Publications by authors named "Christopher S Balestrini"

Throughout their careers, physician-scientists must adapt to the dynamic landscape of the medical research environment. As such, current physicianscientist trainees must overcome unique obstacles on the path to productive research careers. In the paper by Levit et al.

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The 2019 Annual General Meeting and Young Investigators' Forum of the Canadian Society for Clinical Investigation / Société Canadienne de Recherche Clinique (CSCI/SCRC) and Clinician Investigator Trainee Association of Canada / Association des Cliniciens-Chercheurs en Formation du Canada (CITAC/ACCFC) was held in Banff, Alberta on November 8-10th, 2019. The theme was "Positioning Early Career Investigators for Success: Strategy and Resilience". Lectures and workshops provided knowledge and tools to facilitate the attendees' development as clinician investigators.

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Purpose: Simulation-based medical education is an effective tool for medical teaching, but simulation-based medical education deployment in radiation oncology (RO) is limited. Flexible nasopharyngoscopy (FNP), an essential skill for RO residents, requires practice that typically occurs on volunteer patients, introducing the potential for stress and discomfort. We sought to develop a high-fidelity simulator and intervention that provides RO residents the opportunity to develop FNP skills in a low-pressure environment.

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The survival rate of patients with ischemic heart disease (IHD) is increasing. However, survivors experience increased risk for neurological complications. The mechanisms for this increased risk are unknown.

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Objective: To assess the predictive capability of the postconcussion symptom scale (PCSS) of the sport concussion assessment tool (SCAT) III to differentiate concussed and nonconcussed adolescents.

Design: Retrospective.

Setting: Tertiary.

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Objective: To study autonomic responses to postural changes in concussed adolescents. The influence of sex was also studied.

Design: Longitudinal cohort observational study.

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Objective: Test the hypotheses that (1) concussion in adolescents impairs autonomic neural control of heart rate (HR), and (2) HR reactivity improves with symptom resolution.

Design: Observational, case-control.

Participants: Nineteen concussed adolescents (8 female adolescents; age 15 ± 2 years) and 16 healthy controls (6 female adolescents, age 15 ± 2 years).

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Pulsatile blood flow is generally mediated by the compliance of blood vessels whereby they distend locally and momentarily to accommodate the passage of the pressure wave. This freedom of the blood vessels to exercise their compliance may be suppressed within the confines of the rigid skull. The effect of this on the mechanics of pulsatile blood flow within the cerebral circulation is not known, and the situation is compounded by experimental access difficulties.

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Purpose: Although cerebrovascular impairments are believed to contribute to concussion symptoms, little information exists regarding brain vasomotor control in adolescent concussion, particularly autoregulatory control that forms a fundamental response mechanism during changes in blood pressure. This research tested the hypothesis that adolescent concussion is marked by impaired dynamic cerebral autoregulation.

Methods: Nineteen concussed adolescents (15 ± 2 yr, 13 females) and 18 healthy controls (15 ± 2 yr, 9 females) completed two sit-to-stand trials.

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