Catalase, protease and urease activity in some types of soil

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5564/mjc.v13i0.153 Mongolian Journal of Chemistry Vol.13 2012: 16-1

A Pilot Study of IL-2Rα Blockade during Lymphopenia Depletes Regulatory T-cells and Correlates with Enhanced Immunity in Patients with Glioblastoma

Preclinical studies in mice have demonstrated that the prophylactic depletion of immunosuppressive regulatory T-cells (T(Regs)) through targeting the high affinity interleukin-2 (IL-2) receptor (IL-2Rα/CD25) can enhance anti-tumor immunotherapy. However, therapeutic approaches are complicated by the inadvertent inhibition of IL-2Rα expressing anti-tumor effector T-cells.To determine if changes in the cytokine milieu during lymphopenia may engender differential signaling requirements that would enable unarmed anti-IL-2Rα monoclonal antibody (MAbs) to selectively deplete T(Regs) while permitting vaccine-stimulated immune responses.A randomized placebo-controlled pilot study was undertaken to examine the ability of the anti-IL-2Rα MAb daclizumab, given at the time of epidermal growth factor receptor variant III (EGFRvIII) targeted peptide vaccination, to safely and selectively deplete T(Regs) in patients with glioblastoma (GBM) treated with lymphodepleting temozolomide (TMZ).Daclizumab treatment (n = 3) was well-tolerated with no symptoms of autoimmune toxicity and resulted in a significant reduction in the frequency of circulating CD4+Foxp3+ TRegs in comparison to saline controls (n = 3)( p = 0.0464). A significant (p<0.0001) inverse correlation between the frequency of TRegs and the level of EGFRvIII specific humoral responses suggests the depletion of TRegs may be linked to increased vaccine-stimulated humoral immunity. These data suggest this approach deserves further study.ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00626015

Primary headache disorders among the adult population of Mongolia: prevalences and associations from a population-based survey

Background In the ongoing Global Campaign endeavour to improve knowledge and awareness of headache prevalence worldwide, Mongolia is a country of interest. It sits between Russia and China, in which prevalence is, respectively, much higher and much lower than the estimated global mean. We conducted a population-based study in Mongolia both to add to knowledge and to inform local health policy. Methods Using standardized methodology with cluster random sampling, we selected Mongolian adults (aged 18–65 years) from five regions reflecting the country’s diversities. They were interviewed by trained researchers, cold-calling at their homes, using the Headache-Attributed Restriction, Disability, Social Handicap and Impaired Participation (HARDSHIP) structured questionnaire following pilot-testing. ICHD-3 beta diagnostic criteria were applied. Results N = 2043 (mean age 38.0 [±13.4] years, 40% urban-dwelling and 60% rural), with a non-participation proportion of 1.7%. Males were somewhat underrepresented, for which corrections were made. The crude 1-year prevalence of any headache was 66.1% (95% CI: 64.0–68.2%), with a strong female preponderance (OR: 2.2; p < 0.0001). Age- and gender-adjusted prevalences were: migraine 23.1% (for females, OR = 2.2; p < 0.0001); tension-type headache (TTH) 29.1% (no gender difference); probable medication-overuse headache (pMOH) 5.7% (trending towards higher in females); other headache on ≥15 days/month 5.0% (for females, OR = 2.2; p = 0.0008). Unclassified cases were only 35 (1.7%). Any headache yesterday was reported by 410 (20.1%; for females, OR = 2.4; p < 0.0001). Only pMOH showed a strong association with age, peaking in middle years with a 5-fold increase in prevalence. Migraine showed a consistent association with educational level, while pMOH showed the reverse, and was also more common among other groups than among participants who were single (never married). Migraine was less common among rural participants than urban (OR: 0.80; p = 0.0326), while pMOH again showed the reverse (OR: 2.4; p < 0.0001). Finally, pMOH (but not migraine or TTH) was significantly associated with obesity (OR: 1.8; p = 0.0214). Conclusion Headache disorders are common in Mongolia, with, most notably, a very high prevalence of headache on ≥15 days/month corroborated by the high prevalence of headache yesterday. The picture is very like that in Russia, and dissimilar to China. There are messages for national health policy

Цветовые обозначения в топонимии Монголии: типологический аспект

Рукопись поступила в редакцию 11.04.2022. Рукопись принята к печати 11.11.2022.Received on 11 April 2022. Accepted on 11 November 2022.Топонимия является важным источником информации о восприятии и концептуализации человеком физического пространства, что делает топонимы исключительно важным материалом для когнитивных наук. Данная статья стремится расширить междисциплинарные исследования в области топономастики путем изучения закономерностей использования цветообозначений как составных элементов географических названий. Материал исследования извлечен из базы данных, включающей 214 805 топонимов, относящихся к территории Монголии. Из этого массива по определенному алгоритму были отобраны топонимы, содержащие цветовые обозначения — как основные, так и дополнительные, после чего результаты сопоставлялись с предшествующими работами по топонимии других стран и регионов. Основные результаты исследования можно свести к следующим трем наблюдениям. 1. Наиболее частотные указания на цвета, встречающиеся в монгольской топонимии (а именно ‘черный’, ‘белый’ и ‘красный’), идентичны цветовым обозначениям, которые чаще всего встречаются в топонимии других территорий, если судить по имеющимся в научной литературе данным. Этот феномен требует объяснения, основывающегося на универсальных когнитивных механизмах цветового восприятия и, соответственно, развития цветовой терминологии. 2. Цветообозначения чаще встречаются в топонимии степных и пустынных районов Монголии, а не в топонимии областей с континентальным климатом, что может быть объяснено особенностями ландшафта этих двух географических зон и универсальными когнитивными механизмами топономинации. Вместе с тем было выяснено, что независимо от региона и ландшафтно-климатических особенностей местности в топонимии Монголии используется единый набор цветовых терминов. 3. В типологическом отношении топонимия Монголии обнаруживает культурно- специфическую особенность, связанную с широким использованием цветовых терминов, изначально предназначенных для описания оттенков шерсти животных, что может объясняться влиянием кочевого образа жизни и скотоводства на культуру монголов и на систему цветовой терминологии. Изучение цветообозначений как элементов географических названий расширяет наше понимание когнитивных механизмов номинации географических объектов и по-своему дополняет когнитивные исследования в области восприятия и концептуализации цвета.With their implications for human perception and conceptualization of the physical environment, place names have been largely analyzed from a cognitive perspective. This article aims to extend such cross-disciplinary studies by investigating the use of color terms in place names. The authors use a large-scale database of 214,805 toponyms of Mongolia to identify place names that feature color terms, both basic and non-basic, and compare them with previous literature on the toponymy of other countries and languages. Our results can be summed up in three major findings. (1) The most frequently attested color terms in Mongolian toponymy (namely, ‘black,’ ‘white,’ and ‘red’) prove to be identical to the most salient “toponymic colors” in other territories and cultures as can be seen from the analysis of previous research. The phenomenon of similar behavior of color terms in place names across different languages and cultures requires an explanation based on the universal cognitive mechanisms of color perception and development of color terminology. (2) Color terms are more frequently found in the toponymy of desert and steppe areas of Mongolia than in continental climate areas, which can be explained by the topographic properties of these two zones and universal cognitive mechanisms of place naming. Along with that, it was found that all Mongolian place names feature a unified set of color terms regardless of the region and topographic environment. (3) Against the typological background, Mongolian toponyms appear to be culture-specific in that they largely feature animal coat colors, as nomadic lifestyle and stock-raising have always been an essential part of the culture and, in the past, had a major impact on the color terminology of Mongolians. Such onomastic investigation into place names with color terms helps broaden our understanding of the cognitive mechanisms of place naming in different cultures and contributes to the color studies in cognitive sciences.Авторы выражают искреннюю благодарность Радвану Энхбаяру и Пурэву Жаймайну, которые любезно поделились разработанной ими базой данных топонимии Монголии. Исследование выполнено в рамках гранта Р2018-3622 Монгольского государственного университета.The authors sincerely thank Ravdan Enkhbayar and Purev Jaimai for kindly sharing the database of Mongolian toponyms. This study was supported by the National University of Mongolia (grant number P2018-3622)

Xanthones from Gentianella amarella ssp. acuta with acetylcholinesterase and monoamine oxidase inhibitory activities

Two new xanthone glycosides, corymbiferin 3-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside (1) and swertiabisxanthone-I 8'-O-beta- d-glucopyranoside (2), were isolated from Gentianella amarella ssp. acuta, along with eight known xanthones: triptexanthoside C, veratriloside, corymbiferin 1-O-glucoside, swertianolin, norswertianolin, swertiabisxanthone-I, bellidin, and bellidifolin, four of them identified for the first time in G. amarella ssp. acuta. The isolation was conducted mainly by centrifugal partition chromatography, and the structures of the isolated compounds were established on the basis of spectrometric data including 2D NMR and mass spectrometry. Xanthones were weakly active against acetylcholinesterase (AChE), except triptexanthoside C, which inhibited AChE with an IC(50) of 13.8 +/- 1.6 microM. Some compounds were active against monoamine oxidases (MAO): bellidin and bellidifolin showed interesting inhibitory activity of MAO A, while swertianolin, the 8-O-glucopyranoside form of bellidifolin, gave 93.6% inhibition of MAO B activity at 10(-5) M