First Red Sea Fashion Week Starts on Ummahat Islands

The event aims to establish Saudi fashion's presence in relevant international forums and position the Kingdom's fashion as a major contributor across various sectors of the fashion industry globally. SPA
The event aims to establish Saudi fashion's presence in relevant international forums and position the Kingdom's fashion as a major contributor across various sectors of the fashion industry globally. SPA
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First Red Sea Fashion Week Starts on Ummahat Islands

The event aims to establish Saudi fashion's presence in relevant international forums and position the Kingdom's fashion as a major contributor across various sectors of the fashion industry globally. SPA
The event aims to establish Saudi fashion's presence in relevant international forums and position the Kingdom's fashion as a major contributor across various sectors of the fashion industry globally. SPA

The first Red Sea Fashion Week (RSFW) kicked Thursday from Ummahat Islands, promising three days of style and glamour at the St. Regis Red Sea Resort.
The RSFW, organized by the Saudi Fashion Commission, is a cultural and economic milestone for the fashion industry in the Kingdom, representing a prominent initiative that integrates Saudi fashion into the global market, SPA reported.
The event aims to establish Saudi fashion's presence in relevant international forums and position the Kingdom's fashion as a major contributor across various sectors of the fashion industry globally. It recognizes the significant impact of fashion as a contributor to national economies.
Fashion Commission chief executive Burak Cakmak expressed the goal of the RSFW to create a platform that fosters cultural exchange and celebrates creativity. He added that the cultural event highlights the commission's steadfast commitment to driving the fashion industry forward in the Kingdom.
He further emphasized the commission's dedication to creating an appealing environment where talented individuals, both male and female, from the nation can connect with experienced international figures and reputable entities in the industry.
With a meticulously planned schedule, the RSFW features an impressive lineup of Saudi and global brands that can adorn the nation’s platforms, showrooms, and forums at the local, regional and global levels, Cakmak said.
The Fashion Commission's strategies and plans revolve around nurturing local talents and integrating them into the global fashion scene, Cakmak said, aligning with the objectives of Saudi Vision 2030 to enrich the cultural fabric of the Kingdom.
Cakmak stressed the commission's eagerness to keep up with these objectives that also expand local economic horizons, with culture playing a vital role in the national product and contributing to the overall development of the country's economy.



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
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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.”