Background: Respiratory and gastrointestinal infectious diseases are the leading causes of morbidity in children. Numerous international studies have demonstrated that handwashing with soap is one of the most effective and cost-efficient methods for preventing these diseases in children. A previous study conducted in Ulaanbaatar found that only 50.1% of general education school students practiced proper handwashing, which is considered insufficient even in areas with relatively adequate facilities. In Mongolia, 56.1% of the 865 schools lack handwashing facilities and soap, and 25% do not meet the WASH standards. Although knowledge about handwashing increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, sustained behavioral change remained limited, highlighting a gap between knowledge and practice and indicating the need for targeted educational interventions. Furthermore, there is limited research comparing the effectiveness of such interventions across different school environments and urban–rural settings, which provides the rationale for this study. Aim: To evaluate the effectiveness of a handwashing educational intervention among primary school students and determine differences in knowledge change across four schools in urban and rural areas. Materials and Methods: A quasi-experimental study design was used from December 2024 to June 2025. A total of 1,353 students from grades 3–5 in four general education schools (two in Ulaanbaatar and two in rural areas) were included in the study. Preand post-intervention handwashing knowledge scores were analyzed using paired t-tests and one-way ANOVA (α=0.05) with STATA 14.0. Ethical approval was obtained from the Ethics Committee of the Mongolian National University of Medical Sciences. Result: The mean handwashing knowledge score increased significantly from 9.68 (±2.64) before the intervention to 10.30 (±2.74) after the intervention, with a mean difference of +0.63 (p<0.001). The differences in improvement between schools were also statistically significant (ANOVA: F(3,1335)=5.90, p=0.0005). The highest improvement was observed in urban School A (+1.49), while the lowest was observed in School B (+0.16). Rural schools C and D showed moderate and relatively consistent improvements (+0.51 and +0.70, respectively). Conclusion School-based handwashing educational interventions effectively improve knowledge among primary school students. However, environmental factors, such as infrastructure and geographic location, significantly influence the effectiveness of the intervention. Therefore, educational interventions should be implemented alongside infrastructure improvements.

Introduction: Oligophrenia makes 7.3% of all mental disorders in our country. It is known that almost 4% of all diagnosed cases of oligophrenia developed as a result of an inherited disturbance of amino acid metabolism. In most countries, the frequencies of inherited diseases of amino acid metabolism in the population are determined, and preventive screening programs of newborns are implemented. No study has been conducted so far into the issue of inherited diseases of amino acid metabolism in the Mongolian population. The goal of our survey was to detect inherited disorders of amino acid metabolism in the population at risk. Materials and Methods: The collection of samples and the laboratory analysis were carried out in the following two stages:
1. The screening analysis of 514 individuals diagnosed with mental retardation was performed by paper chromatography;
2. The positivecases detected by the screening were analyzed using high-performance liquid chromatography. Results: The screening testing detected twelve potential disturbances of amino acid metabolism. Out of the twelve positive cases four individuals refused to participate in the confirmatory stage of the survey. Among the remained eight individuals, cases of hypertyrosinemia, hypervalinemia, hyperglycinemia, hyperlysinemia and pyridoxine-dependent epilepsy were detected. Conclusions
1. The fact that cases of inherited disorders of amino acid metabolism were detected among mentally retarded individuals show that the disorder is one of causes of oligophrenia.
2. A screening program of newborns should be implemented for early detection of inherited disorders of amino acid metabolism.
3. A genetic counselling and testing centre could assist in reduction of number of individuals with inherited disorders.

BackgroundIn Mongolia scientists have been doing research about skin disease and process of aging. Howeverthere has not enough study material about skin aging process which is the key indicator of aging andhow that affect to Mongolian people.GoalMain purpose is to study correlations between main index of skin type of the body, cardiovascularsystem, biological age, epidermal growth factor and blood plasma melatonin, within the people of Uvsprovincial center as they are relatively healthy people.Material and MethodsResearch works were done using cross sectional study model in years 2015-2016, within randomlychosen 400 citizens of Ulaangom city, counted to be relatively healthy people. Research model includes41 questionnaires, examination and blood plasma samples.Basic indexes of the body, cardiovascular system and respiratory functions were chosen by biomarkers,biological age is determined by V.P.Voytenko’s 4th version method and adaptive capacity assessment isdetermined by R.M.Baevskii’s multi-repeating regression method.Main skin type parameters such as porosity, wrinkles, pigmentation, elastics and aging is determined bythe “BOOMTECH skin diagnosis” digital equipment made in the Republic of Korea.The blood plasma MLT and EGF were measured by the method of ELISA analysis ELISA made in thelaboratory of the “AVITSENNA Science and Technology center”.The study material analysis carried out an analysis using logistic regression analysis and Pearson’scorrelation coefficient with SPSS 23.0 software.ResultThere’s an inverse weak correlation between blood plasma MLT and EGF with body wealth characteristicsof Uvs province citizens. It shows that when the blood plasma MLT and EGF decreases the body weight,body height and body weight index increase tendency.In women the decrease of blood plasma MLT and EGF also decreases the body height and body weightindex.Research on correlation between cardiovascular system and blood plasma MLT and EGF shows thatdecrease of blood plasma MLT causes in increased arterial pressures in both sexual groups, decreasedEGF in women causes decreased arterial pressure.Correlation study between skin main characteristics and blood plasma MLT and EGF shows thatdecreased blood plasma EGF in men resulted in decreased skin wrinkles, porosity, elasticity and skin aging index, in women decreased skin pigmentation and elasticity, and increased skin wrinkles, porosity and aging index in women.Research study of correlation between biological age and adaptive capacity assessment with the blood plasma MLT and EGF shows that decreased MLT and EGF in men results in increased biological age characteristics. In other words, the early aging is caused.The logistical regression analyses made using blood plasma melatonin, skin porosity, biological age,body height and sex as the risk parameters of Pearson coefficient and chi-squared parameter. Above model resulted in skin porosity and blood plasma MLT’s are becoming independent variable assessing the skin aging.Conclusions:1. The decreased MLT and EGF’s are resulted in increased body weight, body height and body weight index in men and decreased body height, body weight index in women.2. Decreased blood plasma MLT resulted in increased arterial pressure in both sexual groups and decreased EGF resulted in decreased arterial pressure in women.3. The decreased blood plasma MLT and EGF results in decreased skin wrinkles, porosity, elasticityand skin aging parameter with the increased skin pigmentation in men, as it results in decreasedskin pigmentation, elasticity and skin porosity parameters with the increased skin aging degree in women.4. When epidermal growth factor and blood plasma melatonin is decreased in men it results in increased biological age, but depends directly to the adaptive capacity assessment.5. Skin porosity and blood plasma melatonin were becoming independent variable to assess skin aging.

WHO informed that across world an average of 565 young people aged 10 to 29 die every day through interpersonal violence. Some studies mentioned that anxiety was most frequently occurred as one of the psychological onsequences among victims of child abuse. Recent research on effects of adverse early life experiences on central nervous system as stress systems (hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis-HPA) has provided a greater understanding of the link between childhood abuse and susceptibility to anxiety disorder. Therefore, this research was done to study anxiety among abused adolescents, some physical parameters and level of cortisol in saliva.Total number of participants were 149 children aged between 11-16 years (number cases were 53, matched control subjects were 96). The Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale (SCAS; Spence, 1997) is a 38-item self-report uestionnaire that assesses multiple symptoms of childhood anxiety isorders based on current diagnostic criteria. All participants were measured the cortisol in the saliva by Cortisol ELISA kit, Sigma, USA. Average age of all subjects in the study was 13.52±1.57 and 102 of all subjects were female and 47 were male. All anxiety symptoms of case group was statistically significance higher (p<0.01) than control group. The average amount of salivary cortisol of case group was (21.3±8.1 ng/ml) statistically significantly lower (p<0.01) than average amount of control group (31.56±16.9 ng/ml). Anxiety was more frequently occurred among abused children and blunted cortisol responses might indicate a level of impaired HPA functioning that could constitute a vulnerability to psychopathology with exposure to anxiety.

Introduction. Stigma and discrimination against patients with mental illness is very common amongst the society. Therefore, this study aims to study the knowledge and understanding of mental illness and attitudes to patient with mental illness, among the general population.Goal. To assess the knowledge and understanding of mental illness and attitude to patient with mental illness among population of Ulaanbaatar city and compare its results with a similar research in carried out in 2002.Methods. The study was conducted in Ulaanbaatar city from February to April, 2008 and included 991 people aged over 18 years. The sample was selected from 30 micro districts of Ulaanbaatar city, The method of sampling was using primary dot in first step, sampling households in mid step and selecting people by using method of Sweden key from household in final step. The study used 30 item standardized questionnaires. Also there were 2 extra cards to read for respondents.Result. Among the respondents, 45% were males and 55 % females. Average age was 37 years. In view of identifying negative attitude of patient with schizophrenia, majority of respondents answered as “loony person” (n=136) and “mad person” (n=83). Conclusion. Although there was stigma amongst the study population, 66% of subjects who were involved in study could give right diagnosis in non professional level and were able to identify symptoms of mental illness suggesting that more than half of the sample studied had some knowledge of mental illness.