An overview of malingering and deception in neuropsychiatric cases.

Forensic practitioners must shoulder special responsibilities when evaluating over-stated pathology (e.g., malingering) as well as simulated adjustment. Such determinations may modify or even override other clinical findings. As a result, practitioners must be alert to their own misassumptions that may unintentionally bias their conclusions about response styles. Detection strategies for malingering-based on unlikely or markedly amplified presentations-are highlighted in this article. Given page constraints, assessment methods for feigning are succinctly presented with their applications to administrative, civil, and criminal referrals.

Validity Assessment in Traumatic Brain Injury Impairment and Disability Evaluations.

This article provides an overview of validity assessment in persons with traumatic brain injury including evaluation caveats. Specific discussion is provided on post-concussive disorders, malingering, examination techniques to assess for validity, response bias, effort and non-organic/functional presentations. Examinee and examiner biases issues will also be explored. Discussion is also provided regarding judicial trends in limiting examiner scope of testing and/or testimony, and risk of liability when providing expert witness opinions on validity of examinee presentations. The hope is to encourage physiatrists to become more aware and skilled in validity assessment given its importance in differential diagnosis of impairment following traumatic brain injury.

Spin Current Cross-Correlations as a Probe of Magnon Coherence.

Motivated by the important role of the normalized second-order coherence function, often called g^{(2)}, in the field of quantum optics, we propose a method to determine magnon coherence in solid-state devices. Namely, we show that the cross-correlations of pure spin currents injected by a ferromagnet into two metal leads, normalized by their dc value, replicate the behavior of g^{(2)} when magnons are driven far from equilibrium. We consider two scenarios: driving by ferromagnetic resonance, which leads to the coherent occupation of a single mode, and driving by heating of the magnons, which leads to an excess of incoherent magnons. We find an enhanced normalized cross-correlation in the latter case, thereby demonstrating bunching of nonequilibrium thermal magnons due to their bosonic statistics. Our results contribute to the burgeoning field of quantum magnonics, which seeks to explore and exploit the quantum nature of magnons.

Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae in Wildlife Species beyond Subfamily Caprinae.

Elucidating the emergence of Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae-associated respiratory disease in ruminants requires identification of the pathogen host range. This bacterium was thought to be host restricted to subfamily Caprinae, but we describe its identification in healthy moose, caribou, and mule deer and diseased mule and white-tailed deer, all species in subfamily Capreolinae.

Origins of equine dentistry.

From the American West to the steppes of Eurasia, the domestic horse transformed human societies, providing rapid transport, communication, and military power, and serving as an important subsistence animal. Because of the importance of oral equipment for horse riding, dentistry is an essential component of modern horse care. In the open grasslands of northeast Asia, horses remain the primary form of transport for many herders. Although free-range grazing on gritty forage mitigates many equine dental issues, contemporary Mongolian horsemen nonetheless practice some forms of dentistry, including the removal of problematic deciduous teeth and the vestigial first premolar ("wolf tooth"). Here, we present archaezoological data from equine skeletal remains spanning the past 3,200 y, indicating that nomadic dental practices have great antiquity. Anthropogenic modifications to malerupted deciduous central incisors in young horses from the Late Bronze Age demonstrate their attempted removal, coinciding with the local innovation or adoption of horseback riding and the florescence of Mongolian pastoral society. Horse specimens from this period show no evidence of first premolar removal, which we first identify in specimens dating to ca. 750 BCE. The onset of premolar extraction parallels the archaeological appearance of jointed bronze and iron bits, suggesting that this technological shift prompted innovations in dentistry that improved horse health and horse control. These discoveries provide the earliest directly dated evidence for veterinary dentistry, and suggest that innovations in equine care by nomadic peoples ca. 1150 BCE enabled the use of horses for increasingly sophisticated mounted riding and warfare.

Enhanced Spin Conductance of a Thin-Film Insulating Antiferromagnet.

We investigate spin transport by thermally excited spin waves in an antiferromagnetic insulator. Starting from a stochastic Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert phenomenology, we obtain the out-of-equilibrium spin-wave properties. In linear response to spin biasing and a temperature gradient, we compute the spin transport through a normal-metal-antiferromagnet-normal-metal heterostructure. We show that the spin conductance diverges as one approaches the spin-flop transition; this enhancement of the conductance should be readily observable by sweeping the magnetic field across the spin-flop transition. The results from such experiments may, on the one hand, enhance our understanding of spin transport near a phase transition, and on the other be useful for applications that require a large degree of tunability of spin currents. In contrast, the spin Seebeck coefficient does not diverge at the spin-flop transition. Furthermore, the spin Seebeck coefficient is finite even at zero magnetic field, provided that the normal metal contacts break the symmetry between the antiferromagnetic sublattices.

Field Studies Evaluating Bait Acceptance and Handling by Dogs in Navajo Nation, USA.

Mass parenteral vaccination remains the cornerstone of dog rabies control. Oral rabies vaccination (ORV) could increase vaccination coverage where free-roaming dogs represent a sizeable segment of the population at risk. ORV's success is dependent on the acceptance of baits that release an efficacious vaccine into the oral cavity. A new egg-flavored bait was tested alongside boiled bovine intestine and a commercially available fishmeal bait using a hand-out model on the Navajo Nation, United States, during June 2016. A PVC capsule and biodegradable sachet were tested, and had no effect on bait acceptance. The intestine baits had the highest acceptance (91.9%; 95% confidence interval (CI), 83.9%⁻96.7%), but the fishmeal (81.1%; 95% CI, 71.5%⁻88.6%) and the egg-flavored baits (77.4%; 95% CI, 72.4%⁻81.8%) were also well accepted, suggesting that local bait preference studies may be warranted to enhance ORV's success in other areas where canine rabies is being managed. Based on a dyed water marker, the delivery of a placebo vaccine was best in the intestine baits (75.4%; 95% CI, 63.5%⁻84.9%), followed by the egg-flavored (68.0%; 95% CI, 62.4%⁻73.2%) and fishmeal (54.3%; 95% CI, 42.9%⁻65.4%) baits. Acceptance was not influenced by the supervision or ownership, or sex, age, and body condition of the dogs. This study illustrates that a portion of a dog population may be orally vaccinated as a complement to parenteral vaccination to achieve the immune thresholds required to eliminate dog rabies.

Bartonella melophagi in blood of domestic sheep (Ovis aries) and sheep keds (Melophagus ovinus) from the southwestern US: Cultures, genetic characterization, and ecological connections.

Bartonella melophagi sp. nov. was isolated from domestic sheep blood and from sheep keds (Melophagus ovinus) from the southwestern United States. The sequence analyses of the reference strain performed by six molecular markers consistently demonstrated that B. melophagi relates to but differ from other Bartonella species isolated from domestic and wild ruminants. Presence of 183 genes specific for B. melophagi, being absent in genomes of other Bartonella species associated with ruminants also supports the separation of this bacterial species from species of other ruminants. Bartonella DNA was detected in all investigated sheep keds; however, culturing of these bacteria from sheep blood rejects a speculation that B. melophagi is an obligatory endosymbiont. Instead, the results support the hypothesis that the domestic sheep is a natural host reservoir for B. melophagi and the sheep ked its main vector. This bacterium was not isolated from the blood of bighorn sheep and domestic goats belonging to the same subfamily Caprinae. B. melophagi has also been shown to be zoonotic and needs to be investigated further.

Switching of perpendicular magnetization by spin-orbit torques in the absence of external magnetic fields.

Magnetization switching by current-induced spin-orbit torques is of great interest due to its potential applications in ultralow-power memory and logic devices. The switching of ferromagnets with perpendicular magnetization is of particular technological relevance. However, in such materials, the presence of an in-plane external magnetic field is typically required to assist spin-orbit torque-driven switching and this is an obstacle for practical applications. Here, we report the switching of out-of-plane magnetized Ta/Co(20)Fe(60)B(20)/TaO(x) structures by spin-orbit torques driven by in-plane currents, without the need for any external magnetic fields. This is achieved by introducing a lateral structural asymmetry into our devices, which gives rise to a new field-like spin-orbit torque when in-plane current flows in these structures. The direction of the current-induced effective field corresponding to this field-like spin-orbit torque is out-of-plane, facilitating the switching of perpendicular magnets.

Preference among 7 bait flavors delivered to domestic dogs in Arizona: Implications for oral rabies vaccination on the Navajo Nation.

Less than 20% of the domestic dogs on tribal lands in the United States are vaccinated against rabies. One method to increase vaccination rates may be the distribution of oral rabies vaccines (ORVs). ONRAB® (Artemis Technologies, Inc., Ontario, Canada) is the primary ORV used in Canada to vaccinate striped skunks and raccoons. To investigate the potential use of ONRAB® ORV baits to vaccinate feral domestic dogs against rabies on tribal lands and beyond, we performed a flavor preference study. A total of 7 bait flavors (bacon, cheese, dog food, hazelnut, sugar-vanilla, peanut butter, and sardine) were offered in pairs to 13 domestic dogs. Each dog was offered all possible combinations of bait pairs over a period of 10 days, with each bait offered 6 times. The proportion of times each bait was consumed first by individual dogs was calculated and comparisons among dogs were conducted using the MIXED procedure in SAS (SAS Institute, Cary, NC). Pairwise comparisons between baits were performed using "contrast" statements with sugar-vanilla flavor as the default for comparison. Type 3 tests of fixed effects showed a significant treatment effect (F 6,72 = 9.74, P < 0.0001). Sugar-vanilla was selected first during 14% of the offerings and exhibited the least preference among all bait types (F 1,72 = 22.46, P < 0.0001). Dog food was selected first 56% of the time, and more frequently than all other bait types (F 1,72 = 13.09, P = 0.0005).

Concomitant administration of GonaCon™ and rabies vaccine in female dogs (Canis familiaris) in Mexico.

Mexico serves as a global model for advances in rabies prevention and control in dogs. The Mexican Ministry of Health (MMH) annual application of approximately 16 million doses of parenteral rabies vaccine has resulted in significant reductions in canine rabies during the past 20 years. One collateral parameter of rabies programs is dog population management. Enhanced public awareness is critical to reinforce responsible pet ownership. Surgical spaying and neutering remain important to prevent reproduction, but are impractical for achieving dog population management goals. GonaCon™, an anti-gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) vaccine, was initially tested in captive female dogs on the Navajo Nation, 2008. The MMH led this international collaborative study on an improved formulation of GonaCon™ in captive dogs with local representatives in Hidalgo, Mexico in 2011. This study contained 20 bitches assigned to Group A (6 control), Group B (7 GonaCon™), and Group C (7 GonaCon™ and rabies vaccine). Vaccines were delivered IM. Animals were placed under observation and evaluated during the 61-day trial. Clinically, all dogs behaved normally. No limping or prostration was observed, in spite of minor muscle atrophy post-mortem in the left hind leg of dogs that received GonaCon™. Two dogs that began the study pregnant give birth to healthy pups. Dogs that received a GonaCon™ injection had macro and microscopic lesions consistent with prior findings, but the adverse injection effects were less frequent and lower in intensity. Both vaccines were immunogenic based on significant increases in rabies virus neutralizing antibodies and anti-GnRH antibodies in treatment Groups B and C. Simultaneous administration of GonaCon™ and rabies vaccine in Group C did not affect immunogenicity. Progesterone was suppressed significantly in comparison to controls. Future studies that monitor fertility through multiple breeding cycles represent a research need to determine the value of integrating this vaccine into dog rabies management.

Electronic pumping of quasiequilibrium Bose-Einstein-condensed magnons.

We theoretically investigate spin transfer between a system of quasiequilibrated Bose-Einstein-condensed magnons in an insulator in direct contact with a conductor. While charge transfer is prohibited across the interface, spin transport arises from the exchange coupling between insulator and conductor spins. In a normal insulator phase, spin transport is governed solely by the presence of thermal and spin-diffusive gradients; the presence of Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC), meanwhile, gives rise to a temperature-independent condensate spin current. Depending on the thermodynamic bias of the system, spin may flow in either direction across the interface, engendering the possibility of a dynamical phase transition of magnons. We discuss the experimental feasibility of observing a BEC steady state (fomented by a spin Seebeck effect), which is contrasted to the more familiar spin-transfer-induced classical instabilities.

A comparison of the immune responses of dogs exposed to canine distemper virus (CDV) - Differences between vaccinated and wild-type virus exposed dogs.

Canine distemper virus (CDV)-specific immune response was measured in different dog populations. Three groups of vaccinated or wild-type virus exposed dogs were tested: dogs with a known vaccination history, dogs without a known vaccination history (shelter dogs), and dogs with potential exposure to wild-type CDV. The use of a T-cell proliferation assay demonstrated a detectable CDV-specific T-cell response from both spleen and blood lymphocytes of dogs. Qualitatively, antibody assays [enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and neutralization assay] predicted the presence of a T-cell response well, although quantitatively neither antibody assays nor the T-cell assay correlated well with each other. An interesting finding from our study was that half of the dogs in shelters were not vaccinated (potentially posing a public veterinary health problem) and that antibody levels in dogs living in an environment with endemic CDV were lower than in vaccinated animals.

No adverse effects of simultaneous vaccination with the immunocontraceptive GonaCon and a commercial rabies vaccine on rabies virus neutralizing antibody production in dogs.

Parenteral vaccination campaigns are integral to the elimination of canine rabies. To maximize herd immunity in dogs, immunocontraception provided at the time of rabies vaccination should reduce fecundity and dog abundance. GonaCon has been used successfully as an immunocontraceptive in a variety of mammals, and by inference, the dog would be an ideal candidate for testing. As an initial step in evaluating a combination-vaccination program, we assessed the effects of GonaCon on rabies virus neutralizing antibody production in dogs after administration of a veterinary rabies vaccine. Eighteen feral/free ranging dogs were included in this initial study: six were given GonaCon only, six were given rabies vaccination only, and six received GonaCon and rabies vaccination. Antibody levels were evaluated over 82 days. The use of the immunocontraceptive GonaCon did not affect the ability of dogs to seroconvert in response to the rabies vaccine. Thus, GonaCon provides a potential immunocontraceptive for use in combination with rabies vaccine to increase herd immunity and address dog population over abundance to better manage rabies.

SLAM on the stand: how the sports-related concussion literature can inform the expert witness.

Mild head injury is a controversial topic because patients may have subtle deficits and widely varied outcomes. Accordingly, neuropsychologists are frequently asked to provide expert testimony about the nature of mild head injury. This article discusses how the sports-related concussion literature, including the concept of baseline assessment, can inform expert witnesses who are asked to provide such testimony. We first provide a review of several of the controversies surrounding mild head injury, both within and outside of the forensic context. This is followed by a review of the sports as a laboratory assessment model literature, which demonstrates consistent and meaningful evidence of cognitive sequelae following mild head injury. We conclude with a description of how the sports as a laboratory assessment model literature may be utilized in a forensic neuropsychology context to address some of the identified controversies. We end with a call for more research that will further inform the forensic neuropsychologist about mild head injury and those factors that may result in poor recovery.

Exponentially decaying correlations in a gas of strongly interacting spin-polarized 1D fermions with zero-range interactions.

We consider the single-particle correlations and momentum distributions in a gas of strongly interacting, spinless 1D fermions with zero-range interactions. This system represents a fermionic version of the Tonks-Girardeau gas of impenetrable bosons as it can be mapped to a system of noninteracting 1D bosons. We use this duality to show that the T = 0, single-particle correlations exhibit an exponential decay with distance. This strongly interacting system is experimentally accessible using ultracold atoms and has a Lorentzian momentum distribution at large momenta whose width is given by the linear density.

Detection of neurocognitive feigning: development of a multi-strategy assessment.

Neuropsychological assessments can be completely invalidated by persons successfully feigning neurocognitive impairment. The current investigation examines via a research measure, the Test of Cognitive Abilities (TOCA), the usefulness of multiple detection strategies for the classification of neurocognitive feigning. Using a simulation design with a manipulation check and both positive and negative incentives, two groups of simulators (Cautioned and NonCautioned) were compared with brain-injured patients and nonimpaired controls. Among detection strategies, Magnitude of Error (hit rate=.94) was highly effective, while Floor Effect (hit rate=.80) and Reaction Time (hit rate=.85) were moderately effective. When presented with complex strategies, the cautioning of simulators did not improve their performances.