”This is done by spinning the blood in a machine called centrifuge. It also helps in the healing process, say experts in the medical industry who are looking at it as a future course of treatment for ailments. Once the blood is centrifuged and its components separated the platelet rich fraction is obtained from the plasma component.Research studies and clinical practice have shown PRP therapy to be very effective at relieving pain and treating injured tissues before the damage progresses and the condition is irreversible.  

In cases of diabetic ulcers, the procedure may be repeated often as the results take time. But presently, it is also being used for novel treatment methods.The enriched platelet fraction is injected locally to obtain the desired clinical results.It is currently being used for hair loss treatments, orthopedic treatments, hair transplants, diabetic foot, chronic wounds and venous ulcers. The results have been very good for these cases but there is a need for more studies as far as other parts of the body are concerned.Dr Rajesh Vasu, aesthetic plastic surgeon at Century Hospitals said, “For hair loss treatments, the procedure is repeated three to four times or even more to achieve better results.”Experts also say that the more the number of times needles are inserted into joints, the more are the chances of infection. Initial results are promisingPRP procedures in the city are largely being used for cosmetic purposes like hair loss and hair transplant treatments. It is done by drawing the patient’s blood and spinning the blood in a device called a centrifuge machine.  

This separates the components of blood into plasma and cell fractions.”The blood taken from a person is injected back in the form of concentrated platelets. For this reason, one has to be careful while injecting it in diabetic and kidney patients. The small platelet fraction containing enriched 30ML perfume bottle cap with aluminum platelets and its growth factors are treated with calcium chloride or carbonate to activate growth factors. When the red cells are removed it is called PRP. The platelets are then extracted from the plasma fraction. But it is being viewed as the treatment of the future as there are a lot of advantages and surgery in some cosmetic procedures can be avoided. Dr Lokireddy adds, “Platelets are kept at 22 C which makes it a good media for bacterial growth. Normal blood contains red cells, platelets and plasma. PRP is not good for diabetics, kidney ailmentsPlatelet rich plasma is nothing but whole blood without red cells.  

Dr Padmaja Lokireddy, consultant haemato oncology and stem cell transplant at Apollo Hospitals says, “PRP therapy in tendon repair has failed to produce statistically significant benefits to apply it as a part of standard care.Platelet rich plasma therapy is used to resolve pain, promote hair growth and  treat injured tissues. The blood spins at a very high speed. Injecting blood back into the scalp has shown that the risks are minimal. Historically, PRP has been used to treat patients with low platelets for different reasons to support them to combat bleeding complications. But injecting into pancreas or kidney is risky. PRP (platelet rich plasma) is a novel treatment using the patient’s own blood to extract platelets for treating various clinical conditions.

So here is essentially an alternative view of history.The brothers not only built the house and its 18-feet high boundary wall but also installed anti-snooping 30ML perfume bottle cap with aluminum devices and other precautions. 

Two British journalists, Cathy Scott-Clark and Adrian Levy, chart the hurried flight of the world’s most notorious terrorist Osama bin Laden from the interiors of Afghanistan to the Tora Bora caves and eventually to Abbottabad in Pakistan.The book puts together little-known details such as the manner in which Abu Faraj al-Libi, Al Qaeda’s number three, had chosen Osama bin Laden’s final hideout in Bilal Town, Abbottabad, and directed the “Kuwaiti” brothers Ibrahim and Abrar to buy the land and build a safehouse. “A disguised Osama bin Laden and his family arrived in Abbottabad at the end of August [2015], settling on the second floor”, while the Kuwaitis “lived downstairs in a self-contained apartment cut off from the rest of the house by a locked metal gate”.The Exile is a sledgehammer of a book: it’s a thriller, a historical record, a masterpiece of investigative journalism and above all a captivating inside story of this century’s greatest villain, the Al Qaeda. Enemy killed in action.The two have built a reputation for being hard-nosed investigative journalists penetrating areas where few would dare to tread. History is ultimately what we make of the past.  

Which one are we to believe? The common reader is left adrift, not having access to the mass of documents, untold stories, secret files and what have you.

This is as hard to believe as is the assertion that the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden  was only known to the late jihadi general Hamid Gul, and a so-called S section of the ISI, which believe it or not, supposedly works independently of both the ISI and the Pakistan Army.But the hunt for Osama bin Laden’s trail from his base in Afghanistan to his exodus to Pakistan and ultimate assassination at Abbottabad must have been the duo’s hardest hunt yet.The bulk of the action is centred in Pakistan, where Osama bin Laden and his family arrived from Afghanistan following the US invasion of 2001.The book, they stress, is no official history but an account painfully reconstructed from interviews with persons affiliated or related to Osama bin Laden, officials and some members of his vast extended family. Iran too plays a part with the Islamist regime trying to use Al Qaeda to its advantage.The two authors are no stranger to Pakistan or its powerful Army establishment. The authors conclude that the top generals did not know anything about Osama bin Laden hiding in Abbottabad and were as astonished as the rest of the world when he was discovered and killed. The result, the authors claim, is a book that tells “the story of Al Qaeda from the inside”.

Despite its flaws, the book must be highly recommended; it is a gripping narrative of our times and all the darkness hidden in the nooks and crannies of our complex world, and despite its bulk and excruciating details the authors have dug up, the books ends up as a bloody good read. The preface too seems a little contrived, the authors arguing that theirs’ is the real version of Osama bin Laden’s exile while the versions put out by the US government in particular about his life and ignominious end are nothing but pernicious propaganda.  

Levy worked in Pakistan as a correspondent for many years and used his experience to write Deception (also co-authored with Scott-Clark), another blockbuster of a book revealing how Pakistan stealthily built the bomb with the tacit compliance of Washington. Scott-Clark, a freelance journalist, writer and documentary filmmaker, has reported from Bosnia, Rwanda, Serbia, Afghanistan, Iran among other countries.The narrative’s accounts of the machinations inside Pakistan, the workings of the ISI and the complexities of relations between Islamabad and Washington make for fascinating reading. The pace is relentless as Al Qaeda agents secure themselves in Pakistan and fend off conflicting national and internal interests. “

While falsehoods were advanced, behind the scenes the Pentagon and White House aggressively pursued those who broke real stories…All of which made it more essential than ever to get behind the history that was being told”, they write.The authors portray themselves as rebels against an authoritarian system that manipulates public opinion and twists facts. Come on!It’s the little things like this that jar. Some six years later a US SEAL team would break into the house to shoot dead Osama bin Laden and call their mission commander in Washington with the now famous phrase: “For God and country, I pass Geronimo, Geronimo EKIA”. Apart from Pakistan, they have written on Kashmir terrorism and the 26/11 Mumbai attack.Indranil Banerjie is an independent commentator on political and security issues. Where the book disappoints, at least to those Indians who are aware that Pakistan’s military is elbow deep in the global terrorism cauldron, is its whitewashing of the generals in Rawalpindi.

Essential to make reference here to our homegrown boy, Warren Mendonsa’s Blackstratblues, whose independent talent as a guitarist can surely take him to an international platform. Having had the advantage of wearing appropriate genes as the daughter of blues guitarist Johnny Copeland, she showed once again why she is one of the strongest and most capable vocalists in contemporary blues. In all this, let us not forget the legend of Billy Gibbons, the guitarist of ZZ Top, who salvaged – and energised - the dull, heavy rock performance from Supersonic Blues Machine on three songs on which he gusted, including Sharped Dressed Man, and reiterated that Gibbons is unquestionably one of the finest blues-rock guitarists to ever emerge from Texas.

Among other artistes of musical interest in the blues was 60-year-old American Janiva Magness who has, till date, released 12 albums.Then, of course, was the consummate professionalism of Shemekia Copeland, returning to Indian shores after her debut performance at the festival in 2011.In disappointments was the one-time child prodigy Quinn Sullivan who proved himself as an adept interpreter, but merely an adequate composer of pop, and Eric Gales, who showed flashes of fancy guitar while gusting with Supersonic Blues Machine, but little else in terms of musical content. So it was as she fronted a band luxury aluminum perfume cap with iron consisting of two guitarists, a bassist, and a drummer as she tore into tracks such as riff-driven The Battle Is Over (But The War Goes On) from her last album, 2015’s Outskirts Of Love, the blues ‘n’ soul of Somebody Else’s Jesus, the very Creedence Clearwater Revival sounding Dirty Water, the slow blues of Married To The Blues which stretched Copeland’s expressive voice, the percussion-heavy Never Going Back To Memphis, and the rocking Pie In The Sky with featured some amazing slide, and fabulous interplay between the guitarists, including a call-and-response interaction with the audience. Yes, Brian Tellis is passionate about his music too as I recall, since 1985 at least, when I saw him perform harmonies in a band called Voices at the Aid Bhopal Concert held in Mumbai.  

Doorway – a marvellous slow gospel blues ditty – was outstanding, so was the straight-forward Can’t Let Go which sounded like a brethren of Mustang Sally, the mid-tempo Walking In The Sun, and a rendition of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Long As I Can See The Light, with impressive guitar work by the rhythm guitarist, and featured on her Grammy-nominated Love Wins Again [for the trivia-minded, this song also features on Shemekia Copeland’s last album].I am – and will always be – a blues buff, but so too is the promoter behind Mahindra Blues Festival, who has undertaken a commendable job bringing international talent into the country through the years.

Former Beatle Paul McCartney – currently in the news for recording with the one-time colleague, drummer Ringo Starr on his forthcoming album – sang about “there’s more to life than blues…” [on a track named Medicine Jar from Wings’ Venus And Mars album] and, although he was writing about drugs then, McCartney’s lyrics would have been moot reviewing the recently concluded annual Mahindra Blues Festival, held at Mumbai’s Mehboob Studios. Backed by a crack band consisting of a rhythm guitarist, bassist, and drummer, this was an artistes true to her music, not afraid of working hard on her vocation.Gospel, pop, and rock all made an appearance at this seventh edition and it may be appropriate that, if the blues are not immediately returned to its rightful focus at India’s premier event to promote the genre, organisers Oranjuice Entertainment may need to seriously consider a name change to Mahindra Beyond Blues Festival.  

Through the years, there has been every reason to meet him (mostly at concerts, though), including at his very own One Tree Music Festival during the 2000s that I frequented regularly at Mumbai’s Bandra Kurla Complex, which has since expanded into this festival. Apart from a sprinkling of covers Koko Taylor’s Voodoo Woman and Etta James’ I’d Rather Go Blind], it was her original songs – Duffy’s influences were obvious, mainly the Peter Green-fronted Fleetwood Mac era – that were supported by some marvellous guitar playing, such as on the harmony-driven Where I Long To Be – due to be featured on Duffy’s next album – and, in taking a complete tangent, to the reggae-tinged Sweet Sweet Baby.But, fortunately, blues were not ignored, and there were pleasant surprises thrown to the audience, especially with the high-energy performance from Gráinne Louica Duffy, an Irish singer-songwriter and guitarist.

The agency will take public comment on the proposed guidelines before adopting them.  

The devices have a silicone outer shell and are filled with either saline or silicone. The Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday that manufacturers should add a warning highlighted by a box — the most serious type — to the information given to women considering implants.  

The company issued a worldwide recall for the implants, which had already been restricted or removed from numerous countries. “The FDA needs to enforce the use of this and not just hope it’s used,” said Tomes, who now runs a company that analyses device injuries and malfunctions.The FDA has stood by its long-standing position that the implants are essentially safe so long as women understand they can have complications.Washington: US health officials want women getting breast implants to receive stronger warnings and more details about the possible risks and complications..The agency also wants companies to explain that breast implants often require repeat surgeries and they should not be considered lifelong devices. But following the meeting, the agency said women should get more explicit, understandable information about implant risks. “Women deserve to know what is being implanted and need to know not to take these risks lightly.

As outlined Wednesday, manufacturers would not be required to adopt the boxed warning and checklist, noted Madris Tomes, a former FDA staffer.”In recent years, the FDA and regulators elsewhere have grappled with a link between a rare cancer and a type of textured implant. In July, the FDA called on manufacturer Allergan to pull its Biocell implant after it was tied to heightened risk of a form of lymphoma. “We have heard from many women that they are not fully informed Aluminum bottle caps factory of the risks when considering breast implants,” the agency said in a statement detailing the recommendations.The agency is also recommending patients complete a checklist to make sure they understand all the possible side effects of the implants, such as scarring, pain, rupture and even a rare form of cancer.In a separate issue, the FDA has received thousands of reports from women who blame their implants for a host of health problems including rheumatoid arthritis, chronic fatigue and muscle pain. Earlier this year, the FDA held a meeting at which dozens of women urged the agency to place new warnings and restrictions on implants. About 1 in 5 women who get implants for cosmetic reasons need to have them removed within eight to 10 years, according to the FDA. The new proposal is the FDA’s latest attempt to manage safety issues with the devices primarily used for breast augmentation, the most frequently performed cosmetic surgical procedure in the US Roughly 400,000 patients get implants each year, 100,000 of them after cancer surgery. The FDA’s draft guidelines recommend manufacturers clearly disclose and list their ingredients for patients.