By Louis Najarian, MD, child and adolescent psychiatrist and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine

There is no social or educational merit to the social media application Tik Tok. Developed in China, where it is available as an educational tool, it has been introduced to our children and adolescents (and young adults) in the United States as a contaminating toxic form of entertainment.

Serious medical complications occur when subjects post themselves participating in stunts such as overeating, daredevil stunts such as climbing on a pyramid of boxed crates, ingesting over-the-counter drugs such as Benadryl, or excessive show of ingesting alcohol using pipes/funnels.

Why does an individual need to video themself with such dangerous behaviors for others to see? Recently a 14-year-old girl showed me some Tik Tok videos and indicated they are entertaining. Watching peers demonstrate foolish, dangerous, sexually explicit behaviors has become a form of entertainment for our children.

The lonely, isolated individual may develop quite a following depending on how bizarre they act, how many tattoos they display, how many body piercings they demonstrate, and how many shades of purple they may dye their hair. What a sad way to get attention. Then they compete for the most sensational. They do not compete with chess or backgammon, or participate in the school drama class with supervised productions of dance and singing. Tik Tok is their stage.

Unfortunately, Tik Tok has become the therapeutic forum for the lonely, isolated individual — with a poor outcome.

If the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) does not ban Tik Tok, then the Parental Communications Commission (PCC) should ban it from their homes and their children’s devices because Tik Tok is toxic to our children and teenagers.

Travelers’ diarrhea (TD) is the most predictable travel-related illness. Attack rates range from 30%–70% of travelers during a 2-week period, depending on the destination and season of travel. Traditionally, TD was thought to be prevented by following simple dietary recommendations (e.g., “boil it, cook it, peel it, or forget it”), but studies have found that people who follow these rules can still become ill. Poor hygiene practices in local restaurants and underlying hygiene and sanitation infrastructure deficiencies are likely the largest contributors to the risk for TD.

TD is a clinical syndrome that can result from a variety of intestinal pathogens. Bacteria are the predominant enteropathogens and are thought to account for ≥80%–90% of cases. Intestinal viruses account for at least 5%–15% of illnesses, although the use of multiplex molecular diagnostic assays demonstrates that their contribution to the overall burden of TD disease is probably greater than previously estimated. Infections with protozoal pathogens are slower to manifest symptoms and collectively account for ≈10% of diagnoses in longer-term travelers (see Sec. 11, Ch. 7, Persistent Diarrhea in Returned Travelers).

What is commonly known as “food poisoning” involves the ingestion of infectious agents that release toxins (e.g., Clostridium perfringens) or consumption of preformed toxins (e.g., Staphylococcal food poisoning). In toxin-mediated illness, both vomiting and diarrhea can be present; symptoms usually resolve spontaneously within 12–24 hours.

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Azerbaijani and French aid convoys arrived near Artsakh last week as the authorities in Stepanakert introduced new rules limiting bread purchases in the region.

Two trucks belonging to the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society carrying 40 tons of flour reached the Azerbaijani town of Aghdam last Tuesday after state-run news agencies said Baku intended to deliver the supplies to Stepanakert.

The convoy plans to use the long-shuttered route connecting the Nagorno-Karabakh town of Askeran and Aghdam, which Armenia ceded to Azerbaijan after the 2020 war, but as of Wednesday evening local time, the trucks reportedly remained stuck in Aghdam, with Russian peacekeepers deployed to the area blocking them from moving forward.

The Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society is Azerbaijan’s national affiliate of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and is separate from the International Committee of the Red Cross, which has been conducting medical evacuations from Nagorno-Karabakh throughout the blockade.

Meanwhile, more than a thousand Nagorno-Karabakh residents gathered in Askeran Tuesday night to set up preemptive barricades on the road in case the peacekeepers allow the trucks to move forward.

“They are slaughtering us, and then bringing us flour,” Askeran resident Alla Arzumanyan told CivilNet’s Nagorno-Karabakh correspondent.

A spokesperson for Nagorno-Karabakh President Arayik Harutyunyan insisted Tuesday his administration had not agreed to the delivery and would not accept the aid.

The reopening of the Aghdam road is seen as a step forward in Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s “reintegration” plan, which many in Nagorno-Karabakh fear will lead to ethnic cleansing.

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