Women's power drives Karan Johar's 'Guilty'

Mumbai, Feb 19 (IANS) Filmmaker-producer Karan Johar, whose digital content production wing Dharmatic has collaborated with streaming giant Netflix for a venture named "Guilty", has said that his upcoming edge-of-the-seat thriller film has intrigue, resonance and relevance, combined by some terrific performances.

"Guilty" is led by women in all departments -- be it in acting, direction, writing and production -- and Johar declares he will continue collaborating with female talent in future, too.

At the trailer launch, Johar was accompanied by the film's director Ruchi Narain, writers Kanika Dhillion and Atika Chohan, and cast members Kiara Advani, Gurfateh Singh Pirzada, Akansha Ranjan Kapoor and Taher Shabbir. Srishti Behl Arya, director, International Original Film, India, Netflix, was also present, as were Apoorva Mehta, CEO, Dharma Productions, and Somen Mishra, head of creative development at Dharma Movies.

On the female-centric cast and crew, Johar said: "It's quite interesting that it is such a strong female-led narrative, led by a mainstream female actor, directed by a woman, creatively nurtured by a strong woman and all of us at Dharma are such strong feminists including Somen (Mishra), Apoorva (Mehta) and me that we feel proud to tell this story and want to continue telling stories led by women, created by women and nurtured by women."

In "Guilty", Kiara essays a musician's girlfriend. The story explores the different versions of truth that emerge when a smalltown girl accuses her college heartthrob of rape.

"We are really excited to tell the story of 'Guilty'. It has intrigue, resonance, relevance and more than that, 'Guilty' has a strong narrative and storytelling along with terrific performances. We are excited to actually have a film that is led by a solid mainstream star but also bring new talent to the table along with a very strong filmmaker," declared Johar.

After her grand web debut with Karan Johar's segment in the anthology "Lust Stories" (2018), Kiara returns to the digital space with "Guilty".

Talking about his collaboration with Netflix, Johar said: "This is the first time that Dharmatic and Netflix has come together. All of you know that Netflix is a tremendous global platform and they really encourage and nurture strong content, so to collaborate with them was really an honour and also a privilege to be able to tell stories we really want to with the abundance and the craft and creativity."

"Guilty" will stream on Netflix from March 6.

Bengaluru: Female police mannequins at places frequented by women

(IANS) The city police will soon deploy female mannequins dressed as policewomen at places frequented by women, a police officer said.

"We will selectively deploy female mannequins dressed as policewomen at places where they can be used," Bengaluru Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao told IANS.

Rao said the mannequins will not be a permanent fixture at a given place but will be rotated regularly.

He has delegated the work of sourcing and stationing the mannequins to Deputy Commissioners of Police (DCPs) and Assistant Commissioners of Police (ACPs) across the city.

"I have planted the idea. The officers will take care of the rest," said the commissioner.

Rao said people in general obey laws only when they see a policeman, necessitating the mode of hide-and-seek mannequin deployment.

He did not give the specific number of such mannequins, but said that his junior officers will do the needful of identifying the quantity of mannequins required and the junctions to deploy them.

Interestingly, a model of the female mannequin is already displayed at the commissioner's office in the city.

Bengaluru Police had pioneered the mannequin traffic police concept a few months ago.

Poor sleep can increase heart disease risk in women

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New York, Feb 17 (IANS) Women who sleep poorly tend to overeat and consume a lower-quality diet, say researchers, adding that poor sleep quality can increase the risk of heart disease and obesity.

Previous studies have shown that people who get less sleep are more likely to develop obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease--and that the relationship may be partially explained by diet.

The current study, published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, was designed to get a more comprehensive picture in women by examining associations between overall diet quality and multiple aspects of sleep quality.

"Women are particularly prone to sleep disturbances across the life span, because they often shoulder the responsibilities of caring for children and family and, later, because of menopausal hormones," said Indian-origin researcher and study senior author Brooke Aggarwal from Columbia University Vagelos.

For the findings, the researchers analysed the sleep and eating habits of an ethnically diverse group of 495 women, ages 20 to 76.

The study looked at sleep quality, the time it took to fall asleep, and insomnia.

The women also reported on the types and amounts of foods they typically eat throughout the year, allowing researchers to measure their typical dietary patterns.

Similar to previous studies of sleep and diet, the study found that those with worse overall sleep quality consumed more of the added sugars associated with obesity and diabetes.

Women who took longer to fall asleep had higher caloric intake and ate more food by weight, the researchers said.

And women with more severe insomnia symptoms consumed more food by weight and fewer unsaturated fats than women with milder insomnia.

"Our interpretation is that women with poor-quality sleep could be overeating during subsequent meals and making more unhealthy food choices," said Aggarwal.

"Poor sleep quality may lead to excessive food and calorie intake by stimulating hunger signals or suppressing signals of fullness," said study lead author Faris Zuraikat.

"Fullness is largely affected by the weight or volume of food consumed, and it could be that women with insomnia consume a greater amount of food in an effort to feel full," Zuraikat added.

"However, it's also possible that poor diet has a negative impact on women's sleep quality, eating more could also cause gastrointestinal discomfort, for instance, making it harder to fall asleep or remain asleep," Zuraikat concluded.

Simple blood test to improve ovarian cancer diagnosis

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Sydney, Feb 17 (IANS) Researchers have developed a simple blood test that measures the body's own immune response to improve diagnosis of ovarian cancer.

The study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, found that testing for a specific immune biomarker allows clinicians to identify whether growths on the ovaries are cancerous or not, without the need for tests like the MRI scans or ultrasounds.

Ovarian cancer is one of the most common gynaecologic cancers, with the highest mortality rate. About 300,000 new cases are diagnosed globally each year, with an estimated 60 per cent of women dying within five years after diagnosis.

"Our new test is as accurate as the combined results of a standard blood test and ultrasound. This is especially important for women in remote or disadvantaged communities, where under-resourced hospitals may not have access to complex and expensive equipment like ultrasound machines or MRI scanners," said study senior author

Magdalena Plebanski from the RMIT University in Australia.

"It also means patients with benign cysts identified through imaging could potentially be spared unnecessary surgeries," Plebanski added.

According to the researchers, the test could be an important diagnostic tool for assessing suspicious ovarian growths before operations.

"This study looked at women with advanced ovarian cancer, but we hope further research could explore the potential for adding this biomarker to routine diagnostic tests at earlier stages of the disease," Plebanski said.

The study used an immune marker for inflammation (IL-6) together with cancer markers to detect epithelial ovarian cancer in blood.

According to the researchers, results were validated across two separate human trial cohorts.

"Every day in Australia, four women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer and three will die from the disease," Plebanski said.

"Developing tests that are simpler and more practical may help get more women to hospital for treatment more effectively, with the hope that survival rates will improve," Plebanski concluded.