Dainty Chic

Gorgeous with Amana Rahman's Bespoke Makeup Artistry- If you ever wondered about the amount of imagination a single person could exhibit, then Amana Rahman could be set as the perfect example!

Helping her sister with designing at Sahar Rahman's didn't take up all her energy or her willingness to venture into other creative fields like makeup artistry.

Instead of boring you with past reference here; we would instead like to share a candid discussion we had with the diva recently, where she shared with us a few of her trade secrets.

70 per cent breast cancer patients don’t need chemo: Study

As many as 70 per cent of women with the most common form of breast cancer may be able to skip chemotherapy, based on their score on a genetic test, researchers said Sunday.

Until now, women have faced a great deal of uncertainty about whether to add chemo to hormone therapy after a diagnosis with hormone-receptor positive, HER-2 negative breast cancer at an early stage before it has spread to the lymph nodes.

“With results of this groundbreaking study, we now can safely avoid chemotherapy in about 70 per cent of patients who are diagnosed with the most common form of breast cancer,” said co-author Kathy Albain, an oncologist at Loyola Medicine.

“For countless women and their doctors, the days of uncertainty are over.”

A 21-gene test called Oncotype Dx that has been around for years has helped guide some decisions. A high recurrence score, above 25, means chemo is necessary to ward off a recurrence while a low score, below 10, means it is not.

The current study involved more than 10,000 women and focused on those whose scores were in the middle range, from 11 to 25.

Patients, aged 18 to 75, were randomly assigned to receive chemotherapy followed by hormonal therapy or hormone therapy alone.

Then, researchers studied the outcomes, including whether or not cancer recurred, and overall survival.

“For the entire study population with gene test scores between 11 and 25 -- and especially among women aged 50 to 75 -- there was no significant difference between the chemotherapy and no chemotherapy groups,” said the findings, published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Among women younger than 50, outcomes were similar when gene test scores were 15 or lower.

Among younger women with scores 16 to 25, outcomes were slightly better in the chemotherapy group.

The results, presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting in Chicago, “should have a huge impact on doctors and patients,” Albain said.

“We are de-escalating toxic therapy.”

According to first author Joseph Sparano of Montefiore Medical Center in Bronx, New York, “any woman with early stage breast cancer 75 or younger should have the test and discuss the results” with her doctor.

Neymar to return from injury against Croatia

Brazil will start Sunday's friendly against Croatia without Neymar but the Paris St Germain striker will make a second half appearance and return from a three-month spell out injured, coach Tite said on Saturday.

Neymar has been sidelined since Feb. 25, when he fractured a metatarsal and sprained his ankle in a French league match against Olympique de Marseille.

"He's on the bench because he is still recovering," Tite told reporters in Liverpool, where Sunday's game will take place. "He will come on at halftime. Who he replaces, I don't know but that is the idea."

Tite said Neymar, who became the world's most expensive footballer when he signed from Barcelona for 222 million-euros ($264 million) last August, must be "a protagonist" for his country but added that the others players must also step up.

Brazil will start the game at Anfield with Willian up front alongside Gabriel Jesus.

Fernandinho will replace the injured Renato Augusto in midfield.

Deepika Padukone`s Naina clocks 5 years in Bollywood

Deepika Padukone presented one of the most loved characters in the recent years with Naina from Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani. As the film clocked 5 years yesterday, fans took to Twitter to express their love for their beloved actress. 
The simple and sincere girl who discovers the fun side of hers on a trip all by herself resonated with the audience making Naina one of the most loved characters of Deepika. 
As fans took to Twitter to celebrate their love for the actress, the social media favorite Deepika quickly started trending with the hashtag #5YearsOfNaina. 
The actress took to social media to share a throwback post reminiscing her character. Deepika Padukone shared a gif giving an insight into her BTS fun on the sets of Yeh JawanI Hai Deewani. 
Showering their love on Bollywood's leading lady, fans took to Twitter to share pictures of Deepika as Naina, her quotes from the film, memorable moments shared by the fans taking her character. Netizens also took to dubbing their voices to Naina’s dialogues, thereby proving their love for the actress. 
Deepika Padukone has time and again delivered characters that stayed with the audience owing to the brilliant performance by the actress. Bollywood’s leading lady, Deepika gets into the skin of her characters perfectly making the audience fall in love with her performances. 
Five years after the film’s release, Naina still stays etched into the hearts of the audience. 
Deepika Padukone is currently busy creating a global impact with not just her stunning appearances at the international red carpets but also her glamorous covers. Recently the actress was spotted leaving for New York for yet another international magazine.

Mosharraf, Shokh, Shamim share screen for Eid drama

Popular actor Mosharraf Karim, lustrous model-actress Anika Kabir Shokh and actor-director Shamim Zaman will be sharing screen in a seven-episode Eid drama serial titled ‘Choshma Paribar’ directed by Shamim Zaman himself. Borjahan scripted the serial from a story of Zakaria Azadeyo and it is scheduled to be telecast everyday from the first day of Eid on Boishakhi TV at 9:15pm. DhakaLive has news that the story of the drama serial ‘Choshma Paribar’ revolves around a family and that each of the members of this family wears glasses. The serial moves forward with the amusing stories relating to the family members. 

Mosharraf Karim said that he enjoyed acting in the drama serial. He also said,“Shamim is a very good friend of mine and as a director, he is very composed. I always enjoy working under his direction. We have tried our best to give a good drama to the audience.”

Shamim Zaman said, “It is my belief that the audience will find a different liking to this drama serial. The entire cast and crew members tried their best to produce a piece.”

Shokh said she tried her best for the serial and she hopes the serial will attract viewers.

“Shamim Zaman is one of my favorite directors and Mosharraf Karim is my desired artiste among many artistes. I really liked working with both of them. I hope that the audience will like the drama serial.”

To note, Mosharraf Karim, Shamim Zaman and Shokh will be busy in the shooting for different projects for the upcoming Eid. Mosharraf Karim has worked for several drama serials but he will be seen opposite to Shokh only in ‘Choshma Paribar’. l

‘Russian doll’ hospitals drain Bulgaria’s health system

If public healthcare in Bulgaria had a face, it could well be the crumbling facade of the public hospital in Lovech, brought to the edge of bankruptcy by a controversial contract with a private sector clinic.

Weary-looking doctors and medical workers have been protesting outside the hospital — situated in one of the poorest regions of the EU’s poorest country — to demand their delayed salaries.

Earlier in May they blocked the road to the hospital in the north-central city for days on end, shouting: “We are hungry!”.

Lovech’s hospital is a victim of a controversial use of the public healthcare system now being investigated with private clinics installed inside public hospitals, amounting to “hospitals within hospitals” like Russian dolls.

For over 10 years, Lovech was host to a private cardiac surgery clinic which detractors say drained vital resources from the public health fund and left the hospital on the brink of ruin.

“They only did the most expensive surgeries that are reimbursed in full by the fund,” nurse Nevyana Borisova told AFP.

“But the patients were prepared for the surgery in our hospital, which also takes care of them afterwards. They made the profit and we got the costs,” she explains.

Anaesthetist and local trade union leader Sevda Kulinska says that as more and more money went into the clinic run by the Cardiolife company, other units in the hospital suffered severe underfunding and four of them had to close.

– Corruption or mismanagement? –

Under Bulgarian law, using private operators in public health provision is allowed but is meant to add services not already being offered by the public system.

According to chief prosecutor Sotir Tsatsarov, this mechanism has been misused and turned into “one of the main instruments for the misappropriation of public health funds.”

In the case of Lovech, Cardiolife recently moved out of the hospital and its management denies any wrongdoing.

“The regional hospital fell victim to flaws in its own management: the personnel is ageing and there is a lack of initiative,” Cardiolife chief accountant Iliana Kostova told AFP.

Nevertheless prosecutors are investigating the contract in Lovech to see whether any corrupt practices were involved in the way it was awarded, including on the part of the ex-director of the local health fund, who has since become a partner in a new Cardiolife clinic.

Prosecutors are combing through contracts signed by all 195 public hospitals, and say they have found even more extreme examples of funds being diverted by similar “hospitals within hospitals”.

“At least 13 hospitals were found to be on the brink of bankruptcy, while the private entities inside them prospered,” said prosecution spokeswoman Rumyana Arnaudova.

Among the numerous other examples is a hospital in the northern town of Vratsa which paid millions to a private hospital 300 kilometres (186 miles) away which was meant to send consultants who allegedly never showed up.

Bulgaria’s centre-right government has even had to extend emergency financial aid to cover months of delayed salaries for staff in the hospitals in Lovech and Vratsa.

– ‘Who will work here?’ –

However, Atanas Atanasov, head of another hospital in the eastern town of Shumen, points out that corruption is just one reason “why the public healthcare system is headed towards catastrophe”, adding that severe underfunding has to be taken into account too.

Some 12 percent of Bulgaria’s population lack health insurance. Low incomes also shrink the revenue base for public health funds.

Bulgaria spends half of the European average on healthcare, according to a recent report by the European Commission.

It found that as a result, Bulgarians have the EU’s highest out-of-pocket expenditures for healthcare — as much as 48 percent compared to an EU average of about 15 percent.

Bulgarians’ life expectancy of 74.7 years is also the second lowest in the European Union, the report added.

All this is compounded by the persistent emigration of healthcare staff.

According to their trade union, some 30,000 nurses have left Bulgaria over the past 10 years, mostly for Germany and the UK, where they can earn up to ten times as much as at home.

“The doctors who remain here are all nearing retirement age. Who will work after them?”, a Sofia oncologist asks.

Indeed, most of the doctors and nurses protesting back in Lovech told AFP that they had worked there all their lives and had only a few years left until retirement.

Strict warming curb key to survival of world's most vulnerable: Ex-UN climate chief

The world must limit global warming to 1.5 degrees to give vulnerable populations even a 50 percent chance of surviving the impact of climate change, the former United Nations climate chief said on Friday.

The 2015 Paris Agreement set a goal of limiting a rise in average world surface temperatures to "well below" 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial times, while "pursuing efforts" for 1.5C (2.7F).

But a key architect of that agreement, Christiana Figueres, told a London conference a failure to cap warming at 1.5C would be disastrous.

"The reason why 1.5 degrees as a maximum temperature rise is absolutely crucial is because it is the only temperature that gives a 50 percent chance for the most vulnerable populations to survive the effects of climate change," she said.

"From where we stand today, I hear everyone think that's impossible. Well, you know what? We're just going to have to make it possible."

Figueres said a 2-degree rise would leave most of the low-lying Pacific islands, parts of Bangladesh, and all of New York city under water.

A 1.5-degree change would give vulnerable populations a chance of surviving climate shocks like flooding, cyclones, droughts and rising sea levels, she said.

"What do we do about 95 percent of the Pacific Islands going under water? That means those people have no home - talk about forced migration," she said at the conference on women and climate change hosted by Invisible Dust, an arts and science organisation.

Worldwide, seas have risen 26 cm (10 inches) since the late 19th century, driven by melting ice and the expansion of water warmed by climate change, UN data shows, and scientists predict a rise of another metre or more by 2100.

A 2-degree temperature hike would lead to more frequent weather-related disasters and displace large numbers of people, according to the Climate Vulnerable Forum, a coalition of the countries most affected by climate change.

Pacific island nations are most at risk from rising sea levels, with low-lying islands facing an existential threat as most - or all - of their land could disappear.

Last year, 18.8 million people around the world were forced from their homes by storms, floods, wildfires or other natural disasters, according to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre.

Given the devastating effects of climate change, Figueres said she was disappointed when US President Donald Trump vowed to pull the United States out of the Paris deal a year ago.

Trump's announcement that he was ditching the deal agreed upon by nearly 200 countries came over opposition by US businesses.

"To derive a conclusion that is completely contradictory to the path of history and to the interest of the US economy is actually quite sad," Figueres said.

The withdrawal would leave the US at a competitive disadvantage as global competitors shifted away from polluting fossil fuels, she added.

In December, countries will meet in Poland to set rules for the Paris accord's implementation, including how to monitor emissions.