Search Results (357)

Objectives: This systematic review aims to evaluate the effects of Edible Bird’s Nest (EBN) extract on cognitive function and neuroprotection in animal models and systematically review the relevant research evidence. Methods: A systematic search was conducted in the databases of PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, EMBASE, Taylor Francis, Wiley, and Cochrane Library for relevant research published up to October 2025. Search terms included “Edible Bird’s Nest”, “Bird’s Nest Extract”, “EBN”, “Swiftlet nest”, “Collocalia”, “Cognitive”, “Memory”, “Learning”, “Neuroprotection”, “Brain”, “Neural”, “Neurotrophic”, “Animal”, “Mice”, “Mouse”, “Rat”, “Rats”, “In vivo”, and “Model”. Two researchers independently screened all the relevant articles, extracted relevant data, and assessed the quality of included studies using the Systematic Review Centre for Laboratory Animal Experimentation (SYRCLE) risk of bias assessment tool. Results: This systematic review included 11 animal studies, primarily focused on rodent models. Preclinical evidence suggests that Edible Bird’s Nest extract (EBN) may improve performance in several cognitive function tests. Animals treated with EBN appeared to show enhanced spatial memory and learning abilities in experimental settings. At the molecular level, the EBN treatment group showed improved antioxidant capacity and reduced neuroinflammation. Additionally, EBN promoted the expression of neuroprotective factors and enhanced synaptic plasticity. Research suggests that appropriate doses of EBN may have beneficial effects on cognitive enhancement and can alleviate cognitive dysfunction and neuropathological changes. Conclusions: Preliminary evidence from this systematic review suggests that EBN appears to show protective and potentially enhancing effects on cognitive function in animal models. EBN works through multiple mechanisms, including antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects, as well as promoting the expression of neurotrophic factors and synaptic plasticity. These findings provide initial support for further investigation of EBN as a potential neuroprotective agent and cognitive enhancer. However, there is heterogeneity and methodological limitations in the research, and more standardized studies and preclinical translational research are needed to further validate the application potential of EBN in neuroprotection. These results provide an important reference for developing EBN-based functional foods and supplements for the prevention and adjuvant treatment of cognitive impairment and neurodegenerative diseases. Full article

Background/Objectives: Native to the Indo-Pacific region, edible bird’s nests (EBN; Yan Wo in Chinese) are the solidified saliva of swiftlets (Aerodramus fuciphagus and A. maximus) and have been consumed as a traditional functional food for centuries. However, the bioactive components and underlying mechanisms of EBN remain poorly understood. EBN consists of over 60% protein, much of which is heavily glycosylated, forming complex glycoconjugates that are resistant to enzymatic digestion. This study examines the properties of EBN-derived bioactive peptides and assesses their potential for skin moisturization and anti-inflammation when applied topically. Methods: EBN was double-boiled for an extended period, then digested with gastric enzymes to extract active peptides. Digestion was over 90% efficient, and peptide molecular weights were measured. The enzymatic digest was then fractionated using an activity-guided approach based on assays for skin moisturization and anti-inflammatory properties. Results: A novel bioactive heptapeptide, with the sequence LAGAAHF and designated EBN_P3, was identified and characterized. It attenuated TNF-α-induced inflammatory responses in HaCaT keratinocytes and alleviated dermatitis symptoms in a DNCB-induced C57BL/6 mouse model. Conclusions: EBN-derived peptides with skin moisturizing and anti-inflammatory activities hold significant promise for development into functional ingredients for skincare products. Full article

This study examines how coordination, power, and interdependence shape regulatory governance in the decentralized edible bird’s nest (EBN) sector in Pulang Pisau, Indonesia. While decentralization is often associated with improved responsiveness and local adaptability, it frequently produces fragmented regulatory systems in which authority is distributed without effective coordination. Using an actor-centered qualitative design combined with the MACTOR method, this study analyzes influence–dependence relations, objective alignment, and coordination bottlenecks across key actors. The findings show that regulatory performance is shaped less by formal mandates than by relational positioning within the governance system. Actors controlling technical verification and documentary gateways occupy high-influence positions, while licensing authorities remain operationally dependent. Although most actors share common objectives—such as hygiene, quality assurance, and traceability—these are pursued through fragmented procedures, resulting in coordination failures and regulatory inequality. Producers bear the greatest compliance burdens despite having limited influence over regulatory processes. The study introduces the concept of relational administrative capacity to explain how decentralized governance outcomes depend on the alignment of authority, expertise, and procedural sequencing across interdependent actors. The findings suggest that improving regulatory performance requires strengthening coordination architectures rather than adding new rules. Full article

Sarcocystis, a diverse and species-rich protist genus infecting reptiles, birds, and mammals, remains poorly understood in terms of true diversity and their lifecycles. Typically, sarcocysts are found in the muscle tissue of the intermediate host (IH), while oocysts undergo sporulation in the intestines of the definitive host (DH). Rodent-associated Sarcocystis species often form cryptic species complexes with strong specificity to their DHs; however, their presence in the intestines of wild carnivores, whose IHs are rodents, is understudied. The aim of this study was to investigate the distribution of rodent-associated Sarcocystis species in the intestines of wild Mustelidae and Canidae from Lithuania using light microscopy (LM) and nested PCR targeting 28S rRNA. LM analysis of intestinal scraping revealed Sarcocystis spp. in 56.3% of canids and mustelids, while DNA sequence analysis identified 41.0% of mustelids and 11.6% of canids as positive. Three Sarcocystis species, S. arvalis, S. myodes, and S. ratti, and the genetic lineage Sarcocystis sp. Rod8, which belong to the same cryptic species complex, were identified in mustelids, while S. arvalis and S. myodes were detected in canids. Thus, mustelids contribute more than canids to the natural transmission of Sarcocystis spp. from rodents in Lithuania. Full article

Background/Objectives: Edible bird’s nest (EBN) benefits skin, but its transgenerational effects are unknown. This study investigated whether maternal EBN or its key component, sialic acid (SA), could program offspring skin pigmentation and antioxidant capacity. Methods: Pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats were supplemented with EBN or equi-sialic acid SA. Offspring skin brightness (L*, ITA°), melanin content, and key molecular targets (e.g., MITF, TYR, TRP1/2, PMEL, RAB27A, p-CREB, p-ERK, CAT, GCS, MDA) were assessed at postnatal days 0–21. Results: Maternal EBN induced a dose-dependent skin-brightening effect in offspring. High-dose EBN increased skin L* by 10.46% and ITA° by 14.28%, while reducing total melanin by 26.77%. This was mediated by downregulation of the MITF-TYR/TRP axis and its upstream CREB/ERK signaling, suppression of melanosome transport proteins (PMEL, RAB27A), and enhancement of antioxidant defenses (increased CAT/GCS, decreased MDA). SA alone showed similar but weaker effects. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that maternal EBN intake programs offspring skin towards a lighter phenotype and enhanced antioxidant status through multi-faceted regulation of melanogenesis. The superior efficacy of whole EBN over pure SA highlights the value of the intact food matrix, suggesting EBN as a promising functional food for maternal nutrition. Full article

Zoonotic diseases account for approximately one billion cases of illness and millions of deaths globally each year. Increasing contact between humans and competent wildlife hosts elevates the risk of zoonotic spillover. Synanthropic bird species are key players in the transmission of zoonotic pathogens, including flaviviruses such as West Nile virus (WNV) and influenza A viruses like Avian Influenza Virus (AIV). Active surveillance of sentinel birds inhabiting urban areas allows for early detection of emerging pathogens before they cause zoonotic outbreaks. Despite nesting in close proximity to humans, the role of the house martin (Delichon urbicum) in the circulation of flaviviruses and AIV remains poorly understood. Here, we analyzed the presence of antibodies against flaviviruses and AIV in a colony of house martins from southwestern Spain. In addition, we aimed to detect amplicons of the matrix and nucleoprotein genes of AIV using RT-qPCR. While none of the samples tested positive for AIV by RT-qPCR, we observed an AIV seroprevalence of 2.13% based on non-subtyped ELISA. Notably, this is the first report of AIV-seropositive D. urbicum individuals captured in Spain. Moreover, we detected a flavivirus-group seroprevalence of 24.34%, similar to rates reported in the same house martin population between 2018 and 2020, suggesting widespread circulation of flaviviruses within this synanthropic species. These results support the hypothesis that house martins may participate in the transmission of these viruses between wild bird populations and humans in urban environments. Full article

In healthy ecosystems, large raptors such as the White-tailed Eagle perform the essential roles of predators, bioindicators, and umbrella species. Despite their importance, many species of raptors are globally endangered, and similarly, in the Republic of Moldova, 13 species of diurnal birds of prey went extinct in the last 7 decades. The White-tailed Eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) is the only example of a raptor that has regionally made a demographic and distributional comeback after decades of absence. Following this comeback, a national monitoring scheme during 2014–2025, including a nest counting survey in 2022–2024, has been implemented to understand what the current national situation of the species is and its ecological preferences and threats, together with the fundamental ecological context that allowed the breeding population to adapt to an ever-changing landscape. Field research conducted over 12 years confirmed the breeding of eight pairs, with data indicating a minimum of 19–23 nesting pairs. Pairs generally avoid human-dominated landscapes, preferring higher coverage of wetlands and forests, but current data suggests frequent occupancy of suboptimal territories and increasing tolerance towards human activity and infrastructure. Although currently small, the breeding population experiences high breeding success with no negative outcomes recorded. However, droughts and forestry activities in the proximity of the nests potentially reduced and delayed breeding success. Current forestry and fish farming practices increase the vulnerability of the few known breeding pairs to habitat degradation, poaching, and deforestation. To improve the conservation status of this endangered raptor in the Republic of Moldova, as close as possible to Least Concern status, it is crucial to implement multi-purpose buffer zones around active nests during the breeding season and to further survey the breeding population and assess any demographic trends. Full article

Past restoration of hardwood forests prioritized planting of woody vegetation cover, particularly oaks (Quercus spp.). This restoration regime often did not consider other microhabitat components, which failed to restore habitat complexity. Giant cane (Arundinaria gigantea (Walter) Muhl.) was an important microhabitat feature for creating a dense understory structure within the hardwood forest landscape. Many bird species are associated with stands of giant cane (canebrakes) for food, cover, and nesting ground. The decline of canebrakes may reduce nesting and foraging habitat, negatively impacting bird communities. Here, we used a hierarchical multi-species occupancy model to assess how giant cane and its associated overstory forest structure influenced breeding bird occupancy in southern Illinois. Bird surveys were conducted from May to July 2022–2024 at 100 site-years using passive acoustic monitoring. Responses to the vegetation structure (tree density and size) and canebrakes varied among species and nesting guilds (overstory, understory, and ground). Occurrence probabilities of 54% of the bird species increased with the presence of canebrake. We did not find any significant relationships between bird occupancy and vegetation structure and canebrake characteristics. Overall, maintaining a hardwood forest stand with a heterogeneous canopy cover would create variations in light environments, allowing canebrakes to benefit bird species across nesting guilds. Full article

Edible Bird’s Nest (EBN) is a highly prized food product, making it a frequent target for economic adulteration. Consequently, robust quality assurance is paramount to protect consumers and ensure market integrity. A significant barrier to effective quality control, however, is an incomplete understanding of the natural chemical variability within authentic EBN. This variability, influenced by factors such as geographical origin, bird species, and post-harvest processing, can confound analytical measurements and complicate the definition of a standard reference. This study provides an existence proof in a defined cohort, characterizing microscale chemical heterogeneity in authentic A. fuciphagus EBN. We employed a multi-modal Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy approach, integrating transmission, macro-attenuated total reflectance (ATR), and high-resolution micro-ATR chemical imaging. A diverse set of validated, authentic EBN samples was analyzed using unsupervised Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to explore the data structure. Our results reveal significant and previously unquantified spectral heterogeneity, particularly in protein and glycoprotein-related regions. In our cohort, the chemical signatures of authentic EBN do not collapse to a single, uniform profile but span a broad, multi-dimensional continuum. This inherent variability presents a critical challenge for conventional quality control methods that rely on simplistic, single-spectrum standards, which may lead to the misclassification of genuine products. By establishing a robust chemical baseline for the authentic class, this work provides the foundational data essential for developing next-generation authentication models capable of reliably distinguishing this natural variance from deliberate adulteration. Full article

The high-penetration integration of renewable energy into port power systems is challenged by the stochastic volatility of wind–solar generation and dynamic load demands. To address this, this study proposes a data-driven bi-level coordinated planning framework for port wind–solar-storage systems, integrating a Wasserstein generative adversarial network with gradient penalty (WGAN-GP) and hybrid secretary bird optimization algorithm (SBOA) for solution seeking. The WGAN-GP-K-Means++ framework is adopted to capture the high-dimensional spatiotemporal correlations under the uncertainty of source ports and loads, and to generate the wind and solar resource scenarios for typical day. Subsequently, a bi-level planning model is constructed: the upper layer optimizes the siting and sizing of distributed generation and energy storage to minimize the life-cycle net present value, while the lower layer minimizes annual operating costs through multi-scenario dispatch. To resolve the resulting complex mixed-integer programming problem, a nested SBOA-Gurobi algorithm is developed. Case study of a Guangxi port demonstrates that the proposed approach reduces life-cycle cost by 44.94% relative to the baseline grid-connected scheme and exhibits superior convergence stability compared with GA, GRSO, and WOA. Additionally, sensitivity analysis quantifies the impact of electricity pricing policies, shore power utilization rates, and discount rate on the system’s economic benefits. This study provides a decision-support tool for the low-carbon transition and economic planning of port energy systems. Full article

The longest-standing international treaty for wetland and waterbird protection, the Ramsar Convention has resulted in the establishment of more than 2500 protected areas covering over 2.5 million square kilometers around the world. However, its measures are not legally binding, and its effectiveness as a tool for wildlife conservation has rarely been quantitatively assessed. In Benin, West Africa, breeding waterbirds are subjected to intense hunting and egg harvesting for both commercial and subsistence purposes. We quantified count data of waterbirds and eggs taken by local hunters and trappers to assess the effectiveness of the Ramsar Convention as a wildlife conservation tool in southeastern Benin. During the six-month period between May and October 2022, 64 people reported harvesting a total of 12,053 breeding waterbirds and 63,987 eggs, comprising eight species in three families in Ramsar site 1018. Birds most heavily targeted included Allen’s Gallinule (Porphyrio alleni), with 4187 breeding birds taken (~35% of all birds captured), and the White-faced Whistling Duck (Dendrocygna viduata), with 24,491 eggs taken (~38% of all eggs taken) over the course of a single breeding season. The Eurasian Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) and Lesser Moorhen (Paragallinula angulata) were the third and fourth most targeted bird species, respectively, followed by the African Swamphen (Porphyrio madagascariensis), Black Crake (Zapornia flavirostra), African Jacana (Actophilornis africanus), and African Crake (Cecropsis egregia). Captured waterbirds were sold live at local markets, while eggs were eaten by hunters, except eggs containing chicks, which were discarded. Our findings show heavy persecution of waterbirds during their breeding season, when nesting birds are especially vulnerable to human predation, on a scale that is likely unprecedented and threatens to drive declines of targeted species in Benin. As local residents do not currently appear to recognize any deterrents to the uncontrolled hunting of breeding waterbirds or the collection of eggs in Ramsar site 1018, there is an urgent need to better leverage the Ramsar Convention to enforce conservation practices in this region. Full article

Functional food research has long emphasized isolated bioactive compounds, yet such single-target strategies often show limited efficacy against complex, multifactorial processes such as brain aging. In this review, we examine edible bird’s nest (EBN) as a representative multi-component functional food and discuss how its complex food matrix may exert coordinated neuroprotective effects. We summarize the major bioactive constituents of EBN, including sialic acid, functional glycoproteins, and bioactive peptides, and organize their actions into functional modules related to oxidative stress, neuroinflammation, apoptosis, synaptic maintenance, and neurotrophic support. Emerging evidence on the prebiotic potential of EBN and its modulation of the gut–brain axis is also integrated, highlighting interactions between peripheral metabolic regulation and central nervous system function. By comparing EBN with conventional functional ingredients such as vitamins C and E, coenzyme Q10, curcumin, and omega-3 fatty acids, we propose that EBN represents a distinctive “network-regulatory” food system in which nutritional support and pathway modulation are intrinsically linked. Overall, this review provides a conceptual framework for understanding how complex food matrices can be rationally applied to support brain health and reduce age-related neurodegenerative risk. Full article

Ground-nesting shorebirds face growing pressure from recreational activities in coastal urban areas. We monitored the breeding success of Kentish Plover (Charadrius alexandrinus) and Little Ringed Plover (Charadrius dubius) over six consecutive years (2020–2025) at the Promenade of Sablettes, a heavily visited waterfront in Algiers, Algeria. We combined field surveys with multi-sensor remote sensing analysis using Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2, and Dynamic World data to quantify habitat change. A total of 105 nests were recorded across both species. Breeding success reached 70% during the COVID-19 lockdown period (2020–2021), when human visitation dropped sharply. In contrast, complete reproductive failure occurred in 2022 and 2023, coinciding with resumed tourism and unplanned construction activities. Remote sensing revealed that 80–85% of the study area experienced severe habitat degradation between 2020 and 2025, while suitable refuge zones shrank to less than 10% of the total surface. Fledged chicks consistently moved toward a less disturbed vegetated zone, highlighting its functional importance for brood survival. Our results show that human disturbance is the primary factor limiting breeding success at this site, operating through two pathways: direct disturbance of nesting birds and progressive habitat degradation driven by recreational use and unplanned construction. When disturbance was reduced during the pandemic, the habitat proved fully functional for both species. These findings suggest that simple management measures such as seasonal access restrictions and symbolic fencing during the April–July breeding period could restore breeding conditions without major habitat engineering. This study provides one of the first integrations of long-term field breeding data with landscape-scale remote sensing to document the effects of the anthropause and subsequent recovery on urban shorebird populations. Full article

Sustainable export governance increasingly extends beyond technical compliance to encompass coordination among diverse actors with competing objectives and unequal power. This study examines the governance of swallow bird’s nest (SBW) exports in Indonesia as a sustainability coordination system shaped by actor configurations, power asymmetries, and anticipatory capacity. Employing a foresight-based stakeholder analysis using the MACTOR method, the study maps influence–dependence relations, objective alignment, and mobilization capacity among key actors involved in SBW export governance in East Java. The findings reveal a stratified governance structure characterized by dominant regulatory actors, intermediary relay institutions, dependent economic stakeholders, and peripheral actors with contextual influence. While regulatory dominance ensures export compliance and market access, it generates conditions of fragile dominance in which sustainability objectives related to ecosystem resilience and local value creation remain weakly mobilized. Objective alignment is strongest around compliance imperatives and weakest for distributive and environmental goals, reflecting hierarchical prioritization embedded in actor roles and dependencies. The study demonstrates that sustainability challenges in export systems are driven by misaligned coordination and limited coalition capacity. By integrating foresight and stakeholder analysis, this research contributes a relational and anticipatory perspective to sustainable trade governance and offers insights for designing adaptive export governance arrangements. Full article

Named entity recognition (NER) is a fundamental task in natural language processing. Recently, non-traditional nouns (known as complex NER) have increasingly emerged, including long noun phrases and ambiguous names, for example, Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), Among Us, and Chicago, which may refer to a city or a novel. Such rapidly growing entity names pose significant challenges for NER. Arabic NER research is usually limited to flat and nested entities, overlooking complex entities due to limited resources, the language’s rich morphology, and context ambiguity. Such tasks require high-quality annotated data, yet most existing approaches rely heavily on supervised learning, which depends on large amounts of labeled data. However, acquiring large annotated datasets is costly and labor-intensive. We construct our corpus by leveraging the superior performance of large language models (LLMs), which have driven recent advances in dataset generation. We propose an Arabic complex NER (AraCoNER) dataset with semantically ambiguous and complex named entities, using both gold and silver labels. We investigate several agent-based annotation frameworks in addition to the plain LLM to determine the most efficient annotator for our task. Then, we introduce LLMAAA+, an LLM-agent-based framework that integrates an LLM-powered agent as an annotator into an active learning loop to efficiently select what should be labeled. Instead of solely synthesizing the training data from LLMs, we enhance both the annotation and training phases to generate pseudo-labels using k-NN sampling for in-context examples. Such an approach ensures both efficiency and quality, with cost-effective and minimal human involvement. Our results show that combining an LLM (GPT-4) with a structured agent framework (Google ADK) yields the highest annotation accuracy, even with a limited number of annotated examples, supporting the proposed LLM-agent-based active learning framework. Full article