During diving, marine mammals initiate a series of cardiovascular changes that include bradycardia and decreased peripheral circulation. Because heat transfer from thermal windows located in peripheral sites of these mammals depends on blood flow, such adjustments may limit their thermoregulatory capabilities during submergence. Here, we demonstrate how the thermoregulatory responses of bottlen...

Fiddler crabs are highly sexually dimorphic. Males possess one small (minor) feeding claw and one greatly enlarged (major) claw; females possess two small claws. The major claw is used to attract mates and for burrow defense, but it is costly for the male to possess. We tested the hypothesis that the major claw also functions as a thermoregulatory structure, a function that would allow males to...

BACKGROUND There is a growing interest in exploiting the induction of beige or "brite" (brown in white) adipocytes (beigeing) to combat obesity and its comorbidities. However, there is some uncertainty regarding the best markers to evaluate the occurrence or magnitude of beigeing in white adipose tissue in the mouse model. METHODS We evaluated the transcript expression of several thermoregula...

People who wear protective uniforms that inhibit evaporation of sweat can experience reduced productivity and even health risks when their bodies cannot cool themselves. This paper describes a new sweating manikin and a numerical model of the human thermoregulatory system that evaluates the thermal response of an individual to transient, non-uniform thermal environments. The physiological model...

Environmental conditions may affect individual physiological processes that influence short-term performance and ultimately growth, survival and reproduction. As such, habitats selected by animals must provide suitable and adequate resources. Ectothermic species are highly dependent on climatic conditions and ambient temperatures that dictate body temperature regulation and in turn physiologica...

The preoptic area-anterior hypothalamus (POAH) continuum is critical for the integration of environmental, physiological, and behavioral cues associated with reproduction in vertebrates. In the present study, radiofrequency lesions in the POAH abolished sexual behavior in the leopard gecko (Eublepharis macularius). Furthermore, results suggest a differential effect of POAH lesions on those beha...

A major focus in the study of endothermic thermoregulation has been the description of thermoregulatory patterns used by various species and/or populations. Compared with ectotherms, relatively few attempts have been made to study the thermoregulation of endotherms in an adaptive framework. We believe that one of the main factors limiting this area of research has been the lack of an appropriat...

The thermoregulatory control of human skin blood flow is vital to the maintenance of normal body temperatures during challenges to thermal homeostasis. Sympathetic neural control of skin blood flow includes the noradrenergic vasoconstrictor system and a sympathetic active vasodilator system, the latter of which is responsible for 80% to 90% of the substantial cutaneous vasodilation that occurs ...

BACKGROUND It has been known that positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) increases the vasoconstriction threshold by baroreceptor unloading. We compared the effect on the thermoregulatory responses according to anesthetic techniques between an inhalation anesthesia with desflurane and a total intravenous anesthesia (TIVA) with propofol and reminfentanil when PEEP was applied in patients underg...

A fall in skin temperature precipitates a repertoire of thermoregulatory responses that reduce the likelihood of a decrease in core temperature. Studies in animals suggest that medullary raphé neurons are essential for cold-defense, mediating both the cutaneous vasoconstrictor and thermogenic responses to ambient cooling; however, the involvement of raphé neurons in human thermoregulation has n...