Keynote Presentation

Alta Leneé Braxton, Founder & CEO, Holistic Performance Center, USA

Alta Leneé Braxton is a highly respected and accomplished professional in the field of holistic health and wellness. As the Founder and CEO of the Holistic Performance Center based in the USA, she has dedicated her career to promoting holistic health practices and improving the overall well-being of her clients.

Keynote Presentation

Stephen E. Nadeau, University of Florida College of Medicine, USA

Dr. Nadeau studied chemical physics and political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and achieved a medical degree at the University of Florida College of Medicine. After one year of post-MD fellowship training with Kenneth M. Heilman, he has devoted his research career mainly to cognitive neurology and, in particular, to understanding how higher neural functions can be supported by actual neurons. He is currently Professor of Neurology at the University of Florida. He has published two books and 158 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters.

Poster Presentation

Juliana Bezerra Lima-Verde, Brazilian Institute of Therapist Training (IBFT), Brazil

Juliana Bezerra Lima-Verde was a university professor and researcher in the field of Human Physiology and Neuroscience. She is certified in Reiki (Level II), kinesiology, transpersonal hypnotherapy, auriculotherapy, reflexology, and Generative Reprocessing Therapy (TRG), which she has been fully dedicated to since 2022. She currently serves as the scientific director of the Brazilian Institute of Therapist Training (IBFT), where she conducts research on TRG.

Poster Presentation

Masaki Kakeyama, Laboratory for Environmental Brain Science, Waseda University Faculty of Human Sciences, Japan

Dr. Kakeyama studied Neuroscience at Waseda University and received Ph.D. in 1995. Researcher at National Institute for Environmental Studies, Japan for 8 years, assistant professor at Tokyo University for 8 years, and in present, professor of Waseda University Fucluty of Human Sciences. Paper Count: 70, Citation Count:2891.

Abstract:

Cognitive flexibility is the ability of adapting to an ever-changing environment, and is demonstrated by making full use of memory, experience and knowledge with paying close attention to ever-changed environment. It declines with aging and impaired in early stages of dementia. However, traditional animal experiments, even in dementia study, have focused on simple memory tasks that involve remembering and recalling inorganic conditions, whereas rodents can also shows extremely good cognitive performance by using its own prior knowledge. We have developed multiple behavioral test methods using touch-screen operant apparatus and IntelliCage apparatus. A common feature of the two analysis systems is that experimental animals are rewarded by showing the correct behavioral sequence based on spatial cues, and the difference is that touchscreen apparatus requires a very small distance to move, while IntelliCage apparatus requires a distance of several hundred steps. By using these systems, we have found that probiotic treatment with a mixture of Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis LKM512 and arginine improved cognitive flexibility in young and middle aged mice, indicating probiotic treatment might contribute prevention and delay of onset of dementia. Alzheimer’s model, APP knock-in mice were found to be inhibited performance of cognitive flexibility even at the aging stage when they showed identical performance of memory score with control mice. These results strongly suggest the importance of cognitive flexibility as an index of dementia.

Keywords: cognitive flexibility, mental schema, Alzheimer’s disease

Acknowledgements: This works is supported in part by Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research from Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (19H01152, 20H00575, and 23H00522 to M.K.), Brain Mapping by Integrated Neurotechnologies for Disease Studies (Brain/MINDS) Grant from Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (JP19dm0207079h to M.K.).

Speaker Presentation

Aamer Mohammad, Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, USAFatma Rana Yilmaz ,Nile University of Nigeria College of Health Science, Nigeria

Fatma Rana Yilmaz is currently pursuing her medical studies at the Nile University of Nigeria College of Health Science in Abuja, Nigeria. Her academic focus lies in the field of neuroscience, with a specialization in neuroinflammatory diseases and neurodegenerative diseases. She actively engages in research and analysis projects related to these areas.Aamer Mohammad holds a Doctor of Medicine degree from Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences in India. He specializes in neuroscience, focusing on neuroinflammatory diseases and neurodegenerative diseases, as well as cardiovascular and stroke-related topics. Aamer has an impressive track record of research and analysis projects, with successful publications in renowned platforms such as the American Heart Association and the International Stroke Conference. His research on cannabis and its relationship with stroke has garnered significant media coverage, further highlighting his contributions to the field.”

Speaker Presentation

Mayara Thais Moreira, Biotechnology Institute, Universidade de Caxias do Sul, Brasil.

Mayara Thais Moreira is working in  Biotechnology Institute at Universidade de Caxias do Sul, Brasil. She has published many research paper related to Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Diagnosis and Treatment.

Speaker Presentation

Evridiki Asimakidou, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

Evridiki Asimakidou studied medicine at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and graduated as the valedictorian in 2020. Afterwards, she moved to Sweden to continue with a master degree in Medical Research at Uppsala University. She spent the second year of her master studies in the USA and conducted her master thesis on glioblastoma immunotherapy at Northwestern University in Chicago. Starting from autumn 2023, she is currently a PhD student at Cambridge University, United Kingdom. During her PhD, she will investigate the immunological basis of Parkinson’s disease.

YRF Presentation

Vijeyata Chauhan, Gautam Buddha University, India

Vijeyata Chauhan is working in Gautam Buddha University, India. She want to abridge the gap between psychology and spirituality and like to answer some of the riddles of life and consciousness. Her aim at contributing towards the field of mental health also, which apparently has become a need of this era. Along with helping people overcome their mental health issues. She had an experience of dealing with patients suffering from various severe mental disorders.

Poster Presentation

Ulziizaya Sodov, National Mental Health Center, Mongolia.

She is one of the young aspiring doctors in Mongolia who is specialized at neurology. She have experience of working as a neurologist for 4 years and occupational health professional for 3 years. At the moment, She work at Intermed Hospital located in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia as an occupational health physician and neurologist at the same time.

YRF Presentation

Miss Elina Tsigeman, National University Higher School of Economics, Russia

Ms. Elina Tsigeman studied Psychology at the Tomsk State University, Russia and graduated as MSc in 2019. She worked at several universities in Russia and collaborated with international research teams from the UK and Germany to study personality, academic achievement and individual differences. In 2022, she joined the research group of Olessia Koltsova at the Laboratory for Social & Cognitive Informatics, National University Higher School of Economics, Saint-Petersburg, Russia.

YRF Presentation

Shubh Gulati, Gautam Buddha University, India

Ms. Shubh Gulati is pursuing her M.Phil. in Clinical Psychology (Batch:2021-2023) from Department of Psychology & Mental Health, Gautam Buddha University, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India. She has done various internships under clinical psychologist and psychiatrist and acquires an excellent skill in conducting psychodiagnostics assessments. She has presented her paper in an International Conference of Indian Academy of Health Psychology in 2022 in the area of Clinical Psychology. She has received a token of appreciation as conference coordinator at during 7^th International Conference of Indian Academy of Health Psychology (7^th-ICIAHP). Her area of expertise has been psychotherapy, psychodiagnostics assessments and counseling techniques.

YRF Presentation

Aakriti Varshney, Gautam Buddha University, India

Ms. Aakriti Varshney is currently pursuing Ph.D. Psychology (Specialization in Clinical Neuropsychology) from Deptt. of Psychology & Mental Health, Gautam Buddha University, Greater Noida. Her area of expertise has been Neuro-Cognition, Neurofeedback Therapy, Neural Entrainment Therapy and Brain Fingerprinting Technique. She has published various research papers and book chapters in the area of neurofeedback therapy and clinical psychology. She has participated in various International and national conferences, workshops and seminars. She has also published a patent on the topic: Method and System for Investigating Psychopathology with Brain Fingerprinting Technique (BFT).

YRF Presentation

Ms. Somya Singh, Gautam Buddha University, India

Somya Singh completed her Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology from Lucknow University in 2018. She furthered her studies with an M.Phil in Clinical Psychology from Gautam Buddha University, Greater Noida, in 2023. During her M.Phil, she underwent clinical training at various Psychiatry departments.

YRF Presentation

Pragya Singh, Department of Psychology & Mental Health, India

Ms. Pragya Singh is pursuing her M.Phil. in Clinical Psychology (Batch:2021-2023) from Department of Psychology & Mental Health, Gautam Buddha University, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India. She has done various internships under clinical psychologist and psychiatrist and acquires an excellent skill in conducting psychodiagnostics assessments. She has presented her paper in an International Conference of Indian Academy of Health Psychology in 2022 in the area of Clinical Psychology. She has received a token of appreciation as conference coordinator at during 7^th International Conference of Indian Academy of Health Psychology (7^th-ICIAHP). Her area of expertise has been psychotherapy, psychodiagnostics assessments and counseling techniques

Speaker Presentation

Aamer Mohammad, Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, USAFatma Rana Yilmaz ,Nile University of Nigeria College of Health Science, Nigeria

Fatma Rana Yilmaz is currently pursuing her medical studies at the Nile University of Nigeria College of Health Science in Abuja, Nigeria. Her academic focus lies in the field of neuroscience, with a specialization in neuroinflammatory diseases and neurodegenerative diseases. She actively engages in research and analysis projects related to these areas.Aamer Mohammad holds a Doctor of Medicine degree from Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences in India. He specializes in neuroscience, focusing on neuroinflammatory diseases and neurodegenerative diseases, as well as cardiovascular and stroke-related topics. Aamer has an impressive track record of research and analysis projects, with successful publications in renowned platforms such as the American Heart Association and the International Stroke Conference. His research on cannabis and its relationship with stroke has garnered significant media coverage, further highlighting his contributions to the field.”

Poster Presentation

Masaki Kakeyama, Laboratory for Environmental Brain Science, Waseda University Faculty of Human Sciences, Japan

Dr. Kakeyama studied Neuroscience at Waseda University and received Ph.D. in 1995. Researcher at National Institute for Environmental Studies, Japan for 8 years, assistant professor at Tokyo University for 8 years, and in present, professor of Waseda University Fucluty of Human Sciences. Paper Count: 70, Citation Count:2891.

Abstract:

Cognitive flexibility is the ability of adapting to an ever-changing environment, and is demonstrated by making full use of memory, experience and knowledge with paying close attention to ever-changed environment. It declines with aging and impaired in early stages of dementia. However, traditional animal experiments, even in dementia study, have focused on simple memory tasks that involve remembering and recalling inorganic conditions, whereas rodents can also shows extremely good cognitive performance by using its own prior knowledge. We have developed multiple behavioral test methods using touch-screen operant apparatus and IntelliCage apparatus. A common feature of the two analysis systems is that experimental animals are rewarded by showing the correct behavioral sequence based on spatial cues, and the difference is that touchscreen apparatus requires a very small distance to move, while IntelliCage apparatus requires a distance of several hundred steps. By using these systems, we have found that probiotic treatment with a mixture of Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis LKM512 and arginine improved cognitive flexibility in young and middle aged mice, indicating probiotic treatment might contribute prevention and delay of onset of dementia. Alzheimer’s model, APP knock-in mice were found to be inhibited performance of cognitive flexibility even at the aging stage when they showed identical performance of memory score with control mice. These results strongly suggest the importance of cognitive flexibility as an index of dementia.

Keywords: cognitive flexibility, mental schema, Alzheimer’s disease

Acknowledgements: This works is supported in part by Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research from Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (19H01152, 20H00575, and 23H00522 to M.K.), Brain Mapping by Integrated Neurotechnologies for Disease Studies (Brain/MINDS) Grant from Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (JP19dm0207079h to M.K.).

Video Presentation:

Lori Verton, Arachnoiditis & Chronic Meningitis Collaborative Research Network (ACMCRN), Canada

Lori Verton BSc RCPT graduated from Western University in Ontario Canada in 1988. She worked from that time until 2000 as a Registered Cardiopulmonary Technologist. She began working as a Clinical Research Associate in Respirology at Queens University in Canada from 2001 to 2010 before retiring due to disability caused by Arachnoiditis. Since 2016 she has completed a number of rare disease leadership and development certificates, including rare disease leadership training and research development courses from EURODIS, Beacon Findacure and others. In 2017,

Lori co-founded ACMCRN with 2 others in the Arachnoiditis community. Its vision is to better the lives of those with Arachnoiditis. Its mission is to provide peer support, patient and provider educational materials and to lead an international research program, inviting global Arachnoiditis researchers to work together in a collaborative effort to advance quality research into the condition.

Lori has previous experience as a Director and entrepreneur including as a Director of a Community Health Center board, and as a member of a municipal committee on Disability and Inclusion. She has owned a small media and publishing company

Poster Presentation

Yousef Hawas, Faculty of Medicine, Tanta University, Gharbeya, Egypt

Mr. Yousef is an MBBCh candidate at the Faculty of Medicine, Tanta University, Egypt. He joined the medical research group of Prof. Ahmed Negida in Massachusetts, USA. He is an official member at the American Academy of Neurology and the European Academy of Neurology. He has published 3 articles this year and more than 15 manuscripts are still under the peer-review process.

Abstract:

Introduction

Around 30% – 40% of patients with epilepsy continue to experience seizures despite the currently available treatments [1]. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has emerged as a promising non-invasive neuromodulation approach for treating refractory epilepsy. This study aims to provide a comprehensive examination of the safety and efficacy of tDCS in patients with refractory epilepsy.

Material and Methods

Following the PRISMA guidelines, PubMed, Ovid MEDLINE, Embase, EBSCO, Scopus, Cochrane Central, and WOS (Web of Science) were searched from inception until June 2023 to identify relevant RCTs. Search results were compiled in Rayyan [2]. Data were extracted and analyzed with RevMan web software [3]. Variables such as electrodes location, current intensity, number of sessions, duration of stimulation, frequency and duration of epilepsy, and complications were extracted. Pooled mean difference was calculated for change in seizure frequency (SF), and number of Interictal epileptiform discharge (IED) at four and eight weeks. Cochrane ROB-II was used to assess the quality of the included studies.

Results and Discussion:

We included 8 RCTs with a total of 242 patients. Compared to the sham group, tDCS patients had a significantly lower seizure frequency at four and eight weeks of follow-up (MD= -4.72, 95% CI [-6.80, -2.65] P < 0.05) and (MD = -3.39, 95% CI  [-6.07, -0.72], P < 0.05), respectively. The IED was observed to decline at 4 weeks of follow-up (MD = -5.35, 95% CI  [-7.70, -2.99], P < 0.05). The reported adverse events were not serious. It includes only mild itching and erythematous rash that resolved spontaneously.

Conclusion

It was found that tDCS significantly reduced SF and the number of IED. However, there was heterogeneity in the SF at eight weeks of follow-up. Future large RCTs with a standard clear informed stimulation protocol are needed further to promote tDCS therapy in the management of refractory epilepsy.

Keywords: Refractory Epilepsy, Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation, tDCS, Quantitative synthesis