Background: The first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Mongolia was reported on November 11, 2020. In response, the government imposed a nationwide lockdown, which significantly impacted the population’s mental health. Heightened levels of stress, anxiety, loneliness, and depression during the pandemic altered individuals’ psychological stability and behavior. Personality traits—defined as relatively stable patterns of emotion, cognition, and behavior—play a key role in stress responses and emotional regulation under pressure. Emerging evidence suggests that these psychological factors may influence the immune system’s responsiveness, including vaccine-induced antibody production. Aim: To evaluate the association between post-vaccination antibody responses and personality types following two doses of COVID-19 vaccines. Materials and Methods: A total of 738 participants who received two doses of COVID-19 vaccines (AstraZeneca ChAdOx1, n=29; Pfizer-BioNTech, n=119; Sinopharm BBIBP, n=590) and had no prior SARS-CoV-2 infection were enrolled. Serum samples were collected 21–28 days after the second dose, and SARS-CoV-2 RBD (S) IgG antibodies were measured using ELISA (Proteintech Inc., USA). Personality types were assessed using a 56-item temperament questionnaire developed by A. Belov, categorizing individuals into classical temperament types (choleric, phlegmatic, sanguine, melancholic). Logistic regression and ROC analysis were used to examine associations between personality types and antibody response. Results: The presence of an antibody response was significantly higher among individuals with a melancholic temperament, and significantly lower among those with a phlegmatic temperament. Furthermore, antibody titers were higher in participants with melancholic and sanguine temperaments and lower in those with a phlegmatic type. Conclusions 1. During the early period following the second dose of COVID-19 vaccination, the antibody response was higher in individuals with a pure melancholic temperament, while it was lower in those with a phlegmatic temperament. 2. After the second dose of the Sinopharm BBIBP COVID-19 vaccine, antibody titers were higher in individuals with pure melancholic and sanguine temperaments, and lower in those with a phlegmatic temperament.

Background: The study of small-molecule compounds with antitumor activity involves several crucial steps. These include determining their selective effects on cancer cells, understanding the type of cell death they induce, identifying the activated signaling pathways, pinpointing the target molecules, and elucidating the mechanisms of action. Among the plant-derived compounds with anticancer properties, flavonoids are notable for their ease of isolation and their abundance in food. Apigetrin, a representative flavonoid, is a secondary metabolite found in plants, and our previous study indicated that its anticancer selectivity index was 13.1. However, the specific mechanism by which apigetrin inhibits leukemia cell growth remains unclear. Aim: To study of the inhibitory action of apigenin on leukemia cell culture Materials and Methods: In this study, we evaluated the apoptosis of cells using flow cytometry and investigated the in volvement of the caspase pathway through the use of pancaspase inhibitors to explore the effects of apigetrin on leukemia cell growth. Results: After incubating leukemia RAW264.7 cells with 30 μM apigetrin for 24 and 48 hours, we did not detect any apoptosis through Annexin V and PI staining by flow cytometry. We compared the number of viable cells using the MTT assay after 24-hour treatment of apigetrin with or without pretreatment of Z-VAD, a pancaspase inhibitor, for 30 minutes. The results indicated that the pancaspase inhibitor did not reduce the inhibitory effect of apigetrin on the growth of RAW264.7 cells. In contrast, the positive control group, treated with doxorubicin—which induces apoptosis—showed not only significant apoptosis but also a reduction of the pancaspase inhibitor on the cell growth inhibition. Therefore, these data suggested that apigetrin likely has a cytostatic effect or inhibits the cell cycle rather than being cytotoxic. Future research should focus on determining which stage of the cell cycle RAW264.7 cells treated with apigetrin are in, as well as studying the signaling pathways involved in the cell cycle. Conclusions Apigetrin inhibits the proliferation of RAW264.7 leukemia cells in a caspase-independent and non-apoptotic manner.

Background: Cancer incidence and mortality are steadily increasing both globally and in Mongolia. As these rates rise, traditional Mongolian medicine has long utilized herbal formulas for the treatment of gastric and esophageal cancers and precancerous conditions. One such formulation—Hot Natured 3 Herbs (HN3H)—comprises three species from the Ranunculaceae family: Atragene sibirica L., Ranunculus repens L., and Pulsatilla bungeana L.. However, scientific validation of its anti-tumor effects is essential. This study aimed to investigate the effect of HN3H in a tumor-induced animal model. Aim: To identify the biologically active compounds of HN3H and evaluate their effect in an experimentally induced tumor model in animals. Materials and Methods: The three herbs comprising HN3H—Atragene sibirica L., Ranunculus repens L., and Pulsatilla bungeana L.—were collected during their flowering stage (May–June) in Khishig-Undur, Bulgan province, and dried according to official procedures. Extraction was carried out by maceration in 96% ethanol at a 1:10 ratio. The concentrated extract was suspended in water (1:1) and successively fractionated with dichloromethane, ethyl acetate, butanol, chloroform, and n-hexane. The study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Mongolian National University of Medical Sciences (Protocol №2020/03-04). A colorectal cancer model was established by subcutaneous injection of MC-38 cells (Kerafast, USA) into C57BL/6 mice. Immunohistochemistry was performed using CK20, CDX2, Ki67, and p53 antibodies at 1:100 and 1:200 dilutions. Results: The ethanol extract of HN3H contained 2.98±0.04% total phenolics and 2.16±0.05% total flavonoids. Body weight and tumor volume were measured daily with three repetitions. All groups showed a time-dependent increase in body weight. Mice in groups 1A and 1B received ethanol extract at 50 and 100 mg/kg doses; groups 2A and 2B received dichloromethane extract at the same doses. The negative control group was administered 0.5 mg/kg PBS orally, while the positive control group received intraperitoneal injections of 5-fluorouracil (5FU) at 10 mg/kg twice a week. Tumor growth increased in a time-dependent manner across groups. Compared to the negative control, tumor volumes in four treatment groups showed statistically significant reduction (p˂0.05), while no significant difference was observed when compared to the positive control (p=0.08). Histological analysis revealed necrosis in all groups, with variation in extent. Conclusion The ethanol extract of HN3H exhibited moderate levels of phenolic compounds and a high concentration of flavonoids. HN3H extract inhibited tumor progression and activated lymphocyte-predominant inflammation in tumor tissues, indicating potential anti-tumor activity (p˂0.05).

Introduction: In 2018, the overall colorectal cancer (CRC) incidence rate was 3.6%, according to the National Cancer Center of Mongolia (NCCM), and the incidence of colorectal cancer has increased slightly in recent years. According to cancer stages, late stage cancer has a 5-year survival rate of 51%, while early stage cancer has a 5-year survival rate of 79%. The overall survival rate of colorectal cancer in Mongolia has not been studied in precisely. In Asia, the 5-year survival rate for colorectal cancer was 60%. Therefore, this study investigated the colorectal cancer survival rate and prognostic factors at NCCM. Methods: A total of 108 patients diagnosed with CRC at NCCM’s General Surgery Department from 2013 to 2015 were used in this retrospective cohort study. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to develop the survival graphs, which were then compared using the Log-rank test. Results: The median survival time was 42 months, with a 95% CI (38.55-45.66). A 5-year period, the overall survival rate for CRC was 61.2%. Survival rates at the I, II, III, and IV stages were 100%, 75%, 65.4%, and 13.5%, respectively. There was a significant difference in CRC survival rates across all stages (p=0.0001). There was a statistically significant difference in determining the relationship between adjuvant chemotherapy and survival rate (p=0.0003). Conclusion The outcome of the surgery is determined by the CRC stage. The postoperative survival rate (61.2%) is directly related to tumor stage, peripheral glandular metastasis, distant metastasis, and chemotherapy effects.

Introduction: Cancer continues to be one of the world’s major health issues, with Mongolia continues to lead Asia in esophageal (100’000: 17.1) and gastric cancer incidence (100’000: 41.0). In the previous decade, 8,137 new cases of gastric cancer were reported in Mongolia. According to TNM staging, eight out of every ten people are diagnosed late, recognizing the need to improve people’s knowledge, attitudes, and practices. Methods: The survey was carried out using a questionnaire. A total of 320 participants between 17- 80 ages from the aimags of Uvs, Khovd, and Zavkhan were chosen at random for the survey, and data was collected through social media. SPSS (v28.0, SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) software was used for statistical analysis. Results: The survey included 110, 106, and 104 participants from the aimags of Uvs, Zavkhan, and Khovd. A total of 320 participants, with 20.9% (67) and 79.1% (253) being male and female respectively. The average age was 35.56±9.15 years. The participants’ mean knowledges, attitudes and practices scores were 7.54±2.7, 9.6±2.2, and 3.82±1.1 respectively in the first survey. Following the advocacy campaign, the mean knowledge, attitude, and practice scores increased to 9.3±2.7, 10.1±2.2, and 4.00±1.2, respectively. Conclusion The attitudes and practices of the participants were related to their level of knowledge. It is critical to increase health education and advocacy efforts in order to develop the appropriate attitudes and behaviors to reduce cancer-related deaths.

Introduction: Cancer is a major public health issue both in Asia and in Mongolia. The most prevalent cancer related deaths in Mongolia are registered for the stomach, esophagus and liver. Purpose: We aimed to investigate the incidence of stomach and esophageal cancer in Mongolian population. Materials and Methods: Epidemiologic data were collected from 2009 to 2018 through the oncology cabinet of all hospitals and medical centers from all provinces, soums (the smallest unit of provinces) and major districts of the capital city. The incidence of stomach and esophageal cancer was calculated by appropriate methods and it was presented by ArcGIS Pro 9.2 software. A P-value of less than 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant and based on two side hypotheses. All calculations were performed in the IBM SPSS Statistics software. The study design in concordance with ethical guidelines was approved by the Ethics Committee of Ministry of Health Mongolia. All clinical investigations were conducted according to the principles laid down in the Declaration of Helsinki. Results: The incidence of esophageal cancer in last ten years (2009-2018) was 10.09 in 100000 populations and the highest incidence were registered in Uvs (38.13), Bayan-Ulgii (24.15) and Zavkhan (18.18) provinces, respectively. The incidence of stomach cancer was 20.33 in 100000 populations and the highest incidences were registered in Uvs (53.01), Khovd (46.02) and Darkhan-Uul (40.50) provinces, respectively. Conclusion
1. Incidence rates for esophageal and stomach cancer are high among the Mongolian population. In the last decade, the incidence of esophageal cancer had not decreased significantly, but it’s constant.
In our study, the esophageal cancer incidence was 10.09 per 100’000 people, which includes one of the high incidence rate countries according to the WHO classification. More than 10 aimags incidence rate of esophageal cancer was higher than the National average. Most of them have occurred in the western region of the country. Most of the Western, some of Khangai and Eastern soums have had the highest incidence of esophageal cancer what we have shown on the mapping.
2. The incidence rates of stomach cancer were registered as 20.33 per 100’000 people in the last 10 years at the national level. It has shown that according to the WHO classification, our country is also one of the countries with the highest incidence of stomach cancer. The stomach cancer incidence trend was increased in the last 10 decades. Therefore, some of aimag’s soums has included the highest rate classification. In addition, some soums in the Western, Khangai, and Eastern aimags had have a very high incidence of stomach cancer.
According to results in the above, the nationwide targeted prevention program is needed especially where the highest incidence rates. Also there is a lack of cooperation between national organizations to accurate registration of gastrointestinal cancer and to fight against these harmful cancers.

Introduction: In 2018, a total of 901 new cases of gastric cancer were recorded, of which 64.8% in males and 34.2% in females. The incidence rate of gastric cancer was 28.5 per 100 000 population, which 38.2 for males and 19.2 for females. Goal: We aimed to investigate the associations between some risk factors and gastric cancer among the Mongolian population. Materials and Methods: A case-control study was conducted between November 2017 and September 2019. We selected 120 cases from National cancer center of Mongolia who newly diagnosed gastric cancer. And 120 controls were selected by matching by sex, age and the place of residence. Informed consents were obtained from all subjects. All subjects were personally interviewed with researchers used by a structured questionnaire consisting of 86 questions. The SPSS 21 (version 16.0, SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) software was used for all analyses. Results: The mean age was 59.2±11.4 (26-85) years. Habits of having dinner after 6.00 pm (OR 1.42, 95%CI 1.11-1.83, p=0.008), having leftover meals (OR 2.22, 95%CI 1.27-3.86, p=0.008), daily consumption of tea with salt (OR 1.97, 95%CI 1.18-3.30, p=0.01), smoking on an empty stomach (OR 2.44, 95%CI 1.11-5.37, p=0.033), weekly consumption of ham and smoked meat (OR 1.5, 95%CI 1.17- 2.13, p=0.02), and consumption of fat grease (OR 2.09, 95%CI .03-4.24, p=0.038) were significantly increased gastric cancer risk. In contrast, habit of eating at regular times (OR 0.43, 95%CI 0.25-0.73, p=0.002), chewing thoroughly (OR 0.39, 95%CI 0.23-0.67, p=0.001), cooking meat thoroughly until it’s tender (OR 0.48, 95%CI 0.25-0.97, p=0.047), daily consumption of vegetables (OR 0.45, 95%CI 0.27-0.76, p=0.003), and daily consumption of fruit juice (OR 0.36, 95%CI 0.15-0.85, p=0.026) were significantly reduced gastric cancer risk. Furthermore, having first-degree relatives diagnosed with gastric cancer had 2-3 fold higher increased risk of gastric cancer (parents OR 2.88, 95%CI 1.07- 7.78, p=0.038, sibling (OR 3.09, 95%CI 1.09-8.81, p=0.036). Also, previous records of the digestive disease increased risk of gastric cancer (OR 3.65, 95%CI 2.10-6.35, p<0.0001). Conclusion Dietary habits, family history of gastric cancer and previous records of digestive disease were associated with risk of gastric cancer. Thus, prevention effort could be focused on the population with a family history of gastric cancer, changing bad dietary habit and screening precancerous disease of gastric cancer.

Introduction: Valproic acid (VPA) has been used in the treatment of seizures and bipolar disorders. In the present study, we examined how VPA affected PI3K-Akt pathway in response to LPS by using mouse RAW 264.7 macrophage cells. Material and methods: Mouse RAW 264.7 macrophage-like cells cultured and the cell viability checked by MTT and TUNEL assay. In addition, protein expression and protein interaction were detected by immune blotting and immune precipitation, respectively. TLR4 expression on cell surface studied by FACS analysis. Results: The MTT and TUNEL assays demonstrated no significant difference between VPA at 2 mM treated and untreated control cells. VPA attenuated LPS-induced phosphorylation of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) and Akt, but not nuclear factor (NF)-κB and mitogen activated protein kinases (MAPKs). There was no significant difference in the TLR4 expression on the cell surface between cells treated with or without VPA. VPA inhibited LPS-induced PI3K/Akt signal transduction in a dose dependent manner. Conclusion VPA at 2mM exhibits nontoxic effect in the RAW 264.7 cells. VPA down regulates LPS-induced phosphorylation of Akt via inhibition of PI3K activation.

Background: The effect of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) on valproic acid (VPA)-induced cell death was examined by using mouse RAW 264.7 macrophage cells. Materials and methods, results: LPS inhibited the activation of caspase 3 and poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) and prevented VPA-induced apoptosis. LPS inhibited VPA-induced p53 activation and pifithrin-α as a p53 inhibitor as well as LPS prevented VPA-induced apoptosis. LPS abolished the increase of Bax/Bcl-2 ratio, which is a critical indicator of p53-mediated mitochondrial damage, in response to VPA. The nuclear factor (NF)-κB inhibitors, Bay 11-7082 and parthenolide, abolished the preventive action of LPS on VPA-induced apoptosis. A series of toll-like receptor (TLR) ligands, Pam3CSK4, poly I:C, and CpG DNA as well as LPS prevented VPA-induced apoptosis. Conclusion Taken together, LPS was suggested to prevent VPA-induced apoptosis via activation of anti-apoptotic NF-κB and inhibition of pro-apoptotic p53 activation.

Introduction: Toll like receptors (TLRs) are a class of proteins that key role in the innate immune system. The SOCS1 and SHP2 proteins are negative-feed loop inhibitors of signaling of JAK/STAT and TLRs pathways. Purpose: To determine negative regulator protein activation which is activated through TLR7 ligand/IFN-γ signal transduction in endothelial cells. Methods: We used mouse aortic linear endothelial cell (END-D); protein expressio was detected by western blotting Results: We analyzed a time dependent stimulation effects of negative regulator proteins stimulated by TLR7 ligand/IFN-γ in endothelial cell cultures. Imiquimod of 10 μg/ml treatment of 1 hr was followed by 100 ng/ml IFN-γ stimulation for 1-8hr to analysis of negative regulator SOCS1 and SHP2 protein expression.
In untreated cells, there was low activations of negative regulator SOCS1 and SHP2 proteins. IFN-γ stimulation alone had increased SOCS1 and SHP2 protein expressions, also imiquimod treatment highly elevated SOCS1 and SHP2 expressions. However imiquimod and IFN-γ doubled treatment have decreased activation of negative regulator SOCS1 and SHP2 proteins. These findings suggest SOCS1 and SHP2 proteins are inhibitors in the TLR7 ligand/IFN-γ signaling. Conclusion Negative regulators, SOCS1 and SHP2 strongly suppressed activations of TLR7 ligand/IFN-γ signaling