Frank Marino

Charles Sturt University · School of Allied HealthExercise Science, Sport & Health

PurposeTo assess the acute effect of moderate and high-intensity exercise on markers of cardio-metabolic function among rotational shift workers.Methods Sedentary men (n = 26, age: 38 ± 8 years; BMI: 32.2 ± 6.0 kg/m2, VO2peak 32.6 ± 6.7 mL/kg/min) employed in rotational shift work were recruited and underwent objectively assessed sleep quality (~ 7...

Purpose To assess the effect of a 12 week resistance or aerobic training intervention on markers of cardio-metabolic function and sleep among male rotational shift workers. Method Thirty-eight sedentary, apparently healthy, male rotational shift workers were recruited and randomly allocated to a non-exercise control (CON) group, 3 sessions/week of...

It is unknown how hypohydration influences fine motor performance training and motor learning. Here, 30 participants (aged 19–46 years) were randomly assigned to a hypohydration (HYPO) or control (CON) group (both n = 15). Moderate hypohydration (~ 2.4% loss in body mass) was produced in HYPO via active dehydration before a 46 min fluid restricted...

Humans differ from African great apes in numerous respects, but the chief initial difference setting hominins on their unique evolutionary trajectory was habitual bipedalism. The two most widely supported selective forces for this adaptation are increased efficiency of locomotion and improved ability to feed in upright contexts. By 4 million years...

Objectives This review will describe how human exercise performance at the highest level is exquisitely orchestrated by a set of responses by all body systems related to the evolutionary adaptations that have taken place over a long history. The review will also describe how many adaptations or features are co-opted ( exaptations ) for use in diffe...

Background This study investigated selected inflammatory responses to acute and chronic exercise in individuals with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Methods A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted on all relevant exercise-based intervention publications with IBD participants. The study included articles that utilised a broad range of...

IntroductionThe rapid emergence and spread of SARS-CoV-2 in late 2019 has infected millions of people worldwide with significant morbidity and mortality with various responses from health authorities to limit the spread of the virus. Although population-wide inoculation is preferred, currently, there is large variation and disparity in the acquisit...

Objectives To investigate the physiological effects of rotational shift work on measures of cardio-metabolic function. Methods Sedentary, healthy men (n = 87; age 37 ± 9 years; body mass index: 30.7 ± 5.1 kg m2) were recruited and categorized via occupation. SHIFT group: currently employed in rotational shift work defined by 8–12 h morning, aftern...

Training under high interference conditions through interleaved practice (IP) results in performance suppression during training but enhances long-term performance relative to repetitive practice (RP) involving low interference. Previous neuroimaging work addressing this contextual interference effect of motor learning has relied heavily on the blo...

Thirst is represented within the anterior cingulate and insular cortices, and may share some common neuroanatomical structures that are implicated with the regulation of mental fatigue. This novel study investigated whether thirst might modulate the subjective, behavioural, or neurophysiological representations of mental fatigue. In a crossover des...

This preliminary study aimed to investigate the effect of exercise on appetite and mood following multiple days of sleep disruption (restriction [RES], fragmentation [FRAG]) or sleep extension (EXT), compared to normal sleep (CONT) in inactive, middle‐aged men. Nine men completed four randomised trials initiated by 3 nights (day 1–3) of CONT (6.5–8...

The extent of smoking history is causally linked to adverse cerebro‐ and cardiovascular health outcomes, while conversely, exercise decreases this risk and associated mortality. However, the acute cerebro‐ and cardiovascular responses to exercise in smokers are unknown, and may provide insight to understand chronic adaptation. This study examined t...

Maintaining optimal physical and cognitive performance are keys to success for most exercise contexts. However, consensus on the effects of dehydration for cognitive function is equivocal, particularly given the addition of confounding variables when hypohydration (HYPO) results. Therefore, this study aimed to examine whether maintaining euhydratio...

This study examined the acute effects of combined tobacco smoking and exercise on immune-inflammatory responses in smoker populations with shorter or longer smoking history. The cohort comprised 14 young male adult (YSM) and 12 middle-aged (MSM) male active cigarette smokers matched for aerobic fitness and smoking behavior. Following an initial fam...

Hypohydration is generally considered to have a negative effect on cognitive function, despite several studies reporting comparable findings between hydration states. Recommendations to avoid moderate dehydration (≥ 2% loss in body mass) are commonly made to athletes, on the provision that this deficit may impair optimal cognitive performance. To d...

New findings: What is the central question of this study? High-intensity interval exercise (HIIE) is recommended to be avoided within 4 h of bedtime due to potential sleep disruptions which may affect appetite-related hormone interactions and subsequent energy intake. Yet, the interactions between sleep and appetite following early evening HIIE ha...

Pacing during exercise performance is well-established; however, little is known about the neural responses associated with changes in power output and the effect of exercise end-point knowledge. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine the effect of deception of cycling distance on pacing, cerebral oxy- (O2Hb) and deoxy-haemoglobin concentr...

It is understood that withholding information during exercise can alter performance during self-paced exercise, though less is known about neural activity during such exercise. The aim of this study was to compare the effects of withholding versus providing distance feedback on perception, muscular activation, and cerebral activity during cycling t...

The aim of this study was to compare the effect of high-intensity interval exercise (HIIE) and moderate-intensity continuous exercise (MICE) on sleep characteristics, appetite-related hormones, and eating behaviour. Eleven overweight, inactive men completed 2 consecutive nights of sleep assessments to determine baseline (BASE) sleep stages and arou...

The present study aimed to identify whether or not the release of interleukin (IL)-6 and soluble (s) IL-6 receptor (R) is associated with fatiguing behaviour and changes in cortical activity during self-paced exercise. Relationships between the IL-6 and its soluble receptors, total work, reductions in power output, and changes in slow, alpha (α) an...

The relationship between performance, heat load and the ability to withstand serious thermal insult is a key factor in understanding how endurance is regulated. The capacity to withstand high thermal loads is not unique to humans and is typical to all mammals. Thermoregulation is an evolutionary adaptation which is species specific and should be re...

The contextual interference (CI) effect, where high CI conditions suppress practice performance but then enhance delayed test performance, appears to extend beyond motor planning to also involve executive processes. As this implies a role for prefrontal cortex (PFC) activation in the CI effect, the present experiment utilized two-channel near-infra...

This study examined immune/inflammatory parameters following an acute tobacco smoking episode in smokers with varying smoking histories. Twenty-eight male habitual smokers were categorized according to smoking history, e.g. younger smoker (YSM) or middle-aged smoker (MSM). Participants were matched for fitness and smoking habits and following basel...

Rationale: Exogenous cortisol is a modulator of behavior related to increased motivated decision making (Putman et al., 2010), where risky choices yield potentially big reward. Making risk based judgments has been shown to be important to athletes in optimizing pacing during endurance events (Renfree et al., 2014; Micklewright et al., 2015). Object...

Purpose: This study assessed the mitochondrial related signaling responses to a single bout of non-contact, modified football (touch rugby), played as small-sided games (SSG), or cycling (CYC) exercise in sedentary, obese, middle-aged men. Method: In a randomized, cross-over design, nine middle-aged, sedentary, obese men completed two, 40-min ex...

There are a number of mechanisms thought to be responsible for the onset of fatigue during exercise-induced hyperthermia. A greater understanding of the way in which fatigue develops during exercise could be gleaned from the studies which have examined the maintenance of cerebral blood flow through the process of cerebral autoregulation. Given that...

Exercise in heat stress exacerbates performance decrements compared to normothermic environments. It has been documented that the performance decrements are associated with reduced efferent drive from the central nervous system (CNS), however, specific factors that contribute to the decrements are not completely understood. During exertional heat s...

This study examined the effects of acute tobacco smoking on cerebral oxygenation and autonomic function in 28 male, habitual smokers of shorter young smokers (YSM) or longer middle-aged smokers (MSM) smoking history. Following baseline testing, participants undertook a smoking protocol involving the consumption of two cigarettes within 15 min. Meas...

This study examined the acute immune and inflammatory responses to exercise in smokers compared to non-smokers, and further, the effect of smoking history on these immune-inflammatory responses. Fifty four recreationally active males who were either smokers (SM; n=27) or non-smokers (NS; n=27); were allocated into either young (YSM, YNS) or middle-...

The involvement of the brain in exercise regulation is not a particularly new concept and the fact the motor cortex (MC) is not activated maximally at exhaustion is suggestive that there are pathways upstream of the MC (10), regulating exercise and effectuating termination. Several papers have now addressed the areas of the cortex that are activate...

INTRODUCTION:The present study investigated whether rugby small-sided games (SSG) could be an effective alternative to continuous stationary cycling (CYC) training at reducing clinical risk factors associated with the development of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). METHODS:Thirty-three middle-aged (48.6±6.6y), inactive men were randomized into a CY...

The purpose of this study was to measure the EEG response in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and motor cortex (MC) during incremental exercise and align these responses with ventilatory parameters. The EEG activity at the motor (MC) and frontal cortices was measured during an incremental exercise test (IET) in 11 cyclists (peak oxygen uptake [Formula:...

To evaluate the effect of aerobic exercise on perceptual and cerebro-spinal responses to graded electrocutaneous stimuli. The design comprised 2 x 30 min of cycling exercise at 30% and 70% of peak oxygen consumption (VO2 peak) on separate occasions in a counter-balanced order in 10 healthy participants. Assessment of nociceptive withdrawal reflex t...

Purpose This study compared the acute inflammatory and glucose regulatory response within and between rugby specific small-sided games (SSG) and stationary cycling (CYC) in sedentary, middle-aged Caucasian men. Method Nine middle-aged, sedentary men who were free from disease participated in 2 × 40 min exercise conditions (CYC and SSG) following a...

Background: Fatigue is a common term used to describe feelings of tiredness along with observations of reduced physical effort in both health and disease. The study of fatigue has centered mainly on understanding its putative causes. Recently (1990s), fatigue has been researched with an expanded view encompassing its potential origins and purposes...

A common emotional human anomaly is the manifestation of fatigue which is felt as an overall symptom in times of sickness and disease, but also during and after exercise as a specific or general symptom of exhaustion and over exertion. The main culprit of fatigue during illness is thought to be the immune/inflammatory response that occurs as the bo...

Objective The purpose of this research was to assess the functional brain activity and perceptual rating of innocuous somatic pressure stimulation before and after exercise rehabilitation in patients with chronic pain. Materials and methods Eleven chronic pain patients and eight healthy pain-free controls completed 12 weeks of supervised aerobic e...

Objective: The purpose of this research was to assess the functional brain activity and perceptual rating of innocuous somatic pressure stimulation before and after exercise rehabilitation in patients with chronic pain. Materials and methods: Eleven chronic pain patients and eight healthy pain-free controls completed 12 weeks of supervised aerobic...

This study evaluated double blind ingestions of placebo (PLA) versus 6% carbohydrate (CHO) either as capsules (c) or beverage (b) during 60 km self-paced cycling in the heat (32uC and 50% relative humidity). Ten well-trained males (mean 6 SD: 2663 years; 64.567.7 kg and 70.768.8 ml.kg 21 .min 21 maximal oxygen consumption) completed four separate 6...

This study evaluated double blind ingestions of placebo (PLA) versus 6% carbohydrate (CHO) either as capsules (c) or beverage (b) during 60 km self-paced cycling in the heat (32°C and 50% relative humidity). Ten well-trained males (mean ± SD: 26±3 years; 64.5±7.7 kg and 70.7±8.8 ml.kg-1.min-1 maximal oxygen consumption) completed four separate 60 k...

Purpose: Long-term physical activity is reported to improve chronic systemic inflammation, which provides protection against the ensuing development of chronic disease. Accordingly, the present study assessed changes in pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines, aerobic capacity and body composition following 8 weeks of either small-sided games (SSG) o...

Objective This study assessed the impact of a 12-week sports-based exercise intervention on glucose regulation, anthropometry and inflammatory markers associated with the prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in Indigenous Australian men. Methods Twenty-six inactive Indigenous Australian men (48.6 ± 6.6 y) were randomized into an exercise...

This study compared the acute inflammatory and glucose responses following aerobic exercise in sedentary Indigenous Australian and Caucasian men, matched for fitness and body composition. Sedentary Indigenous (n = 10) and Caucasian (n = 9) Australian men who were free from chronic disease volunteered to participate. Following baseline testing, part...

This study examined the effect of exercise-induced dehydration by ~4% body mass loss on 5-km cycling time trial (TT) performance and neuromuscular drive, independent of hyperthermia. 7 active males were dehydrated on 2 occasions, separated by 7 d. Participants remained dehydrated (DEH, -3.8±0.5%) or were rehydrated (REH, 0.2±0.6%) over 2 h before c...

Indices of body composition and muscular strength were compared between men with prostate cancer (PCa) treated with androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) and asymptomatic matched men. Nine subjects aged 63-83 years with PCa who received ADT (PCa+ADT; duration 6-180 months) and 11 asymptomatic aged-matched eugonadal men (HM) aged 59-80 years were asses...

This study examined the effects of post-exercise cooling on recovery of neuromuscular, physiological, and cerebral hemodynamic responses after intermittent-sprint exercise in the heat. Nine participants underwent three post-exercise recovery trials, including a control (CONT), mixed-method cooling (MIX), and cold-water immersion (10 °C; CWI). Volun...

The study of human fatigue stretches back centuries and remains a significant part of medical and social discourse. In the exercise sciences fatigue is routinely related to the ability to produce muscle force or to the recovery from force decrements. However, the study of fatigue has by virtue of the experimental paradigm excluded the subjective se...

This study examined the effects of pre-cooling duration on performance and neuromuscular function for self-paced intermittent-sprint shuttle running in the heat. Eight male, team-sport athletes completed two 35-min bouts of intermittent-sprint shuttle running separated by a 15-min recovery on three separate occasions (33°C, 34% relative humidity)....

The fundamental tenets of exercise physiology are to describe energy transformations during physical work and make predictions about physical performance during different conditions. Historically, the most popular method to observe such responses during exercise has been the constant load or fixed intensity protocol based largely on the assumption...

This study used a novel protocol to test the hypothesis that a plateau in oxygen consumption (VO(2 max)) during incremental exercise testing to exhaustion represents the maximal capacity of the cardiovascular system to transport oxygen. Twenty-six subjects were randomly divided into two groups matched by their initial VO(2 max). On separate days, t...

The aim of this study was to determine the effects of carbohydrate (CHO) ingestion and muscle glycogen content, without the influence of knowledge of CHO consumption, on intermittent-sprint performance. Ten males completed two conditions on two consecutive days. Day 1 involved 2 × 40 min of leg cycling separated by 15 min of arm cycling, followed b...

This study examined the effects of cold water immersion (CWI) on recovery of neuromuscular function following simulated team-sport exercise in the heat. Ten male team-sport athletes performed two sessions of a 2 × 30-min intermittent-sprint exercise (ISE) in 32°C and 52% humidity, followed by a 20-min CWI intervention or passive recovery (CONT) in...

There is wide consensus that long duration exercise in the heat is impaired compared with cooler conditions. A common observation when examining exercise tolerance in the heat in laboratory studies is the critical limiting core temperature (CLT) and the apparent attenuation in central nervous system (CNS) drive leading to premature fatigue. Selecti...

This study examined the effects of pre-exercise cooling and heating on neuromuscular function, pacing and intermittent-sprint performance in the heat. Ten male, team sport athletes completed three randomized, counterbalanced conditions including a thermo-neutral environment (CONT), whole body submersion in an ice bath (ICE) and passive heating in a...

This study examined the effects of cold therapy (COLD) on recovery of voluntary and evoked contractile properties following high-intensity, muscle-damaging and fatiguing exercise. Ten resistance-trained males performed 6 × 25 maximal concentric/eccentric muscle contractions of the dominant knee extensors (KE) followed by a 20-min recovery (COLD v c...

During the 2002 Boston Marathon a runner collapsed and subsequently died; the only other death in the 106 years of the event. The cause of death was attributed to the now very common occurrence of overdrinking during sporting events which can lead to the life threatening condition known as hyponatremic encephalopathy. Presumably, drinking enough to...

This study aimed to assess the effects of precooling volume on neuromuscular function and performance in free-paced intermittent-sprint exercise in the heat. Ten male, team-sport athletes completed four randomized trials involving an 85-min free-paced intermittent-sprint exercise protocol in 33°C ± 33% relative humidity. Precooling sessions include...

The fundamental tenets of exercise physiology are to describe energy transformations during physical work and make predictions about physical performance under different conditions. Historically, the most popular method to observe such responses during exercise has been the constant load or fixed-intensity protocol, based largely on the assumption...

We compared early-phase effects between high- and low-volume moderate-intensity resistance training on lean muscle volume, maximal bilateral leg extension strength, maximal isometric torque, normalized maximal bilateral leg extension strength, normalized maximal isometric torque, and muscle recruitment of the right knee extensors in previously untr...

To examine the neuromuscular responses to 60 minutes of self-paced high-intensity exercise punctuated with 6 × 1-minute "all-out" sprints at 10-minute intervals in moderate (19.8°C, SEM 0.3) and warm (33.2, SEM 0.1), humid (∼64% relative humidity) conditions with either complete hydration (CH) or without hydration (NF). Seven subjects (mean age 20....

The study of human fatigue stretches back centuries and remains a significant part of medical and social discourse. In the exercise sciences fatigue is routinely related to the ability to produce muscle force or to the recovery from force decrements. However, the study of fatigue has by virtue of the experimental paradigm excluded the subjective se...

The reduction in cerebral oxygenation (Cox) is associated with the cessation of exercise during constant work rate and incremental tests to exhaustion. Yet in exercises of this nature, ecological validity is limited due to work rate being either fully or partly dictated by the protocol, and it is unknown whether cerebral deoxygenation also occurs d...

to the editor: Jay and Kenney ([1][1]) provided an elegant retrospective analysis of the thermometric predictions from the study of Tucker et al. ([6][2]) and in so doing suggest that the rate of body heat storage as a mechanism explaining anticipatory regulation of exercise performance is