Californians see power shutoffs as winds, fire danger rise

Hundreds of thousands of Californians lost power as utilities sought to prevent the chance of their equipment sparking wildfires and the fire-weary state braced for a new bout of dry, windy weather.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-10-californians-power-shutoffs-danger.html

US insists on need to ban TikTok

US President Donald Trump's administration has insisted on the need to ban TikTok due to national security concerns in a new court filing ahead of a plan to make the video app unavailable on November 12.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-10-insists-tiktok.html

German software giant SAP trims outlook on virus woes

German software giant SAP on Sunday downgraded its outlook for 2020, saying a resurgence in coronavirus cases would weigh on demand from "hard hit" customers.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-10-german-software-giant-sap-trims.html

Japan PM Suga sets 2050 deadline for carbon neutrality

Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Monday set a 2050 deadline for the world's third-largest economy to become carbon neutral, significantly firming up the country's climate change commitments.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-10-japan-pm-suga-deadline-carbon.html

Globalized economy making water, energy and land insecurity worse: study

The first large-scale study of the risks that countries face from dependence on water, energy and land resources has found that globalisation may be decreasing, rather than increasing, the security of global supply chains.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-10-globalized-economy-energy-insecurity-worse.html

1 in 12 parents say their teen has attended a demonstration about racism or police reform

A growing number of demonstrators taking to the streets to protest police brutality and racial injustice may include teenagers, a new national poll suggests.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-10-parents-teen-racism-police-reform.html

Kid influencers are promoting junk food brands on YouTube—garnering more than a billion views

Kids with wildly popular YouTube channels are frequently promoting unhealthy food and drinks in their videos, warn researchers at NYU School of Global Public Health and NYU Grossman School of Medicine in a new study published in the journal Pediatrics.

Ontario should vaccinate newborns for hepatitis B, study suggests

Not all pregnant women are universally screened for hepatitis B virus (HBV) in Ontario, even though this screening is recommended, and the majority of those who test positive do not receive follow-up testing or interventions, leading to infections of newborns, found new research in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

Study reveals details behind transplant disparities experienced by black patients

Studies have observed that Black patients are less likely to receive kidney transplants than white patients, but it's not clear when during the transplant evaluation process this disparity occurs. Research that will be presented online during ASN Kidney Week 2020 Reimagined October 19-October 25 indicates that the disparity arises after physicians refer patients for transplantation.

The effects of social determinants of health on kidney transplant candidates

Certain social determinants of health predict patient-reported outcomes in potential kidney transplant recipients, according to a study that will be presented online during ASN Kidney Week 2020 Reimagined October 19-October 25.

Next generation BRAF inhibitor cancer drug shows promise in early patient trial

A new drug designed to work on cancers with an altered BRAF gene has shown promise in an early patient trial presented at the 32nd EORTC-NCI-AACR Symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics, which is taking place online.

Liver cancer diagnoses and deaths impacted by geography and household income

An analysis of information from a large U.S. cancer database indicates that patients with liver cancer from rural regions and lower income households often have more advanced cancer at the time of diagnosis and face a higher risk of death compared with other patients. The findings are published early online in Cancer, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society (ACS).