26^th International Conference on Neurology & Neurophysiology April 04-05, 2022 Rome, Italy

Biography:

Reshu Gupta currently serving as an Associate Professor in Department of Physiology, RUHS College of Medical Sciences, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India with a total of 12 years of teaching experience in public and private medical colleges. She presented research papers in various national and international conferences, 20 full text papers published in indexed national and international journals. She is also Member editorial board and reviewer in journals of medical education

Abstract:

Meditation had long been believed to possess a multitude of putative beneficial effects which it could bestow upon its practitioner, but it was not until the 1960’s that scientific exploration into the process began. Rigorous increase in randomized controlled trials on mindful interventions has been observed in the past two decades. It has been shown, with increasing evidence, to harbor a myriad of positive effects, a few including, but not limited to, stress reduction, cognition enhancement, an increase in memory, boosted intelligence, etc. Such profound positive influences have led to it being rather commonly deployed to promote general health and treat stress and stress related conditions. Meditative modalities are broadly classified as those stressing on mindfulness, concentration or automated self-transcendence. Certain popular modalities such as transcendental meditation follow the use of a mantra such that one transcends to a state where focused attention is absent. In contrast, others such as mindfulness based stress reduction are based on present focused awareness or mindfulness. While it is not clear if these differences influence the result of practice, all classes are broadly considered ‘meditation’ and studied as such. The session shall aim to give a brief introduction to the world of meditation followed by discussion of the increasing evidence of mindfulness intervention by reviewing the effects of mindfulness interventions on reducing stress levels and boosting cognitive function along with the psychological and neurobiological mechanisms of such interventions, with an aim to provide a robust understanding of the process involved in the benefits of practicing mindfulness, as well as a concise insight into the process of meditation.

Biography:

Bilal Zafar graduated from Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) and practiced his skills and earned exclusive expertise in Sindh Government Lyari General Hospital where he served as a House Officer (HO). Currently he serves as Psychiatry resident at Liaquat National Hospital (LNH), Karachi Pakistan, Editor in-chief at MEDizzy Journal UK, Global Executive Member at Oli Health Magazine Turkey, and i-act manager for mental health certified by Royal College of Psychiatrists, UK

Abstract:

The continuous and intense obsession with sexual ideas, urges, and behaviors that results in clinically significant distress or impairment of professional, interpersonal, or social functioning is known as compulsive sexual behavior (CSB). Both the type of behavior and the frequency with which it occurs vary substantially in human sexual engagement. Recurrent and strong sexually stimulating fantasies, sexual desires, and practices that affect an individual's regular functioning are all signs of compulsive sexual behavior. Trichophilia is a type of sexual obsession for hair, specifically human hair. The patient had one of the most unusual manifestations of trichophilic hyper-sexuality, with significant despair and problems managing daily life. The root reason was shown to be excessive masturbation to the senses of thought, sight, smell, and touch, and feel of female scalp hair since childhood. Early in the process of sexual development, hyper-sexual tendencies might well be identified. Masturbation develops early in males with hyper-sexual condition, which distinguishes them from healthy ones. People with hyper-sexual tendencies are more likely than others to suffer from anxiety disorders and depressive disorders as compared to the normal individuals.

Conclusion: This case study emphasizes the importance of thoroughly analyzing instances of depression for possible hyper-sexual behavior to the point of sexual compulsivity, especially when a paraphilic inclination is present.

Importance: The majority of depression research and clinical treatment revolves around physical, mental, emotional, financial, or environmental stresses. A person suffering from depression is frequently considered to have succumbed to some external influence. Furthermore, little thought is given to the possibility of internal harming behaviors. If study can trace such naturally occurring behaviors, their associations, and prevention, it will be a remarkable discovery

Biography:

Amit Tak, MD, Mathematical and Computational Physiologist, was born in Ajmer, India. He did his Bachelor in Medicine and Surgery in 2005 from JLN Medical College, Ajmer, MD (Physiology) -2019 from SMS Medical College, Jaipur, India, and PG Diploma in Statistical Techniques – 2019 from IGNOU, India. He served as a Commissioned Officer in Indian Amry for seven years. Then he taught nonlinear dynamical systems and Computational Neuroscience at the Centre for Converging Technologies, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur, India. Also worked in software development as a Medical Scientist at ICMR, Bengaluru, India. Presently he is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physiol at RVRS Medical College, Bhilwara, India, and involved in a multicentric project aimed at developing Brain Function Index apparatus to neurologically evaluate cognition in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru.

Abstract:

Non-linear dynamical (NLD) approach was used to understand the behavior of neuronal excitability at the level of cells and microcircuits. The NLD analysis necessitated mathematical models, computation, and simulation. Reduced models of action potentials were used to improve computational efficiency. At higher levels of the brain organization, derivation and validation of mathematical models is non-trivial. Instead of focusing on empirical models, we performed data-driven NLD analysis to visualize the behavior of complex systems like the brain. In the present study, we used visual P300 time series of EEG recordings from Cz and Pz electrodes to evaluate the differential dynamics of males and females during attention and working memory tasks. The study was conducted with ethical approval at St John’s Research Institute, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India (n=25; males=13, females=12) in healthy normal adults. The data were acquired with a Neuroscan 64-channel EEG system (NATUS), using its in-built visual stimulation (STIM2) and data acquisition (CURRY8) systems. Data pre-processing was done using EEGLAB, and visual P300 components for attention and working memory were calculated using ERPLAB. Vector fields were plotted using MATLAB on a phase plane for Cz and Pz channels for NLD analysis. The mean differences between visual P300 were compared using the Mann-Whitney U test at each time point. NLD analysis was focused on the regions showing statistically significant differences between males and females. The results are very preliminary. Researchers tried to analyze the vector fields qualitatively as well as quantitatively. Considering the two-dimensional phase plane, the points where trajectories intersect might be saddle points and orbits corresponding to limit cycle oscillations. However, the original system is of higher-order and characterized by chaos on strange attractors, where trajectories intersect on two dimensional phase space. Further search for metrics has been continuing, including measurement of Liapunov exponent and fractal dimensions.

Conclusion: In this study, researchers analyzed differential NLD parameters in males and females. However, the patterns and metrics derived from NLD analysis might help in the diagnosis and classification of neurological diseases. As the study capture trajectory of one event, researchers cannot analyze phase portraits, nullclines, bifurcations.

Biography:

Muneera Al-Wahedi is Yemeni nationality. Her major research interest is Psychotherapy-Ph.D. Psychosocial Childhood Studies-MSc. She worked in a number of universities and organizations such as UNICEF. Currently working as an international Lecturer at the University of Utara Malaysia.

Abstract:

The Arabic-speaking culture has its own perceptions that are incompatible with the structure of electronic cognitive behavioral therapy, which makes the results of its use as a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder resulting from exposure to childhood sexual abuse do not achieve the recognized desired result. Some adaptive frameworks have been suggested based on the individual experiences of the therapist, but this article describes a framework for developing e-CBT and has been tested in randomized controlled trials. The study describes the process of adaptation and details the methods used and the areas that should focus on adapting CBT to the Middle East and North Africa culture, especially with regard to the concepts related to sexual assault issues that are instrumental in the development of sexual abuse trauma into PTSD. A quantitative quasi-experimental clinical was conducted with a standard comparison between the pre and post-test of the adaptive program. Electronically structured therapy sessions were conducted with 160 out of 274 participants after the homogeneity test was performed. The participants in the sample aged 15-45 years, including 15 males and 145 females, underwent 12 treatment sessions. The collected data were analyzed using the T-test and ANOVA. The results showed that there is a significant decrease in PTSD symptoms in the post-treatment phase compared to the pre-treatment test in the dual means difference (0.38053, T = 22.718, with P = 0.000). More research is required to advance in this area because cultural adaptation alone cannot improve the results of e-CBT. Access to evidence-based psychosocial interventions for sexual abuse concepts, including cognitivebehavioral therapy, needs to be improved for culturally adaptive interventions to achieve their full potential.

Biography:

Bhoopendra Patel currently working as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physiology at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bilaspur (H.P.). He delivered lectures as guest faculty for Cognitive Neuroscience (B.Tech. /M.Tech.) from 2018 to 2019 at Centre for Converging Technologies, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur (Rajasthan).

Abstract:

The Human Mind, functional aspect of Human Brain, has been envisaged to be working on the tenets of Chaos, a seeming order within a disorder, the premise of Universe. The armamentarium of Human Mind makes use of distributed neuronal networks sub-serving Sensorial Mechanisms, Mirror Neurone System (MNS) and Motor Mechanisms etching a stochastic trajectory on the virtual phase-space of Human Mind, obeying the ethos of Chaos. The informational sensorial mechanisms recruit attentional mechanisms channelising through the window of chaotic neural dynamics onto MNS that providing algorithmic image information flow along virtual phase- space coordinates concluding onto motor mechanisms that generates and mirrors a stimulus- specific and stimulus-adequate response. The singularity of self-iterating fractal architectonics of Event-Related Synchrony (ERS), a Power Spectral Density (PSD) precept of electroencephalographic (EEG) time-series denotes preferential and categorical inhibition gateway and an Event-Related Desynchrony (ERD) represents event related and locked gateway to stimulatory/excitatory neuronal architectonics leading to stimulus-locked and adequate neural response. The contextual inference in relation to stochastic phasespace trajectory of self- iterating fractal of Off-Center 𝛂 ERS (Central)-On-Surround 𝛂 ERD-On Surround 𝛉 ERS document efficient neural dynamics of working memory., across patterned modulation and flow of the neurally coded information

Biography:

Mariana Bolivar brings 9 years of experience at the intersection between health, development and international cooperation, in modalities North-South, South-South, Multilateral and Public Private Partnerships. Before joining MQ, she co-led a pilot project in Colombia called MASUNO, addressing mental health inequalities and information overload in the pandemic through customer service technology. Completely powered by virtual volunteers, in less than a year MASUNO was consulted by 53,000 people and provided psychological support to 112, while also establishing collaborations with 17 organisations. It was recognised in the map of pandemic innovations of COVID Innovations, the Inter-American Development Bank and OPENIDEO. She previously worked at the BMJ (British Medical Journal Publishing Group) as Project Manager of a $13 million USD program funded by the US Government and implemented in Vietnam, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Georgia, Jordan and Iraq. This project capitalized on digital learning technologies to improve clinical skills for detection and management of infectious diseases

Abstract:

Background: Mental health research is ripe for investment. Globally, only 4% of all research funding between 2015 and 2019 was spent on mental health research. Moreover, while anxiety and depression arise in adolescence, only one-third of investment into mental health research relates to young people, the vast majority of this from HIC, based on assumptions from these countries and scarcely translatable into other contexts. Only 4% of published mental health research originates from LMIC, where most of the world’s youth is at. The traditional translational research pathway, from basic research to human studies, to patients, to practice and lastly to wide populations takes around 17 years, and even longer to reach people in LMICs. While increasing the volume of financing is clearly part of the solution, there is a fundamental question about what are the most important areas to direct research for it to have global impact? Method: The purpose of the presentation is to share the methodology developed by MQ to orient research towards the most needed, impactful and viable areas of research across the care continuum (promotion of mental wellbeing, prevention, detection and treatments), as well as the most appropriate types of research (basic, translational, implementation), with an applied example on youth anxiety and depression globally. This with the aim to help the science community to direct their research efforts to the areas with highest potential. A conceptual and prioritisation framework was developed integrated eight guiding questions in three key dimensions. The first one is unmet needs, addressing 1.1. Attribution of prevalence, 1.2. Disparity of need and 1.3. Availability of interventions. The second dimension is impact potential, addressing 2.1. Breadth of impact and 2.2. Depth of impact. The third dimension is scale up potential, addressing 3.1. Viability across contexts, 3.2. Public policy relevance, and 3.3. Funding interest. An umbrella review, or systematic review of reviews was conducted to summarise the evidence on youth anxiety and depression in young people (aged 10-25), capturing research on depression, anxiety, or jointly depression and anxiety. The evidence was assessed against each of the 8th dimensions, and identified knowledge gaps and areas of future research. The review was complemented with cross-sectoral stakeholder consultations to further refine and orient decisions.

Result: In youth anxiety and depression, the research prioritisation methodology identified significant discrepancies between the areas of focus of current research, and the areas that are most directly linked with the areas with most unmet needs, impact potential and scalability potential. Promotion of mental wellbeing and preventative approaches were identified as a main priority. However, currently only 7% of global mental health research is focused on prevention, detection-diagnosis receive 5% and treatments receive 17%. This totals to 29% of research focused in the care continuum. In contrast, 56% of research is focused on aetiolog and underpinning factors. There is wide consensus and causal evidence showing that socio-economically disadvantaged youth, school absentees, people with marginalised gender and sexual identities, and neurodiverse populations face more risk factors for anxiety and depression, have worst mental health outcomes and face more barriers to access mental health support. However, there is almost no research into selective and indicative preventative approaches targeting these ‘at risk groups’, and very little evidence on promotional or universal preventative approaches. The types of questions that seem more urgent from a global perspective, and particularly of LMIC, are in the realm of implementation science and last steps of translational science, such as cross-cultural validity, cost-effectiveness, and improvement of access to interventions. The methodology was valuable as a robust and agile framework to orient research towards the areas with most potential. Its use was successfully piloted to orient decisions in research for youth anxiety and depression and it is currently being used to prioritise areas of research in suicidality. It has potential to be tailored and replicated in other mental health areas, with the final goal of enabling mechanistically informed strategies that are successful at scale to address global mental health challenges.

Biography:

Kalliopi Megari is an experienced psychologist working in the hospital & health care industry. She is a lecturer at University of Western Macedonia in Greece. Skilled in Clinical Neuropsychology, Clinical Research and Learning Disabilities. Graduated from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and attended further education from University of Macedonia, in people with special needs and disabilities. She holds undergraduate degrees in Nursing and Psychology, as well as a Master’s and a PhD in Neuropsychology from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. She has many years of experience working with chronic disease patients as well with people with disabilities. Her work has earned her many prestigious international awards. She has given lectures at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and University of Warsaw. She is postdoctoral researcher and has published more than 10 research articles in journals. She is the Global Engagement Representative of International Neuropsychological Society, secretary general and member of the Ethics Committee of Hellenic Neuropsychological Society.

Abstract:

Psychology has a critical role in fighting the hesitancy of people to get vaccinated. Psychological factors for vaccination intention, highlight the variables related to positive and negative attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccination. Studies show that people's interpretations of the origin of the virus were important with the people who believe that the virus was created in the lab to be powerless and more concerned about the possible sideeffects of the vaccines something negatively associated with their vaccination intention. The source of vaccine recommendation was relevant to vaccination intention with people's vaccination intention to be highest if the vaccines were recommended by health professionals, and secondly by friends and the government, and the media (Lo et al., 2021). There must be insights into developing communication strategies to effectively promote vaccination intentions. There are psychological, social, and situational factors on intent to commit with a COVID-19 vaccine (Butter et al., 2021).

Biography:

Felix-Martin Werner studied human medicine at the university of Bonn. He has been working as a medical teacher in the formation of geriatric and general nurses, occupational therapists and assistents of the medical doctor at the Euro Academy in Pößneck since 1999. He has been doing scientific work at the Institute of Neurosciences of Castilla and León (INCYL) in Salamanca (Spain) since 2002. With Prof. Rafael Coveñas, he assisted at over 30 national and 12 international congresses of neurology and published over 60 reviews about neural networks in neurological and psychiatric diseases. In 2017, they published the e-book: Classical neurotransmitters and neuropeptides involved in chizoaffective disorder: focus on prophylactic medication. Since 2014, Dr. Werner has belonged to the editorial board of the Journal of Cytology & Histology.

Abstract:

Schizophrenia is a chronic mental illness with a genetic etiology in 80% of the cases. In the last years, about 260 risk genes in schizophrenia have been discovered and correlations between risk genes and the therapeutic efficacy of an antipsychotic treatment/pharmacotherapy resistance have been reported. In schizophrenia, important risk genes, such as catechol-O-methyl transferase (COMT), monoamine oxidase (MAO A/B), glutamic acid decarboxylase 67 (GAD 67), dysbindin-1 and neuregulin-1 will be mentioned. To describe the function of these risk genes, neural networks in the ventral tegmental area, hippocampus and prefrontal cortex will also be developed. An association between the SNPs of some risk genes and the efficacy of a specific antipsychotic treatment is reported: SNPs such as rs165599 (COMT gene), rs1801028 (D2 receptor gene) and rsSer9 Gly (D3 receptor gene) are associated with a better antipsychotic treatment efficacy (e.g., treatment of negative schizophrenic symptoms with risperidone). The rs4680 SNP (COMT and D2 receptor genes) is associated with pharmacotherapy resistance. The function of risk genes is described: COMT and MAO A/B genes, with reduced activity in the corresponding enzymes, are associated with a decreased dopamine degradation and hence dopamine hyperactivity occurred via D2 receptors. The GAD 67 risk gene is linked with GABAergic dysfunction and consequently GABAergic neurons weakly presynaptically inhibit D2 dopaminergic neurons. The D-amino acid oxidase activator (DAOA) risk gene is connected with glutamatergic dysfunction via NMDA receptors. Glutamatergic neurons might exert a weak presynaptic inhibition upon 5- HT2A serotonergic neurons located in the ventral tegmental area and hippocampus. Neural networks in the latter two regions and in the prefrontal cortex are updated. It is important to examine the SNPs of the risk genes involved in schizophrenia to establish a correlation between these SNPs and the efficacy of a determined antipsychotic drug. Thus, schizophrenic patients with a good response to a determined antipsychotic treatment and patients with resistance to this treatment might be well differentiated.

Biography:

Maryna Skok has completed her PhD at the age of 26 years and defended her Doctor of Science theses from Palladin Institute of Biochemistry, Kyiv, in 2006. She is the Head of Laboratory of Cell Receptor Immunology in Molecular Immunology Department at Palladin Institute of Biochemistry. She has published about 100 papers in reputed journals and has been serving as an editorial board member in Frontiers of Immunology (Inflammation). She is a Member of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine since 2018.

Abstract:

COVID-19 caused by SARS-Cov-2 infection affects multiple organs and tissues including the brain. PostCOVID patients often suffer from cognitive disorders like depression, intellectual weakness and memory loss. The fragment 674-685 of SARS-Cov-2 spike protein is homologous to the fragment 27-37 of α-cobratoxin underlying its interaction with α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) known to be involved in memory and cognition. Both in silico and biochemical studies demonstrated direct interaction of 674-685 spike protein fragment with the portion 179-190 of α7 nAChR. We immunized mice with 674-685 peptide coupled to a protein carrier and observed a decrease of episodic memory measured in novel object recognition test starting from day 14 after initial immunization that coincided with the first peak of (674-685)-specific antibodies in the blood. The antibodies of such specificity were also found in the brain of mice sacrificed on day 14 after the second immunization. The antibody presence was accompanied with the decrease of α7 nAChRs and increased levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1β and TNFα in the brain. Choline prevented (674-685)-specific antibody binding to BSA-coupled (674-685) peptide indicating that the antibody could bind choline. When injected regularly in (674-685)-immunized mice choline prevented memory loss and the decrease of α7 nAChRs in the brain. Finally, the antibodies specific to (674-685) spike protein fragment were detected in the blood of COVID-19 patients 2 to 3 months after recovery and their level depended on the severity of the disease. The data obtained allow suggesting that post-COVID memory impairment is caused by the antibodies directed to (674-685) fragment of SARS-Cov-2 spike protein. Choline treatment/consumption may be helpful to overcome neurological post-COVID complications