Rehabilitation professionals must be astute at recognizing, assessing, and treating individuals with cognitive deficits. No research is available to examine cognitive rehabilitation practices applied to individuals with neurological conditions in Kuwait. Objectives of this study were to identify the use of cognitive assessments, the availability of resources, and the barriers to cognitive rehabilitation practices in Kuwait. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with health care professionals working with adult individuals with neurological conditions. These professionals included occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, psychiatrists, and neurologists. Results of this study showed that the most commonly used cognitive based assessments are MMSE (41%), and MoCA and LOTCA (15.2%). The only clinical assessment used is the Line-Bisection Test (2.2%). The most used occupation-based assessments are FIM (6.5%), COPM (4.3%), the Interest Checklist (2.2%), and the Barthel Index (2.2%). Resources related to cognitive rehabilitation in Kuwait that are unavailable to practitioners include journal clubs (91%), special interest groups (89%), and continuing education programs (82.6%). Barriers to cognitive rehabilitation practice included lack of sufficient funds for continuing education, lack of time, lack of standardized assessments, and lack of interprofessional teamwork. Conclusion many adults in Kuwait live with cognitive impairment. There is a need to develop appropriate evidence-based cognitive rehabilitation clinical guidelines in Kuwait.

Culturally relevant non-pharmacological approaches to optimize the functioning of African Americans living with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), reduce caregiver burden and provide person-centered care practices are urgently needed. African Americans have a disproportionately high rate of AD, experience a high-rate of AD-related health disparities, and are underrepresented in AD research. Music interventions are low-cost interventions with benefits reported in previous studies including improvements on measures of anxiety and depression, agitation, mood and autobiographical memory recall. African drumming may be particularly beneficial for African Americans living with AD. Our presentation will provide the preliminary results of an open trial whereby we have pilot tested and determined the feasibility of the African Drumming for Dementia intervention for community dwelling African Americans with early stage AD (N= 30) and their caregivers (N=30). The aims of this novel pilot project were to: 1.) assess the feasibility and acceptability of the African Drumming for Dementia intervention; 2.) assess psychosocial outcomes for persons living with early-stage AD including: mood, quality of life, self-esteem and self-efficacy; and 3.) assess the following psychosocial outcomes for caregivers: caregiver burden, mood, quality of life, self-esteem and self-efficacy. Our results provide preliminary evidence that the African Drumming for Dementia intervention is a culturally meaningful therapeutic mechanism that can address measurable improvements in psychosocial outcomes for African Americans with AD and their caregivers

Math-physical medicine approach (MPM) utilizes mathematics, physics, engineering models, and computer science in medical research. Initially, the author spent four years of self-studying six chronic diseases and food nutrition to gain in-depth medical domain knowledge. During 2014, he defined metabolism as a nonlinear, dynamic, and organic mathematical system having 10 categories with ~500 elements. He then applied topology concept with partial differential equation and nonlinear algebra to construct a metabolism equation. He further defined and calculated two variables, metabolism index and general health status unit. During the past 8.5 years, he has collected and processed 1.5 million data. Since 2015, he developed prediction models, i.e. equations, for both postprandial plasma glucose (PPG) and fasting plasma glucose (FPG). He identified 19 influential factors for PPG and five factors for FPG. He developed the PPG model using optical physics and signal processing. Furthermore, by using both wave and energy theories, he extended his research into the risk probability of heart attack or stroke. In this risk assessment, he applied structural mechanics concepts, including elasticity, dynamic plastic, and fracture mechanics, to simulate artery rupture and applied fluid dynamics concepts to simulate artery blockage. He further decomposed 12,000 glucose waveforms with 21,000 data and then re-integrated them into three distinctive PPG waveform types which revealed different personality traits and psychological behaviors of type 2 diabetes patients. Furthermore, he also applied Fourier Transform to conduct frequency domain analyses to discover some hidden characteristics of glucose waves. He then developed an AI Glucometer tool for patients to predict their weight, FPG, PPG, and A1C. It uses various computer science tools, including big data analytics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence to achieve very high accuracy (95% to 99%).

Around 5% of the 850,000 people diagnosed with dementia are individuals diagnosed with early onset dementia and it is Murphy’s law that my husband happens to be one of the small percentage of individuals (1) Dementia does not discriminate and affects any person, any race, culture, religion, political affiliation (2). It affects everyone, young and old. My experience as a nurse spans 26 years. All the time and experience that I have gained in nursing and caring as a professional can never prepare you for the personal experience of caring for a loved one with dementia. This session gives a brief personal account of Michelle’s personal experience in caring for her husband who was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia at the age of 45. It will show her children, age 9 and 14 have had to grow up beyond their years, how their roles have reversed from being kids that are looked after by two parents to caring for their dad. It aims to to help carers prepare for what is ahead; looking at both the professional and personal perspective giving practical solutions, pushing personal values and boundaries, challenge mindsets of nursing care and dealing with acceptance and even grief even when your loved one is still alive and also find the balance of still being an individual as well as a carer.

Lecithin (phosphatidylcholine analogue) is a good source of choline in the treatment of cognitive dysfunction. Rofecoxib, a selective cox-2 inhibitor belongs to non-steroidal anti-inflammatory class of drugs. Berberine, an isoquinoline alkaloid is reported to exhibit antioxidant effect and cholinesterase (ChE) inhibitor activity. Aim is to investigate the neuroprotective potential of choline enrichment carrier lecithin along with rofecoxib and berberine in ICV-STZ induced cognitive dysfunction in rats. Animals received single bilateral ICV injections of STZ (3 mg/kg). Drug galantamine (2 mg/kg) used as, standard care and lecithin (100, 200 & 400 mg/kg), berberine (50 & 100 mg/kg) and rofecoxib (10 & 20 mg/kg) was administered for a period of 21 days. Various neurobehavioral parameters bodyweight, locomotor activity, Morris water maze, Elevated plus maze was evaluated, followed by biochemical (oxidative stress parameters), AChEs level, molecular (TNF-α level), mitochondrial respiratory enzyme complexes (I-IV) and histopathological (H&E staining) evaluations. In this study, we found that single bilateral ICV-STZ administration significantly impaired cognitive performance on MWM test, increased oxidative stress markers (raised lipid peroxidation, nitrite concentration, reduced glutathione, catalase activity), increased AChE level and neuroinflammation (increased TNF-α levels) and causes mitochondrial dysfunction and histopathological alterations as compared to sham. Chronic combination treatment of lecithin (200 & 400 mg/kg) with berberine (50 & 100 mg/kg) and rofecoxib (10 & 20 mg/kg) for 21days attenuated spatial learning and memory (MWM performance) with reduced transfer latency and increased TSTQ, reduced AChEs activity, oxidative damage, TNF-α level, restored mitochondrial respiratory enzyme complex (I, II, III, IV) activities and reduced histopathological alterations in ICV-STZ treated rats as compared to their effect alone. The present study suggests that Lecithin potentiates the protective potential of berberine and rofecoxib against single bilateral ICV-STZ induced cognitive dysfunction in rats