Latest news with #childrenHealth
CNN
6 days ago
- General
- CNN
CNN speaks to researcher falsely cited in MAHA report
The Trump administration updated its MAHA report on children's health after citation errors were reported. Epidemiologist Katherine Keyes speaks to CNN's Jacqueline Howard about discovering her name was included in research she never wrote.
Khaleej Times
03-06-2025
- Business
- Khaleej Times
Majid and Lynn Jafar honoured by top US university
The University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School has honoured Majid Jafar, CEO of Crescent Petroleum, and his wife Lynn Barghout Jafar, co-founders of the Loulou Foundation, for their work in advancing medical research and innovation and for supporting children with special needs through the High Hopes Therapy Center in the UAE. The honorary doctorate degrees, presented at the university's 2025 Commencement ceremony by Chancellor Michael Collins, highlight their role in accelerating scientific and therapeutic progress in the field of rare diseases — an area that remains significantly underdiagnosed and underserved, with the vast majority of conditions still lacking approved treatments. More than 350 million people are affected by rare diseases worldwide, with 70% of them children. While over 7,000 rare diseases have been identified, 95% still lack approved treatments. Majid Jafar commented: 'We are deeply honoured by this recognition from UMass Chan Medical School. It affirms what can be achieved when purpose-driven collaboration meets urgency — especially in the field of rare diseases, where so many families are still waiting for new treatments. The UAE has long recognised the importance of medical innovation, and we remain committed to contributing to this global effort to improve children's lives and accelerate meaningful change.' Umass Chan Medical School is among the leading medical schools in the United States and last year entered into a strategic partnership agreement with Mohammed bin Rashid University (MBRU) of Medicine and Health Sciences in Dubai. The commencement ceremony also conferred honorary doctorate degrees on Dr Marcia McNutt, President of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and Dr Carolyn Clancy, Assistant Under Secretary for Health at the U.S. Veterans Health Administration. Lynn Barghout Jafar, co-founder of the Loulou Foundation and Founder of the High Hopes Therapy Center in Dubai, added: 'When our own daughter was diagnosed with a rare disease, what began as a personal journey quickly became a global mission to connect families and scientists in the pursuit of answers. We are grateful to be part of a growing community that is transforming the future of rare disease research through science, collaboration, and hope'. In March this year Majid and Lynn Jafar personally hosted a Charity Suhoor in support of Al Jalila Foundation's Child Fund in the UAE, raising Dh50 million — the largest donor-led fundraiser since the Foundation's inception in 2013. Held under the theme 'An Evening of Hope', the gathering brought together business leaders and philanthropists to support life-saving medical treatment and research for children in need. In addition to his work with Loulou Foundation which as supported more than 100 research projects in labs around the world since its founding in 2015, Majid Jafar co-chairs the international campaign for Cambridge Children's Hospital, serves on the advisory board of the Oxford-Harrington Rare Disease Centre — chaired by former UK Prime Minister David Cameron — and is a member of the Board of Fellows and co-chairs the Discovery Council at Harvard Medical School. In his professional capacity, in addition to serving as CEO of Crescent Petroleum, the Middle East's oldest private oil and gas company, Majid Jafar is the Board Managing Director of Dana Gas and Vice Chairman of the Crescent Group, headquartered in Sharjah in the UAE. Lynn Barghout Jafar established High Hopes Pediatric Therapy Center in 2017 as an early intervention facility in the UAE that caters to over 300 children with moderate to complex special needs - a place where they can develop, progress, and also have fun under the supervision of the most experienced and specialized therapists.
Daily Mail
03-06-2025
- General
- Daily Mail
Urgent warning over hospitalisation risk from common medications that Aussies use daily
Medicines like paracetamol and antidepressants are contributing to an alarming number of children visiting emergency wards. Parents grabbing over the counter medicine to help their children is causing a startling number of hospital visits, researchers say. Almost 100 children and teenagers are being taken to emergency departments every day after taking over-the-counter medicines such as paracetamol and antidepressants. At least half of these visits are preventable due to being accidental or intentional overdoses on adult-only medication, University of South Australia researchers said. The Royal Children's Hospital emergency medicine director says intentional overdoses can be particularly concerning. '(Paracetamol) is one of the scary medications where early on, there may be very minimal symptoms,' Stuart Lewena told AAP. 'It's only going to be when the paracetamol is starting to cause damage to the liver (when) we'll start to see symptoms of nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain.' In the case of accidental ingestions, he said parents and carers can be 'flustered, anxious, worried about the error they've made', delaying treatment. 'We've spent a lot of our time decreasing how confronting they're finding it,' he said. Dr Lewena said hospitals are stretched and urged parents to keep medication out of children's reach. Parents should particularly keep an eye on prescription medications as one tablet can cause harm to children. 'Kids are incredibly resourceful at getting to things that they know they're not meant to get to,' Dr Lewena said. 'It's worthwhile having a discussion with your pharmacist or doctor to know ... "how risky is this in my household?".' Imaina Widagdo, who led the UniSA research, says more needs to be done to protect the health of children, who have more adverse reactions to medicine than adults. 'Unlike adults, children have developing bodies, which means they can respond to medicines differently than adults,' Dr Widagdo said. 'Secondly, because medicines are rarely trialled with children, the doses, safety and efficacy of certain medicines may not be fully known or always accurate.' In February, the federal government changed the number of paracetamol tablets per pack from 20 to 16 in general stores. The number is 50 in pharmacy medicine packs.
BBC News
30-05-2025
- Health
- BBC News
US government report cited non-existent sources, academics say
A US government report on children's health cited studies that were "totally fabricated" to back up its findings, authors of the studies referenced have told news released on 22 May, the report detailed causes of a "chronic disease crisis" among children in the US. An amended version was issued on 29 May after digital outlet NOTUS found it had used seven non-existent House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said there were "formatting issues" and the report would be updated, but it did "not negate the substance of the report".US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, who has promoted debunked claims that vaccines cause autism, leads the department behind the report. It comes on the back of one of US President Donald Trump's sweeping executive orders earlier this year, specifically to "study the scope of the childhood chronic disease crisis and any potential contributing causes".Issued by the Make America Healthy Again Commission, the report concluded that poor diet, environmental toxins, stress, insufficient physical activity and "overmedicalisation" may contribute to chronic illness among American the authors of several studies cited in the report told news outlets they did not write them, and that the studies never Li, a Columbia University professor who was named as an author of a report on the mental health of children in the pandemic, told Agence France-Presse that the reference was "totally fabricated" and that he does not even know the listed was listed as an author alongside Noah Kreski, a researcher at Columbia University, who also denied writing it, telling AFP it "doesn't appear to be a study that exists at all."Katherine Keyes, an epidemiology professor who told news agency Reuters she was also wrongly named as an author, said: "It does make me concerned given that citation practices are an important part of conducting and reporting rigorous science."Another study cited about the advertising of psychotropic medications for youth was not written by the listed author, the university that employs him told AFP and Democratic National Committee accused RFK Jr.'s Department of Health and Human Services of "justifying its policy priorities with sources that do not exist" and using citations that "are rife with errors, from broken links to misstated conclusions".RFK Jr was sworn in as US Health Secretary in February. Since taking office he has cut thousands of jobs in the health department and made plans to introduce placebo trials for all new vaccines.
New York Times
29-05-2025
- Health
- New York Times
White House Health Report Included Fake Citations
The Trump administration released a report last week that it billed as a 'clear, evidence-based foundation' for action on a range of children's health issues. But the report, from the presidential Make America Healthy Again Commission, cited studies that did not exist. These included fictitious studies on direct-to-consumer drug advertising, mental illness and medications prescribed for children with asthma. 'It makes me concerned about the rigor of the report, if these really basic citation practices aren't being followed,' said Katherine Keyes, a professor of epidemiology at Columbia University who was listed as the author of a paper on mental health and substance use among adolescents. Dr. Keyes has not written any paper by the title the report cited, nor does one seem to exist by any author. The news outlet NOTUS first reported the presence of false citations, and The New York Times identified additional faulty references. By midafternoon on Thursday, the White House had uploaded a new copy of the report with corrections. Dr. Ivan Oransky — who teaches medical journalism at New York University and is a co-founder of Retraction Watch, a website that tracks retractions of scientific research — said the errors in the report were characteristic of the use of generative artificial intelligence, which has led to similar issues in legal filings and more. Dr. Oransky said that while he did not know whether the government had used A.I. in producing the report or the citations, 'we've seen this particular movie before, and it's unfortunately much more common in scientific literature than people would like or than really it should be.' Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
