Ronald Poppo, before the attack. Miami Beach Police Department via Getty Images(CUTLER BAY, Fla.) -- Nearly one year after Miami face-chewing victim Ronald Poppo endured severe injuries in a gruesome cannibal-like attack, he thanked his supporters in a new video.

Wearing a Miami Heat hat and a wide grin, Poppo sat and strummed an acoustic guitar on a hospital bed at Jackson Memorial Perdue Medical Center, a long-term care facility in Culter Bay, Fla., in a video released by Jackson Health System.

"People in my predicament need to be helped out," he said. "I thank the outpouring of people in the community. I'll always be grateful for that."

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Poppo had more than 75 percent of his face chewed off, including his nose, mouth and eyes, after Rudy Eugene attacked him in May 2012. Poppo suffered nearly 18 minutes before police shot and killed Eugene to stop the assault.

Poppo was rendered blind from the attack, and he continues to work with an occupational therapist at Jackson Memorial, who taught him how to dress himself, feed himself, shower and shave, according to a news release. He has gained more than 50 pounds in recovery.

Dr. Wrood Kassira, a plastic surgeon at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital who treated Poppo, told ABC News that since the series of facial surgeries, Poppo has "adjusted quite well."

"In terms of reconstruction, he's been a trooper," said Kassira. "His main issue is blindness, having to adapt to his surroundings without being able to see."

Kassira said that while she had treated many patients who had endured trauma similar to Poppo's, this was her first time encountering a patient who had been the victim of such a grizzly assault.

University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital plastic surgeon Dr. Urmen Desai, who also treated Poppo, said that Poppo was not interested in pursuing further facial reconstruction, nor does he want to wear specially made prostheses to cover his nose and eyes.

"He's a very simple guy. These things aren't important to him," Desai said. "He doesn't care how he looks, and he doesn't care what people think about him."

Desai said the doctors who treated Poppo initially grappled with his decision to not pursue more surgeries.

"We may be used to seeing people with a missing arm or leg as we walk down the street. But if you ever see anyone with eyeballs missing, that's not as socially accepted in our society," he said. "It's something that was hard for us to let go of and have him go on his way and live the rest of his life [that way]."

"It took us a while to let go of that and realize it's not about what we want, it's about what he wants," Desai said.

Poppo remains at Jackson Memorial Perdue Medical Center, and still sees doctors for his facial injuries. Miami Lighthouse for the Blind also is providing services to help him regain his independent living skills, the hospital said in a statement.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

iStockphoto/Thinkstock)(NEW YORK) -- Frown lines, forehead creases and crow's-feet, oh my!

If the rise in Botox procedures is any indication, the fountain of youth might be found in a syringe, even for 20-somethings whose signs of aging are often invisible to the naked eye.

"I think as I've kind of gotten a little older, I've just kind of realized that my skin is not the way it used to be in my early 20s," Nicole Harper, 29, told ABC News affiliate KTRK-TV in Houston about getting her first Botox treatment.

And she's not alone.

The number of Botox procedures among 20-somethings rose 8 percent in 2012 to 92,955 from the prior year, according to the 2012 Plastic Surgery Statistics Report by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. Many of them targeted the forehead, between the eyebrows and crow's-foot areas. All told, there were about 6.1 million incidents of Botox injections for Americans in 2012, making it the no. 1 minimally invasive cosmetic procedure across all age groups, the plastic surgeons report noted.  The procedure registered the second-largest percentage increase of all minimally invasive procedures for people age 20 to 29, after hyaluronic acid (Juvederm) treatment.

"I figure, why let it get worse, you know?" Lilliana Gonzalez, 24, told Houston's KTRK of her reasons for getting her first Botox treatment.

Others want to get a jump on the process, using Botox as a preventive measure to keep from getting wrinkles in the first place.

Dr. Michael Vennemeyer, a Cincinnati plastic surgeon and author of Plastic Surgery Myths Dispelled: A Consumer's Guide, told ABC News that he has noticed the growing interest among young people.

He suggests thinking of skin as a piece of paper that gets folded into a crease over and over again, which creates the wrinkles. The longer people can stave off skin-creasing with Botox, for example, the less severe wrinkles will be at a given age, he says.

Although generally safe in appropriate doses, Botox can have side effects.

If the botulinum toxin travels to muscles other than the target, it can result in drooping eyelids or double-vision for a period of time, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons website.

And then there are the less visible potential side effects, as in those to a young woman's psyche, clinical psychologist Nanine Ewing of Houston says.

"It's a mindset that's about externalizing one's sense of self by how one looks," Ewing told ABC News.

With that comes the concern that the more people externalize their sense of self, the more they lose touch with their internal, authentic self, she said.

Ewing acknowledged that there is nothing wrong with women wanting to look better. "Enjoying their beauty and adornment … is a classic part of the feminine," she said.

But she cautions that problems arise when cosmetic procedures become an obsession, as when people begin to "correct" their skin before anything is showing.

Dr. Robert Murphy, president-elect of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, is of a similar mind. "Don't start treating wrinkles for fear of developing wrinkles," he advised.

A plastic surgeon for the past 20 years, Murphy recognizes the cultural pressure to look younger but says people don't have to chase youth. For the wrinkle-free, youthful faces of most 20-somethings, he counsels that Botox is probably "best kept in the quiver until a time that is more appropriate."

Besides, there are several cheaper, noninvasive options to keep your face younger longer.

Author and plastic surgeon Vennemeyer recommends avoiding the sun, not smoking and maintaining a stable weight as the best preventative medicine for your skin.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

Brett Deering/Getty Images(TULSA) -- Monday’s devastating tornado strike in Moore, Okla., ripped through many homes, displacing irreplaceable possessions, in some cases, more than 100 miles away. In an attempt to reconnect victims with lost valuables, Facebook users across Moore and neighboring areas have created online groups to share information of found items and pets.

Tulsa, Okla., resident Leslie Hagelberg lives roughly 100 miles from where the tornado touched down, but when she began seeing what she realized was storm debris in the form of family pictures and other valuables turn up in her yard, she wanted to help get these items back in the hands of the owners.

Hagelberg quickly created the Facebook group “OK Tornado Doc & Picture Recovery” to act as a bulletin board of sorts, allowing users that have found items and pets to post images and information all in one place.

“I have children. My pictures are precious to me… you can’t recreate them,” she said of creating the group.

Hagelberg got the idea to create an online lost and found type Facebook group after seeing posts spread out among several other local news Facebook pages. Hagelberg’s group currently has over 8,600 members.

“There have been so many posts of animals, pictures, even an urn,” the longtime Oklahoma resident said. Though Hagelberg was originally surprised to find displaced belongings turn up in her neighborhood, about an hour from Moore, Facebook users from even further away have reported finding items.

“Some people have found things in Catoosa [about 125 miles from Moore]. I’ve even heard of things turning up in the Joplin area [over 200 miles from Moore],” said Hagelberg.

For a Facebook user to post to the group page, they must first be manually added by one of the three administrators, Hagelberg being one of them. With the number of group members approaching 9,000, Hagelberg admitted that the task has been tedious, but she told ABC News, “I just want to help.”

“That’s just how people are in Oklahoma,” she said.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

Andrew Kelly(NEW YORK) -- The words "zen" and "child" don't exactly go together, but that hasn't stopped a growing number of parents from "ohm schooling" their kids in the art of yoga, meditation and relaxation.

Andrew Kelly of Boston said he and his 10-year-old son, Hayden, have been meditating together since Hayden was 7 years old.  Each morning before school, father and son sit on cushions, legs crossed, eyes closed, quietly monitoring the rise and fall of their chests as they breathe.

"We do this for exactly 12 minutes because 12 is his favorite number," Kelly explained.

Kelly said they practice "mindfulness" -- a series of meditation techniques that slow the mind and fix attention on the present.  The brain chills out, slows down and focuses on what is happening at the moment.

Teaching meditation to children has attracted some high-profile advocates.  Perhaps the highest-profile children's meditation advocate is actress Goldie Hawn, whose MindUp program has shown more than 150,000 children worldwide how to find their brain's happy place.

"We teach the kids to take brain breaks, because every brain needs a break, and because we know that meditation builds a stronger brain," Hawn told ABC News.  "We start them on these mindfulness and relaxation techniques very young so they can carry them their entire lives."

Hawn said she has spent the past 10 years studying how the brain works and consulting with neurologists and psychologists to create her program.  For the stressed-out kids she can't reach directly, she's written a guidebook, 10 Mindful Minutes: Giving Our Children -- and Ourselves -- the Social and Emotional Skills to Reduce Stress and Anxiety for Healthier, Happy Lives, which takes parents and educators through a step-by-step meditation practice suitable for kids of all ages.

Film director David Lynch started a foundation eight years ago to provide scholarships for school-age children all over the world to study transcendental meditation.

And Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, championed "The Skills for Life" program that teaches deep breathing exercises, meditation and problem solving as part of the elementary school curriculum in several Ohio school districts.

Studies seem to emphasize the benefits of meditation.

A University of California, Los Angeles study found second- and third-graders who practiced "mindful" meditation techniques for 30 minutes twice a week for eight weeks had improved behavior and scored higher on tests requiring memory, attention and focus than the nonmeditators.

Another study of more than 3,000 children in the San Francisco Unified School District found a dramatic improvement in math test scores and overall academic performance among students who practiced transcendental meditation, a form of mediation that promotes relaxation and "an awakening" of the mind.  The study also found a decrease in student suspensions, expulsions and dropout rates.

And other recent studies have demonstrated the ability of "mindfulness" techniques, especially those used in meditation, yoga and tai chi, to reduce impulsiveness, control emotions and ease stress.

Children today are certainly more stressed out than their parents likely realize.  One in five children said they worried a lot or a great deal about things going on in their lives, and more than 30 percent admitted to such stress-related symptoms as difficulty sleeping, according to the American Psychological Association's annual Stress in America report. 

Yet, the same report found that only 8 percent of parents were aware that their children experienced any stress at all.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

iStockphoto/Thinkstock(PORTLAND, Ore.) -- Residents of Portland, Ore., will vote Tuesday on whether to add fluoride to their drinking water -- a move hailed by some as one of the greatest public health achievements of the 20th century.  But critics say a “yes” vote would expose residents to a “risky” chemical in the name of stronger teeth.

Minute amounts of fluoride have been added to American drinking water since 1945 to help curb cavities in kids and delay decay in adults. 

In 2008, 72.4 percent of the U.S. population had access to fluoridated water, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  But in Oregon, the percentage drops to 22, which has created a statewide “dental crisis,” according to state epidemiologist Dr. Katrina Hedberg.

“Tooth decay is a serious problem and fluoridation is an effective, affordable and, most importantly, safe way to improve the public’s health,” Hedberg said in a statement, noting that one in three of the state’s first- through third-grade children has cavities, and one in five, has rampant tooth decay.  “It is also consistent with the state’s effort to focus health care on prevention rather than after-the-fact acute care.”

Like cereal fortified with folic acid, milk fortified with vitamin D and salt containing iodine, tap water containing fluoride delivers a healthful supplement that busy bodies don’t even have to think about, according to the CDC.  Water fluoridation has been shown to reduce a person’s risk of tooth decay by 25 percent, and a lifetime supply costs less than a single filling.

But skeptics question the safety of fluoride, citing a 2006 report by the National Academy of Sciences that suggested fluoridation could have serious consequences for certain subgroups of people, such as the very young, the elderly and the sick.

“Our campaign is not saying there’s complete consensus in the science on either side,” said Kellie Barnes, a volunteer with the anti-fluoridation group Clean Water Portland.  “We’re saying the emerging science shows a reasonable amount of concern.”

Barnes, a physiotherapist and mother of two, said she hadn’t thought about fluoridation until her dentist voiced his skepticism.

“I grew up on the East Coast not thinking about it,” she said, referring to her hometown of Baltimore, where water is fluoridated.  “But he raised questions about the effectiveness of the policy, and that was concerning to me.”

Clean Water Portland has taken safety concerns to heart, publishing a list of 12 reasons to vote “no” on their website.  The list also highlights the cost of water fluoridation, and suggests a possible alternative.

“Instead of spending up to $7 million on a fluoridation plant and $500,000 or more a year on fluoridation chemicals, a comparable investment in increased access to care would better help at-risk kids while protecting the entire community from the health risks of fluoridation,” the group’s website reads.  “While fluoridation activists like to focus on Oregon’s ‘untreated decay’ rate, this rate highlights the real issue: a lack of good access to dental care.”

Ballots must be delivered to a ballot drop-off location by 8 p.m. PT.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

iStockphoto/Thinkstock(NEW HAVEN, Conn.) -- The $165,000 fine against Yale University for underreporting the frequency of sexual assaults might be a catalyst needed to remind colleges of their obligation to protect students from such crimes, according to a victims' advocacy group.

"I think once these cases come to light, it actually draws victims from other cases to speak up," Tracy Cox, spokeswoman for the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, said. "I think it says something about the culture everywhere."

"This may very well be a tipping point."

More than 90 percent of sexual assaults on U.S. campuses go unreported, according to a 2000 U.S. Department of Justice Study, and students have filed complaints this year against two universities for the way administrators handled students' reporting sexual assaults.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Education has fined Yale for its underreporting of sexual assaults on campus more than a decade ago.

In a letter last month issued to the New Haven, Conn., university's president, Dr. Richard Levin, the Department of Education cited Yale for failing to report four "forcible sex offenses" that took place in 2001 and 2002. The school also failed to designate parts of Yale-New Haven Hospital as part of its campus and, subsequently, report crime statistics in those areas to the federal government, for which it was fined.

The university was also fined for failing to include several statements that disclosed campus crime statistics, including sex offenses, in its 2004 Annual Security Report issued to enrolled and prospective university students and employees, according to the April 19 letter.

While the letter stated that the university had since corrected its crime reporting, "the correction of violations does not diminish the seriousness of not correctly reporting these incidents at the time they occurred."

The Department of Education characterized Yale's violations as "very serious and numerous."

The Department of Education initiated a review of the Ivy League university's compliance with the Clery Act after a 2004 Yale Alumni Magazine article questioned the university's policies with respect to sexual misconduct, according to the letter.

The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act is a federal statute that requires colleges and universities participating in federal financial aid programs to record and disclose campus crime statistics to students, faculty and staff, as well as the Department of Education.

Failing to abide by the Clery Act might jeopardize an institution's ability to provide federal aid to students.

University spokesman Tom Conroy told ABC News Monday that the university has requested that the fines be reduced, and is waiting for a final determination from the Department of Education.

"Yale has a structure in place to address these issues that is as strong as any school in the nation," he said. "Whatever guidance that the Department of Education gives to Yale in interpreting the Clery Act, we're going to follow."

Conroy said he was not aware of any student community reactions to the fines, but noted that the crimes in question, "were from over a decade ago."

"There is nothing Yale needs to do as a result of its letter with regard to its reporting," he said.

This isn't the first time a university's handling of sexual misconduct has come under fire.

Students at both the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Occidental College in Los Angeles, Calif. filed complaints this year with the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights against their universities for the way administrators allegedly mishandled students' reporting sexual assaults.

Cox, the National Sexual Violence Resource Center spokeswoman, said underreporting of sexual assaults on college campuses is still a major issue, despite its recently becoming a subject that victims are more comfortable taking to authorities.

Raw numbers are difficult to come by, but the perceived increases in the number of rapes on U.S. campuses in recent years might be a result of more people reporting rather than more assaults, Cox said.

She added that university leadership should be out front of the charge to change policy, which is difficult when enrollment is often a school's top priority.

"It's kind of a double-edged sword for them," she said. "They want to promote safe campuses, but when you have more people reporting [sexual misconduct], and more people going to the police, it may look like they don't have a safe campus.

But Cox said the increase in sexual assault reporting might result, in part, from improvements in campus policies that allow for victims to come forward more easily.

"In order for change to happen, there has to be a level of transparency at schools and institutions," she said.

Abigail Boyer, a spokeswoman for the Clery Center for Security on Campus, a nonprofit that works to prevent crimes on university campuses, including violence, said, "We always caution people to look past just the data, to look beyond the numbers."

She said that when institutions provide support and resources for students, it is possible for the number of sexual assaults reported on campus to increase.

"It's not a reflection of how safe a campus is," she said of the reporting. "It's a reflection of institutions using best practices and doing things correctly."

Cox said the Yale University fines might serve as a wakeup call for college campuses that they can still be penalized for failing to report sexual assaults more than a decade after the fact.

"It still says that just because they happened 10 years ago doesn't make them any less important," she said. "If anything, it does show that if these crimes are committed on campus and there is a failure to report, they will be addressed."

"No one is going to skate through without any accountability," Cox vowed.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

iStockphoto/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- Allana Maiden wanted her mother to feel beautiful again after she’d undergone a radical mastectomy. But Victoria’s Secret, the company she hoped would design sexy lingerie for women who’ve had breast cancer surgery, has rejected her appeal for a “survivor line” of bras.

The Richmond, Va., 28-year-old was 6 years old when her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer and had her surgery. But she was always aware of her mother’s struggle to feel good about herself -- and to find a bra that not only fit but was reasonably priced.

Maiden was particularly disappointed in Victoria’s Secret’s decision after actress Angelina Jolie announced that she’d had a preventive mastectomy after learning she had the BRCA gene, which predisposes a woman to breast cancer.

“She put the news out there that you can still be attractive after having breast cancer and mastectomy,” Maiden said of Jolie. “But a beautiful bra would have been a great thing to have, and now these bras are very limited."

“My mom and I have always said how much we appreciate Victoria’s Secret research efforts,” said Maiden, who works at an animal shelter. “But cancer research doesn’t help survivors feel beautiful after the battle is over -- mastectomy bras do.  This is a company that prides itself in innovation that helps women feel beautiful. I don’t think cancer survivors like my mom should be the exception to the rule.”

A representative from Victoria’s Secret called Maiden two weeks ago to tell her that the company would not be creating a new line of “survivor” bras.

“Through our research, we have learned that fitting and selling mastectomy bras … in the right way … a way that is beneficial to women is complicated and truly a science,” said Victoria’s Secret Tammy Roberts Myers in a prepared statement Monday.  ”As a result, we believe that the best way for us to make an impact for our customers is to continue funding cancer research."

“I was disappointed, obviously,” Maiden told ABC News. “I understand her decision, that there is a science that goes [with these] bras, and it’s more complicated than a regular bra would be. But I felt that if anyone could do it, they could. They have everything in place.”

According to the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, breast cancer is the most common cancer in women, and it estimates that more than 1.6 million new cases occurred among women worldwide in 2010.

Maiden’s mother, 57-year-old Debbie Barrett, works in the admissions office at Virginia Highlands Community College. She was 36 when she found a lump during a self-examination and soon learned it was malignant.

Barrett wears a prosthetic because at the time of her mastectomy, insurance did not cover the cost of breast reconstruction. Because she lives in a rural part of Virginia, she has to drive 1½ hours to find a store that sells bras that hold prosthetic breasts.

“It’s a huge ordeal,” her daughter told ABC News earlier this year after she filed a petition on change.org, asking Victoria’s Secret to consider her proposal for a “survivor” line of bras. To date, the petition has garnered 120,000 signatures.

The bras that Barrett wears have little pockets to hold the prosthetic breasts.  They can be bought online, but it’s hard to get a good fit without being measured in person, say both mother and daughter.

Maiden and Barrett met with Victoria’s Secret representatives twice -- once when they delivered petition signatures to the company’s New York office and again when they were flown by the parent company to Columbus, Ohio, to meet with additional team members and cancer researchers.

Victoria’s Secret parent company, Limited Brands, has donated more than $1.6 million to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and the American Cancer Society to fund breast cancer research, education, screening and treatment. Additionally, in the past two years, it has raised nearly $10 million for cancer research at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, according to the company.

Limited Brands just participated in the local Komen Race for the Cure with the largest team in the world.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

iStockphoto/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) -- News reports suggest Colgate-Palmolive applied to patent a caffeinated toothbrush, but the actual patent application only referred to a proposed device that hypothetically could release caffeine or any other substance or flavoring, and create sensations in a user’s mouth.

So maybe they did plan a caffeinated toothbrush; maybe not.

Colgate-Palmolive did not return a request for comment.

In any event, Colgate’s application for an “oral care implement” actually was rejected by the U.S. Patent and Trade Office, but for reasons that had nothing to do with caffeine.

Caffeine-addicted people and the media were drawn to the story after backlash over other caffeine-laced products.

Earlier this month, Wrigley said it was withdrawing its new caffeinated gum from stores after the Food and Drug Administration said it would investigate into the safety of caffeine-added foods.

In April, Wrigley released Alert gum, a stick of which had an amount of caffeine equivalent to half a cup of coffee.

In Colgate’s application, the company described the technology as “an oral care implement [that] includes a releasable sensory material that invokes a sensory response when in contact with tissues or surfaces of a mouth of a user.”

The company added that “the oral care implement may also include a soft tissue cleaner provided with the sensory material.”

The word “caffeine” was mentioned only once in the company’s application. That sentence read: “Other homeopathic teething or inflammation soothing additive include, but are not limited to Belladonna (atropa belladonna), caffeine and Passiflora Incarnata (Passionflower).”

The application also showed drawings that seemed to depict a toothbrush with various flavors or “sensory materials” such as lemon and mint.

Tracy Durkin, a director at the law firm Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox, and a registered patent attorney, said the fuss over what sounded like Colgate’s plans for a toothbrush with caffeine actually appeared to be a material that only included caffeine as a possible element.

“They’re not trying to patent any material or flavoring,” Durkin said. “It’s about Colgate patenting a user experience.”

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office actually rejected the patent last month after an initial review showing that the combination of two other patents issued to parties other than Colgate had similar elements.

One was a chewable toothbrush and the other was a flossing patent. “There are all sorts of crazy things patented,” Durkin said.

The application was filed in October 2012, and Colgate-Palmolive had three to six months to respond to the initial review.

Durkin said it typically takes three or four years to get a patent issued from the time it is filed.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio