Latest news with #Bento
CNBC
6 days ago
- Business
- CNBC
Pain management startup Sword Health expands into mental health, raises $40 million
Sword Health, a startup focused on helping people deal with pain through digital services, is expanding into mental health and has raised additional capital to fuel its growth. The 10-year-old company is introducing Mind, which uses a combination of artificial intelligence, hardware and human mental health professionals to treat patients with mild depression and anxiety. Sword said Mind will help users access care whenever they need it, rather than during sporadic, hourlong appointments. "It's really a breakthrough in terms of how we address mental health, and this is only possible because we have AI," Sword CEO Virgílio Bento told CNBC in an interview. Also on Tuesday, Sword announced a $40 million funding round, led by General Catalyst, in a deal that values the company at $4 billion. The fresh cash will support Sword's efforts to grow through acquisitions, as well as its global expansion and AI model development, the company said. The round included participation from Khosla Ventures, Comcast Ventures and other firms. Sword had raised a total of more than $450 million as of September, according to PitchBook. The financing lands as the digital health market shows signs of recovery following a difficult post-Covid stretch, when rising inflation, higher interest rates and a return to in-person activities led to a dramatic retreat in the industry. Earlier this month, Omada Health, which offers virtual care programs to supports patients with chronic conditions such as diabetes and hypertension, held its Nasdaq debut, though the stock is trading below its initial public offering price. Weeks before that, digital physical therapy provider Hinge Health hit the New York Stock Exchange. The shares are trading a few dollars above their offer price. Sword, which was founded in Portugal and is now based in New York, offers tools for digital physical therapy, pelvic health and movement health to help patients manage pain from home and avoid other treatments such as opioids and surgery. Patients can sign up for Sword if it's supported by their employer or their health plan. Mind users will receive a wrist wearable called the "M-band" that can measure environmental and physiological signals such as heart rate, sleep and the lighting in a user's environment. Mind also includes access to an AI Care agent and human mental health professionals, who can deliver services such as traditional talk therapy. Bento said a human is always involved with a patient's care, and that AI is not making clinical decisions. For example, if a patient has an anxiety attack, Sword's AI will recognize that and could ask a clinician to approve some physical activity for later that day to help with recovery. The clinician would either approve the physical activity that the AI suggested, or override it and propose something else. "You have an anxiety issue today, and the way you're going to manage is to talk about it one week from now? That just doesn't work," Bento said. "Mental health should be always on, where you have a problem now, and you can have immediate help in the moment." Bento said Sword has some clients that have been on a waiting list for Mind, and the startup has been testing the offering with some of its design partners. He said early users have approved of Mind's personalized approach and convenience. "We believe that it is really the future of how mental health is going to be delivered in the future, by us and by other companies," Bento said. "AI plays a very important role, but the use of AI — and I think this is very important — needs to be used in a very smart way."
Tokyo Reported
7 days ago
- Tokyo Reported
Ex-Michelin-star restaurant served bento boxes despite suspension for norovirus TokyoReporter
OSAKA (TR) – Osaka Prefectural Police on Monday arrested the managers of a one-time Michelin-starred Japanese restaurant for allegedly selling bento boxes contaminated with norovirus while operations were suspended, reports Fuji News Network (June 16). Police accused Hirokazu Kitano, the 69-year-old manager of Kiichi, his son, 41-year-old Hirotoshi and his wife, 68-year-old Noriko, of violating the Food Sanitation Law. According to police, the three suspects allegedly sold eleven bento boxes contaminated with norovirus on February 16 despite an order to cease operations. The incident emerged after a total of 33 customers experienced symptoms that included vomiting and diarrhea following the consumption of meals at the restaurant or bento boxed meals sold between early and mid-February. A doctor reported to the public health center that norovirus was detected in the stool of a patient who visited the restaurant on February 10, 2025. After an investigation, the public health center determined that the food poisoning was caused by food provided by the restaurant and ordered the restaurant to suspend operations for two days from February 15. But the problem persisted. Between February 22 and 24, an additional 23 people contracted norovirus after eating at the restaurant. The center ordered the restaurant to shut again from March 2. Business resumed on March 18. Hirokazu Kitano, center, Hirotoshi, left and Noriko (X) Luxurious bentos The catered bento boxes in question were luxurious, containing simmered dishes, tempura, sashimi and other items. The list price was 7,268 yen each, including tax. A total of 11 'Rokutsugiri Kongo Makunouchi' and 'Kids' Bento' boxes were made during the suspension of operations. When asked to comment on the making and selling of bento boxes despite an order to halt operations, Hirokazu Kitano stated, 'We cooked and sold 11 bento boxes at Kiichi. We had a poor understanding of the dangers of norovirus.' Police are currently investigating the circumstances that led to the incident.
Straits Times
09-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Straits Times
Extremely lifelike dolls are causing a frenzy in Brazil
Most hyper-realistic or reborn dolls cost around $258 to S$322 in Brazil, while limited edition ones have sold for more. PHOTO EPA-EFE SAO PAULO - A young woman posts a video that appears to show her holding her baby, Bento, and packing his bag for a trip to the hospital. She calls it 'one of the busiest and scariest days for me.' She grabs onesies, a bottle and medical documents and tucks him in the back of a car. At the hospital, he is weighed and lies in a bed, where she removes his pacifier, bottle-feeds him and wipes a few drops of formula from his cheek. But this was not an actual medical emergency – it was role-playing by a content creator – and the baby was not a real baby. It was a shockingly lifelike doll, called a reborn doll, which is handcrafted to look and feel like a baby. The video, which received more than 16 million views on TikTok, is part of a social media craze that has turned into a cultural and political flashpoint in Brazil. Widely circulated videos show women taking the hyper-realistic dolls to the park in strollers, celebrating their birthdays with cake and songs, and simulating childbirth. (A select few even simulate the dolls' having a nosebleed or potty training.) 'The ones I like the most are the newborns,' said Ms Juliana Drusz Magri, 36, who lives in Curitiba, the capital of the Brazilian state of Paraná, and works in human resources. She said she began collecting the dolls in 2018 and now has 22. 'The world of make-believe is an escape valve for me,' she said. 'And, no, I don't treat it like a real baby.' The dolls have flooded into pop culture. They were featured in June in an episode of Vale Tudo, a prime-time telenovela, and in a rap song trending on social media about a gang that walks down the street 'kicking reborn dolls.' Newspaper columnists, influencers and lawmakers have all weighed in, with varying degrees of sincerity about what some perceive as a threat to the social order and what others have described as a harmless hobby. Widely circulated videos showing women taking the hyper-realistic dolls to the park in strollers became a flashpoint in Brazil. PHOTO: EPA-EFE In the north-western Brazilian state of Amazonas, one lawmaker, Joao Luiz, recently carried one of the dolls into the legislature and argued, without evidence, that some women have been demanding public benefits for the dolls. His colleague Joana Darc also voiced concern. 'You just can't force a doctor in a hospital, for example, to treat a reborn doll as if it were a child, which is a living being,' she said on the floor. 'You can't force a teacher to accept a child in a day care centre because the person wants the reborn doll to study.' She asked where it would end: with people taking 'reborn pets' to the veterinarian to be neutered? In what looked like a bit of trolling, the official social media account of Curitiba warned the 'mothers' of reborn dolls not to sit in the yellow seats on city buses reserved for pregnant women. 'Reborns are cute, but they don't guarantee a place in the yellow seat, OK?' the post read. In defence of the dolls, the Rio de Janeiro City Council approved a proposal to make Sept 4 Reborn Stork Day, a holiday honouring the artisans who make the dolls. A Brazilian artisan working on a super realistic baby doll at her studio in Contagem, Brazil. PHOTO: AFP But the mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Eduardo Paes, vetoed the proposal. 'With all due respect to those interested, this isn't happening,' he wrote on social media. At least 30 Bills have been filed in legislative houses across the country to bar the dolls from receiving services in public health facilities, according to public records. But there appears to have been just one documented case of a woman with a psychiatric disorder showing up at a hospital to seek treatment for her doll, only to be turned away at the entrance, the news outlet UOL reported. Most of the Bills have been introduced by members of right-wing parties. Ms Vivi Louhrinci, 30, an actor from Curitiba, has been making reborn dolls since 2020, including some for the Brazilian productions of Wicked and Matilda. 'My life has turned into chaos with this boom,' she said, referring to the frenzy around the dolls. 'It has been a good exposure in this sense, but it is an exposure that is causing so much stress.' Vivi Louhrinci, an actress and artist who has been creating reborn dolls since 2020, holds a doll head in Curitiba, Brazil. PHOTO: PRISCILA RIBEIRO/NYTIMES Ms Camila Infanger, a doctoral candidate in political science at the University of Sao Paulo, said there had been a noticeable difference in the response to hobbies associated with women and those associated with men. 'Because women are doing it and women are the principal actors in this, it's been stigmatised differently,' she said, adding that the backlash was 'just another way to regulate women's lives.' The dolls have been around since the 1990s, when people started stripping the paint and hair off store-bought vinyl dolls and painstakingly reworking them to be more lifelike. And the interest in them is not limited to Brazil. Mr Dave Stack of Cleveland, the owner of Reborns, an online marketplace for reborn dolls, said he had seen a 'slow and steady increase' in sales since he started the site in 2012. He now sells 40 to 60 dolls per day, up from about 10 per day five years ago, according to his website. Most cost around US$200 to US$250 (S$258-S$322) and are made of vinyl, while a few limited-edition dolls made of softer silicone have sold for more than US$4,000, he said. A small percentage of the dolls are purchased by mothers who are grieving the loss of a child, Mr Stack said. Others have been bought by memory-care facilities, lawyers who use them for courtroom reenactments and people making movies and television shows. But most buyers are 'just people who love babies,' he said. Some popular videos made by content creators show the dolls getting a bloody nose, going on their first outing to Target or throwing up in the car. Collectors of reborn dolls gather in Parque Villa-Lobos, Sao Paulo, Brazil. Some mothers bought the dolls to grieve the loss of a child. PHOTO: EPA-EFE Ms Jennifer Granado, 43, who makes the dolls with her husband and daughter in Indiana, said about half of her customers are collectors and about half are coping with some type of trauma or loss. One customer, Ms Granado said, takes her dolls shopping and to the doctor's office, 'feeds' them baby food and takes pictures of them with Santa Claus on Christmas. 'She is unable to have kids so this is as close as she can get for her and her husband,' Ms Granado said. 'There's definitely a large group of people who don't understand why a grown adult would be playing with a baby doll. But they don't see it as a baby doll. They see it as a baby.' Ms Drusz called the dolls 'a calming, fun, I would even say innocent hobby,' and said she was frustrated with being judged for her interest in them. 'I hope that after all this is over, we can continue our collections in peace and do what we like without being labelled,' she said. 'I think that reborn dolls are an art, and art deserves to be appreciated.' NYTIMES Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
The Hindu
16-05-2025
- Sport
- The Hindu
Al Nassr vs Al Taawoun LIVE score: Saudi Pro League updates; Match kicks off
Welcome to Sportstar's live coverage of the Al Nassr vs Al Taawoun Saudi Pro League 2024-25 match being played at Al Awwal Park. LINEUPS Al Nassr: Bento (gk), Ghannam, Lajami, Fatil, Boushal, Brozovic, Sulaiheem, Yahya, Otavio, Mane, Duran. Al Taawoun: Atiah (gk), Mahzari, Girotto, Al-Ahmed, Rivas, Fajr, Mahdioui, Mandash, Sabiri, Barrow, Martinez. ALSO READ | Why is Cristiano Ronaldo not playing in Al Nassr vs Al Taawoun Saudi Pro League 2024-25 match? LIVE UPDATES PREVIEW Al Nassr will begin its quest to end its Saudi Pro League 2025-25 season on a positive note when it hosts Al Taawoun on Friday. Ronaldo's wait for a league title in Saudi Arabia continues as Al Ittihad secured the trophy with two games to spare, after beating Al Raed 3-1 on Thursday. Al Nassr fell out of contention for the title even before kick-off against Al Akhdoud earlier this week, and sits fourth in the table with 63 points from 31 games. Al Taawoun, on the other hand, is eighth with 41 points from the same number of games.
Time of India
04-05-2025
- Lifestyle
- Time of India
From Tokyo to Mumbai: How Japanese cuisine is winning Indian hearts
On the dense Mumbai streets, carrying aromas of spices and hot street foods hanging in the air, is an unspoken revolution at dinner time. Sushi rolls replace samosas at breakfast, bowls of ramen on drizzly rainy evenings to bring comfort to the soul, and miso seepingly creeps into the kitchens and into shifting food life in Mumbai. What was previously the reserve of select fine-dining restaurants is now a popular addition to the city's rich gastronomic scene. From laid-back cafes to elegant restaurants, Japanese food is making a mark in a city that is famous for its hot, spicy food and it's not here today, gone tomorrow. The people of Mumbai are head over heels about Japanese cuisine and it's only going to get bigger. So, what's driving this shift from spice-laden comfort food to the clean, umami-rich dishes of Japan? Curiosity Sparked by Culture by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Click Here - This Might Save You From Losing Money Expertinspector Click Here Undo The Japanese food wave wasn't a fluke. Pop culture did all the groundwork. Anime, Japanese films, vlogs, travel videos, and Kawaii have been a thrall for Indian audiences for long. From listening to characters slurp ramen on cartoon shows to viewing Bento boxes on Pinterest, Indian shoppers became interested in Japanese food. That fascination turned into experimentation, and one taste was all it took. What was once new became impossible to resist. Comfort Meets Simplicity Japanese food's popularity in India is not about novelty, it's about comfort. Ramen on a rainy afternoon? Yes, please. Sushi rolls at a weekend party? Absolutely. There's something innately comforting about Japanese food: warm broths, sticky rice, tender meat, and careful, subtle seasoning. Consider gyoza dumplings—there's not much difference between them and Indian momos. Katsu curry? Picture a panko-breaded cutlet accompanied by mild, aromatic curry comfort food, rebooted. Japanese food doesn't battle the Indian palate; it glides into it. Wellness in Every Bite Sushi and Japanese food present a wonderful discovery of tastes that extend beyond the conventional heavy food. With its focus on fresh foods such as tuna, salmon, and vegetables, Japanese food is an ideal match for India's emerging wellness-conscious culture. Light, and not greasy, and with many dishes based around lean proteins, fermented foods, and health-promoting broths such as miso soup, it fits health-focused lifestyles. The blending of fresh flavors of foods such as seaweed salad and grilled fish makes you full, but not heavy. Japanese food shows us that healthy food does not have to be dull. Healthy food is straightforward, has great flavor, and feels good. Fusion, But Make It Thoughtful What's also driving this trend is the innovative reimagining of Japanese classics infused with Indian sensibilities. Consider: spicy mayo sushi rolls, paneer teriyaki, or ramen bowls that incorporate the warmth of Indian masalas. This sort of fusion isn't about watering down the cuisine, it's about making it more accessible without disrespecting its authenticity. It encourages more people to experience Japanese dishes without feeling overwhelmed. At its heart, the rise of Japanese food in India shows how food can connect worlds. As Japanese food grows in popularity, more and more are experimenting with sushi or udon at home because of the ease of access to ingredients. Meanwhile, now restaurants and cafes also provide an easy outlet for those craving expertly cooked meals, and so this dining experience is one that is accessible to everyone. In a country where food is deeply emotional, Japanese cuisine offers not just a new flavor, but a new feeling. It's thoughtful, rooted in tradition, and yet open to interpretation. This isn't just a food trend, it's a beautiful cross-cultural exchange that's here to stay. Contributed by: Prashant Issar, Managing Director, Bellona Hospitality Thumb and Embed Images Courtesy: istock Masterclass for Students. Upskill Young Ones Today!– Join Now
