Search Results (64,751)

Background: Diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) are chronic wounds characterized by persistent inflammation, oxidative stress, impaired angiogenesis, and defective extracellular matrix remodeling. Current therapeutic approaches remain insufficient for refractory diabetic wounds due to limited drug retention and inadequate regulation of the wound microenvironment. This study aimed to develop a centipede-derived protein fraction-loaded nanocapsule hybrid hydrogel for sustained bioactive delivery and diabetic wound repair. Methods: A bioactive protein fraction was isolated from processed medicinal centipede material and screened using cellular compatibility assays. The selected tropomyosin-containing protein fraction was incorporated into nanocapsules and subsequently integrated into a gallic acid-modified polyacrylamide hydrogel matrix. The physicochemical properties, antioxidant activity, rheological behavior, and protein release characteristics of the nanocapsule-hydrogel system were systematically evaluated. A streptozotocin-induced diabetic rat wound model was established to assess therapeutic efficacy through wound closure analysis, histological staining, and immunohistochemical evaluation. Results: The prepared nanocapsules exhibited a spherical morphology, nanoscale size distribution, and sustained protein delivery capability. The PAM-GA hydrogel demonstrated antioxidant activity, injectability, shear-thinning behavior, self-healing ability, and enhanced retention of protein release. In vivo experiments showed that the PT@NC@PAM-GA hydrogel significantly accelerated wound closure and promoted tissue regeneration, accompanied by enhanced angiogenesis, collagen deposition, and reduced inflammatory responses. Conclusions: The centipede-derived protein fraction-loaded nanocapsule hybrid hydrogel effectively integrates bioactive protein delivery with a multifunctional hydrogel matrix, providing a potential strategy for sustained treatment of diabetic foot ulcers. Full article

Drought and constrained municipal budgets are increasing demand for establishment practices that conserve water and labor. This study quantified trade-offs between inputs (water, labor, cost) and tree outcomes across irrigation methods and root-ball correction practices during establishment of American sycamore (Platanus occidentalis L.). In December 2022, forty-five 45-gal trees were planted in Gainesville, Florida, in a completely randomized design combining three root treatments (control, shaved, sliced) with three irrigation methods (hand watering, hydrogel bag, conventional slow-release bag). Over 23 months, trunk caliper, height, midday stem water potential, and anchorage (bending stress at 1° inclination) were analyzed using linear mixed-effects models; survival, labor, water, and cost inputs were compared descriptively. Labor differed by two orders of magnitude, but total cost ranked nearly opposite. All trees survived; irrigation method affected no measured response: trees receiving no scheduled irrigation after an initial hydrogel charge were indistinguishable from those hand-watered 48 times (differences within 10–12%). Shaving increased the bending stress required to tilt the trunk 81% over controls, indicating firmer anchorage, without altering growth or water status; slicing had no effect. Under the dormant-season, average-rainfall conditions tested, shaving improved anchorage at negligible cost, and irrigation method had no measurable effect on tree performance. Full article

Bacterial colonization and biofilm formation on orthopedic and dental implants remain major clinical complications, while conventional systemic antibiotics are often limited by poor penetration into biofilms and infected bone. These limitations have motivated the development of biomaterials with intrinsic antibacterial activity. Hydroxyapatite (HA), a major inorganic component of bone and teeth, possesses excellent biocompatibility, osteoconductivity, and bone-bonding ability but exhibits limited inherent antibacterial activity. Incorporation of therapeutic metal ions, including Ag⁺, Cu²⁺, Zn²⁺, Ti⁴⁺, Co²⁺, Ga³⁺, Sr²⁺, and Ce³⁺, has therefore emerged as a promising strategy for developing multifunctional HA-based biomaterials. This review critically examines the crystal-chemical basis of metal-ion incorporation into HA and discusses how ionic radius, oxidation state, charge-compensation mechanisms, dopant concentration, and synthesis conditions influence lattice occupancy, physicochemical properties, and biological performance. The antibacterial activity of metal-substituted and metal-modified HA systems generally involves interconnected mechanisms, including bacterial membrane damage, intracellular metabolic disruption, interference with enzymes and nucleic acids, reactive oxygen species (ROS)-mediated oxidative stress, and inhibition of bacterial adhesion and biofilm formation. Ag-, Cu-, Zn-, and Ga-containing HA systems show the most consistently reported antibacterial effects, although their efficacy and cytocompatibility depend strongly on dopant concentration and ion-release kinetics. Co-substituted HA may combine antibacterial activity with angiogenic and osteogenic stimulation, whereas Sr-substituted HA is primarily osteogenic and anti-resorptive, with variable antibacterial performance. Ti-modified HA and TiO₂/HA composites exhibit predominantly photoactive antibacterial behavior, while Ce-substituted HA shows concentration-, oxidation-state-, and synthesis-dependent biological effects. The review also evaluates protein adsorption, osteogenic and angiogenic signaling, macrophage-mediated immunomodulation, biological safety, and representative commercial and translational applications. Overall, metal-substituted HA represents a versatile platform for infection-resistant and regenerative hard-tissue biomaterials, provided that composition, phase structure, ion release, antibacterial efficacy, and cytocompatibility are systematically co-optimized before clinical translation. Full article

Frequent marine heatwaves (MHWs) pose significant threats to and have a profound impact on the structure and functioning of marine ecosystems. The response of marine organisms to MHWs may depend on the background temperature of their habitats. Saccharina japonica is a cold-temperate species that is vulnerable to thermal stress. However, it remains unclear how habitat-related temperatures impact responses of S. japonica to MHWs. In this study, the algae were exposed to MHWs (+∆4 °C) under two background temperatures (control level, 8 °C; warmer level, 12 °C), and the growth, photosynthetic performance, and biochemical composition were measured at the end of the MHW and the recovery periods. The results showed that a warmer background temperature increased the growth and pigment contents (Chlorophyll c and fucoxanthin) of S. japonica, but decreased chlorophyll fluorescence parameters, including the effective quantum yield, relative electron transport rate, non-photochemical quenching, and photochemical quenching. The MHWs had no significant effect on growth rate, photosynthetic performance, or biochemical compositions at the background temperature of 8 °C. In contrast, MHWs reduced growth and biochemical composition contents (Chlorophyll a, Chlorophyll c, fucoxanthin and soluble protein) at a warmer level, but the negative influence was alleviated after the recovery period. Furthermore, there was a considerable increase in the total antioxidative capacity caused by MHWs under warmer conditions. Overall, the stimulation in growth demonstrated that warmer conditions (12 °C) may provide a better growth temperature for young S. japonica but also increase the risks of biomass losses and physiological damage triggered by MHWs. These findings deepen our understandings of the tolerance and resistance of S. japonica to heatwaves and provide useful information for managing and modulating the cultivation of this important commercial seaweed. Full article

Copper nanoparticles (Cu-NPs) are widely used in aquaculture for their growth-promoting and immunoenhancing properties. However, excessive or over-accumulated Cu-NPs in aquaculture water cause toxicity through waterborne immersion. To explore the toxicity effects of waterborne Cu-NPs on yellowtail kingfish (Seriola aureovittata), a 7-day exposure experiment comprising a control group (no Cu-NPs), a low-concentration group (0.120 mg/L), and a high-concentration group (0.384 mg/L) was conducted, followed by a 7-day recovery period without Cu-NP stress. Exposure to Cu-NPs significantly elevated antioxidant enzyme activities (GSH-Px, Cu/Zn-SOD) and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) level in liver and posterior kidney, indicating significant oxidative stress. In the liver, levels of epinephrine and diacylglycerol were significantly upregulated, the cAMP signaling pathway was disrupted, and the NF-κB signaling pathway was activated, along with the downregulation of ap-1 and erk1-2 and upregulation of gadd45β, reducing cell proliferation and viability. These alterations resulted in hepatocellular vacuolation and blurred outlines of hepatic lobules. In the gill, high-concentration Cu-NPs activated oxidative phosphorylation, phagosome, and cell-adhesion molecules pathways and downregulated genes related to cell proliferation, adhesion, and tight junctions (i.e., l1cam, camd1, cntn1, cdh2, and nectin1), leading to cellular vacuolization and epithelial separation in histology. These changes disrupted osmotic balance and significantly upregulated Na⁺/K⁺-ATPase activity. All histological damages were not fully recovered within the tested recovery period. Therefore, under conditions of continuous exposure, the concentration of Cu-NPs used for juvenile yellowtail kingfish in aquaculture should be kept below 0.120 mg/L, with a recovery period exceeding 7 days. These results reveal the toxicity mechanisms of Cu-NPs and provide a scientific basis for establishing safe application guidelines in yellowtail kingfish aquaculture. Full article

Freeze–thaw cycling can strongly disturb the pore-water environment, soil fabric, and contaminant mobility of heavy-metal-contaminated loess, thereby threatening the long-term effectiveness of stabilization treatments in seasonally frozen regions. This study investigated the coupled hydro-environmental and geotechnical performance of Pb-contaminated loess (untreated control group, CK) treated with microbially induced calcium carbonate precipitation (MICP), graphene (GR)-assisted MICP, and graphene oxide (GO)-assisted MICP under controlled freeze–thaw cycles. One-dimensional consolidation tests, toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP) tests, zeta-potential measurements, X-ray fluorescence (XRF), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were conducted to evaluate compressibility evolution, Pb leaching behavior, interfacial electrochemical characteristics, mineralogical changes, and microstructural mechanisms. After 9 days of mineralization, MICP reduced the Pb leaching concentration from 38.05 to 23.00 mg L⁻¹, achieving a 39.55% reduction compared with untreated Pb-contaminated loess. Freeze–thaw cycling increased the susceptibility of treated loess to structural degradation and pore collapse, especially under medium to high vertical stresses. Nevertheless, the void ratio generally followed the order of CK > MICP > MICP + GR > MICP + GO under comparable loading and freeze–thaw conditions, indicating progressively enhanced resistance to compressive deformation. GR-assisted MICP showed an optimum dosage of approximately 1.0%, beyond which Pb leaching increased because of sheet restacking, agglomeration, and non-uniform biomineralization. In contrast, under up to 13 freeze–thaw cycles, GO-assisted MICP maintained the lowest void ratio and the most stable Pb immobilization performance among all treatments, demonstrating improved resistance against freeze–thaw-induced structural degradation. The results suggest that GO-assisted MICP can simultaneously improve Pb leaching control and soil-fabric stability, providing a promising low-carbon strategy for remediating heavy-metal-contaminated loess exposed to water-mediated freeze–thaw disturbance. Full article

The mechanical compatibility between dental restorative materials and the natural tooth structure is a relevant factor for long-term clinical performance. Although zirconia (yttria-stabilized tetragonal zirconia polycrystal, Y-TZP) and lithium disilicate are widely used for full-coverage crowns, their biomechanical interaction with the underlying dentin and pulp under functional loading remains insufficiently characterized. This study reports a comparative finite element analysis (FEA) of a mandibular first molar under vertical (200 N, axial) and oblique (200 N, 30°) loading, evaluating three configurations: an intact healthy tooth, a zirconia Y-TZP full-coverage crown, and a lithium disilicate full-coverage crown. The three-dimensional geometry was obtained from a cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) study of a caries-free mandibular first molar, previously described and verified by the present group, and was analyzed in ANSYS Workbench (Static Structural). Von Mises equivalent stress, maximum principal stress and total deformation were obtained for enamel or restoration, dentin, and pulp in each configuration. Zirconia produced the highest stress concentrations in the coronal restoration (88.4 MPa vertical; 174.5 MPa oblique), exceeding the healthy enamel baseline by 57.6% and 89.7%, respectively. Both restorative materials reduced dentin stress relative to the healthy tooth, consistent with the stress-shielding effect driven by elastic-modulus mismatch. Under oblique loading, the maximum principal stress in healthy enamel reached 61.7 MPa, approaching or exceeding the upper bound of the reported tensile strength range (~10–40 MPa) and identifying oblique loading as the more demanding of the two conditions analyzed. Within the limitations of the present finite element model, lithium disilicate demonstrated a more favorable stress distribution, with dentin stress values closer to the intact-tooth baseline. The model does not include a luting cement layer, a periodontal ligament, the dentin–enamel junction, anisotropic tissue behavior or cyclic loading, and no experimental validation was performed; the results are therefore presented as a controlled numerical comparison between three configurations under the specific conditions simulated, and not as direct clinical selection criteria. Full article

The rapid evolution of Urban Air Mobility (UAM) necessitates high-performance morphing structures capable of seamless transitions between flight and ground modes. This research presents a rigorous structural optimization framework for a wing deployment mechanism, addressing the critical challenge of minimizing stress concentrations in cantilevered revolute joints. To overcome the computational prohibitive cost of traditional multibody dynamics, a Generalized Spectral Surrogate Model (GSSM) is introduced. This novel approach maps the mechanism’s geometric parameters to its kinetic response using polynomial-modulated Fourier series, reducing the evaluation time of ${10}^5$ design configurations from 4.2 h to merely 0.8 s while maintaining a determination coefficient $R^2>0.995$. Comparative analysis demonstrates that the GSSM outperforms Artificial Neural Networks and Kriging models in capturing periodic kinematic boundaries without spurious local minima. Through a weighted topological analysis, the study identifies a global optimum ($L_2=0.5$ m, ${\theta }_2=64.2^{\circ }$) that effectively shunts 70.3% of the aerodynamic load to the robust vehicle chassis. The proposed solution deviates from the theoretical unconstrained minimum by only 0.24%, providing a validated mathematical basis for the rapid synthesis of reliable aerospace mechanisms. Full article

Breast cancer is associated with systemic inflammation and increased cardiovascular risk, and anthracycline chemotherapy may contribute to persistent myocardial injury. This study aimed to evaluate acute changes in inflammatory cytokines and plasma redox status after the first anthracycline cycle and to assess long-term ventricular function after 10 years in women with breast cancer. We conducted a prospective study of 17 patients with breast cancer treated with anthracycline-based chemotherapy at Salvador Hospital, Santiago, Chile. Plasma cytokines were measured at baseline (day −7) and on day +3 after the first cycle using a MILLIPLEX Luminex^® assay. Echocardiographic assessment of left ventricular systolic and diastolic function, together with oxidative stress parameters, was performed at baseline and after 10 years of follow-up. Anthracycline exposure was associated with an acute increase in several cytokines related to inflammatory and vascular remodeling, including EGF, eotaxin, MCP-1, and VEGF. In addition, markers of redox imbalance suggested an acute pro-oxidant response after treatment. At long-term follow-up (10 years), left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) remained within the normal range in all patients. However, integrative echocardiographic assessment revealed impaired left ventricular relaxation, evidenced by significant reductions in the mitral inflow E/A ratio, and septal and lateral e′ velocities with respect to baseline, despite preserved estimated filling pressures. These alterations were accompanied by persistent oxidative stress, reflected by persistently elevated levels of lipid peroxidation markers, such as in vivo 8-isoprostanes. In this pilot cohort, anthracycline chemotherapy induced an early inflammatory and oxidative response that was not associated with overt long-term systolic dysfunction but was accompanied by persistent biochemical and diastolic alterations. These findings support the concept of a long-term subclinical cardiotoxic phenotype and highlight the potential value of combining echocardiographic assessment with circulating redox and inflammatory biomarkers to improve long-term cardiovascular surveillance in breast cancer survivors. Full article

To address the challenge of surrounding rock control in deep gob-side entry driving, the return airway of the 20203 working face of the Dahaize Coal Mine was taken as the engineering background. The stress, deformation and plastic zone evolution characteristics of the surrounding rock of the gob-side entry were studied through theoretical analysis, numerical simulation and field tests, and the surrounding rock control mechanism and the double-layer flexible thick anchor control technology were proposed. The results show that under the influence of the adjacent gob, the peak compressive stress of the gob-side entry is transferred to the solid coal side, and tensile stress areas are generated on the roof; shear failure is the main failure pattern of the surrounding rock in the gob-side entry, which is characterized by significantly asymmetric deformation. Based on the displacement failure characteristics of the surrounding rock zones, a double-layer flexible thick anchorage structure was constructed. The anchorage depth of the first basic support exceeds the critical thickness of the shallow fractured surrounding rock zone, forming a thick load-bearing layer for the roadway surrounding rock; the anchorage depth of the secondary reinforced support extends into the stable rock mass, enhancing the bearing capacity of the anchored body and the roadway surrounding rock. The results of numerical simulation show that after adopting a double-layer flexible thick anchor support, the average deformation of the roof decreases by 48.81%, and the range of the tensile stress zone and plastic zone is significantly reduced. In engineering applications, the average deformation of the roadway roof was 42.58 mm, the two-end convergence was 0–2 mm, the roof separation value was controlled within 0–30 mm, and the rock strata within 0–5.0 m remained intact. This technology effectively suppresses the large deformation of the surrounding rock in deep gob-side entry, providing an innovative strategy for roadway stability control under comparable geological and mining conditions. Full article

This study investigated the effects of thinning intensity on tree radial growth and physiological responses to drought in an approximately 43-year-old Pinus koraiensis plantation. To analyze tree-ring width, a total of sixty wood cores (5 mm) were collected from three thinning treatments applied in 2007: control (Con), light thinning (LT), and heavy thinning (HT). Drought vulnerability indices were examined across three distinct drought periods (2000–2001, 2007, and 2014–2016), and intrinsic water use efficiency (WUE_i) was estimated from stable carbon isotope analysis (Con vs. HT). Thinning increased basal area increment (BAI) in both the LT and HT groups, with the strongest and most persistent response observed in the HT group. During the 2007 drought, trees in thinned plots, particularly those in the HT group, showed higher resistance and resilience than trees in the Con group. The increased indices during the 2000 and 2007 drought periods predominantly reflected immediate thinning-induced growth release. WUE_i in the HT group increased relative to the Con group during both the 2007 and 2014–2016 drought periods; however, the underlying physiological mechanisms differed, with enhanced net photosynthetic capacity immediately after thinning in 2007 and a likely consistent reduction in stomatal conductance during the 2014–2016 drought. Although constrained by a non-replicated stand design, this site-specific long-term case study provides valuable insights into the multi-decadal growth and physiological trajectories of conifer plantations responding to climate stress. Full article

Wheat is one of the major staple crops in China, and drought stress can severely affect its growth, development, and yield. Rapid and accurate identification of drought stress levels in wheat is of great significance for agricultural disaster prevention and mitigation, as well as for ensuring food security. To address the problems of insufficient fine-grained feature extraction, class imbalance, and unstable training in wheat drought stress image recognition, this study proposes an improved EfficientNet-B0 model for fine-grained wheat drought stress classification. Based on EfficientNet-B0, an improved lightweight Efficient Multi-scale Attention (EMA) module is introduced after the backbone network to enhance both channel-wise and spatial feature representation. PolyLoss is adopted to enhance the learning of low-confidence and difficult samples under the uneven class distribution, while the Sharpness-Aware Minimization (SAM) optimizer is employed to improve the optimization process. Experiments were conducted on a 15-class wheat drought stress image dataset constructed from three key growth stages and five drought severity levels. The proposed model achieved an accuracy of 98.69% and an F1-score of 98.37% on the internal test set, outperforming the baseline EfficientNet-B0 and comparison models including ResNet-50, DenseNet-121, and MobileNetV3. Component-level ablation experiments further showed that the dual-gating structure, projection residual connection, and intra-group Softmax normalization in the proposed EMA module all contributed positively to model performance. These results indicate that the proposed method provides a lightweight and effective approach for wheat drought stress recognition within the current dataset. Full article

Background/Objectives: Individuals with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) often experience communication difficulties (CDs), including challenges with language development, pragmatic communication, and speech processing. While these difficulties are typically associated with cognitive and behavioral symptoms; emerging research suggests that biological and nutritional factors may also contribute. This narrative review aims to explore how diet patterns, gut microbiome changes and oxidative stress might be associated with communication difficulties in ADHD. Methods: This review was performed using the SANRA (Scale for the Assessment of Narrative Review Articles) framework. A structured/comprehensive literature search was performed across major databases including PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science. Google Scholar has been utilized as a complementary database to support emerging studies that have not yet been registered in these databases. The search focused on studies that investigated the connections between nutrition, microbiome dysregulation, oxidative stress, ADHD and communication-related outcomes. Results: Current research indicates that unbalanced diets, micronutrient deficiencies, and changes in the gut microbiome can lead to neuroinflammation and oxidative stress. All these biological processes may disrupt neurotransmission and neural connectivity, which can potentially affect brain regions and networks that are highly important for attention and language processing, including both cortical and subcortical structures. Therefore, communication difficulties in ADHD may, in part, stem from these interconnected neurobiological mechanisms. However, direct clinical evidence linking nutritional factors, gut microbiome alterations, or oxidative stress with communication-specific outcomes in ADHD remains very limited, as most available studies have focused on core ADHD symptoms, attention, executive functioning, or biological markers. Conclusions: Dietary factors, alterations in the gut microbiome, and oxidative stress may collectively contribute to the complex underlying causes of communication disorders in ADHD. This review proposes an integrative framework that links nutrition-related mechanisms to communication outcomes, emphasizing the potential impact of modifiable lifestyle factors. Further longitudinal studies are needed to establish causal relationships and determine the clinical effectiveness of targeted nutritional interventions for communication difficulties in ADHD. Full article

Environmental chemical exposures are increasingly recognized as contributors to metabolic dysfunction, particularly when they occur as chronic, low-dose mixtures rather than as isolated high-dose toxicants. However, current approaches often focus on exposure intensity, single-compound hazard or isolated biomarker associations, and provide limited explanation for why individuals with comparable exposure profiles may develop markedly different metabolic outcomes. This semi-systematic review proposes an Exposure–Adaptive Capacity (EAC) framework to interpret the metabolic consequences of environmental chemical mixtures through the interaction between exposure burden and host adaptive capacity. A structured literature search covered PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus and Web of Science records published through 30 June 2026; a reviewer-triggered PubMed/MEDLINE update was executed on 30 July 2026 using harmonized British and American dyslipidaemia/dyslipidemia terms, explicit eligibility domains and evidence-mapping procedures. The review integrates epidemiological, mechanistic, toxicological and translational evidence related to environmental chemicals, metabolic dysfunction, mitochondrial impairment, oxidative stress, inflammation, endocrine disruption, metabolic resilience and biomarkers. The evidence indicates that several chemical classes, including per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, bisphenols, phthalates, pesticides, persistent organic pollutants and selected metals, converge on mitochondrial bioenergetics, redox regulation, inflammatory signalling, endocrine and nuclear receptor activity, nutrient-sensing networks and adipose tissue function. The EAC framework defines exposure burden as the cumulative biological pressure imposed by chemical mixtures and adaptive capacity as the organism’s functional ability to buffer, compensate for or recover from exposure-induced metabolic stress. To make the framework empirically testable, we specify measurable domains for exposure burden, adaptive capacity and EAC mismatch, and distinguish biomarkers of exposure, early biological effect, adaptive capacity, metabolic dysfunction and vulnerability. A quotient-based expression is retained only as a heuristic representation, while empirical testing is proposed through exposure-by-adaptive-capacity interaction models and complementary multidimensional approaches. The framework provides a structured basis for future exposomic, epidemiological and translational studies by shifting attention from exposure alone to the balance between environmental pressure and biological resilience. Full article

The intensification of poultry production, associated with climate change, has increased the occurrence of heat stress, compromising animal welfare and productive efficiency. Despite recent advances, studies quantifying heat exchange in quail under different environmental and dietary conditions from an integrated bioenergetic perspective remain scarce, particularly regarding the shift between sensible and latent heat dissipation mechanisms. In this context, this study aimed to quantify and model sensible and latent heat exchange, together with associated physiological responses, in Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica) subjected to different air temperatures and dietary inclusion levels of the macroalga Gracilaria birdiae. A total of 864 quail were distributed in a completely randomized design, arranged in a 4 × 3 factorial design with four macroalgae inclusion levels (0.00, 3.00, 6.00, and 9.00%) and three air temperature levels (25.00, 29.00, and 33.00 °C), and maintained in climate-controlled chambers. Heat exchange was estimated using biophysical models integrating convective, radiative, and evaporative heat fluxes. Increasing air temperature reduced sensible heat exchange and intensified latent heat losses (p < 0.0001). During the growing phase, approximately 73.18% of sensible heat exchange was dissipated through radiation. In the laying phase, reductions of up to 59.96% in sensible heat exchange were observed, along with increases exceeding 50.00% in latent heat losses and reductions of up to 26.00% in total heat exchange. Increasing air temperature promoted higher respiratory rate (p < 0.0001), whereas surface and cloacal temperatures remained within the physiological range required to maintain homeothermy. Dietary inclusion of up to 9.00% G. birdiae exerted only limited effects on the quantified heat exchange pathways and did not impair physiological thermoregulation under the experimental conditions evaluated. No significant interaction between air temperature and dietary supplementation was observed for the heat exchange variables (p > 0.05). These findings show that heat stress was the primary determinant of bioenergetic heat exchange, whereas dietary supplementation with G. birdiae exerted only limited effects. Full article