| Abstrakt: |
Human thermoregulation models are valuable for predicting the thermoregulatory response of the human body under diverse environmental conditions, especially in situations where conducting experiments would be dangerous. In the current study, variation in thermoregulatory response between men and women is investigated using a 2-D, gender-specific thermoregulation model. The model's passive system consists of 12 segments and is developed using the Pennes bioheat equation and finite difference method. The active system accounts for all regulatory responses, including counter-current heat exchange, respiratory heat loss, and the threshold. The model is validated using available experimental results in literature. The developed code analyzes the effectiveness of different thermoregulatory defense mechanisms in both males and females under hot and cold environments. Results suggest that shivering and sweating are the most effective defense mechanisms under cold and hot conditions, respectively, for both genders. Gender-based disparities in mean skin temperature during sudden cold exposure, revealing that men consistently display higher temperatures due to their greater capacity for active shivering resulting from higher muscle mass. Extended exposure of people with spinal cord injury to high temperatures may pose a risk to their lives as the core temperature can rise uncontrollably. During therapeutic hypothermia, skin temperatures are notably more affected than core temperatures, with this effect being particularly pronounced in hot ambient conditions for both males and females. However, females display elevated temperatures for the head and feet during hot exposures, whereas males exhibit higher temperatures for the chest during cold exposures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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