Latest news with #PeptoBismol
CBS News
3 days ago
- Health
- CBS News
Pepto Bismol didn't prevent travelers' diarrhea compared to placebo, small CDC study found
How gut health can impact more than just the stomach Bismuth subsalicylate, the active ingredient in Pepto Bismol, is often used to treat and prevent diarrhea while traveling — but a new study found it may not help with prevention. In the study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "no significant difference" was found for symptoms of loose stool or diarrhea between groups who took the medication for prevention and those who took a placebo. Since 1939, bismuth subsalicylate has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of diarrhea, heartburn, indigestion, nausea and upset stomach. But, as the authors note, it's also used off-label for the prevention of diarrhea, especially among international travelers. The study issued questionnaires before, during and after travel to the 270 participants, who had a median age of 32 and planned to travel to Southeast Asia, south central Asia, North Africa or sub-Saharan Africa for 7 to 21 days. Participants were recruited from clinical sites in New York in Massachusetts. The group given the medication took 4 tablets twice daily during their trip. The study did have limitations, including not reaching the target sample size. But it did provide the first new data since the 1980s on the potential use of bismuth subsalicylate in diarrhea prevention, according to the study's authors. "Despite this study not reaching the targeted sample size, there are nonetheless important considerations for healthcare providers conducting pretravel consultations for international travelers," the authors wrote. The authors also noted further studies are needed to determine if there is a benefit in certain traveler groups or under certain circumstances. "A larger study might show benefit, although the benefit may be small given the results of this study," they wrote. Procter & Gamble, the parent company of Pepto Bismol, provided the medication for the study but did not participate in any procedures, the authors noted.
Hamilton Spectator
16-05-2025
- Business
- Hamilton Spectator
The desert blooms, roses perfume the air and a Moroccan town comes to life
KALAAT M'GOUNA, Morocco (AP) — Gloved and armed with shears, women weave through thorny brambles, clipping and tossing their harvest into wheelbarrows. 'Thank God for the rain,' said rose picker Fatima El Alami. 'There are roses elsewhere, but there's nowhere like here.' She's right. Mild temperatures, steady sunlight, and low humidity make the fields around Kalaat M'Gouna a perfect cradle for growing its signature flower: the Damask rose. Abundant precipitation and several desert downpours this year have bestowed Morocco with an exceptional yield of the flower, used for rosewater and rose oil. Pink and pungent, the roses are set to come in at 4,800 tons this year, a bloom far beyond the 2020-2023 average, according to the Regional Office for Agricultural Development, in nearby Ouarzazate. The small town in the High Atlas mountains comes to life each year during the International Rose Festival, now in its 60th year. From the rose-shaped monuments at Kalaat M'Gouna's entrances to the Pepto Bismol pink taxis, nearly everything here adheres to the theme. Teenagers sell heart-shaped rose dashboard ornaments along the roadside where wild briars bloom into pink tangles. Children whirl around a rose-themed carousel. Roadside placards advertise rose products in at least six languages: English, French, Arabic, Spanish, Japanese and Amazigh, a tongue indigenous to the region. Outside the town, roses span 1,020 hectares (2,520 acres) across the region this year. One hectare (2.5 acres) of roses requires little water and provides more than 120 days of work in a local economy where opportunities are scarce. Regional officials say the rose industry is a prime example of sustainable development because the flowers are well-adapted to the climate and rooted in the culture — music, dance and celebrations like weddings. 'Roses here are perfectly adapted to the region and to the conditions we're living in now,' said Abdelaziz Ait Mbirik, director of the local Agricultural Development Office, referencing Morocco's prolonged drought conditions . The value of a kilogram of roses is five to six times higher than it was several years ago. And unlike some other agricultural products that Morocco exports, Kalaat M'Gouna's roses are largely grown by small-scale farmers and nourished with drip irrigation. Though roses are broadly considered a lifeblood to the local economy, women toiling in the fields make an average of 80-100 Moroccan dirhams a day ($8-10) during harvest season. From the fields where they labor, the roses are bundled into potato sacks and sold to local distilleries like Mohammed Ait Hamed's. There, they are are splayed onto tables, sorted and ultimately poured into copper cauldrons known as alembic stills, where they're steamed and filtered into fragrant water and precious oil. The two are packaged into pink bottles, tiny glass vials or spun into soaps or lotions. Long seen as a natural remedy for a variety of ails in Morocco, rose-based products are increasingly in high demand worldwide. Rosewater and oil are often incorporated into perfumes, toners or facial mists and marketed for their sweet and soothing smell as well as their anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial properties. Elixirs, tonics and balms were flying off the shelves last week at booths staffed by local cooperatives from throughout the region. The demand has spurred local officials to find ways to incentivize farmers to expand rose production in the upcoming years. At the festival parade, as drummers tapped their sticks in cadence, Fatima Zahra Bermaki, crowned this year's Miss Rose, waved from a float draped in petals. She said she hoped the world could one day know the beauty of Kalaat M'Gouna and its desert roses. But amid the commotion, she remembered something: 'The ladies who pick the flowers are the important ones in all of this. If they weren't here none of this would be,' she said.
Winnipeg Free Press
16-05-2025
- Business
- Winnipeg Free Press
The desert blooms, roses perfume the air and a Moroccan town comes to life
KALAAT M'GOUNA, Morocco (AP) — Gloved and armed with shears, women weave through thorny brambles, clipping and tossing their harvest into wheelbarrows. 'Thank God for the rain,' said rose picker Fatima El Alami. 'There are roses elsewhere, but there's nowhere like here.' She's right. Mild temperatures, steady sunlight, and low humidity make the fields around Kalaat M'Gouna a perfect cradle for growing its signature flower: the Damask rose. Abundant precipitation and several desert downpours this year have bestowed Morocco with an exceptional yield of the flower, used for rosewater and rose oil. Pink and pungent, the roses are set to come in at 4,800 tons this year, a bloom far beyond the 2020-2023 average, according to the Regional Office for Agricultural Development, in nearby Ouarzazate. The small town in the High Atlas mountains comes to life each year during the International Rose Festival, now in its 60th year. From the rose-shaped monuments at Kalaat M'Gouna's entrances to the Pepto Bismol pink taxis, nearly everything here adheres to the theme. Teenagers sell heart-shaped rose dashboard ornaments along the roadside where wild briars bloom into pink tangles. Children whirl around a rose-themed carousel. Roadside placards advertise rose products in at least six languages: English, French, Arabic, Spanish, Japanese and Amazigh, a tongue indigenous to the region. Outside the town, roses span 1,020 hectares (2,520 acres) across the region this year. One hectare (2.5 acres) of roses requires little water and provides more than 120 days of work in a local economy where opportunities are scarce. Regional officials say the rose industry is a prime example of sustainable development because the flowers are well-adapted to the climate and rooted in the culture — music, dance and celebrations like weddings. 'Roses here are perfectly adapted to the region and to the conditions we're living in now,' said Abdelaziz Ait Mbirik, director of the local Agricultural Development Office, referencing Morocco's prolonged drought conditions. The value of a kilogram of roses is five to six times higher than it was several years ago. And unlike some other agricultural products that Morocco exports, Kalaat M'Gouna's roses are largely grown by small-scale farmers and nourished with drip irrigation. Though roses are broadly considered a lifeblood to the local economy, women toiling in the fields make an average of 80-100 Moroccan dirhams a day ($8-10) during harvest season. Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. From the fields where they labor, the roses are bundled into potato sacks and sold to local distilleries like Mohammed Ait Hamed's. There, they are are splayed onto tables, sorted and ultimately poured into copper cauldrons known as alembic stills, where they're steamed and filtered into fragrant water and precious oil. The two are packaged into pink bottles, tiny glass vials or spun into soaps or lotions. Long seen as a natural remedy for a variety of ails in Morocco, rose-based products are increasingly in high demand worldwide. Rosewater and oil are often incorporated into perfumes, toners or facial mists and marketed for their sweet and soothing smell as well as their anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial properties. Elixirs, tonics and balms were flying off the shelves last week at booths staffed by local cooperatives from throughout the region. The demand has spurred local officials to find ways to incentivize farmers to expand rose production in the upcoming years. At the festival parade, as drummers tapped their sticks in cadence, Fatima Zahra Bermaki, crowned this year's Miss Rose, waved from a float draped in petals. She said she hoped the world could one day know the beauty of Kalaat M'Gouna and its desert roses. But amid the commotion, she remembered something: 'The ladies who pick the flowers are the important ones in all of this. If they weren't here none of this would be,' she said.
Buzz Feed
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
Hugh Hefner Playboy Mansion Shocking Revelations
Earlier this month, former Playboy bunny Holly Madison appeared on the In Your Dreams podcast, where she reflected on her experience living in Hugh Hefner's notorious mansion. Madison recalled having 'disgusting' group sex with Hefner and other then-Playmates — something that she has detailed numerous times over the years since she started denouncing her time at the mansion. Here's a reminder of some of the most shocking claims that she and other ex-Playmates have made about their experiences: 1. Last year, Madison shared that the mansion was full of trays of 'makeshift lube' everywhere. 'In every bathroom, out on the tennis courts, by the pool, and it would be a tray with Kleenex, Pepto Bismol, Vaseline, baby oil, sunscreen — any kind of makeshift lube,' she told People. 'It was weird.' 2. A couple of years prior, Madison alleged that Hefner used baby oil as lube against her will. 'I remember talking to the gynecologist about it and then telling Hef, 'You need to stop using the baby oil. I can't use it,'' she shared on her podcast, Girls Next Level. 'Even telling him the gynecologist agreed with me, he would argue with me and be like, 'Well, people use baby oil on babies.' And I'm like, 'Yeah, on their skin. Not internally. You're not supposed to put it there.'' 3. In 2021, ex-Playmate Sondra Theodore — who dated Hefner for five years in the late '70s and early '80s — claimed that quaaludes (sedative-hypnotic drugs) were 'used for sex' in the mansion. She alleged, 'It was such a seduction, and the men knew this — that they could get girls to do just about anything they wanted if they gave them a quaalude.' 4. A couple of years later, Madison said that she once raised concerns about the quaaludes with Hefner himself. She shared on her podcast, 'I remember asking him once, 'Aren't you scared to give those quaaludes out? What if somebody overdosed?'' before noting that he allegedly replied, 'Yeah, that's a thought,' before brushing it off. 'He just didn't care and was so nonchalant,' she said. 5. Last year, Hefner's widow, Crystal, made heartbreaking claims that animals were abused at the mansion, which had an on-site zoo. 'Even with the window shut, I could hear their plaintive voices in my mind. 'Help, help,' they cawed and wailed — at least that's what it sounded like to me,' she wrote in her 2024 book, Only Say Good Things: Surviving Playboy and Finding Myself. 6. In the 2022 docuseries Secrets of Playboy, Theodore claimed that she once walked in on Hefner engaging in sexual activity with her dog. 'I walked in on him with my dog and I said, 'What are you doing?' I was shocked,' she recalled. 'He made it seem like it was just a one-time thing, and that he was just goofing off. But I never left him alone with my dog again.' 7. Madison said in 2023 that Hefner hated some of the girls wearing red lipstick because he wanted them to look 'young and fresh-faced.' She said, 'He wanted skimpy and fresh-faced and very young looking.' 8. The year prior, Madison said that age 28 'was the death mark' at the mansion — and the women were made to feel it. 'Every once in a while they would have a Playmate who was older than that, but it was pretty rare. And if somebody was 28 they would always note that,' she said. 'I wonder how much even that affected me, spending my early 20s hearing, 'You're kind of done by 28.'' 9. Madison once famously claimed that Hefner kept a 'mountain' of revenge porn, which she alleged included pictures of women taken while they were 'wasted out of their minds.' As a result, she said she was 'afraid to leave' the mansion for so long in case the photos were leaked — though Crystal Hefner said she eventually found and destroyed the photos. 10. Both Madison and ex-Playmate Bridget Marquardt have alleged that Hefner could be 'abrasive' at times — notably after Madison got a haircut that he didn't like, which she said prompted him to call her 'old, hard, and cheap.' 11. In 2022, Madison recalled 'The Recruiter' (whom she said was another Playmate) ordering her to sleep with Hefner for the first time. She said, 'I was just another piece of meat for her to throw under him so she looks better.' 12. Marquadt also said of her experience sleeping with Hefner for the first time: 'The Recruiter came up to me and said, 'You're gonna go, right?' I was hoping that I could just observe and not participate… 'cause I was definitely not ready, and didn't want to.' Marquadt recalled telling The Recruiter that she wasn't 'ready to do this yet,' only to be told that she wouldn't be invited back if she didn't. She eventually slept with Hefner, which left her feeling 'icky,' disappointed, and embarrassed. 13. Madison said that Hefner pressured her to quit her part-time waitressing job because 'it made him jealous,' and that he gave the Playmates a weekly allowance of $1,000 each to encourage them not to get jobs. She said, 'I kept my waitressing job at just, like, one day a week because I wanted just to have something easy to go back to, should things not work out. He said it made him jealous, and he would appreciate it if I quit my job.' 14. That same year, Marquardt claimed that Hefner would keep track of the Playmates' allowances in a notebook that he kept locked away in a safe. 'The black book kept track of a few different things. It kept track of when somebody collected their allowance — he would mark it off so you couldn't ask for it twice,' she said. 15. Madison also said that sometimes Hefner would give some of the Playmates 'a report' that detailed 'how good of a job they were doing,' which he put together by keeping 'track of who he had sex with' and on what nights. 16. Madison once revealed that she and some of the other mansion residents were not on birth control. 'I don't know who was and wasn't on birth control — I wasn't — but I just don't think anyone ever felt for a second that they were gonna get pregnant from Hef,' she said, later adding: 'I just don't think any of us ever thought for a second that we were in danger of getting pregnant by him.' 17. Finally, Madison described the mansion as 'cult-like' in 2022, stating: 'It was so easy to get isolated from the outside world there. You had a 9 o'clock curfew. You were encouraged to not have friends over. You weren't really allowed to leave unless it was like a family holiday.'
Metro
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
Holly Madison details ‘disgusting' group sex with Hugh Hefner at Playboy mansion
Holly Madison has opened up about her former boyfriend, Hugh Hefner, and how she 'hated' group sex sessions at the Playboy Mansion. Holly, 45, moved into the Playboy Mansion in 2001 when she was 21, officially becoming one of Hefner's girlfriends. Despite the 53-year-old age gap, the couple was together for seven years until 2008 when she moved out of the mansion. Reflecting on their relationship and her time in the house, Holly revealed that she 'hated' having group sex. 'Well, it's a very different story between when we were just by ourselves than with everybody else in the room,' she said when asked if her former husband was good in bed. 'Everybody else in the room, no that was disgusting. I hated it. I made it very known I hated it. 'But if it was just me and him, it was a lot more normal than you would think,' she said on the In Your Dreams podcast, and spoke with host Owen Thiele. 'I think everybody has this real horror story of how gross an old man's body must be,' she said, adding that they always turned off the lights when they were intimate and joked 'all cats are grey in the dark.' 'I feel like there was a time when I couldn't post anything without some dumba*s in the comments like, 'Oh, old balls,' or something like that. 'Maybe some people's balls do get old and nasty, but I've never seen such a thing.' Elsewhere in the podcast, she spoke about what made her fall in love with him. 'I think just the fact that he was so interesting and iconic – I mean that didn't hurt – but also I would never go for a guy just because he's rich. When you're a young girl in LA, you get approached by all kinds of gross rich guys. 'It was just more that he was so iconic and accomplished and interesting, and when you meet him when you're first coming up to the parties and stuff, and he's the perfect gentleman, and it's all very intriguing.' In March 2024, Holly spoke again about the 'weird' environment in the Playboy Mansion. 'They would have these trays everywhere, like in every bathroom, out on the tennis courts, by the pool, and it would be a tray with Kleenex, Pepto Bismol, Vaseline, baby oil, sunscreen – any kind of makeshift lube,' she told People. 'It was weird.' 'My experiences that played with the negative parts of it are more related to the relationship and the relationship dynamics, both with Hef and some of the other girls,' she said. 'I 100 percent enjoyed posing for the magazine. I was always a fan of the pictorials. I always wanted to be in Playboy. And I even worked at the studio producing the playmate pictorials for a couple of years, and that was a super fun experience. So, it's very multifaceted for me.' In 2022, Holly called the group sex sessions 'hell' while on her podcast Girls Next Level with fellow ex-Playmate Bridget Marquardt. 'He wouldn't move. He would be like a bump on the log in the middle of the bed. I can't explain to you guys how embarrassing that whole routine was. Especially as we got later down the road when there would be, like, a lot of conflict with the other girls,' she said 'You're literally sitting there naked having sex in front of a group of people who hate you and talk s**t about you while you're having sex, and you can hear it. It was just, like, hell.' She also spoke about being pressured into having an orgy with other playmates. 'I thought I would have a chance to see what was going on, see if I was comfortable with it,' she said. 'I just remember feeling so gross and so used. I felt like this girl was being so nice to me and so welcoming, but really I was just another piece of meat for her to throw under him so she looks better.' She also previously revealed on her podcast that she constantly had infections because of baby oil usage: 'Hef would use baby oil as lube. I do not recommend this. It is an infection waiting to happen. More Trending 'It's disgusting. I don't know what his hang-up was with it. It took it to the point where I was constantly irritated by this baby oil because it throws off your pH, so you're constantly going to have yeast infections.' She added: 'I remember talking to the gynaecologist about it and then telling Hef, 'You need to stop using baby oil. I can't use it,' and even telling him the gynaecologist agreed with me, and he would argue with me and be like, 'Well people use baby oil on babies.' 'And I'm like, 'Yeah, on their skin. Not internally. You're not supposed to put it there.'' Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you.
