Comparability of Structured Interview of Reported Symptoms (SIRS) and Structured Interview of Reported Symptoms-Second Edition (SIRS-2) classifications with external response bias criteria.

Rogers, Sewell, and Gillard (2010) released a revised version of the Structured Interview of Reported Symptoms (SIRS; Rogers, Bagby, & Dickens, 1992), the SIRS-2, which introduced several new scales, indices, and a new classification model with the overall goal of improving its classification of genuine versus feigned presentations. Since the release of the SIRS-2, several concerns have been raised regarding the quality of the SIRS-2 development and validation samples and the method used to calculate classification accuracy estimates. To further explore issues related to the clinical utility of the SIRS-2, the current study examined associations of the SIRS and SIRS-2 with the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2-Restructured Form (Ben-Porath & Tellegen, 2008/2011) validity scales in separate samples of disability claimants and criminal defendants.

The combination of dimethoxycurcumin with DNA methylation inhibitor enhances gene re-expression of promoter-methylated genes and antagonizes their cytotoxic effect.

Curcumin and its analogs exhibited antileukemic activity either as single agent or in combination therapy. Dimethoxycurcumin (DMC) is a more metabolically stable curcumin analog that was shown to induce the expression of promoter-methylated genes without reversing DNA methylation. Accordingly, co-treatment with DMC and DNA methyltransferase (DNMT) inhibitors could hypothetically enhance the re-expression of promoter-methylated tumor suppressor genes.

Clinical decision making in response to performance validity test failure in a psychiatric setting.

This study examined the clinical utility of a performance validity test (PVT) for screening consecutive referrals (N = 436) to a neuropsychology service at a state psychiatric hospital treating both civilly committed and forensic patients. We created a contingency table with Test of Memory Malingering (TOMM) pass/fail (355/81) and secondary gain present/absent (181/255) to examine pass rates associated with patient demographic, clinical and forensic status characteristics. Of the 81 failed PVTs, 48 had secondary gain defined as active criminal legal charges; 33 failed PVTs with no secondary gain.

Rates of computational errors for scoring the SIRS primary scales.

We entered item scores for the Structured Interview of Reported Symptoms (SIRS; Rogers, Bagby, & Dickens, 1991) into a spreadsheet and compared computed scores with those hand-tallied by examiners. We found that about 35% of the tests had at least 1 scoring error. Of SIRS scale scores tallied by examiners, about 8% were incorrectly summed.

Classification accuracy of actuarial risk assessment instruments.

Users of commonly employed actuarial risk assessment instruments (ARAIs) hope to generate numerical probability statements about risk; however, ARAI manuals often do not explicitly report data that are essential for understanding the classification accuracy of the instruments. In addition, ARAI manuals often contain data that have the potential for misinterpretation. The authors of the present article address the accurate generation of probability statements.

Outcome measures for emergency medicine residency graduates: do measures of academic and clinical performance during residency training correlate with American Board of Emergency Medicine test performance?

Objectives: Emergency medicine (EM) residency programs are increasingly asked to have measurable outcomes of residents' performance. Successful completion of the written and oral American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM) examinations is one key outcome. In the clinical practice of EM, emergency physicians (EPs) are often measured by their clinical productivity (patients per hour).

Clinical management and case reports for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma with sorafenib.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common solid organ malignancies worldwide, and its incidence is rising in industrialized nations. Sorafenib, an oral multikinase inhibitor, is effective for the treatment of advanced HCC, and is the only systemic drug indicated for the treatment of unresectable HCC. Patients with HCC often have cirrhosis due to viral infection, chronic alcohol consumption, or other causes of liver damage, resulting in reduced liver function of variable severity.

Evaluating constructs represented by symptom validity tests in forensic neuropsychological assessment of traumatic brain injury.

This study uses a new method to summarize diagnostic validity information to explore which constructs are captured by malingering tests. The Test Validation Summary applies mixed-groups validation to investigate the meaning of test constructs and to estimate test classification characteristics when test validation groups are not "pure" criterion groups (ie, "compliant" vs "malingering"), but members have variable probability of malingering. The method permits the use of tests with relatively low validity to validate tests of greater validity.

The test validation summary.

Common rates employed in classificatory testing are the true positive rate (TPR), false positive rate (FPR), positive predictive power (PPP), and negative predictive power (NPP). FPR and TPR are estimated from research samples representing populations to be distinguished by classificatory testing. PPP and NPP are used by clinicians to classify test takers into populations.

On the interpretation of below-chance responding in forced-choice tests.

Two-alternative, forced-choice tests are commonly used to assess cooperation in examinations of neurocognitive functioning. Most commercially available tests do not primarily depend on comparing the total correct responses to the number expected by guessing. Nevertheless, the tests afford an opportunity to make stronger judgments about the cooperation of test-takers when the test score is lower than the range of scores expected for guessing.

Improving the clinical utility of the SIRS cognitive items: preliminary reliability, validity, and normative data in pretrial and clinical samples.

The utility of the Structured Interview of Reported Symptoms [SIRS; Rogers, R., Bagby, R. M.

Evaluating the latent structure of the MMPI-2 F(p) scale in a forensic sample: a taxometric analysis.

P. A. Arbisi and Y.