29^th International Conference on Public Mental Health and Neuroscience July 16-18, 2018 Amsterdam, Netherlands

Biography:

Abdulrahman Mohammed Alammar is a medical student at King Saud University. He had completed his education in scientific field at “The Modern Institute of The Capital”. He got certificates in Basic Course on ECG and Arrhythmias Management, Research Methodology Course at SANS, Radiology Interpretation Course, Antibiotic and Infection Control Course. His

achievements are :

Research: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder due to Road Traffic Accidents in Riyadh

Research: The Prevalence and Severity of Periodontitis In Patients Diagnosed With Atherosclerotic Coronary Artery Disease

Abstract:

Background and Objectives:

Caffeine is well known to increase arousal and alertness, and subsequently, cognitive functions would increase. Our objective of the present study was to investigate whether anodal Transcranial Direct Current stimulation (tDCS) over the prefrontal cortex could improve performance cognitive function in comparison with caffeine.

Methodology:

 A prospective study was conducted at the College of Medicine, King Saud University during the period between July and September 2017. A total of 32 subjects performed Cognitrone S4, Reaction Test S3, and Stroop Interference Test S8 in Vienna Test System (WTS NEURO). Tests were designed to assess concentration, attention, reaction, reading speed, and color recognition. Subjects were categorized into two groups, one group was given tDCS, and the other was given caffeine. Subjects performed the tasks once with sham tDCS and a placebo (decaf) espresso shot, and once with active tDCS and an actual espresso shot.

Results:

The number of correct reactions significantly improved in the tDCS group (-4.467±5.012 p=0.004) while in the caffeine group it did not (-2.294±7.016 p=0.196). On the other hand, the reaction time significantly improved in the caffeine group (59.294±95.603 p=0.021) while in the tDCS group it did not (14.667±67.248 p=0.413). The overall result showed no significant difference between tDCS and caffeine on their general cognitive performance.

Conclusion:

 This result might be achieved by focally improving executive functions and/or cognitive capacity when tasks are difficult, rather than by improving levels of arousal/alertness. These results indicate that tDCS is a promising tool to improve cognitive function. The variability in response to tDCS protocols is in line with similar studies using other forms of non-invasive brain stimulation. We recommend future studies to explore the effects of tDCS on patients diagnosed with cognitive disorders.

Biography:

Abdulrahman Hassan A Alfahadi is a medical student at College of Medicine, King Saud University 2019.

His research experience is:

Comparison of the effectiveness of smart applications versus conventional health care measures on body composition, cardiovascular risk, neurocognitive functions, and quality of life in obese subjects (funded by Dallah Hospital – in progress)

 Assessment of the relationship between cognitive functions and fasting effects on patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (Principal Investigator – in progress)

 Serum inducible and endothelial nitric oxide synthase activity in patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in relation to Coronary Artery Disease (at level of submission)

Abstract:

Purpose/Objectives:

One of the complications of diabetes is the progressive decrease in mental abilities and cognition, in particular; processing speed and verbal memory, ultimately leading to dementia.The purpose of the present study was to see the effect of  fasting during the Ramadan month on cognitive functions and fatigue severity in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM)and compare it with control group Muslims using The Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB).

Methods

This observational case control study was conducted at the King Khalid University Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in control subjects (n=41) and patients with T2DM (n=39).The groups subjects were matched for age, BMI, and gender. The tests included a validated Arabic form of standardized Fatigue severity scale (FSS) .The tests selected from CANTAB battery were Motor Screening Task (MOT), Intra-Extra Dimensional Set Shift (IED) and Spatial Span (SSP) which test motor functions, rule acquisition and reversal and working memory capacity respectively. All subjects were metabolically stable without history of cognitive impairmentor  psychiatric disease (Anxiety and depression).

Results

During Ramadan there were significant differences in IED errors (24.43 ± 20.82 vs 50.73 ± 56.21 P=0.007) , IED stages completed (7.43 ± 2.43 vs  8.69 ± .73 , P=0.003), MOT (1466.32 ± 559.29 vs 1120.27 ± 343.09 , P= 0.002) , and SSP SL (4.13 ± 1.36 vs 4.82 ± 1.60 ,P= 0.05) in diabetics versus control. The differences significantly persisted even in the post Ramadan period among the two groups.  IED errors (52.62± 60.62vs 20.95± 16.90P=0.003) , IED stages completed (7.54± 2.50vs  8.7± .73 , P=0.003) . Motor Screening Task (MOT) Mean latency significantly decreased after Ramadan (1268.91 ±  297.52  vs 1047.41 ±  375.32, P=0.002). In T2DM there was significant decrease in MOT latency and a significant increase in SSP span length (4.32±1.33 vs 4.71±1.35, p= 0.025). In control subjects the effect on all tests was non-significant. Among the FSS items there were no significant differences in all items of FSS in control while Significant differences were observed in many items that shows T2DM patients have more fatigue symptoms than control

Conclusions

Ramadan fasting significantly affects the fatigue scales and neurocognitive functions in patients with T2DM in terms of (MOT)  motor performance,  (IED) flexibility of attention & more errors and (SSP) working memory capacity. These indicators remain worse in the post Ramadan period also.

 Large scale studies with educational counseling and proper management protocols are required to control the effects of Ramadan on cognitive decline in T2DM patients.

Biography:

Hoo Young Lee has her expertise in neurorehabilitation for traumatic brain injury and stroke. Her subspecialty in the clinic field is neuromodulation in acquired brain injury, cognitive rehabilitation therapy and pediatric rehabilitation. Her research areas include development of rehabilitation complexity scale in the ROK, neuromodulation, and enriched environment in adult mouse model in the context of neurorehabilitation. She has been in years of experience in clinic, research, and education in TBI Rehabilitation Center, National Traffic Injury Rehabilitation Hospital, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea and Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital, School of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, South Korea. She in a Combined Program of Master’s and Doctoral Degrees in Department of Medicine, The Graduate School of Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea

Abstract:

Objective

This study aimed to investigate the incidence and predictors of emergence from prolonged disorders of consciousness (DOC)  during inpatient rehabilitation and to compare temporal dynamics and prognostic power between six neurobehavioral signs of the JFK Coma Recovery Scale-Revised (CRS-R) scores on emergence from DOC.

Methods

We retrospectively collected the data of 50 patients who were diagnosed with vegetative state(VS) or minimal state of consciousness(MCS) at admission. Subjects were divided into two subgroups that showed emergence from MCS(EMCS) during neurorehabilitation and that remained VS or MCS. We compared demographic and clinical variables to investigate the best prediction model of EMCS. Moreover, we analyzed the temporal dynamics of six CRS-R neurobehavioral signs which were assessed at intervals of one month during the neurorehabilitation, and identified the signs that significantly predicted EMCS.

Results

Out of 50 patients, 46% showed EMCS. The model incorporating shorter lag time from brain injury onset and absence of intra-axial lesion best predicted EMCS. Also, level of consciousness and total CRS-R score at admission individually showed significant prediction. Other variables such as sex, age at injury onset, cause of brain injury, hydrocephalus, ventriculoperitoneal shunt, cranioplasty, anticonvulsant medication, seizure, and education level did not predict EMCS. Among six signs of CRS-R, auditory subscale showed the most significant correlation to EMCS. Patients denoted slower but greater emergence from MCS in the communication subscale than the motor subscale.

Conclusion

This study revealed that significant recovery of consciousness is observed in patients with prolonged DOC during neurorehabilitation. Shorter lag time and absence of intra-axial lesion were significant predictors for EMCS. Patients in DOC with evidence of higher auditory function were most likely to recover consciousness. These findings should be considered regarding assessment tools and rehabilitative programs that best evaluate and maximize the potential for recovery of consciousness.

Biography:

Professor Dr. Kazi Saifuddin has received PhD from Kobe University, Japan and worked as a research fellow in Cambridge, Lancaster, Tokushima and other Universities. Presently he is a Dean of the Faculty of Life and Earth Science (Former Chairman of Psychology Department) of Jagannath University, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Renowned academic personality Dr. Kazi Saifuddin was the former President and General Secretary of Jagannath University Teacher Association. He also holds the post of Treasurer of Bangladesh Psychological Association, and Treasurer of South Asian Association of Psychologists. He received international award on the research on psychophysics. He has published many research articles and books. Dr. Saifuddin has been editing many research journals and books.

Abstract:

Autism has been defined as a neuro-developmental disability of the children. A study was carried out to investigate the relationship between the intensity of autistic disorder and the demographic variables of the parents. The data was puprosively selected from different special schools for atistic children in the dhaka city. Intensity of autism wes measured by using the concern tools and the demographic variables of the parents were collected from the office record. One hundred autistic children were used as subjects those age range was 8 to 25 years and their parents age range was 25 to 60 years old. Allmost the subjects came from poor family.

In this study the demographic variables of parents were taken in account are: father’s blood group, socio economic status, living areas, number of siblings, number of autistic child and family planning has positive correlation significantly (p< 0.05) to the higher intensity of autism. On the other hand, demographic variables of parents are sex, mother’s blood group and physical problem were found significantly (p< 0.05) negative correlation with higher intensity of autism. There was negative correlation found between sex and age of parents. The negative correlation was also between mother’s blood group and father’s blood group. Again there was negative correlation found between physical problem and family planning. 

Therefore, it was concluded that the demographic variables of the parents more or less related to those of the intensities of spectrum of the autism.

Biography:

Saeed Shahbeigi is a Neuroimmunology fellow from UBC Division of Neurology, Department of Medicine, Vancouver, Canada. He is an author for Mesenchymal Stem Cells in the Treatment of Multiple Sclerosis: An Overview of Open Labels and Ongoing Studies. J Neurol Neurophysiol.

Abstract:

Stem Cells (SC) therapy emerges as a potential new hope for neurological patients as it could accomplish the immunomodulatory as well as the neuroprotective functions.

 There is a growing body of literature that supports the potential of the SC for immunomodulation and re-myelination. Here we focus on examining the registered published and on-going clinical trials using stem cells especially the Mesenchymal Stem Cell (MSC) therapy in neurological disorders such as MS, ALS, Stroke, spinal cord injuries and also some types of devastating neuropathies like POEMS.

There are evidence showing that the MSC can alter the phenotype of NK cells and suppress proliferation, cytokine secretion, and cytotoxicity against HLA-class I- expressing targets. Some of these effects require cell-to-cell contact, whereas others are mediated by soluble factors, including transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGFbeta1) and prostaglandin E2, pointing to the existence of diverse mechanisms for the MSC-mediated NK-cell suppression . The MSC have been reported to block the differentiation of monocytes into dendritic cells (DC) and impair antigen presentation  as well as IL-12 production. Also the human MSC (hMSC) alter cytokine secretion and induce more anti-inflammatory responses. Specifically, the hMSC by induction of mature dendritic cells (DC) decrease tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) secretion and increase IL-10 secretion . The hMSC inhibit Th1 cells, decrease interferon gamma, and affect Th2 cells by increasing secretion of IL-4. This causes an increase in the proportion of T- Regulatory cell switches the CD4+ T cell responses from a Th1 to a Th2 polarized phenotype resulting in a decrease secretion of IFN-gamma from NK cells.

Generally speaking we are going to discuss the immunomodulatory effects of the mesenchymal stem cells and finally to review some interested data from our experience and other papers around the world.

Biography:

Victor Manolov has completed his PhD at Medical University in Sofia, Bulgaria. He is working as Assist. Prof. at Department of Clinical laboratory and clinical immunology at the same University. His interests are in neurology, pediatrics, gynecology, endocrinology and clinical laboratory. He has published more than 20 papers in reputed journals.

Abstract:

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) involves high number of population worldwide, which on its way increases brain-vascular diseases risk. Among the main reasons for increased brain disorders evidence in patients with CKD is iron homeostasis disregulation. Impairment of brain cognitive function is an early sign of atherosclerosis development. 65 patients with chronic kidney disease (stages II to V, incl on dialysis) were included; age 48.8 ± 6.9. Their results were compared to sex and age matched healthy control and with CKD patients with no atherosclerotic changes. Routine blood analyses as CBC, serum iron, ferritin, hsCRP and specific hepcidin were measured in the included groups. IMT, MMSE, CERAD tests were used for atherosclerotic changes evaluation. We found increased serum hepcidin levels in CKD patients with IMT, MMSE, CERAD changes (201.8 ± 14.7 μg/L) compared to healthy controls  (20.7 ± 1.9 μg/L) and CKD with no atherosclerotic changes group (174.4 ± 11.8 μg/L); P<0.005. A positive correlation was found in CKD patients with brain disorders between IMT and serum hepcidin levels (r=0.838, P<0.01). Serum hepcidin correlates positively to atherosclerotic evidence changes in patients with impaired kidney function (r=0.810, P<0.01). Brain-vascular disease risk factors are connected to chronic kidney function impairment. Disregulation of iron homeostasis is one of the main risk atherogenesis factors. Early hepcidin quantification might predict cognitive disturbances as atherosclerosis symptoms in chronic kidney disease patients, which might be very important for better clinical diagnosis and practice.

Acknowledgements: This project is sponsored by MU-Sofia, as part of Grant Д-235/2017.