More than 30 guests, crew sick in Viking cruise gastrointestinal illness outbreak
More than 30 guests, crew sick in Viking cruise gastrointestinal illness outbreak
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FBI issues tips for travelers going abroad for spring break
The FBI's Los Angeles field office issued tips to Americans traveling abroad for spring break, urging travelers to stay safe.
More than 30 people got sick in a gastrointestinal illness outbreak on a Viking cruise.
Among 355 guests on its Viking Polaris ship, 28 reported being ill during its current voyage, along with four crew members, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Their main symptoms were vomiting and diarrhea.
The health agency listed the causative agent as unknown. The ship is scheduled to arrive in New York on April 23 following a nearly two-week Canada voyage, according to CruiseMapper.
Viking implemented heightened cleaning and disinfection measures and isolated sick passengers and employees, among other steps. The company did not immediately respond to USA TODAY's request for comment.
The cases mark the thirteenth outbreak of gastrointestinal illness that has met the CDC's threshold for public notification this year, including another on the Viking Mars ship in January. Most were caused by norovirus.
The illness is often associated with cruise ships, but they account for only 1% of all reported outbreaks.
Dr. Dean Winslow, a professor of medicine and pediatrics at Stanford Medicine, told USA TODAY in January that outbreaks typically take place in congregate settings, particularly where people eat and drink. That includes cruises, universities, nursing homes and 'even hospitals,' he said.
The CDC's Vessel Sanitation Program, which inspects cruise ships and responds to outbreaks, was impacted by recent federal government staffing cuts. However, an agency spokesperson told USA TODAY earlier this month that the program will continue as it 'is primarily staffed by USPHS commissioned officers who were not subject to the reduction in force.'
Nathan Diller is a consumer travel reporter for USA TODAY based in Nashville. You can reach him at ndiller@usatoday.com.
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Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
"Maintaining Strong Bones Has Less To Do With Drinking Tons Of Milk": Experts Are Sharing What To Foods May Negatively Impact Your Bone Density
My grandmother has osteoporosis, along with 10 million other Americans diagnosed with the disease and 43 million others with low bone mass. Not wanting to follow in her hobbled footsteps, the rest of the women in the family are taking precautions, including consuming the recommended amount of calcium (more isn't necessarily better), adding weight-bearing exercises to our exercise regimens and attending regular doctor checkups. But according to orthopedic specialists, protecting and maintaining strong bones has less to do with drinking tons of milk (those Got Milk campaigns certainly had their intended effect) and more to do with avoiding foods and beverages that can impact our bone density. Folks concerned about osteoporosis often add calcium and vitamin D to their diets, but these supplements could hurt your bone health rather than help if not taken as needed. Dr. Liz Matzkin, associate professor at Brigham and Women's Hospital in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery in Boston, explained: 'Although calcium and Vitamin D is important to maintain bone health, exceeding the recommended doses per day can backfire and be harmful rather than beneficial. Calcium and vitamin D requirements are age dependent, so make sure you are aware of the optimal dose for you.' She advised that, for ages 50 and over, the recommendations are 1,000 milligrams per day of calcium and 800 to 1000 international units per day of vitamin D. Below, orthopedic surgeons and specialists share the foods they avoid to help lessen their risk of osteoporosis. Alcohol Related: This Picky Eater Showdown Will Be Tough For People Without Refined Palates We don't blame you if you're totally confused about whether alcohol is a healthy or unhealthy addition to your diet. Whether you've heard it's beneficial for heart health or are concerned about its effect on the liver, Matzkin cautions that sipping a few glasses of pinot or chugging lagers can negatively affect bone health. 'An increased consumption of alcohol can alter the body's ability to absorb important nutrients that are actually beneficial to bone health, such as calcium, vitamin D and magnesium,' she explained. While calcium and vitamin D often get the spotlight in this area, our sex hormones, like testosterone in men and estrogen in women, are also critical for ensuring strong bones. Angelina Waller, a physician assistant at Advanced Orthopedics in Denver, explained that alcohol 'slows the bone remodeling cycle and disrupts hormone levels.' If you do like to imbibe, Matzkin recommends no more than one alcoholic beverage per day (which is the maximum amount women should be drinking anyway, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). Older folks and those who are at risk of bone breakage should be especially cautious. 'Lastly, if you consume too much alcohol, there is a higher risk of falling and injuring or fracturing a bone,' Matzkin said. A 2018 study found a link between alcohol consumption and hip fractures. Caffeine Related: If Your Fruit And Vegetable Knowledge Is Actually Good, Prove It By Getting 22/27 Of These Questions Right While America runs on coffee, it doesn't fuel our bones. And not just coffee. Add energy drinks, soda, tea and supplements or any product with caffeine to the hit list. Just like alcohol, the idea isn't abstention but moderation. 'Caffeine has been shown to increase calcium loss and decrease calcium absorption, both of which negatively influence bone health,' Matzkin said. 'Consider decaffeinated coffee or tea options if you just need something to warm you up or, even better, a tall glass of water.' The Food and Drug Administration recommends no more than 400 milligrams of caffeine a day (about 4-5 cups of coffee), which is a good guideline to use for bone health too. The bone builder vitamin D is also affected by caffeine, which can interfere with absorption. 'Caffeine causes decreased calcium absorption and increased calcium loss in the urine,' Waller said. Soda, particularly cola, is also a culprit of bad bone health. A 2006 comparative study found that drinking cola (including diet versions!) was associated with significantly lower bone mineral density in women. The level of consumption is related to the problem: The more cola the women drank, the more significant its impact. 'Soda contains sugars and can also contain phosphoric acid and caffeine,' Matzkin said. 'All of which fail to have any health benefits and, if consumed in large quantities, will result in negative health consequences.' Wheat Bran It may come as a surprise that heart-healthy wheat bran can have a negative effect on bone health. 'Wheat bran has high levels of phytates, which can prevent calcium absorption,' Matzkin explained. Many people eat wheat bran because it's high in dietary fiber, which is essential for keeping you regular, decreasing heart disease and even preventing colon cancer, all important considerations for many Americans. Thankfully, if you're a consumer of oat bran (which is different from wheat bran), it doesn't have the same deleterious effects on bones as wheat bran, according to Matzkin, as it doesn't contain high levels of phytates. Phytates are a type of anti-nutrient naturally found in plants. Many of your favorite veggies and legumes (from kale and cabbage to beans and peanuts) contain compounds that reduce the absorption of other nutrients. Pseudoscience makes a big deal out of avoiding these compounds, but for the most part, there's no reason to avoid these otherwise-healthy foods. Beans, spinach and beets also contain anti-nutrients that can decrease calcium absorption, but soaking (in the case of dried beans) or cooking (for raw spinach and beets) lessens their impact, according to Waller. 'Beans and wheat bran contain phytates, and spinach and beets contain oxalates that decrease calcium absorption as they bind to the calcium,' she said. If you want to reduce the phytates in wheat bran, you can try soaking, sprouting or fermenting it. Since it has tons of other benefits, there's no need to completely remove it from your diet, just moderate your intake. 'As with almost all foods, moderation is key,' Matzkin said. 'No need to completely eliminate wheat bran from the diet, but understanding that it can affect [calcium] absorption should prompt supplementation with other [calcium]-rich foods.' Salt Whether your tastes run salty or sweet or salty-sweet, the white stuff is typically associated with high blood pressure rather than bone loss. But it really should be a consideration for bone health, especially for older and at-risk groups. 'Be aware of salt that can be hidden in meats, snacks and processed foods such as cold cuts,' Matzkin said. 'Consuming excessive amounts of salt (more than 2,300 milligrams per day) can lead to calcium loss from your bones.' According to a 2018 study by the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, increased sodium consumption significantly increased the risk of osteoporosis. To put that in perspective, 2,300 milligrams per day is equal to 1 teaspoon of table salt, according to the FDA. On average, Americans are eating 1.5 times that amount. This post originally appeared on HuffPost. Also in Food: I'm Not Calling You Uncultured, But If You Can't Pass This International Food Also in Food: People Are Sharing The "Unneccessary" Cooking Rules They Stopped Following Ages Ago Also in Food: If You Can't Name At Least 10 Of These Fruits, You've Got The Taste Buds Of A Toddler
Forbes
6 hours ago
- Forbes
Stressed, Scrolling On Social, And Stuck? Here's What To Do About It.
Have you ever found your focus and your mood completely derailed after getting sucked into a social media scrolling session? Maybe it started innocently enough with something like researching vacation destinations. Maybe you went looking for a dinner recipe. Or maybe you found yourself going down a rabbit hole looking up physical or mental health symptoms you've been having. Social media scrolling has been linked to poorer mental and physical health and decreased work ... More productivity. LifeStance Health recently surveyed over 1,000 U.S. adults to uncover how being constantly online connectivity impacts Americans' mental well-being and relationships. One of the most startling findings was that so many participants reported relying on social media for mental health advice, despite concerns about its credibility, with a whopping 50% of Gen Z-ers self-diagnosing mental health conditions based on social media content (but sometimes hesitating to actually seek professional help afterwards). And then before you know it, forty-six minutes have passed and you're totally overstimulated, treading water in a puddle of your own stress-sweat and you somehow need to get yourself back on track so you can get on with your day. As becoming 'chronically online' has become the norm for so many, this can play a big role in wellbeing. 26% of respondents shared that they check social media within five minutes of waking up, and the same portion spends four hours or more daily on social media. Gen Z (45%) and millennial respondents (39%) were found to be the most likely to be constantly connected, compared to Gen X (25%) and baby boomer (14%) respondents. These social media time-sucks and mood-dips can be disruptive no matter what time of day or night they occur, but when they hit in the middle of your day, it can significantly throw you off course. Here, experts share their insights and tips for how to cope when you're overstimulated by social media. Health experts agree that spending too much time on social media can have a negative impact on ... More overall wellbeing. Dr. Caroline Fleck, a psychologist and author of Validation, quips, 'If i wanted to set up conditions that would lead someone to develop major depression disorder, I'd have them lie down, limit their sunlight exposure, and put them in a space where it's very easy to compare themselves to other people—social media offers all of those things.' According to Srini Pillay, M.D., a Harvard-trained psychiatrist, chief medical officer of Reulay and author of 'Tinker Dabble Doodle Try: Unlock the Power of The Unfocused Mind', being chronically online can cause severe cognitive decline. He cites a March 2025 article published in Brain Science indicating that excessive exposure to low-quality digital content, especially through social media and video platforms, causes a phenomenon known as 'brain rot'—a term recently crowned Oxford's Word of the Year. 'Symptoms include emotional numbness or fogginess, memory issues, poor decision-making, and a distorted sense of self—fueled by dopamine-driven feedback loops that keep users locked in.' Other researchers have found that chronic online users usually multitask and get side-tracked by constant notifications, which can lead to poor attention, memory, and decision-making, he adds. Physical health issues like increases in inflammatory markers such as C-reactive protein (CRP), more physical symptoms and more visits to a doctor or health center for physical illness have also been noted in research. 'While social media can foster connection and provide emotional support, especially for marginalized groups,' explains Dr. Pillay, it is also linked to a range of potential health challenges. These include increased risk of anxiety, depression, sleep disruption, and body dissatisfaction—especially among girls—largely due to social comparison, problematic use, and content exposure.' He adds that excessive use may displace vital health-promoting activities 'like sleep, physical activity, and real-world social interaction.' The neglect of physical health can contribute to or exacerbate mental health issues. And by the way, this isn't just impacting individual wellbeing. Pillay, who is also a leadership development expert who works with Fortune 500 companies to help them build more resilient, agile, creative and productive teams, shares that according to research from McKinsey & Co., employee disengagement and attrition could cost a median-size S&P 500 company between $228 million and $355 million a year in lost productivity. 'Over five years, that's at least $1.1 billion in lost value per company. The multitasking that occurs while working and engaging social media may slow people down, hamper creativity, and increase anxiety, thereby impacting engagement.' Taking breaks and getting outside can help you get back on track with your day after a disruptive ... More scrolling session. Prentis Hemphill, a therapist focused on embodiment and the author of What It Takes to Heal, encourages starting by acknowledging how social media is actually designed to hijack your attention. 'I think it's good for us to know and understand that the design of social media has us consuming a lot of information and experiences of other people, but the speed at which we can do that doesn't align with the speed at which our body processes emotion and experiences. So if we end up in that scrolling vortex, we usually experience some kind of overwhelm.' That information about your mental state gives you a starting place. 'Once we notice we're triggered or overwhelmed, that's a time to take a step back.' They encourage checking in with yourself about exactly what you're feeling. 'This can give you clues as to which actions you can take. Discern exactly what it is you feel.' When we recognize what we're feeling and what's contributing to the uncomfortable feelings, explains Dr. Fleck, 'we get some information about what the antidote would be.' In many cases, she says, the inverse can be helpful. If you're scrolling inside, get outdoors, if you're in a climate with sun. 'You can even just sit outside without your phone.' Or if you've been sitting down while scrolling, 'flip that on its head and get some movement. These are just some physiological ways of regulating your body.' Considering how social media impacts your thoughts is also helpful, she says. 'On social media, you're being told to buy this and do that. You're getting the fundamental messaging that you're not enough. Self-validation is so important. You can say to yourself, 'I don't need anything other than what I am and what I have. I am enough.' You can validate, of course I'm feeling bad—I'm comparing myself to people who are photoshopped to the nth degree. Recognize that it's a distorted reality.' Sometimes being honest with yourself about what you're looking for on social media can also offer valuable clues, explains Dr. Fleck. 'If you're getting into scrolling while you're working, most likely what you need in that moment is a break from the mental stimulation of the work you're doing.' However, instead of giving ourselves a break, we flood our nervous system with these messages, she says, 'and it makes us feel keyed up and burnt out at the same time. Instead of restoring our faculties, we've exhausted them. So if the function is to regulate or distract, if you notice this pattern more than once, it becomes about, 'What can I do' to change this pattern.' Hemphill adds, 'Carving out some time and space to be with your focus and train your focus as best you can makes it a little easier to you do have to refocus or shift, having a mini ritual, such as a mini meditation, to help you be intentional about that transition to where you're back in the driver's seat of your attention can help you. A lot of us don't transition back—our minds are still in that other space but we have work to do. This helps us get back into our bodies.' Some other examples they share are taking a deep breath and going outside to connect with nature and your body. Dr. Pillay adds that deliberately seeking positive online experiences can help in the shrt term too. 'For example, if laughing babies make a person happy, they might search for a video online to switch their mood instantly. Or if a particular song puts them in a better mood, they might listen to that song immediately.' He also points to a study that demonstrated that affirming one's values is rewarding to the brain. 'This works especially if you think about what you want to honor in the future.' Your mindset around social media has been shown to play a role in how it impacts you. Dr Fleck encourages being honest with yourself about why you're scrolling. To go back to the example of someone looking up symptoms, she says, 'When we look up symptoms on social media, sometimes we're seeking some degree of, 'Is there anybody out there who's feeling what I feel?' What we're seeking there is some signal that what we're going through is real and overwhelming and hard. But that isn't always the type of validation that serves us. It would be so much healthier to have someone to talk to rather than validation that things are as bad as they seem.' If you've noticed that some people you know will tell you they find social media uplifting while others find it draining, the reason for that likely lies within, explains Dr. Pillay. 'Recent research suggests the answer lies not in the platforms themselves, but in the mindsets we bring to them. In a large-scale, multi-study investigation involving over 2,000 participants, scientists introduced the concept of social media mindsets—core beliefs about how much control people feel over their use and whether they view it as helpful or harmful to their lives.' 'The study found that people with a sense of agency and a positive outlook on social media's role in their lives tend to enjoy greater psychological and relational well-being,' he says. 'In contrast, those who feel out of control and believe social media harms them report higher levels of distress.' Those who felt like they could control when they scrolled and could take a break whenever they wanted fared better than those who felt like it was out of their control. 'As you rethink your digital health behaviors,' says Dr. Pillay, 'consider that changing your mindset may just change your relationship with social media—and yourself. Health experts recommend setting healthy boundaries with social media and building in restorative ... More daily practices. The Lifestance survey data reflects that an increasing number of people are considering using digital detoxes as ways to disconnect, with 76% of respondents reporting that they find the idea of a digital detox appealing, with Gen Z (84%) and millennial (83%) respondents most interested compared to respondents from other generations. Over a quarter of respondents stated that they actually believe a permanent TikTok ban would positively impact their mental health. 'I think these questions of how we manage social media in our lives are so important,' says Hemphill. 'I think it's so important for us to have identities and lives that are full beyond social media.' They encourage exploring how you can cultivate a sense of autonomy when we have such strong algorithms driving negative emotions like insecurity and fear. Hemphill recommends designating specific times and spaces for social media. 'Setting blocks of time can help you set a reliable place and time where you know you can go in and come out. There are also places that are sacred spaces. I don't scroll on social media when I'm with my kid or my partner. I also try to have other practices during my day and hold certain spaces sacred where social media can't enter. You can also fill out your own social media experience with the types of content you want to see.' Matthew Solit, LCSW, Executive Clinical Director at LifeStance Health, adds, 'Be careful with online mental health content and self-diagnosis. While it may seem more comfortable, it is not reliable. Wellness takes work and that work is most likely actualized through working in direct partnership with mental health professionals. The mental health challenges that can be fueled by excessive internet use, 'doom-scrolling' and overstimulation are real. If your thoughts involve harming yourself or others, please seek help immediately.'
Miami Herald
12 hours ago
- Miami Herald
London's ‘Little America' is no more. What's taking its place?
From the Eagle Bar on the top floor of the new Chancery Rosewood Hotel in Mayfair, the views across London are unobstructed, save for a gilded aluminum eagle, its wings spread wide, which crowns the midcentury modern building that once housed the U.S. Embassy to the United Kingdom. The Americans pulled up stakes in 2018, relocating the embassy to a giant fortified cube on the south bank of the Thames. They left behind the eagle, along with a collection of monuments and memorials in the adjoining Grosvenor Square — relics of what was once an American citadel in its ancestral land. John Adams lived on the square. Gen. Dwight Eisenhower had his wartime office there. A statue of Franklin Roosevelt gazes across the patchy lawn. Diplomats threw star-spangled election night parties, while hopeful travelers lined up outside for visas. During the Vietnam War, protesters clashed with police under the trees. Now, Grosvenor Square is being recast for a post-American age. The Chancery plans to open to guests in early September, its Persian Gulf owners having converted the Brutalist landmark, designed by Eero Saarinen, into a Rosewood luxury hotel, with junior suites starting at 1,400 pounds (nearly $1,900) a night. The square, which lies in front of the hotel and has a different owner, is closing this week for a 13-month refurbishment. The project will add lush plantings that celebrate biodiversity and link the 6-acre expanse, which has fallen into a state of neglect, more closely to its 18th-century Georgian roots. The owner, Grosvenor Property, insists it is preserving the legacy of a place once known as 'Little America.' But Grosvenor Square attests to how much the world has changed, not least since President Donald Trump returned to the White House. Start with the fact that the embassy was bought by investors from Qatar, whose government recently gave the Trump administration a Boeing 747 as a replacement for Air Force One. 'If you're trying to attract people, if you're trying make money, highlighting America's prominence is not the way to do it,' said Leslie Vinjamuri, the director of the U.S. and Americas program at Chatham House, a research group in London. 'It's a good time to take a step back, to play it down a bit.' Ties between Britain and the United States ebb and flow, she noted, in a 'special relationship' that is neither as serene nor as harried as often portrayed. A new global crisis could swiftly bring these old allies back together. But Trump's acrimonious dealings with Europe have indisputably changed the mood. 'There is just a sense of pulling apart between the U.K. and the U.S.,' said Vinjamuri, who will leave London this month to become CEO of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. Trump, who has a soft spot for the royal family and other totems of imperial Britain, complained bitterly about the sale of the embassy. He blamed it, wrongly, on his predecessor President Barack Obama. (The decision was made during the George W. Bush administration because of security concerns.) 'We had the best site in all of London,' Trump said in 2018. The new location, in a redeveloped industrial section of London known as Nine Elms, was 'lousy,' he said, spurning an invitation to a ribbon cutting. Indeed, since the days of Charles Dickens and Oscar Wilde, Grosvenor Square has been synonymous with posh London. The Grosvenor family laid it out in the 1720s to anchor the expansion of its property empire into West London. With grand dimensions and an elegant oval shape, it attracted wealthy residents, who were given keys to their own private Eden in the capital. (It became a public park after World War II.) It also attracted Americans, starting with Adams, who lived on the northeast corner from 1785 to 1788 as America's first envoy to Britain. After Eisenhower quartered himself there, it was nicknamed 'Eisenhower Platz.' The Roosevelt statue was paid for with donations from ordinary Britons as a gesture of gratitude to the United States for its aid in the war. Nothing sealed the American connection like the opening of Saarinen's chancery in 1960, a hulking nine-story building that was the first purpose-built embassy of any country in London. In its early days, it was reviled by some critics as a jarring intrusion on the genteel Georgian symmetry of the square. 'It had this sense of America being big and bold, and in a British context, a sense of 'Wow, how American,'' said Matthew Barzun, the last U.S. ambassador to have an office in the building. Barzun, who witnessed ups and downs in the trans-Atlantic relationship over Syria and Brexit, said the old embassy was designed to be 'light and open and welcoming.' But after the terrorist bombings of embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, 'we added more and more fences and bollards,' he said. 'You start out building things to keep people out,' Barzun said, 'but you end up trapping people in.' Converting a diplomatic fortress into a sleek, five-star hotel was a design and engineering test for Qatari Diar, a real estate company backed by Qatar's sovereign wealth fund. The Qataris brought in Rosewood, a luxury hotel chain that was started in Dallas and is now owned by a Hong Kong conglomerate. 'Creating warmth was the biggest challenge,' said Michael Bonsor, the hotel's managing director, as he offered a sneak peek. 'You have this juxtaposition of one of the most secure, fortified buildings in London, where Marines used to run around with machine guns. It wasn't the most hospitable building in the world.' Dapper and discreet, Bonsor could have been a diplomat if he hadn't gone into hospitality. He said the hotel would make nods to its past, but would avoid becoming a Cold War-style theme park. In addition to the eagle, which is a protected landmark, the hotel has reinstalled statues of Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan that once flanked the building (the statues are wrapped in tarp to protect them during construction). Inside, the Chancery has retained some of Saarinen's design elements, notably his exposed-concrete ceiling. But prizewinning British architect David Chipperfield has reconfigured the building to add an atrium with cascading chandeliers. Two palatial penthouses are named after Elizabeth and Charles, monarchs not presidents. The hotel said their scale would appeal to guests from the Middle East. Across the street, the proprietors of Grosvenor Square are similarly aware of the tug between past and present. While they will retain the FDR statue, as well as a memorial to victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, they plan to add serpentine paths and extensive plantings to soften the square's stark appearance. 'The austere design, which was important during the Cold War period, has had its day,' said Cordula Zeidler, a heritage and design expert who advised Grosvenor Property. 'Having more plantings is both a Georgian concept and something people want today.' James Raynor, the newly named CEO of Grosvenor, acknowledged the complicated political backdrop to the project. But he said, 'I don't think we should be altering it for the long term on the basis of short-term noise.' In turbulent times, Raynor even holds out hope that the 18th-century square can still serve as a 21st-century bridge. 'Will the park by itself change the diplomatic relationship between the countries?' he said. 'I doubt it. But it will allow us to recognize what the two countries have done for each other.' This article originally appeared in The New York Times. Copyright 2025
