Background: Although isotretinoin has been confirmed by clinical and experimental studies to be a teratogenic agent that causes fetal developmental abnormalities, its effects on placental development and placental-like extra-embryonic vascularization have not been sufficiently studied. The vascularization of the chorioallantoic membrane is structurally and functionally similar to mammalian placental vascularization, which provided the rationale for conducting this study. Aim: To study the effect of isotretinoin on chorioallantoic membrane vascularization using an in ovo chick embryo model. Materials and Methods: A comparative experimental control study was conducted using fertilized eggs of the same developmental age from Gallus gallus domesticus. At the HH10 embryonic stage, the control group received avian saline, while the experimental group was administered isotretinoin (5 µg/100 µL). Vascularization of the yolk sac and chorioallantoic membrane was evaluated at the macro- and tissue levels at 72 and 120 hours of embryonic development. Vessel branching order, vascular density, and capillary number were compared, and statistical analysis was performed using the Mann-Whitney U test. Result: In the control group, vascularization progressed actively, with abundant formation of third and fourth order vessels, resulting in a dense reticular network. In contrast, the isotretinoin treated group showed delayed vessel branching, a marked reduction in the number of third- and fourth-order vessels, and an overall decrease in vascular density of 40–60%. Histological analysis revealed thinning of the chorioallantoic membrane, loss of tissue layers, and thinning of vascular walls, and the number of capillaries was significantly lower than in the control group (p<0.01). In addition, the development of chorioallantoic membrane vascularization in chick embryos was found to be structurally and developmentally similar to mammalian placental vascularization. Conclusion Isotretinoin was shown to inhibit the development of the chorioallantoic membrane and markedly reduce vascularization and differentiation in an in ovo chick embryo model.

Background: Type I hypersensitivity, commonly known as an allergic reaction, is characterised by an IgE-mediated immune response triggered when foreign proteins enter the body. During allergic reactions, cytokines such as IL-4, IL-5, IL-9, and IL-13, secreted by T-helper 2 (Th2) cells, play a crucial role in activating immune effector cells like eosinophils and mast cells, which contribute significantly to airway inflammation and obstruction. Conversely, interferon-gamma (IFN-γ), produced by Th1 cells, suppresses Th2-mediated responses and plays an essential role in regulating allergic inflammation. Therefore, determining the balance of cytokines produced by Th1 and Th2 cells is crucial for understanding the mechanisms underlying allergic responses. Aim: We aimed to induce an allergic response in experimental animals using ovalbumin and to determine the levels of IL-4 and IFN-γ cytokines using an in-house enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Materials and Methods: A total of 20 female C57BL/6 mice aged 6–8 weeks were selected for the experiment and randomly divided into two groups: control and experimental groups. The concentrations of IL-4 and IFN-γ cytokines in mouse serum were determined using an in-house enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Result: Compared to the control group, the levels of IL-4 and IFN-γ cytokines in the serum of allergic model-induced C57BL/6 mice were determined to be 513.7 pg/mL and 193.2 pg/mL, respectively. A statistically significant difference was observed in IL-4 cytokine levels between the two groups (p < 0.001). Conclusion In the allergic model group, serum levels of IL-4 cytokine were elevated, while IFN-γ cytokine levels were decreased, suggesting a predominant Th2-type immune response.

Background: Currently, colorectal cancer (CRC) ranks as the third most common cancer and the second leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide. CRC frequently metastasizes to the liver (50%), lungs (10–15%), peritoneum (4%), bones (10.7%–23.7%), brain (0.3%–6%), and spinal cord. Approximately 35% of CRC cases are diagnosed before distant metastasis, 36% upon lymph node involvement, and 23% after distant organ metastasis. Although several studies have established primary tumor models in mice in our country, there are limited studies on experimental lung metastasis models, prompting the need for this research. Aim: To establish and evaluate a lung metastasis model of colorectal cancer in C57BL/6J mice using the MC38 cell line. Materials and Methods: This study was conducted at the Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Mongolian National University of Medical Sciences. Approval was obtained from the Ethics Review Board of the Mongolian National University of Medical Sciences (2023/3-09) and all laboratory safety regulations and protocols were strictly followed. Male C57BL/6J mice bred at the Experimental Animal Center of Mongolian National University of Medical Sciences were used. MC38 murine colorectal carcinoma cells were cultured and injected intravenously (via the tail vein) at a concentration of 0.25×10⁶ cells per mouse (n=12) to induce lung metastasis. Histological analysis was subsequently performed. Results: Histological examination revealed significant alterations in lung tissue architecture, characterized by areas of dense infiltration by pleomorphic, hyperchromatic cells, disrupting the normal alveolar structure. No histological abnormalities were observed in other organs. Conclusion Intravenous injection of MC38 colorectal adenocarcinoma cells into the tail vein of C57BL/6J mice successfully induced lung metastases, characterized by hyperchromatic, pleomorphic cell infiltrates forming glandular structures within the lung parenchyma.

Background: In recent years, the incidence of liver diseases due to complications of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has shown a significant upward trend in Southeast Asian countries. NAFLD is a hepatic disorder characterized by lipid accumulation in the microstructure of the liver in individuals who consume little to no alcohol. It is often associated with insulin resistance and is diagnosed when steatosis affects more than 5% of hepatocytes histologically, or when the fat signal intensity on MRI exceeds 5.6%, based on fat-to-water ratio measurements. In Mongolia, histological studies using frozen liver sections with routine and special staining techniques are limited, highlighting the necessity of this study. Aim: To determine and compare the degree of steatosis and fibrosis in frozen liver tissue samples of patients with NAFLD through histological analysis. Materials and Methods: This study was conducted at the the Department of Anatomy, School of Biomedicine and Bio medical Research Institute of MNUMS in collaboration with the Second State Central Hospital. Ethical approval was obtained from the Research Ethics Committee of MNUMS (Protocol No. 2024/3-06). All procedures adhered strictly to laboratory biosafety protocols. Participants were selected among patients undergoing elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy, from whom informed consent was obtained. Based on inclusion criteria, five participants were grouped as follows: healthy control (n=1), NAFLD without fibrosis (n=2), and NAFLD with fibrosis (n=2). Liver biopsies (approx. 1 cm in size) were obtained intraoperatively, immediately deep-frozen in liquid nitrogen, and prepared for histological evaluation. Results: In patients with NAFLD compared to the healthy liver group, disruption of hepatocyte columnar architecture and mild periportal lymphocytic infiltration were observed. Oil Red O staining revealed 34–66% micro- and macrovesicular steatosis, corresponding to grade 2 steatosis. Masson’s trichrome staining showed no fibrotic changes in perivenular or periportal areas (Ishak grade 0/4) at this stage. However, upon progression to grade 3 steatosis, early-stage fibrosis was observed in both perivenular and periportal regions (Ishak grade 1/4). Further progression to stage 4 fibrosis was characterized by the development of connective tissue septa, although no significant changes in droplet size were observed. Conclusions 1. Increasing stages of fibrosis are not directly influenced by the severity of hepatic steatosis in NAFLD. 2. Although the degree of steatosis increases, the absence of corresponding fibrotic changes in early stages indicates a complex progression pattern of NAFLD requiring further investigation.

Introduction: Smoking causes hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis) and blockage of small arteries, which is a direct cause of morbidity and mortality from stroke and heart attack. This study was conducted to determine the risk of atherosclerosis-related diseases in male smokers. Goal: To determine the relationship between carotid artery stenosis in men and certain risk factors (age, smoking, blood pressure, and blood biochemical parameters). Material and Method: The study was conducted in a hospital-based case-control study design. It involved 140 men aged 40-60, smokers (n=70) in the case group, and non-smokers (n=70) in the control group. Result: When considering the average values of blood biochemical test parameters by age group, HDL levels were 1.50±0.33 mmol/l in the smoking group aged 40-49 and 1.30±0.29 mmol/l in the 50-60 age group (p<0.016), while in the non-smoking group (1.51±0.33, 1.37±0.34, p<0.05), which statistically significantly decreased with age. The mean blood triglyceride level was 1.36±0.54 mmol/L in men who smoked ≤10 cigarettes per day (n=36) and 1.75±0.77 mmol/L in men who smoked ≥10 cigarettes per day (n=34), which was statistically significant (p<0.006). When considering the parameters of atherosclerosis by age group, the average IMT in smokers was 0.59±0.09 mm in the 40-49 age group and 0.70±0.19 mm in the 50-60 age group (p<0.001), while in non-smokers it was (0.57±0.08 mm, 0.61±0.13 mm, p<0.004), indicating that the thickness of the vascular wall increased with age in both groups with statistical significance. Conclusion Carotid artery atherosclerosis is strongly age-related, and long-term smoking accelerates the process of atherosclerosis. Blood LDL levels decrease with age, especially in smokers, and they decrease more than in nonsmokers. People who smoke ≥10 cigarettes per day have higher blood LDL levels.

Introduction : Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) caused at least 43 million deaths in 2021, equivalent to 75% of non-pandemic-related deaths globally. Cardiovascular diseases account for most NCD deaths, or at least 19 million deaths in 2021, followed by cancers (10 million), chronic respiratory diseases (4 million), and diabetes (over 2 million including kidney disease deaths caused by diabetes). These four groups of diseases account for 80% of all premature NCD deaths. According to the Fourth National Survey on the Prevalence of Noncommunicable Diseases, Injuries, and Their Risk Factors: 14.0% of adults aged 15–69 have experienced a heart attack or stroke, 11.0% report taking aspirin to prevent or manage cardiovascular disease (CVD), 2.2% use lipid-lowering medications (statins) for CVD prevention or treatment, among adults aged 40–69, 19.3% are at high risk of developing CVD within the next 10 years. These findings underscore the urgent need to strengthen cardiovascular disease prevention efforts and improve the management of key risk factors in Mongolia. Goal: To determine the population’s knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to cardiovascular disease risk factors and healthy lifestyle behaviors. Materials and Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study included 2,532 participants aged 18–69 years from all 21 provinces of Mongolia and Ulaanbaatar city, as part of the “Cardiology, Cardiac Surgery, and Telemedicine in Mongolia” (MON/007) Project. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire comprising six sub-sections, designed to assess knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to 10 modifiable cardiovascular risk factors. Ethical approval was obtained prior to the study, and data were analyzed using SPSS version 23. Results: Thirty-three percent of study participants reported having no knowledge of cardiovascular disease, indicating that roughly one in three adults consider themselves to have little or no understanding of cardiovascular health. In the study, 53.0% of participants reported being unaware of the symptoms of a heart attack, while 42.0% did not recognize the symptoms of a stroke. Among participants who could identify these symptoms, 68.0% indicated dizziness as a sign of hypertension, 65.0% reported headache, and 58.0% noted blurred vision. Among the respondents, 31.0% knew that the normal arterial blood pressure for an adult is 120/80 mmHg, 57.0% were aware that an adult should sleep 7–8 hours per day, 13.0% knew about body mass index (BMI), 30.0% were aware of fasting blood glucose levels, and 44.0% recognized that adults should engage in 30 minutes of physical activity daily. Knowledge of key physiological indicators was significantly associated with educational attainment, gender, and age group, with lower levels of awareness observed among participants with lower education, males, and younger adults (p=0.001). The majority of participants (75.0%-96.0%) reported being aware of the modifiable risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Among the study participants, nine out of ten agreed that maintaining a healthy lifestyle includes regular physical activity, exercising, walking short distances, and understanding that hypertension is harmful and smoking adversely affects the heart. Furthermore, 80–85% reported avoiding excessive alcohol consumption, and 79% believed that cardiovascular disease is preventable. To prevent or reduce obesity, a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, 49.0% of participants reported engaging in regular physical activity, while 33.0% reported following a healthy diet. Among all study participants, 61.0% had never checked their cholesterol levels, 49.0% had never measured their blood glucose, and 15.0% had never monitored their blood pressure. Among respondents exhibiting 1–3 common risk factors, the majority were female, aged 25–34 years, living in rural areas or ger districts, with secondary or specialized secondary education, employed in government institutions, and had a normal BMI. In contrast, among those with 7 or more common risk factors, the majority were male, aged 35–44 years, residing in Ulaanbaatar, living in ger districts, and employed in private organizations. Conclusion Most of surveyed participants had sufficient knowledge and positive attitudes toward modifiable risk factors for cardiovascular diseases (p=0.001). However, they exhibited inadequate preventive practices related to these risk factors. This indicates the importance of targeted intervention on behavior change to address this gap.

: According to the elemental analysis survey, it is confirmed that the content of silicon (Si) and aluminium (Al) in coarse particles in the ambient air of Erdenet city is the highest (2457 ng/cm2, 1061.72 ng/cm2), and the content of black carbon (BC) is the highest (2699.9 ng/cm2) for the fine particles, respectively. In Orkhon Aimag, 221 new cancer cases were registered in 2023, 20.8 per 10,000 population, and 123 deaths were registered, which decreased by 20 cases from the previous year. Stomach, lung, and oesophageal cancers are the most common. Among the leading causes of diseases, diseases of the respiratory system are led by its prevalence rate of 1536 per 10,000 population, followed by the diseases of the digestive system prevalence rate of 821 per 10,000. Goal: To review the epidemiological tendency of diseases registered in Orkhon aimag between 2006 and 2022. Materials and Methods: The secondary data on outpatient 2006-2022 of Orkhon aimag was collected and analysed. All disease data followed the X International Classification of Diseases classification. The Ethical permission was obtained from the Ethical Committee at the Ach Medical University. All personnel information-related data was removed and no any name and location of personnel data was mentioned in the survey result. Results: In Orkhon Aimag, 524,927 cases of diseases were registered in 2006-2022. Respiratory system diseases were 29.82 percent of total diseases, digestive system diseases were 16.58 percent, genitourinary system diseases were 11.28 percent, cardiovascular system diseases were 10.45 percent, and skin and subcutaneous tissue diseases were 8.38 percent. Chronic heart diseases of rheumatic origin were registered for 11.59 percent of the population aged 50-54, hypertension diseases were registered 12.41 percent, and a steady increase was observed in the age of 20-54. Conclusions
1. When studying the structure of diseases among the population of Orkhon aimag, the respiratory, digestive, and genitourinary system, circulatory system and diseases of the skin and subcutaneous tissue are the first five leading causes of diseases and consisted 76.95% of the total number of diseases. In the study of analyzing the diseases of the circulatory system by age group and diagnosis, cases of ischemic heart disease and high blood pressure are found among children aged 15-19 years. CVD are more common among the population aged 40-54.
2. There is a tendency that skin and subcutaneous tissue diseases to be on the rise among the population.

Healthcare is a rapidly growing industry as medical treatments become more sophisticated, more in demand due to increasing incidence of chronic disease and more widely available worldwide. As the amount of healthcare waste continues to increase, there is a need for further research in the field to meet the global demand for proper disposal of healthcare waste. The growing healthcare consumption, driven by various factors, is contributing to the rise in hospital waste, which in turn is putting pressure on current waste management systems.Currently, healthcare institutions manage waste by segregating at the source, safely transporting infectious waste, and disposing of it through incineration, autoclaving, or landfill methods. Both incineration and autoclaving processes have negative environmental and human health impacts. To reduce the amount of healthcare waste generated, it is necessary to train healthcare workers to properly segregate waste according to its type, following established standards.
Governments can take action to improve waste disposal practices, reduce the generation of infectious waste, and ensure that all types of healthcare waste are properly disposed of. This can include:
• Governments should have clear and standardized definitions for both infectious and non infectious healthcare waste, and enhance the regulatory and legal framework to prevent illegal disposal of waste.
• Healthcare institutions should be provided with incentives, financial support, and other measures to reduce hospital waste, with a particular focus on reducing infectious waste in local health institutions.
• Governments should provide research grants to support studies aimed at reducing and managing healthcare waste disposal effectively.
These measures would help improve the overall management and reduction of healthcare waste and ensure a safer and more sustainable approach to waste disposal.

Health impact assessment is a means of evidence-based policy-making for improvement in health. It is a combination of methods whose aim is to assess the health consequences to a population of a policy, project, or program that does not necessarily have health as its primary objective. It is described as being “the leading global network on best practice in the use of impact assessment for informed decision-making regarding policies, programs, plans and projects”. In recent years, much evidence was revealed that the mining, metal mining, and processing industry has a greatly impact on humans. Residing population has affected directly and indirectly influenced to the health and wellbeing of human.
The mining, metal mining and processing industries play an important role in the economic and social development of Mongolia. With the rapid development of the mining industry in Mongolia, environmental protection and environmental rehabilitation have become a priority. Currently, there are 27 laws governing environmental legal acts in our country, and chapter 3 of the Hygiene Law covers environmental and health impact assessment. As stated the implementation of the law shall be financed from the state and local budgets, the central state administrative organization and the Governor at the appropriate level shall order the relevant professional organizations to carry out environmental research and analysis work and to develop projects, and in addition to financing with budget funds, as well as conducting research with their funds for interested citizens, enterprises, and organizations were are arrangements to support the implementation of the laws and its regulation.
However, Within the scope of the Law on Environmental Protection and Detailed Environmental Impact Assessment Procedures, the negative impact on the environment is identified but in the area of health impact, it is a lack of information on how the activities are conducted, and health impact assessments are not conducted according to procedures and methods. Thus, there are need to conduct health impact assessments of the mining area and its affected population.

Background: In 2021, 5981 of cancer new cases was registered in Mongolian population. Among those cases, liver cancer was commonly registered with a prevalence of 32.7%. Studies on anticancer agents with no-adverse effects and good-preventive efficacy against cancer have been attracted more attention from the researchers in the field of pharmaceutical sciences. Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi, Saussurrea amara.L, Chiazospermum erectum Berh, and Carthamus tinctorius.L are well recognized as effective agent against liver diseases. Using these raw materials, researchers have been invented a traditional prescription and named as Hepaclin-4. In this study, we aimed to investigate the qualitative study of raw materials and some biologically active sub- stances in the compounds. Purpose: To study the qualitative study of raw materials for Hepaclin-4 prescription Materials and methods: Some qualitative properties of raw materials for Hepaclin-4 prescription, including appearance, minerals, some organic compounds, total ash, water-soluble substances and fungi, were investigated according to Mongolian pharmacopeia and total flavonoid was detected by thin layer chromatography. Results: No changes were observed on the appearance of raw materials, and minerals and organic compounds weren’t detected in the prescription. No contamination with fungi and insects were identified. The moist in the raw materials were 5.9 to 8.1%, total ash was 4.7 to 13.3% and the water-soluble substances were detected 33.8 to 42.9%. Number of aerobic bacteria, fungi and E.coli, Salmonella species were detected in normal range, indicating that the prescription was matched with the requirement of pharmacopeia. According to the thin layer chromatography study of the raw materials, a yellow spot on the chromatogram were identified and same as quercetin (Rf=0.9-0.98) and rutin ((Rf=0.18-0.23)) as standard compounds, which indicated that the spot which indicated that the spot was flavonoids in the prescription. Conclusions These results showed that the appearance, moist, minerals, organic compound, water-soluble substances, ash and biologically active substances of the raw materials for Hepaclin-4 prescription was corresponded with the requirements of pharmacopeia, and flavonoid was detected in raw materials of Hepaclin-4.