Involving Police Departments in Early Awareness of Concussion Symptoms during Domestic Violence Calls

ABSTRACT

Police officers around the world respond to and investigate calls regarding domestic violence (DV) daily. Police departments operate with standard protocols, particularly when engaging in investigations that involve allegations of strangulation or sexual assault. Operating under advisement of the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, the Mesa Police Department (Mesa, AZ) has established protocols for detecting, recording, and prosecuting DV cases that involve strangulation and sexual assault. Allegations of strangulation (defined as impeded breathing) or sexual assault prompt officers to offer a forensic nursing exam (FNE) combined with strangulation treatment by forensic nurses at the Mesa Family Advocacy Center. Recognizing the potential for head injury to the assault victim in all DV situations, including intimate partner violence (IPV), the police department has added concussion-awareness training, as well as a point-of-incident investigative tool for its officers to record neurological function of the victim. Officers were instructed to use the ConQVerge device to measure and record the Near Point of Convergence (NPC) as a test of neurological impairment in suspected head injuries. In this article, we discuss the challenges and opportunities for assisting victims of DV strangulation and sexual assault (including non-DV sexual assault) with on-site assessment and consent for further medical assessment and treatment. Additionally, rates of domestic assault victims that report a crime, but decline to follow through with forensic medical tests, are reported for the first time. Lessons learned from the project that inform strategic operations in this space are offered to other agencies prior to the implementation of similar procedures.     

Surface electromyography-based biofeedback and knee rehabilitation: A review of the literature

The number of total knee arthroplasties (TKA) performed yearly is rapidly increasing. Additionally, upwards of 50% of patients who receive TKA never achieve a full functional recovery. This suggests considerable room for improvement. This need for improvement expands beyond TKA as similar effects are noted across knee injuries. Electromyography-based biofeedback (EMGBF) involves the delivery of feedback based on the activity of targeted muscle. By providing feedback contingent on changes in muscle amplitude, EMGBF may be an effective tool for strengthening quadricep muscles. This review aims to evaluate the utility of sEMGBF during physical therapy for various knee injuries. All studies were evaluated for the effectiveness of sEMGBF at improving muscle strength, range of motion, and reducing pain. Most studies reviewed found that including sEMGBF in physical therapy produced greater clinical benefits for patients than exercise alone. Further research is necessary to determine the best practice for including EMGBF in physical therapy.     

Reconciling current approaches to blindsight

After decades of research, blindsight is still a mysterious and controversial topic in consciousness research. Currently, many researchers tend to think of it as an ideal phenomenon to investigate neural correlates of consciousness, whereas others believe that blindsight is in fact a kind of degraded vision rather than “truly blind”. This article considers both perspectives and finds that both have difficulties understanding all existing evidence about blindsight. In order to reconcile the perspectives, we suggest two specific criteria for a good model of blindsight, able to encompass all evidence. We propose that the REF-CON model (Overgaard & Mogensen, 2014) may work as such a model.