s taken a serious toll on the physical and mental health of doctors, as evident from our study. Regular screening of medical personnel involved in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with COVID-19 should be conducted to evaluate for stress, anxiety, and depression.
  Interleukin 18 (IL-18) is an inflammatory cytokine belonging to the interleukin 1 (IL-1) superfamily, and is known for its role in anti-cancer activity by promoting type 1 immune response, and thus may be applied to cancer immunotherapy. Our previous report has showed 16 times higher activity of engineered E6K+T63A IL-18 than of native IL-18 in vitro. However, no data has been acquired for its anti-cancer effect in animal model.
 
  To investigate the anti-cancer effect of engineered E6K+T63A IL-18 as an immune stimulant in vivo.
 
  Tumor-bearing mice were treated with native IL-18 or E6K or E6K+T63A IL-18 once a day for 10 days after the tumor reached the volume of 100 mm3. Tumor volume and the number of certain immune cell type in the tumor microenvironment were investigated in this study.
 
  The results showed that tumor progression in mice treated with E6K+T63A was slower than in mice treated with E6K and native IL-18. The volume of the tumor was also smaller and the lifespan longer in the E6K+T63A IL-18-treated mice. The proportions of type 1 helper T cell (Th1) and cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) were significantly higher in mice treated with E6K+T63A IL-18.
 
  These results suggest that our engineered IL-18 conferred strong anti-tumor immunity in the animal model.
 These results suggest that our engineered IL-18 conferred strong anti-tumor immunity in the animal model.The mechanochemical, solvent-free, highly regioselective, rhodium-catalyzed C-H methylation of (hetero)arenes is reported. The reaction shows excellent functional-group compatibility and is demonstrated to work for the late-stage C-H methylation of biologically active compounds. The method requires no external heating and benefits from considerably shorter reaction times than previous solution-based C-H methylation protocols.  https://www.selleckchem.com/HIF.html  Additionally, the mechanochemical approach is shown to enable the efficient synthesis of organometallic complexes that are difficult to generate conventionally.Whereas the commercialization of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) is finally proceeding taking advantage of their low cost and tunable optical features, such as colour and transparency for both indoor and building-integrated applications, the corresponding aqueous counterpart is still at its infancy. As the TiO2 electrode is a fundamental component for hybrid solar cells, this work investigates the effect of different molecular (α-terpineol, propylene carbonate) and polymeric (polyethylene oxide, polyethylene glycol, carboxymethyl cellulose and xanthan gum) additives that can be introduced into a commercial TiO2 paste for for screen-printing (or doctor blade). Among all, the addition of polyethylene glycol leads to the best cell performances, with markedly increased short-circuit current density (+18 %) and power conversion efficiency (+48 %) with respect to the pristine (commercial) counterpart. When further explored at different concentration levels, electrodes fabricated from polyethylene glycol-based pastes show different morphologies, thicknesses and performances, which are investigated through (photo)electrochemical, structural, physical-chemical and microscopic techniques.Secondary contact between crops and their wild relatives poses a threat to wild species, not only through gene flow between plants, but also through the dispersal of crop pathogens and genetic exchanges involving these pathogens, particularly those that have become more virulent by indirect selection on resistant crops, a phenomenon known as "pestification." Joint analyses of wild and domesticated hosts and their pathogens are essential to address this issue, but such analyses remain rare. We used population genetics approaches, demographic inference and pathogenicity tests on host-pathogen pairs of wild or domesticated apple trees from Central Asia and their main fungal pathogen, Venturia inaequalis, which itself has differentiated agricultural and wild-type populations. We confirmed the occurrence of gene flow from cultivated (Malus domestica) to wild (Malus sieversii) apple trees in Asian forests, potentially threatening the persistence of Asian wild apple trees. Pathogenicity tests demonstrated the pestification of V. inaequalis, the agricultural-type population being more virulent on both wild and domesticated trees. Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers and the demographic modelling of pathogen populations revealed hybridization following secondary contact between agricultural and wild-type fungal populations, and dispersal of the agricultural-type pathogen population in wild forests, increasing the threat of disease in the wild apple species. We detected an SNP potentially involved in pathogen pestification, generating an early stop codon in a gene encoding a small secreted protein in the agricultural-type fungal population. Our findings, based on joint analyses of paired host and pathogen data sets, highlight the threat posed by cultivating a crop near its centre of origin, in terms of pestified pathogen invasions in wild plant populations and introgression in the wild-type pathogen population.
  The purpose of this study was to assess oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) in patients with burning mouth syndrome (BMS) and to identify clinical factors associated with OHRQoL.
 
  Fifty-seven patients with BMS (56.4±10.7years) participated in the study. Patients underwent oral examination, laboratory tests, psychological evaluation, measurement of salivary flow rates and evaluation of clinical characteristics using a BMS questionnaire. The OHRQoL of patients was assessed using the Oral Health Impact Profile-14 (OHIP-14).
 
  The OHIP-14 score for patients with BMS was 38.6±12.8. Patients had higher scores for the psychological discomfort and physical pain dimensions of the OHIP-14. The intensity of taste disturbance or xerostomia symptoms (β=0.464,P<.001), worry about symptoms (β=0.307,P=.020), and results of psychological evaluation (β=0.311,P=.026) were significantly associated with OHIP-14 score. Multiple linear regression showed that the intensity of taste disturbance or xerostomia symptoms was significantly associated with decreased OHRQoL (β=0.