عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Varieties

Ali Kassem, Asmaa Galal Deliver Great Performance in 'El Harsha El Sab'a'

Actors Ali Kassem and Asmaa Galal during a scene in “El Harsha El Sab'a" series.
Actors Ali Kassem and Asmaa Galal during a scene in “El Harsha El Sab'a" series.
    Cairo - Mahmoud Rifai
TT
TT

Ali Kassem, Asmaa Galal Deliver Great Performance in 'El Harsha El Sab'a'

Actors Ali Kassem and Asmaa Galal during a scene in “El Harsha El Sab'a" series.
Actors Ali Kassem and Asmaa Galal during a scene in “El Harsha El Sab'a" series.

Over the past few hours, the performance of actors Ali Kassem and Asmaa Galal in “El Harsha El Sab'a” drama, screening on MBC Egypt and Shahid VIP, was trending on social media.

Ali Kassem plays the character of “Sharif”, who falls in love with Salma (actress Asmaa Galal) but has no plans to marry her. However, Salma refuses to live such a relationship, and dumps him, before he reconsiders their situation and proposes to her.

Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, Kassem said he never imagined the remarkable interaction his role as “Sharif” sparked, adding that “I don’t set expectations before the show. My job is to do everything I can and leave the feedback to the audience. The only opinions that matter are those given after the last episode. I am really thrilled about all the great interactions I have received so far, but I am still going to wait the end.”

Kassem attributes this success to the chemistry between him and Galal.

“This is not the first time we work together, and we are close friend in real life, this is why we have a strong chemistry and we never had a problem in acting together. Over the past three years, we always hoped to collaborate in a new drama, and our dream has finally become true with Director Karim al-Shenawy, who we both love and respect.”

About the backstage, Kassem said: “The casts of “El Harsha El Sab'a” and “Khalli Balak mn Zizi” are so similar, both featuring actress Amina Khalil, director Karim Al-Shenawy, scriptwriter Maryam Naoum, and musician Khaled Kamar, which gives us further motivation and positive vibes.”

“El Harsha El Sab'a” is starred by Amina Khalil, Muhammad Shaheen, Ali Kassem, Asmaa Galal, Aida Riyad, Hanan Suleiman, Muhammad Mahmoud, and Imad Rashad, written by a team led by Maryam Naoum, and directed by Karim al-Shenawy.

Most Viewed

 
 
Varieties

Blood Tests Allow 30-year Estimates of Women's Cardio Risks, New Study Says

A woman jogs in a park in Saint-Sebastien-sur-Loire near Nantes, France January 19, 2024. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
A woman jogs in a park in Saint-Sebastien-sur-Loire near Nantes, France January 19, 2024. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
TT
TT

Blood Tests Allow 30-year Estimates of Women's Cardio Risks, New Study Says

A woman jogs in a park in Saint-Sebastien-sur-Loire near Nantes, France January 19, 2024. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
A woman jogs in a park in Saint-Sebastien-sur-Loire near Nantes, France January 19, 2024. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights

Women’s heart disease risks and their need to start taking preventive medications should be evaluated when they are in their 30s rather than well after menopause as is now the practice, said researchers who published a study on Saturday.

Presenting the findings at the European Society of Cardiology annual meeting in London, they said the study showed for the first time that simple blood tests make it possible to estimate a woman’s risk of cardiovascular disease over the next three decades.

"This is good for patients first and foremost, but it is also important information for (manufacturers of) cholesterol lowering drugs, anti-inflammatory drugs, and lipoprotein(a)lowering drugs - the implications for therapy are broad," said study leader Dr. Paul Ridker of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Reuters reported.

Current guidelines “suggest to physicians that women should generally not be considered for preventive therapies until their 60s and 70s. These new data... clearly demonstrate that our guidelines need to change,” Ridker said. “We must move beyond discussions of 5 or 10 year risk."

The 27,939 participants in the long-term Women’s Health Initiative study had blood tests between 1992 and 1995 for low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C or “bad cholesterol”), which are already a part of routine care.

They also had tests for high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) - a marker of blood vessel inflammation - and lipoprotein(a), a genetically determined type of fat.

Compared to risks in women with the lowest levels of each marker, risks for major cardiovascular events like heart attacks or strokes over the next 30 years were 36% higher in women with the highest levels of LDL-C, 70% higher in women with the highest levels of hsCRP, and 33% higher in those with the highest levels of lipoprotein(a).

Women in whom all three markers were in the highest range were 2.6 times more likely to have a major cardiovascular event and 3.7 times more likely to have a stroke over the next three decades, according to a report of the study in The New England Journal of Medicine published to coincide with the presentation at the meeting.

“The three biomarkers are fully independent of each other and tell us about different biologic issues each individual woman faces,” Ridker said.

“The therapies we might use in response to an elevation in each biomarker are markedly different, and physicians can now specifically target the individual person’s biologic problem.”

While drugs that lower LDL-C and hsCRP are widely available - including statins and certain pills for high blood pressure and heart failure - drugs that reduce lipoprotein(a) levels are still in development by companies, including Novartis , Amgen , Eli Lilly and London-based Silence Therapeutics.

In some cases, lifestyle changes such as exercising and quitting smoking can be helpful.

Most of the women in the study were white Americans, but the findings would likely “have even greater impact among Black and Hispanic women for whom there is even a higher prevalence of undetected and untreated inflammation,” Ridker said.

“This is a global problem,” he added. “We need universal screening for hsCRP ... and for lipoprotein(a), just as we already have universal screening for cholesterol.”