Scientific Program

Day 1 :

Keynote Forum

Gabriele Saretzki

Newcastle University, UK

Keynote: Telomerase activators improve motor function and protein degradation in a mouse model of Parkinson’s Disease (PD)

Time : 9:45 - 10:30

Biography:

Gabriele Saretzki has completed her PhD 1990 at Humboldt University Berlin and performed most of her postdoctoral studies at the Institute for Ageing. Health in Newcastle upon Tyne (UK) where she is a Lecturer in Ageing Research since 2002. Her main interests are telomeres, telomerase, senescence, ageing, oxidative stress, mitochondria, stem cells and brain. She has pioneered work on non-canonical functions of the telomerase protein TERT shifting her focus recently to brain ageing and neurodegenerative diseases. She has published more than 88 papers in peer-reviewed journals and is an editorial board member of BMC Biology, PloS One and Oxidative Medicine and longevity.

Abstract:

While telomerase maintains telomeres in dividing cells, its protein component TERT (Telomerase reverse transcriptase) has various non-canonical functions such as localisation to mitochondria resulting in decreased oxidative stress, apoptosis and DNA damage. The TERT protein persists in adult neurons while telomerase activity is downregulated early during development (Ishaq et al., 2016).

We recently demonstrated increased mitochondrial TERT protein in hippocampal neurons from Alzheimer’s disease (AD) brains and mutual exclusion of pathological tau and TERT protein. Transduction of mutated tau into cultivated neurons confirmed that TERT decreases mitochondrial oxidative stress and lipid oxidation (Spilsbury et al., 2015). Mitochondrial dysfunction is also involved in the development of other neurodegenerative diseases.

Treatment of PD model mice (Masliah et al., 2000) overexpressing human wild-type alpha-synuclein with 2 telomerase activators (TA Science Inc., USA) resulted in increased TERT expression in brain and amelioration of PD symptoms by significantly improving balance, gait and motor function as well as mitochondrial function.

Analysing levels of total, phosphorylated and aggregated alpha-synuclein we found a substantial decrease of all these protein forms in the hippocampus and neocortex suggesting a better protein degradation after telomerase activator treatment. Interaction of TERT with proteasomal and autophagy pathways has been described recently. Accordingly, we have preliminary data showing a decrease in poly-ubiquitinated proteins and the autophagy receptor p62 and analyse the involvement of these degradation pathways currently.

Thus, our results suggest that telomerase activators might form a novel treatment option for better degradation of toxic proteins in neurodegenerative diseases such as PD and AD.

Keynote Forum

Felix Cantarovich

Argentine Catholic University, Argentina

Keynote: Serious health crisis to be resolved: The organ shortage

Time : 10:50 - 11:35

Biography:

Félix Cantarovich is an associate professor of Medical Sciences Buenos Aires at Catholic University Argentina. He is a Professor of Nephrology at University Lyon France. He also serves as a Professor and Director Course of Transplantology at Catholic University Argentine. He was a Former Chief Nephrology at Dialysis Transplantation Central Hospital Cosme Argerich Buenos Aires. He was a Consultant of Transplantation and Intensive Care at Hôpital Necker in Paris, France. He also served as a Councillor and Chairman of Educational Committee International Society Organ Sharing. He was a Chairman of Scientific Committee International Congress Transplantation, 2002. He was a Secretary at Latin American and Caribbean Transplantation Society. He is also a President of Argentine Transplantation Society.

Abstract:

Organ Transplantation benefits society, changing death on life. Evidence suggests that transplantation medicine might be a health guarantee for society. However, organ shortage limits this possibility. The progress of transplantation medicine has generated the need for novel methods and government support to implement, without restriction, this society’s benefit. This advance in medical practice should lead to new health programs that should be different from those currently offered. The transformation of death into life, which is what organ transplants symbolize, requires the end of a human being. Knowledge and acceptance of an unexpected metaphor, “transforming death into life”, should be acknowledged by health decision makers and understood by the people. An increasing number of patients are unjustly dying each year while waiting for a donated organ.

This reality evidences that society’s response to donation is still inadequate and that the organ shortage dilemma is still present. In the analysis of the causes of this social behaviour towards donation, it is rational to consider that social education programmes, permanently structured under the slogan "donation is a gift of life", have not been successful in changing people’s feelings towards organ donation. It should be noted that fear of death, mutilation, distrust of medical teams, and religious uncertainty, currently suggested as the main barriers to donation, have never been considered in the evaluation of current educational methodologies. People's acknowledgement of slogans such as “throughout our lives we are all potential recipients of organs and tissues”; “the body after death is a unique source of health for all”, and the catchphrase “sharing the donated organs could be a social agreement” that could potentially be useful when developing new criteria to structure organ donation social education. Finally, curricular organ donation education of young people might be an important contribution to a solution to this critical problem.

  • Neuropsychiatry | Neurophysiology | Rehabilitation and Mental Health | Neurological Treatments
Location: Prague, Czech Republic
Speaker

Chair

Felix Cantarovich

Argentine Catholic University, Argentina

Speaker

Co-Chair

Gabriele Saretzki

Newcastle University, UK

Session Introduction

Bc.Vojtech Hlavacek

Academy of Science of Czech Republic, Czechia

Title: Inflammation in psychiatric disorders and what to do about it?
Biography:

Bc.VojtÄ›ch Hlaváček is a passionate student of neuroscience focusing on inflammation and development of psychiatric disorders. He is focusing on improving our daily experience with reality, because that is all we have. Because of that, he is creating a Czech podcast Brain We Are CZ, where he shares his expertise and original concepts that he came up based in principles from neuroscience.

Abstract:

Statement of the Problem: Psychiatric disorders are becoming an increasing problem and possess a socio-economic burden on societies worldwide. There has been an association between inflammation and psychiatric disorders for some time now, but the causal relationships and mechanisms are not fully understood yet. Better understanding of those mechanisms could help us in dividing patients into different mechanistic subtypes which could react differently to a treatment. That way we could prescribe the most effective treatment depending on the mechanism involved. Inflammation is sensitizing an individual to react in more pro-inflammatory fashion to a stressor leading to chronically inflamed states. This is something that we can observe in an array of mechanisms, which creates many positive inflammatory feedback loops. Those feedback loops are very hard to interrupt, because they reinforce each other, plus the immune system is overreacting to subsequent stressor creating a vicious cycle. This could potentially lead to development of neurodegenerative diseases. As it turns out, physical activity acts on several of those mechanisms involved in inflammatory feedback loops at the same time, making it an ideal prevention/treatment candidate. It plays a huge role in regulation of inflammation in anti-inflammatory manner and might be one of the ways to prevent and treat patients with psychiatric disorders such as major depressive disorder as well as neurodegenerative diseases. This thesis is going to explore relationship between inflammation and mental health. Possible causal relationships between inflammation and psychiatric disorders will be discussed. Mechanisms involved in inflammation regulation, effects of physical activity and inflammation induced pathology observed in psychiatric disorders will be described.

Peter J Marcer

Royal Chartered British Computer Society, UK

Title: Nilpotent quantum mechanics, NQM, nature's IT; How brain's work occam's razorwise!
Biography:

Peter Marcer has always worked in a highly innovative technological & managerial capacity at the cutting edge of computer systems development. In '82 with the advent of VLSI, he began a consulting career & the pursuit of some original ideas in regard to the thermodynamics of computation to how human brains might work. This has resulted in some 80+  often peer reviewed journal publications & continues today,  via various serendipitous academic & scientific society collaborations including the EU '98-'99 Pathfinder Project on Quantum Computing resulting in 30 million euros for potential EU university qubit projects. In particular he is a founder & chair of the British Computer Society Cybernetic Machine Specialist Group, with its meetings  programme of from '92-15 Saturday & International Symposia. And he is still active Fellow FBCS of the Royal Chartered British Society.

Abstract:

Feynman's prescient '62 Caltech paper 'There's always room at the bottom' inspired my '84-85 case  (1) that 'the ultimate form of the laws of physics is set by the nature of the thermodynamics of computation, so that the universality and unity of physical law achieved, could & now does solve in the form of Nilpotent Quantum Mechanics NQM (2-5) not only the riddles of cosmology & elementary particle physics, but those of molecular biology and intelligence including machine intelligence. For conceived, defined & reformulated by Rowlands' & Diaz 2002 crucial key discovery, the universal nilpotent computational rewrite system UNCRS language L defining NQM (4), has an extensive peer reviewed history of much prior & on-going independent & collaborative research often well tested by experiment. UNCRS provides a definition of Natural Intelligence, including but distinct from AI/machine intelligence, in terms of the computational principles by which a sentient being may make sense of a quantum universe (2)(3)(5)(6). One that results in a sentient physical architectural hierarchical evolution of intelligence, creativity and consciousness (7), Nature's IT, of a neuron-brain/glia-mind/microtubule-self by means of an autononmous self-governed cosmological thermodynamics of entirely novel states of matter, as in K.G.Wilson's 1982 Nobel Prize renormalization group approach (8), entirely emergent from a totally degenerate state of 'dark matter' to provide a theory that treats the physical cosmos/universe at all times as single indivisble whole, all that exists – its automorphisms.

Andrea Patterson

Relief International, Turkey

Title: Disability status, physical rehabilitation and mental health needs of refugees living in four cities in Turkey (Istanbul, Gaziantep, Kilis, and Reyhanli)
Biography:

Andrea Patterson is the Country Director of Relief International in Turkey. She is a humanitarian response worker with over 12 years of professional work experience in managing complex program portfolios at post conflict and humanitarian response settings. She has been working in assistance for Syrian refugees in a variety of countries, overseeing innovative programmatic activities and improving the lives of refugees. She holds a  Master of Science in Public Health, a Master of Arts in Human Security and Peacebuilding, and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science.

Abstract:

Background: Turkey hosts 3.6 million Syrian refugees. Access to health care is difficult with inadequate awareness of available services, language and insufficient cultural sensitiveness representing the main barriers. The burden on expenditures by the mental and psychological consequences of conflict/displacement is high; and war injuries and poor management of chronic conditions have left many refugees with disabilities. Anxiety, grief and social isolation are prevalent in people with disability.

Methodology: Utilizing a mix methods approach RI has measured prevalence of disability among Syrian refugees in four cities in Turkey to evaluate refugees’ health security status and needs. Disability, MH issues including anxiety and depression were calculated trough the Washington Group questions and key informant interviews.

Results: RI plans to present results from four needs assessments8 and the trends on MH and PR in the centers currently supported in Turkey. Results showed a higher disability prevalence than WHO estimation (15%), with a pick (28%) in Reyhanli. Prevalence of physical impairments and MH disorders was higher in Istanbul (19%), the south showed higher depression and anxiety. Istanbul and Reyhanly had the highest ratio of disability related to war. Despite the needs, the percentage of refugees not accessing services was high in Istanbul (20%) and Kilis (24%).

Conclusions: Results demonstrate the burden of MH and disabilities among refugees and documenting needs will serve for advocacy purposes to establish inclusive services.

Amal Mokeem

King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Center, KSA

Title: Microelectrode recording and deep brain stimulation
Biography:

Amal Mokeem is a Consultant Clinical Neurophysiologist at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre, Saudi Arabia. She has been in the Arab Board – Dec 2003 and Saudi Board – Feb 2004. She has done Pediatric Neurology Fellowship at King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia during 2004-2006, at British Columbia’s Children’s Hospital, Canada during 2006-2007, Clinical Neurophysiology EEG Fellowship at British Columbia’s Children’s Hospital, Canada during 2007- 2008, Clinical Neurophysiology Intraoperative Neurophysiology Monitoring (IOM) Fellowship at Vancouver General Hospital, Canada (2008-2009) and Neurophysiology and Deep Brain Stimulation Fellowship at Lahey Clinic/ Tufts University, USA (2009-2010). She is having 2 Publications and gave more than 10 International Presentations.

Abstract:

Introduction: Microelectrode recording (MER) Defined as Neurophysiological Technique that detect and amplifies the activity of Individual Single Neural Units.
Mechanism of Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS):
• HFS suppresses the activity of STN, STN neurons discharge spontaneously at a frequency of ~ 20 Hz.
• PD they became hyperactive with an average firing ~ 40Hz.
• DBS HFS at >100Hz, STN will increase firing during the initial stimulation period after which they will fail to respond secondary to inactivation of Na+ channels, result in synaptic inhibition.
• This stimulation induced activation of inhibitory presynaptic terminals result reduction of pathologic activity and its transmission, and subsequent improvement in information processing high likely responsible for amelioration of motor symptoms during DBS.
 
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved DBS as a
treatment for:
• Essential tremor in 1999
• Parkinson's disease in 2002
• Dystonia in 2003
Methods: Ptients slection criteria is important. A number of stimulation techniques may be performed during movement disorder surgery. Used either:
• To asses’ side effect (proximity to structures wish to avoid)
• To assess the potential clinical effect of chronic
stimulation.
Conclusion: Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) is safe procedure.
It is safety Greatly depend on:
• The quality of the instruments.
• The method of stereotactic planning.
• The experience of the surgical and neurophysiology
team.
Complication of Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) could be Numbness, tingling, Symptomatic subdural hemorrhages, Infection, Hardware issues.

Andrea Patterson

Relief International, Turkey

Title: Post rehabilitation impact on Syrian refugees with lower limb amputation through post donation analysis and monitoring survey (NSPPL Reyhanli)
Biography:

Andrea Patterson is the Country Director of Relief International in Turkey. She is a humanitarian response worker with over 12 years of professional work experience in managing complex program portfolios at post conflict and humanitarian response settings. She has been working in assistance for Syrian refugees in a variety of countries, overseeing innovative programmatic activities and improving the lives of refugees. She holds a  Master of Science in Public Health, a Master of Arts in Human Security and Peacebuilding, and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science.

Abstract:

Background: Turkey hosts more Syrian refugees than any other country. As of Sep 2019, 3.6 million Syrian refugees were registered with the Government of Turkey (UNHCR). A large number of the refugees have settled in Turkey’s southeastern provinces of Åžanliurfa, Hatay, Kilis, and Gaziantep. The 2019 Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO) reports that 45% of surveyed persons injured during the Syria crisis are expected to sustain a permanent impairment (e.g. amputation, spinal cord injury, brain injury). According to NHO 2017, 53% of injuries were due to explosive weapons. Relief International is supporting the National Syrian Project for Prosthetic Limbs in Reyhanli (Turkey) in terms of organizational capacity building funded by ECHO. Responding to the critical, lifesaving rehabilitation needs among all refugees eligible for services by the Government of Turkey. The center is providing prosthetic devices to refugees with lower limb amputations with capacity of 20-25 devices monthly. Nearly 80% of the beneficiaries are war-related injuries, out of them 18% are females.

Post rehabilitation impact on Syrian refuges with lower limb amputation is seeking to collect and analysis of information provides a gathered from the beneficiaries through surveys and focus group discussions that includes quantity and quality indicators that aim to monitor the functional improvements by using functional Independence Measure and Amputee Mobility Predictor during assessment, discharge and follow up session after 45 days of discharge date.

Methodology: The methodology for this assessment is based on a mixed method design, which includes qualitative and quantitative tools. The tools utilized to assess and measure beneficiaries’ improvement. The universe sample is the beneficiaries who received full prosthesis device in the first quarter of 2019 and sample was 16 beneficiaries (with confidentiality interval 95% and margin of error 5%, and using random sampling), but unfortunately survey team reached only 11 beneficiaries.

Results: RI plans to present the results of the post donation analysis and monitoring survey. Results showed that all the surveyed beneficiaries reported they were ready to use the prosthetic devices and the majority of beneficiaries (82%) using donated prosthetic devices after discharge, and 78% of the respondents reported improvements in walking. On the other hand, 73% of the surveyed beneficiaries said that their prosthetic devices did not match their expectations, and 82% of the beneficiaries had some kind of problem with their devices after discharge.

Conclusions: RI will utilize the finding of the survey to adapt the technical and programmatic support to physical rehabilitation centers supported by RI to improve in performance, and to share this experience with other physical rehabilitation centers in Turkey.

 

Halil Anlar

Tepebasi Oral and Dental Health Hospital, Turkey

Title: Treatment of oroantral fistula with buccal fat pad; Report of 8 clinic cases
Biography:

Halil Anlar is a PhD scholar in the department of doctor of dental surgery at
Tepebasi Oral and Dental Health Hospital in Turkey.

Abstract:

Background: Because the roots of the maxillary posterior teeth are close to the antral cavity, there may be a relationship between oral and antral cavities during the extraction of maxillary posterior teeth, excision of cyst tumors in the maxillary region, resulting from maxillofacial trauma or implant treatment. If this relationship is not closed, oroantral fistula may occur with symptoms such as pain, bad taste and smell, changes in sound, and food coming out of the nose. Various techniques have been described in the literature for the closure of oroantral relationship. One of these is the "buccal fat pad graft" described by Egyedi in 1977.

In this case series study, we reported our experience with the buccal fat pad graft technique, the advantages and disadvantages of the technique, and the complications encountered after the procedure.

Patıents and Methods: 4 patients with root fracture displaced to maxillary sinus during the extraction, 2 patients with residual cyst that close the antral cavity and 2 patients who applied to our clinic after tooth extraction at different centers with advanced oroantral fistula.

Conclusion: Normal healing was observed in all 8 patients and none oroantral fistula occured recurrence. Buccal fat tissue flap is a simple, fast and effective oroantral fistula closure method that can be preferred instead of buccal flap in which the height of buccal sulcus is reduced or palatal flap made by secondary healing.