Latest news with #MarkRussell
Sky News
5 days ago
- General
- Sky News
Charities welcome half a million more children being eligible for free school meals
Charities and school leaders have welcomed free school meals being opened up to more than half a million extra children. The government has announced it will make children in all households on universal credit in England eligible for free school meals from September 2026. Parents will be nearly £500 better off each year because of the change, the Department for Education said. Currently, only pupils from households with an income of less than £7,400 a year are eligible for free school meals, meaning hundreds of thousands of children living in poverty do not have access to them. The latest figures, from January 2024, show 2.1m children were eligible for free school meals - 24.6% of all pupils in England. The government has not said how it will fund another 500,000 children's school meals. It also claimed the eligibility expansion would lift 100,000 children across England completely out of poverty, but did not provide details of how. Charities broadly welcomed the change, with The Children's Society calling it a "practical, compassionate step that will make a real difference". Chief executive Mark Russell said it is a move his charity has been pushing for and would lift thousands of children out of hunger and help ease the pressure on households struggling to make ends meet. The Child Poverty Action Group said it was "fantastic news and a game-changer for children and families". "We hope this is a sign of what's to come in autumn's child poverty strategy, with government taking more action to meet its manifesto commitment to reduce child poverty in the UK," Kate Anstey, head of education policy, said. School leaders' union NAHT welcomed the change but asked for the government to introduce "auto-enrolment so no child entitled to a free meal misses out". NAHT general secretary Paul Whiteman added: "It's vital that this positive extension of free school meals is backed up by other tangible measures which help lift even more children out of poverty when the government's child poverty taskforce reports back later this year." 2:37 At the end of May, the government delayed publishing its child poverty strategy until the autumn over Treasury concerns about the cost implications of ending the two-child limit on universal credit, which is expected to be part of the strategy. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch pushed Sir Keir Starmer on whether he will lift it at Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday after the PM last week said the government "will look at" scrapping it, in his strongest indication yet that he will. On the free school meals announcement, Sir Keir said: "Working parents across the country are working tirelessly to provide for their families but are being held back by cost-of-living pressures. "My government is taking action to ease those pressures. Feeding more children every day, for free, is one of the biggest interventions we can make to put more money in parents' pockets, tackle the stain of poverty, and set children up to learn. "This expansion is a truly historic moment for our country, helping families who need it most and delivering our Plan for Change to give every child, no matter their background, the same chance to succeed." Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson called it a "giant step" towards ending child poverty.
Medscape
16-05-2025
- Health
- Medscape
Infection Patterns Matter in Selecting Arthritis Therapies
MANCHESTER, England — The risks for infection are broadly similar regardless of the biologic or targeted synthetic disease-modifying drug used to treat inflammatory arthritis, but different patterns of infection do exist across these advanced therapies, delegates were told at the recent British Society for Rheumatology (BSR) 2025 Annual Meeting. 'There are so many advanced therapies, and they're all very good from an efficacy or effectiveness side of things. So now treatment decisions are more about cost, infection, or comorbidity profiles,' Mark Russell, PhD, an academic clinical lecturer at the Centre for Rheumatic Disease, King's College London, England, told Medscape Medical News . He said that some of the differences in infection safety profiles with advanced therapies included an 'increased risk for fungal infections with IL [interleukin]-17 inhibitors and shingles with JAK [Janus kinase] inhibitors,' compared with tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitors. However, 'whereas TB [tuberculosis] used to be an issue with TNF inhibitors, it's not really an issue after screening. It will probably be the same for JAK inhibitors when we start using the shingles vaccine more widely in the younger population,' Russell said. Rising Use of Advanced Therapies In addition to presenting a comprehensive overview of the infection risks associated with newer biologics and small molecules at the meeting, he presented data separately showing that there had been a 62% increase in the use of biologics or small-molecule targeted therapies for various indications over the past 5 years in England. He also showed that around half a million people in England, or 1% of the total population, were prescribed a biologic or targeted therapy in 2025 for any immune-mediated inflammatory disease, which included inflammatory bowel disease and inflammatory arthritis, among others. Infection Risk Across Biologic Classes Some of the different types of infection across biologic drug classes highlighted by Russell were an increased risk with IL-6 inhibitors for cellulitis, diverticulitis, diverticular perforation, and erysipelas (a type of skin infection involving the dermis layer), compared with TNF inhibitors. Mark Russell, PhD Also, rituximab has been associated with higher rates of lower respiratory tract and lung infections than TNF inhibitors, as well as greater incidences of sepsis, bacteremia, viremia, and fungal infections. Higher rates of Candida infections have been reported for the IL-17 inhibitors secukinumab, ixekizumab, and, in particular, bimekizumab, which inhibits both IL-17A and IL-17F vs TNF inhibitors. JAK inhibitors are known to raise the risk for herpes zoster by a substantially greater extent than TNF inhibitors. In the ORAL Surveillance trial of tofacitinib vs the TNF inhibitors adalimumab or etanercept for patients with rheumatoid arthritis, the rate of zoster infection was about 12% with either high- or low-dose tofacitinib compared with 4% for TNF inhibitors. Incidence of herpes zoster was 3.75 per 100 patient-years for tofacitinib 5 mg twice daily and 3.94 per 100 patient-years for tofacitinib 10 mg twice daily compared with 1.18 per 100 patient-years for TNF inhibitors. The tyrosine kinase 2 (TYK2) inhibitor deucravacitinib, which is approved to treat plaque psoriasis and is in development for psoriatic arthritis and lupus, as well as other TYK2 inhibitors in development, has shown 'a pretty bland' infection profile, depending on whether COVID-19 data are included, Russell said. However, 'there does appear to be a risk for acne and folliculitis with TYK2 inhibitors, certainly in some smaller studies,' he said, although it is unclear why this is the case. Explaining and Mitigating Risk What is 'really important' is how infection risk is communicated to patients, Russell said. 'Remembering relative vs absolute risk. So, a drug has a 50% increased risk of infection, or it increases your risk by only one in 1000; it's really important how you frame that.' Other factors that are 'much more influential' than use of advanced therapies should also be studied for predicting future infection risk, he said, such as age, prior infection (particularly if hospitalization occurred), steroid use, and lymphopenia. Mitigation strategies include TB screening for everyone (irrespective of which advanced therapy was being considered), vaccination, and Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia prophylaxis for patients at risk, such as those who may be taking rituximab with steroids and have low immunoglobulin levels. Russell had received research support from Sandoz UK. In addition, Russell reported receiving honoraria from AbbVie, Biogen, Lilly, Galapagos, Menarini, UCB, and Vifor Pharma, and support for attending educational meetings from Lilly, Pfizer, Janssen, and UCB.
Daily Mail
07-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Revealed: The shocking number of Brits asked to help launder money as poll reveals how gangs are targeting ordinary people to wash their ill-gotten gains
One in five Brits say they have been asked to help launder money - proving that gangs are targeting ordinary people to wash the proceeds of crimes. Organised criminals use a variety of methods to make dirty cash gained through illicit activities like drug dealing and sex trafficking appear legitimate. While traditional options like establishing front businesses remain popular, crime groups are increasingly exploiting unwitting members of the public to clean money on their behalf. Research by Virgin Money shared exclusively with MailOnline found 21 per cent of people have been asked to receive funds into their bank account, apply for a loan in someone else's name or open a new account - usually in return for cash. A growing trend has seen criminals ask youngsters to hold cash in their accounts before sending it elsewhere. The study, which polled 2,000 adults, found nearly a quarter (23 per cent) of Gen Zers have been directly asked to do this. And worryingly, over half (52 per cent) did not realise that agreeing to do so risked a criminal prosecution for money laundering that could see them jailed for up to 14 years. Many so-called 'money mules' are approached via social media and online gaming, but the survey found that over a third (37 per cent) were contacted by family or friends. In one case previously revealed by the Children's Society, a boy of 14 and his family were threatened at gunpoint. Youngsters are often groomed by gangs, who offer them the prospect of making easy money or being rewarded with treats such as a new phone or a pair of trainers. They are typically convinced to provide their bank details, before being asked to transfer the funds received to another account and keep some of the cash for themselves – making them a money mule. The Children's Society Mark Russell warned last year that the cost of living crisis had left youngsters more vulnerable to being offered bribes, which in some cases could be as small as a meal at McDonald's. 'Children absorb their parents' worries and if they are stressed about money then children will be too. If somebody offers them the chance to make some easy money, they are going to take it,' he said. Transferring illicit cash to an ordinary person's account before it is sent elsewhere can make it harder for the authorities to trace. Jamie Wolff, money mules strategy director at Virgin Money, explained that the spread of social media meant 'anyone' could be targeted but under-35s were the most at risk. He said one danger sign was being offered a job that promised a large salary in return for little or no work. Huang was filmed depositing £3,500 worth of cash at the travel money counter at a Post Office in Stirling 'Other things to look out for are ''too good to be true'' opportunities from friends, family, someone at university or new romantic partners,' he continued. 'If you're approached, it's important that you don't engage or share any personal details with the person contacting you. 'You should then report the incident either to the social media outlet or email provider or the police.' Mr Wolff said the funds held by money mules were often the product of serious crimes including sex trafficking, human trafficking and fraud. Foreign students are often targeted by gangs to help move criminal cash across borders. They include Xiaotong Huang who was jailed for nearly 18 months for laundering nearly £85,000 for a crime boss. The 28-year-old travelled around Scotland in a Mercedes distributing money given to her by Wai Ma - who went by 'Mr Big'. This attracted the attention of the police, and she was watched by undercover surveillance officers as she deposited £3,500 worth of cash at the travel money counter at a Post Office in Stirling. Huang used her slice of the profits to pay her tuition fees at the University of Stirling and buy luxury goods from Gucci, Burberry, Coach and Harrods. She also bought £6,900 of wine in one week and bought a £480 Louis Vuitton bag. She was jailed for 18 months after being found guilty of money laundering following a trial at Falkirk Sheriff Court in March 2023. The issue of youngsters being approached by criminals on social media is not new, with the tactic regularly used by other organised groups, including county lines drug gangs. Cathy Haenlein, Director of Organised Crime and Policing Studies at RUSI, said common tactics were to offer money or other gifts before trapping them into drug dealing. Meanwhile, the National Crime Agency has warned of Nigerian crime gangs posing as young women to target boys as young as 14 on social media sites like Snapchat and Instagram. The perpetrators trick the victims into sending explicit images before demanding payments of around £100.
Associated Press
02-04-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
HyperSciences Secures U.S. Department of Defense Phase 2 SBIR Contract Award to Advance Hypersonic Technology
HyperSciences, Inc., a leader in advanced hypersonic propulsion and projectile technologies, has been awarded a $1.7M Phase 2 SBIR (Small Business Industry Research) contract with the U.S. Department of Defense as a follow-on to its 2018-2019 NASA SBIR Phase 1 contract. This new contract further develops the company's revolutionary hypersonic launch system for aerospace applications. This award marks a critical milestone in the company's growth beyond industrial applications into national defense and space launch, reinforcing its role in next-generation hypersonic capabilities. From Industrial Innovation to National Security Originally commercialized for high-speed drilling in industrial mining and tunneling utilizing high speed impact, HyperSciences' proprietary ram accelerator technology was recognized by NASA in 2018 for its potential to scale up the technology for repetitive suborbital hypersonic testing and hypersonic boosted orbital payload launches with a Phase 1 SBIR award titled: 'Low Cost Nano and Micro Satellite Launch Stage and Automated Hypersonic Test Platform.' The ability to launch payloads without a first-stage rocket boost is expected to provide a cost-effective, reusable alternative to traditional rocket launch methods, eliminating expensive, risky, toxic propellants and enabling rapid, repeatable launches. These capabilities make it particularly well-suited for applications requiring high launch cadence and cost efficiency. As the US and its allies seek to enhance hypersonic capabilities, HyperSciences created General Hypersonics, Inc. as an initially wholly owned subsidiary in 2024 to focus on national security and space applications. HyperSciences, the parent company, due to its previous NASA Phase 1 and readily available equipment and staff, is responsible for executing this Phase 2 sub-scale capability demonstrator. The government appreciates the dual-use that research and development of a high speed, low-cost commercial-industrial approach brings to government use cases. After delivery of Phase 2 results, HyperSciences plans for future government contracts to occur within subsidiary General Hypersonics, Inc.. This initiative aligns with US and its armed forces' national security strategies, which designate hypersonics as critical to a multi-domain defense system. Despite billions of dollars spent in recent U.S. investments in hypersonic technology, current conventional rocket-based solutions remain costly and complex with gaps in needed capabilities. HyperSciences' low-cost, reusable launch platform provides a scalable alternative designed for missile defense testing, intelligence and surveillance operations, and next-generation capabilities. Advancing U.S. Hypersonic and Space Capabilities 'This testing and development contract further validates our cutting-edge technology and positions us at the forefront of hypersonic innovation,' said Mark Russell, CEO and Founder of HyperSciences and General Hypersonics. 'Our system offers a revolutionary approach to hypersonic launch—one that is not only low-cost and reusable but also adaptable for a variety of missions across industrial, defense, and space sectors. By drastically reducing launch costs and infrastructure requirements, we are enabling the U.S. to deploy hypersonic systems from land or sea at a fraction of today's costs.' HyperSciences' technology directly supports the U.S. hypersonic strategic approach, prioritizing cost-effective and rapid hypersonic development. The platform technology is also designed to enable high-cadence, low-cost space access, serving both government and commercial partners. By bridging the gap between hypersonic defense and responsive space launch, HyperSciences and General Hypersonics are redefining the future of national security and global launch capabilities. SOURCE: HyperSciences, Inc. Copyright Business Wire 2025. PUB: 04/02/2025 07:00 AM/DISC: 04/02/2025 07:03 AM
The Independent
06-02-2025
- Health
- The Independent
‘Parents facing barriers and delays in getting mental health help for children'
Two in five parents who have sought help for their child's mental health said they did not get the required support, according to a survey. The Children's Society said the polling showed the 'barriers and delays' parents and children are facing in the current system. The charity said its survey of 3,000 parents in England and Wales whose children are aged between four and 17 'reveals a system struggling to keep pace with soaring demand'. Far too many children are counting down the days to crisis this winter - their childhoods are hanging in the balance Mark Russell, Children's Society Just more than a third of all parents (38%) said they had sought help for their children, and of that proportion around 41% reported they 'did not receive the support they needed'. Of all parents, more than three-quarters (77%) said their child's school offers mental health support, but only 32% said it was available full-time. More than half (53%) of parents turned to schools for help first, followed by GPs (39%), while a third (33%) of parents said they would go to private therapists or counsellors for help. About half (52%) of parents said current thresholds to get help and long waiting times are barriers preventing their children from getting the support they need. According to NHS data, one in five children and young people experience a common mental health problem such as anxiety or depression. The latest research comes as experts warned the Government will not boost economic growth and productivity until it tackles the mental health crisis in young people, which is costing more than £1 trillion in lost earnings. Four mental health organisations have called on ministers 'to acknowledge the scale of the crisis in children's mental health and ignore 'wishful thinking' that it is exaggerated or a result of 'over-medicalisation''. On the Children's Society polling, its chief executive Mark Russell said: 'Parents aren't asking for miracles – they're asking for basic support before problems snowball, but instead are met with barriers and delays. 'Far too many children are counting down the days to crisis this winter – their childhoods are hanging in the balance. ' Children can't wait for weeks or months for treatment, they need immediate help before their issues hit crisis point. We must act now to ensure every child has access to the mental health care they need.' A Government spokesperson said: 'Children with mental health issues are not getting the support or care they deserve, which is why this Government will fix the broken system and ensure mental health is given the same attention and focus as physical health. 'As part of our Plan for Change, we will dramatically increase access to mental health support and create the healthiest generation of children ever. 'We will provide access to specialist mental health professionals in every school, recruit an additional 8,500 mental health workers, and we've already announced £26 million to open new mental health crisis centres.' – Censuswide polled 3,000 parents of children aged four to 17 in England and Wales in November 2024.
