Patrick Tomko

Kent State University | KSU · School of Health Sciences

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) represent psychosocial stressors that occur during critical developmental periods and are associated in a dose-dependent manner with adverse cardiovascular outcomes in emerging adults, including greater age-related increases in blood pressure (BP) and increased circulating endothelin-1 (ET-1), a psychosocial str...

Introduction: Early life psychosocial stress and adversity - referred to as adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) - are highly prevalent, with ~60% of American adults reporting exposure to at least one ACE. ACEs occur during critical developmental periods and are related to cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in a graded, dose-dependent manner. S...

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are psychosocial stressors that occur during sensitive developmental windows and are associated with increased lifetime cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in a dose-dependent manner. Vascular endothelial dysfunction is a pathophysiological mechanism that promotes hypertension and CVD, and may be a mechanism by wh...

The liver enzyme cytochrome P450 1A2 (CYP1A2) is responsible for 90% of caffeine metabolism, while caffeine exerts many of its effects via antagonist binding to adenosine A2a receptors (ADORA2A). This study aimed to examine whether functional single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 1976T > C (ADORA2A; rs5751876) and −163C > A (CYP1A2; rs762551) i...

Sensing carbohydrates via the oral cavity benefits performance outcomes during brief high intensity bouts of exercise. However, the extent to which carbohydrates need to be present in the oral cavity to influence sprint performance is less understood. The purpose of this study was to determine if serial increases in carbohydrate rinse time across s...

Objective: The purpose was two-fold: (1) to examine differences in maximal voluntary isometric torque (MVIT) production, and electromyographic signal amplitude (EMGAMP) and mean power frequency (EMGMPF) values obtained during traditional (MVICTRAD), rapid (MVICRAPID), and ramp (MVICRAMP) maximal voluntary isometric contractions, and (2) to determi...

PURPOSE: To evaluate the test-retest reliability of a commercially available bioimpedance spectroscopy (BIS) device for the assessment of total body water (TBW), extracellular water (ECW), and intracellular water (ICW) content, as well as fat mass (FM), fat-free mass (FFM), and body fat percentage (BF%) in physically active males. METHODS: 16 healt...

Objectives: Large metabolic responses to high-fat meals (HFM) are known to create a deleterious physiological state. However, there is limited research describing the differential influences of age and physical activity level on meal metabolism, specifically in healthy older individuals. The goal of this project is to quantify the impact of age an...

Background: Postprandial lipemia (PPL) is a cardiovascular disease risk factor. However, the effects of different fat sources on PPL remain unclear. We aimed to determine the postprandial response in triglycerides (TG) to four dietary fat sources in adults. Methods: Participants completed four randomized meal trials. For each meal trial, partici...

OBJECTIVE: To examine the effects of full-body resistance exercise on endothelial function and microvascular reactivity following a high-fat meal (HFM) in healthy men. METHODS: Seven males (mean ± SD, age = 22.1 ± 2.2 y, BMI = 26.5 ± 2.0 kg/m 2) participated in this randomized, repeated measures, crossover study. Participants visited the laboratory...

To evaluate the effects of repeated, fatiguing isometric knee extension contractions performed at high-torque (HT) versus low-torque (LT) maximal voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC) on acute muscle swelling and echo intensity (EI) of the rectus femoris (RF) and vastus lateralis (VL) muscles in resistance-trained males. Twenty-two resistance-trai...

Introduction: Decomposition of the surface electromyographic (sEMG) signal is commonly used to examine motor unit (MU) firing behavior. However, the intra- and inter-day reliability of these measurements has yet to be quantified or reported. This investigation 1) examined the effect of input excitation on the mean firing rate (MFR) versus recruitm...

New findings: What is the central question of this study? Does a common genetic variant in the β2-adrenergic receptor (AR) have functional effects on skeletal muscle function in young, healthy men? What is the main finding and its importance? This study provides preliminary evidence that β2-AR Arg16Gly genotype has a significant effect on fat free...

Objective: To determine if maximal isometric contraction (MVIC) method (i.e., ramp (MVICRAMP) versus traditional MVIC) influences (1) maximal voluntary isometric torque (MVIT) production of the knee extensors, (2) electromyographic signal amplitude (EMGAMP), and (3) EMG mean power frequency (EMGMPF) of the rectus femoris and vastus lateralis in mo...

Introduction: The purpose of this investigation was to: (1) to determine the reliability of rectus femoris muscle cross sectional area (mCSA) and echo intensity (EI) obtained using panoramic ultrasound imaging during seated and supine lying positions before and after a five-minute rest period and (2), to determine the influence of body position and...

Previous investigations have reported a relationship between skeletal muscle phenotype and motor unit (MU) firing parameters during submaximal contractions. The purpose of the current investigation, however, was to examine the relationships between motor unit firing behavior during a maximal voluntary contraction, Myosin Heavy Chain (MHC) isoform c...

We have observed in the field copperhead snakes with Ixodes scapularis larvae feeding near the head and cloaca opening. Results show that copperhead excreta acts as a host cue that causes a significant proportion of unfed I. scapularis larvae to stop crawling, curl their legs, and remain motionless in short range bioassays. Clustering of larvae on...

To determine whether pollen is a significant food source for Balaustium cf. murorum (tentative identification), behavioural responses to pollen feeding were examined in short-range Petri plate bioassays. Evans blue dye was used as a tracer to stain pollen after being incorporated into the gut. The results show that all active stages (larva, deutony...

Red velvet mites Balaustiumsp. nr.putmani, a mite commonly associated with landscaping projects throughout the Midwestern United States, show a particular affinity for warm, sunny locations. Adults display a remarkable tolerance for high temperature, capable of actively crawling on extremely hot surfaces for extended periods. To determine the upper...