No abstract

Cystic echinococcosis is a chronic, complex and neglected zoonotic disease with considerable socioeconomic impact on the affected population. Even though Mongolia is included in the list of high cystic echinococcosis risk countries, there has been very limited research and evidence on the prevalence or prevention of cystic echinococcosis. This field-based cross-sectional study to investigate the prevalence of cystic echinococcosis and its potential risk factors in Mongolia was conducted from April 2016 to March 2018. A total of 1,993 people were examined by ultrasound in five provinces of Mongolia. All cystic echinococcosis positive cases were classified according to the WHO-IWGE expert recommendations. The logistic regression model was used to detect the association between the presence of echinococcus infection and each potential risk factor. This was the first community survey based on ultrasound screening in Mongolia. We found 98 cystic echinococcosis cases (prevalence = 4.9%), including 85 abdominal ultrasound cystic echinococcosis positive cases and 13 abdominal ultrasound cystic echinococcosis negative cases (surgically treated cystic echinococcosis cases 11, and 2 confirmed cases of lung cystic echinococcosis by chestcomputed tomography in hospital of Ulaanbaatar). The prevalence of cystic echinococcosis varied greatly among different provinces, ranging from 2.0% to 13.1%. Children, elderly people and those with lower education had higher chances of getting cystic echinococcosis. Rather than dog ownership itself, daily practice for cleaning dog feces was associated with increased odds of cystic echinococcosis. The results of the present study show very high endemicity of cystic echinococcosis in Umnugovi province. Evaluation of potential risk factors associated with cystic echinococcosisshow high significance for following factors:

Many effective anti-cancer drugs have limited use in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) therapy due to the drug resistance mechanisms in liver cells. In recent years, tumor-targeted drug delivery and the inhibition of drug-resistance-related mechanisms has become an integrated strategy for effectively combating chemo-resistant cancer. Herein, lactobionic acid-conjugated d-α-tocopheryl polyethylene glycol 1000 succinate (TPGS-LA conjugate) has been developed as a potential asialoglycoprotein receptor (ASGPR)-targeted nanocarrier and an efficient inhibitor of P-glycoprotein (P-gp) to enhance etoposide (ETO) efficacy against HCC. The main properties of ETO-loaded TPGS-LA nanoparticles (NPs) were tested through in vitro and in vivo studies after being prepared using the nanoprecipitation method and characterized by dynamic light scattering (DLS). According to the results, smaller (∼141.43 nm), positively charged ETO-loaded TPGS-LA NPs were more suitable for providing efficient delivery to hepatoma cells by avoiding the clearance mechanisms. It was found that ETO-loaded TPGS-LA NPs were noticeably able to enhance the cytotoxicity of ETO in HepG2 cells. Besides this, markedly higher internalization by the ASGPR-overexpressed HepG2 cells and efficient accumulation at the tumor site in vivo were revealed in the TPGS-LA NP group. More importantly, animal studies confirmed that ETO-loaded TPGS-LA NPs achieved the highest therapeutic efficacy against HCC. Interestingly, ETO-loaded TPGS-LA NPs also exhibited a great inhibitory effect on P-gp compared to the ETO-loaded TPGS NPs. These results suggest that TPGS-LA NPs could be used as a potential ETO delivery system against HCC.

Influenza B virus-caused illness has recently been considered as an urgent public health problem due to substantial morbidity, mortality and life-threatening medical complications. In this study, we have reported the main characteristics of influenza B virus in Mongolia, including prevalence, lineages, suitability with vaccine strains and drug susceptibility against the virus. 15768 specimens were tested by qPCR for detecting influenza viruses. From positive specimens for influenza B virus, the clinical isolates were isolated using MDCK cells. Sequencing analysis, hemagglutination inhibition assay and Neuraminidase inhibitor (NAI) drug susceptibility testing were performed for the clinical isolates. Influenza B virus was around in 3.46% of the samples in Mongolia, and B/Victoria clade-1A and B/Yamagata clade-3 lineages were predominant. Importantly, it was confirmed that the lineages corresponded to the vaccine strains. Moreover, drug susceptibility tests revealed that some Mongolian clinical isolates showed reduced susceptibility to antiviral agents. Interestingly, G104R was identified as a novel mutation, which might have a significant role in drug resistance of the virus. These results describe the characteristics of influenza B viruses that have caused respiratory illness in the population of Mongolia between 2013 and 2017.