All posts tagged: Perils

Vanity in a vial: The perils of a raging, and untested, peptide health trend

Vanity in a vial: The perils of a raging, and untested, peptide health trend

Published by Parlour News

The new pharmacy is a refrigerator. Not the kind that hums in a clinic, stocked by pharmacists. This one sits in a luxury apartment in Manhattan or a founder’s kitchen in Silicon Valley. Inside are syringes and small glass vials with names like BPC-157, TB-500, and CJC-1295. The US Anti-Doping Agency has banned several popular injectable peptides, warning of cardiac risks. (Shutterstock) These are short chains of amino acids known as peptides. They arrive as powders labelled “for research use only,” are mixed at home with sterile water, and injected for better recovery, smoother skin, sharper focus, or faster healing. There is little scientific evidence that these vials contain what they claim or that any of it works. Hold that image next to another, still within living memory of the Covid-19 vaccination drive: a syringe containing messenger RNA. That syringe held genetic instructions cells make and destroy every day, used to show the immune system what a virus looks like. That injection went through large trials, regulatory review, and global scrutiny. It saved millions of …

Revdi or subsidy: The promise and perils of India’s cash-transfer programmes

Revdi or subsidy: The promise and perils of India’s cash-transfer programmes

Published by Parlour News

Dec 11, 2024 13:57 IST First published on: Dec 11, 2024 at 13:53 IST Share In recent elections in several states, direct cash transfers (particularly to women) are reported to have played an important role. Earlier, on the eve of the national election of 2019, a programme of cash transfers to farmers (PM-KISAN) was introduced that was also reported to have been influential. As I have been an advocate for cash transfers in the form of a Universal Basic Income (UBI) for nearly two decades, I am often asked if these transfer programmes to women and farmers are in line with my advocacy of UBI. Strictly speaking, these transfers are quite different from UBI for the obvious reason that they are not universal: They are either for special groups of poor women or special classes of farmers (small or marginal farmers, and subject to restrictions relating to earning pensions or paying income tax). I had advocated a UBI for the total population, not as part of any poverty reduction programme, but as part of every …

IND vs AUS: Virat Kohli’s outside off-stump perils continue as Scott Boland strikes in Adelaide | Cricket News

IND vs AUS: Virat Kohli’s outside off-stump perils continue as Scott Boland strikes in Adelaide | Cricket News

Published by Parlour News

India vs Australia: Australia seamer Scott Boland had Virat Kohli tied down in the second Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Adelaide on Saturday, dismissing him in a fashion the former India captain has seen one too many times. The fourth-stump delivery snared Kohi once again, pitching at a good length and nipping away slightly. Kohli, looking to defend the ball, found himself poking hard at the pink ball as it safely cushioned into Carey’s gloves. Kohli’s departure for 11 off 21 deliveries left India three down with a little under 10 overs to go to stumps on Day 2. This has been a constant mode of dismissal for Kohli over the years, with the slip-cordon behind him always ready for a ball flying towards them. Even though it hasn’t happened a lot this year, the weakness persists. In the first Test against Bangladesh in September, Kohli attempted to drive a ball well outside the off-stump, but it tickled the edge to find wicket-keeper Litton Das. When New Zealand toured India soon after, it was …

Pickleball perils and lessons on injury prevention

Published by Webster

In a quiet residential pocket in the south of Bangalore, a group of senior citizens form a circle in the apartment car parking lot and perform a set of stretching routines. One of them cracks a joke about poor Ramakrishna (name changed) breaking his forearm and the group breaks into spontaneous laughter. It is five in the evening and the action appears quite natural of a senior’s club in the apartment. A closer look, however, reveals lines for what is clearly a court of some sort and when the men tie a makeshift net and pull out their paddle, it becomes all too apparent. The seniors are out for a game of pickleball. And the joke was about a friend in the group that is currently nursing an injury sustained while playing the sport. Nuances ignored Pickleball has well and truly captured the imagination of sports lovers in the country. Its easy to play and passes off a great form of recreation, whilst offering exercise of some degree. What’s more, when parking lots in apartments …

Emma Stone’s Torn Zip To The Perils Of High Heels

Published by Parlour News

Emma Stone’s dress before and after (L) the rip (Images: Getty) What is an award show without some glamour and drama? Even when it is the prestigious Academy Awards aka Oscars, a large part of the discourse is dedicated to the fashion and style choices that our favourite stars make for the big night. From making political statements to launching their revamped selves, the Oscars night does play a huge role in the entertainment roster for celebrities in Hollywood. But when the celebrities step onto the red carpet, with all [fashion] guns blazing in the most intricate and extravagant of costumes, a few hiccups are a given. So, the Academy Awards night is no stranger to wardrobe malfunctions. Over the years, from Kim Basinger to Emma Stone, the biggest stars have had some “oops” moments at the prestigious event and have [mostly] handled it in style. Here’s a quick look at some such instances: Emma Stone rips her zipper – 2024  For Emma Stone, Oscars 2024 was a night to remember for more reasons than one. She took home the Best …

Rapture Review: An Unblinking Probe Into The Perils Of Paranoia

Published by Webster

A still from Rapture. (courtesy: YouTube) The darkness that writer-director Dominic Sangma shines a light on in his second film, Rapture (Garo title: Rimdogittanga), is not only of the literal kind that descends when night sets in. It alludes, just as crucially, to the blind spots that are allowed to percolate into the minds and hearts of people to the detriment of their humanity. The Indian-Chinese-Swiss co-production, a clear-eyed and unblinking probe into the perils of paranoia, premiered on Thursday in the Cineasti del Presente competition of the 76th Locarno Film Festival. The film explores what we selectively see, and choose not to see, when narrow considerations of community push us into the dark alleys of a siege mentality. In Sangma’s starkly delineated vision, darkness is a metaphor for the abnegation of the line that separates the morally acceptable from the ethically abhorrent. In the Meghalaya village where Rapture is set, the phenomenon takes on a disturbing dimension. Sangma’s understated style blends the fictional with the subjective, the intimate with the universal to craft a …