to happen to anybody.”

Daughter Mia Singh was waiting in the car while her mother was in the bank withdrawing money for a haircut, said family friend and lawyer Michael Platt. Mia recalled how Holt-Singh attended all her softball games and never forgot to bring orange juice. Mia said her mother was always trying to horn in on her Snapchat sessions and relentlessly chewed on ice. “Always,” Mia said in tandem with her father as they laughed about the ice chewing.

“I love you mom,” Mia said before bursting into tears and turning to her father for comfort.

During the emotional news conference Friday, family members talked about their Christian faith. Holt-Singh’s sister Dawn Holt said she’s praying for the families of the dead suspects.

“We do need to give those families respect because they lost someone they love too,” she said.

____

Associated Press reporters Lisa Leff, Terry Collins and Paul Elias contributed to this report from San Francisco.

NEW YORK (AP) — A doctor accused of peddling painkiller prescriptions to addicts — including some who died of overdoses and one who later killed four people in a pharmacy holdup — was convicted Friday in what was believed to be the first manslaughter case against a New York doctor in an overdose death.

Dr. Stan Li also was convicted of recklessly endangering six other patients by giving them prescriptions despite signs of drug abuse. One suicidal patient overdosed five times. Relatives of another patient told Li she was trading the medications for heroin and begged him to stop, prosecutors said. Li, an anesthesiologist and pain management specialist, maintained he merely tried to help suffering people who misused medications and misled him. A jury acquitted him of one reckless-endangerment charge and some of the other 211 counts against him, which included selling prescriptions, falsifying business records and other offenses.

The 60-year-old physician sat motionless as the verdicts on the top charges were read. By the 40th count, he leaned back somberly in his chair and stopped looking at the jury. His bail revoked, he was led out of the courtroom in handcuffs to await an Oct. 20 sentencing. The manslaughter charge alone carries the potential for up to 5 to 15 years in prison.

“We believed that the public needed protection from criminally reckless conduct that purported to be medical treatment but resulted in loss of life, addiction and harm to patients,” city Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget Brennan said in a statement Friday.

Li’s lawyer, Raymond Belair, left court without speaking to reporters and didn’t immediately respond to email and telephone messages after the verdict.

Manslaughter charges against doctors for overprescribing drugs are uncommon, but some have grabbed headlines. Perhaps most notoriously, former cardiologist Conrad Murray was accused of giving pop superstar Michael Jackson a lethal dose of the anesthetic propofol as a sleep aid in 2009 and was convicted of involuntary manslaughter.

Prosecutors said Li, who operated a Queens pain management clinic, prescribed lethal amounts of highly addictive medications, including oxycodone and Xanax, to two men who fatally overdosed.

One got prescriptions for nearly 800 tablets within a month and a half, dying of an oxycodone overdose three days after last seeing Li, prosecutors said. The other got prescriptions from Li for 500 pills within five weeks and was found dead in his car, surrounded by containers of pills Li had prescribed.

Li also was convicted of selling prescriptions to another patient whose addiction proved to have deadly consequences: David Laffer shot and killed two employees and two customers while holding up a Long Island pharmacy for painkillers in June 2011. Laffer pleaded guilty to murder and is serving a life sentence.

Prosecutors said Li, of Hamilton, New Jersey, saw as many as 90 patients a day in a Queens weekend storefront clinic that charged on a per-prescription scale.

“He would take their money, write the prescription and send them out to suffer some more,” prosecutor Peter Kougasian said in a closing argument.

But Li’s lawyer told jurors in his summation that Li’s patients had deceived him.

“These were tough patients,” Belair said. “They were very good liars.”

___

Reach Jennifer Peltz on Twitter @jennpeltz.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A U.S. drone fired several missiles at a sprawling compound in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal region bordering Afghanistan on Saturday, killing eleven militants, two Pakistani intelligence officials said.

The officials said the strike happened in Datta Khel, a town in North Waziristan, where the Pakistani military has been carrying out a major offensive against militants since last month. They said most of the slain men were members of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, an umbrella group encompassing militant organizations across the tribal areas. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk to media.

Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan has called for overthrowing the Pakistani government in order to implement its hard-line version of Islamic law and end cooperation with the Americans in Afghanistan.

For several years now, Washington had pushed Pakistan to take action against militant groups operating in North Waziristan.

After assuming office a year ago, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif tried to resolve the issue through negotiations with the militants and urged the U.S. to refrain from drone strikes during the peace process.

But negotiations collapsed after militants attacked the country’s biggest airport in the port city of Karachi on June 8, prompting the government to order military action in North Waziristan.

The start of the Pakistani offensive saw the renewal of the U.S. drone program after a roughly six-month pause.

U.S. drone strikes are a serious source of tension between Washington and Islamabad. The Pakistani government denounces the strikes as a violation of the country’s sovereignty.

Saturday’s strike was the second this week. On Wednesday, a U.S. drone killed 15 militants, also in North Waziristan.

The military launched the offensive in the region on June 15, as over 800,000 people fled to other towns and cities for safety.

The military says so far it has killed nearly 500 militants and lost 26 soldiers.