Background: Accessible and trustworthy health information sources support informed decisions. Longitudinal evidence on how health information sources influence behavioural changes in community-dwelling populations remains limited. Thus, we examined associations between health information sources and behaviour changes in walking time, balanced meal consumption, and smoking cessation.

Methods: Baseline (2021) and follow-up (2023) survey questionnaires were distributed to residents randomly selected from the 18 residential areas. Health information sources were classified into five categories: print media, television (TV) and radio, the Internet, family and friends, and professionals. Desirable health behaviours were defined as walking for ≥60 min/day; consuming ≥2 meals per day comprising staple grains, main dishes, and side items (SMS); and smoking cessation. Meeting these criteria was classified as good; not meeting them as poor. Improvement was defined as poor at baseline and good at follow-up. Maintenance was defined as good at both surveys. Improvement analyses included participants with poor baseline conditions. Maintenance analyses included those with good baseline conditions. Associations were analysed using multilevel modified Poisson regression models, accounting for clustering within residential areas and adjusting for covariates. Risk ratios (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were calculated.

Results: Of the 12 119 baseline participants, 6620 (54.6%) completed the follow-up. The most common health information sources were TV and radio (68.5%), the Internet (56.8%), and print media (48.9%). Use of family and friends as information sources was associated with improvement in walking time (RR: 1.19; 95% CI: 1.02–1.39), as was use of professionals (RR: 1.15; 95% CI: 1.03–1.28). Professionals showed a marginal association with sustained walking time (RR: 1.07; 95% CI: 0.99–1.15). TV and radio was associated with improvement in SMS meal consumption (RR: 1.13; 95% CI: 1.02–1.26), while print media was associated with maintenance of SMS meal consumption (RR: 1.05; 95% CI: 1.01–1.08). No sources were related to smoking cessation.

Conclusions: Health information sources showed distinct associations with improved and maintained health behaviours. Interpersonal sources were relevant for improving walking time, while mass media were linked to dietary improvement and maintenance. These findings suggest tailoring health communication strategies to specific health behaviours.

Depression affects more than 280 million people worldwide and remains a major public health challenge, with limited universally effective preventive strategies. Non-pharmacological interventions have gained increasing attention as complements or alternatives to pharmacotherapy. Shinrin-yoku (forest bathing), a Japanese health practice involving immersion in forest environments, has been reported to relieve stress, enhance immune function, and improve mood. This review synthesizes current evidence on the potential preventive effects of forest bathing on depressive symptoms and examines the mechanistic pathways underlying these effects. A structured search of major scientific databases identified studies investigating psychological responses, neuroendocrine and autonomic regulation, immune-inflammatory markers, and related physiological parameters. Across diverse populations, forest bathing consistently reduced negative mood states, improved vigor, and showed beneficial effects on anxiety, depressive symptoms, sleep quality, and stress biomarkers. Mechanistic evidence suggests that forest bathing may modulate the psycho-neuro-endocrino-immune network through improved sleep, reduced stress hormone levels, enhanced parasympathetic activation, and increases in circulating serotonin, oxytocin, and insulin-like growth factor-1, alongside reduced inflammatory markers. While existing findings are promising, most studies involve small samples, short-term interventions, and limited clinical populations. Future large-scale, controlled studies are needed to confirm long-term effects and to clarify whether forest bathing can contribute to prevention or adjunctive management of depressive symptoms.

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) remains a major global health challenge, with delayed diagnosis perpetuating transmission in resource-limited settings. Although the sensitivity of molecular diagnostic methods is high, their dependence on the laboratory infrastructure limits accessibility in many regions. Serological approaches that detect host antibody responses represent a technically simple diagnostic strategy; however, the performance of currently available TB serodiagnostic tests is inconsistent, largely due to suboptimal antigen selection and heterogeneity in host immune responses. Therefore, the identification of conserved antigens naturally recognized during human infection is essential for improving serological diagnostics.

Methods: A cDNA expression library derived from Mycobacterium bovis BCG Tokyo was constructed and screened by colony immunoblotting using pooled sera from patients with active TB. Immunoreactive clones were sequenced and analyzed bioinformatically. The full-length coding sequence of the identified antigen was expressed recombinantly using a cold-shock expression system in Escherichia coli. The recombinant protein was purified and evaluated for immunoreactivity using a Western blot analysis. Serological reactivity was further assessed using a dot-blot assay with individual serum samples from microbiologically confirmed TB patients (n = 40) and healthy controls (n = 40) from the Lao People’s Democratic Republic. Diagnostic performance was evaluated by a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis.

Results: Immunoscreening identified a conserved hypothetical protein corresponding to Rv1073 of M. tuberculosis, designated MtbAg1073, for which no antigenicity had been previously reported. The protein was highly conserved among members of the M. tuberculosis complex. Recombinant expression using a cold-shock system produced soluble His-tagged MtbAg1073, which was specifically recognized by sera from TB patients in the Western blot analysis. Dot-blot assays showed significantly higher antibody responses in TB patients than in controls (median intensity: 761.2 vs. 471.9; the Mann–Whitney U test, P = 0.0002). The ROC analysis demonstrated moderate discriminatory performance (AUC = 0.734; 95% CI: 0.624–0.844), with a sensitivity of 70.0% and specificity of 67.5% at the optimal cut-off value.

Conclusions: MtbAg1073 is a conserved and immunoreactive antigen that elicits detectable antibody responses in active TB. These findings provide preliminary evidence of its immunoreactivity and warrant further investigation into its potential utility in serological approaches.

Background: Environmental endocrine disruptors (EEDs), endocrine-interfering pollutants, attract attention for potentially affecting heart diseases via epigenetics. Nonylphenol (NP), a classical representative of endocrine-disrupting chemicals, has previously been demonstrated by our research group to induce myocardial fibrosis in rats. LncRNA, a gene regulator, mediates EED-induced heart cell damage and fibrosis.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the role of long noncoding RNA OIP5 antisense RNA 1 (lncRNA OIP5-AS1) knockdown in NP-induced myocardial fibrosis.

Methods: Small interfering RNA (siRNA) transfection was used to interfere with the expression of lncRNA OIP5-AS1 in H9C2 cells. Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8), transwell, quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), and Western blot assays were employed to detect cell membrane integrity, proliferation, migration ability, and the expression of fibrosis-related genes/proteins in H9C2 cells. This process was also validated in Sprague Dawley (SD) rats.

Results: The expression of fibrosis-related factor mRNA and proteins in H9C2 cells increased, and the expression of lncRNA OIP5-AS1 was significantly upregulated after 24 h of exposure to 70 µmol/L NP. The knockdown of lncRNA OIP5-AS1 did not show differential changes in LDH activity across treatment groups. However, the knockdown of lncRNA OIP5-AS1 significantly attenuated NP-induced proliferation and migration abilities of H9C2 cells and inhibited the increase in the expression of fibrosis-related factor mRNA/proteins caused by NP. This suggested that the interference with lncRNA OIP5-AS1 expression inhibited the NP-induced myocardial fibrosis in H9C2 cells. In vivo results suggested that NP exposure and isoproterenol hydrochloride groups in rats showed accumulation of myocardial collagen fibers in the interstitial space, increased distribution and content of collagen fibers, and elevated expression of fibrosis-related proteins. The distribution range, content of collagen fibers, and expression of fibrosis-related proteins significantly reduced in rats with lncRNA OIP5-AS1 knockdown exposed to NP compared with those in the NP group.

Conclusions: The expression of lncRNA OIP5-AS1 was upregulated in NP-treated H9C2 cells, rat hearts, and myocardial fibrosis model rats. Knockdown of lncRNA OIP5-AS1 was associated with attenuated NP-induced myocardial fibrosis and reduced collagen deposition.

Background: Nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) and ozone (O₃) exposure is associated with alterations in liver function, but epidemiological evidence in pregnant women remains limited, especially regarding the combined effects. This study aimed to investigate the associations of exposure to NO₂ and O₃ with maternal liver function and their roles in the combined effect of air pollutant mixture.

Methods: A birth cohort study with 11,909 pregnant women was conducted in Shenzhen, China. Exposure concentration of air pollutants during the first trimester were assessed based on the residential addresses of the pregnant women. Generalized additive model was used to analyze the association of NO₂ and O₃ exposure with maternal liver function. Furthermore, quantile G-computation model was used to investigate the combined effects of air pollutant mixture and the contribution of each pollutant.

Results: Each 10 µg/m³ increase in first-trimester NO₂ exposure was associated with elevated alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and total bilirubin (TBIL) in both the second trimester (ALT: 15.45%, 95% CI: 10.12%, 21.04%; TBIL: 6.69%, 95% CI: 3.75%, 9.72%) and third trimester (ALT: 3.89%, 95% CI: 0.32%, 7.59%; TBIL: 9.27%, 95% CI: 6.52%, 12.10%). For O₃, first-trimester exposure showed a positive association with second-trimester TBIL (2.03%, 95% CI: 1.25%, 2.81%), but was inversely associated with third-trimester ALT (−2.73%, 95% CI: −3.86%, −1.58%) and TBIL (−0.81%, 95% CI: −1.45%, −0.17%). These associations remained significant in the two-pollutant model. The Qgcomp analysis revealed that a one-quartile increase in the air pollutant mixture was associated with a 2.05% (95% CI: 0.56%, 3.56%) increase in third-trimester TBIL, with NO₂ accounting for 55.6% of the positive weight in the model.

Conclusions: First-trimester NO₂ exposure was associated with elevated maternal liver function biomarkers in both the second and third trimesters, while O₃ showed trimester-dependent associations. Exposure to air pollutant mixture was associated with increased third-trimester TBIL, and NO₂ may be the predominant relative contributor. These findings highlight the need for further studies and public health attention to air pollution exposure during pregnancy to protect maternal and fetal health.