Managing and living with IBS

ing IBS, “it honestly depends on the age of the patient and looking for any red ags they may have in terms of their symptoms,” Dr. Magge says. “Red ags, from my perspective, are patients who are older than age 50, have unexplained weight loss, a family history of a gastrointestinal malignancy, blood in their stool, or any abnormal labo- ratory values — like they’re anaemic.

IBS is a diagnosis of exclusion.”

For example, “anybody age 50 or older I tend to work up to make sure there’s nothing else going on,” Dr. Magge explains. “But for younger individuals, I may do a few basic tests to rule out celiac disease or in ammatory and brainstorming. bowel disease like Crohn’s or ulcerative colitis, which can mimic or have similar symptoms to irritable bowel syndrome.”

Valoir found that the greatest opportunity for automation was in IT roles, with a potential for 48% automation, followed by nance, operations, customer service, human resources, and marketing. If employees in these roles were to fully take advantage of AI’s potential for automation, they could automate, on average, 40% of their work day, e ectively enabling a three-day work week.

Additionally, “any symptoms overnight— what we call nocturnal symptoms — are red ags,” she said. “So, if a patient is waking up at night with a lot of diarrhea that’s suggestive of maybe there is something else going on.” e rst-line diet that Dr Magge and other gastroenterologists often recommend is the low FODMAP diet — fermentable, oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides and polyols.

Diet is a huge component in patients with irritable bowel syndrome. As a result, if patients eat the wrong thing, they can have a lot of the symptoms that we talked about.

“When we ingest carbohydrates, the bacteria in our small intestine ferment them, create a lot of gas and will need connected and reliable sources of data, and safeguards in place to ensure the security, privacy, and ethical use of data when AI is involved. e share of workers who have experimented with AI by job role shows that IT is leading the way (90%). Although employees in IT led the pack, they were followed by employees in human resources (HR), nance, and marketing, More than half of all workers have experimented with generative AI.

Also, mployees’ technology aptitude, willingness to experiment, and job con dence will impact their ability to use AI e ectively.

Advances in low-code and no-code tools and adoption of robotic process automation during the past few years have enabled many workers to automate a signi cant portion of work practices already.

Valoir found that the average employee has automated 20% of previously manual tasks in the past two years, with aerospace, manufacturing, life sciences, and healthcare adopting the greatest level of automation. So, how much of the future workforce is susceptible to automation or being replaced by AI?

Organisations’ o cial policies on the use of AI will matter, but so will culture. Companies will need to balance the potential for increased productivity of employees with the risks of potential misuse or unintended adverse outcomes. Cultures supporting a high degree of autonomy and personal responsibility are likely to bene t more from automation.

To fully take advantage of AI’s potential, companies basically bring in a lot of uid into the intestine causing patients to have a lot of diarrhea,” she says. “ e hypothesis is for patients to be on a low FODMAP diet, so they’re not digesting a lot of these speci c carbohydrates and as a result they’re having less gas, less bloating, and less diarrhea.

“Usually, patients who actually have an autoimmune disease—like celiac disease—where they’re not able to digest gluten, they are always 100% on a gluten-free diet,” says Dr Magge. “But there is a subset of patients with irritable bowel syndrome who also have gluten sensitivity.

“So, they don’t have true celiac disease, but when they digest gluten, they do have similar symptoms to IBS,” she says Sleep also plays a role in managing — and living with— IBS.

“If you don’t have enough sleep, the e ects of that could accentuate the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome,” she said. at’s because “then, as a result, you’re stressed out, you’re tired. It’s this vicious cycle.”

When it came to industries, employees in the nancial services, high tech, and education sectors saw the greatest opportunity for co-worker replacement, while those in consumer goods, aerospace, and media saw the least opportunity. e research found di erent forecasts to this question based on geography and company size.

Concerns about AI were highlighted in the research. Valoir found that one in four workers are very worried that their job will be replaced by AI in the next year; those most concerned about being replaced are workers in the 26-to-41 age group, and those in nance and IT roles.

When it comes to taking probiotics, “the data shows that it can help in patients who have more bloating type symptoms,” Dr Magge says. “But we don’t recommend it on a regular basis unless they have bloating.

“ en I might suggest they try to take it for six weeks or so to see if there’s any bene t. And if there is a bene t from taking the probiotics, they can continue taking it long term.

“Probiotics, in general, don’t really have many side e ects because it’s essentially giving good bacteria back to the gut,” says Dr Magge, noting it can help improve gut health because it is “well tolerated. It’s almost like a vitamin. So, if they bene t from it, I will recommend taking it.”

According to research from luggage storage company Bounce, Japan is the safest country for solo travellers. anks to an extraordinarily low crime rate, cities like Tokyo and Osaka allow solo travellers to feel “right at home,” according to Bounce.

Out of a safety index of 100, the country scores 76.9, meaning travellers can certainly expect to experience “peace of mind,” if they travel to Japan solo. Following Japan, Switzerland, Slovenia and Croatia are the next three safest countries to solo travel in.

What other countries are best for those travelling alone?

Bounce’s analysis determines what countries are the overall best as well as the best in speci c categories for solo travellers. For the overall best country to solo travel in, Croatia took the top spot. e country’s immaculate waters, gorgeous national parks, beaches and trails along with an array of outdoor activities, a plethora of restaurants and a ordable accommodations all helped the nation clench the number one spot. For those who can’t get enough of attractions, Bounce determines that Iceland is the way to go. e nation is home to innumerable stunning natural attractions like volcanoes, geysers and fjords, not to mention the country’s iconic Blue Lagoon.

If food is your travelling priority, Singapore takes the biscuit. e nation also has the highest temperatures yearround of the countries that Bounce analysed for those who prefer toastier climates. And, if a ordability is the focus, Nepal and Sri Lanka have some of the most ideal options. Nepal came in as the country with, on average, the cheapest hostel stays, while Sri Lanka had the lowest average

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