As part of the Week of the Brain 2024 festival, which took place from 11 to 17 March 2024, the Faculty of Medicine in Hradec Králové prepared two events for the public concerning the most complex organ of the human body. This year's 25th edition offered a theoretical lecture on memory, which participants of the workshop on brain jogging could practice the following day.
On Tuesday, 12 March 2024, in the seminar room in the Na Hradě building, there was a lecture by Dr. Filip Caisberger from the Department of Neurology of the Faculty of Medicine in Hradec Králové and the University Hospital Hradec Králové. The topic was memory disorders and what to do about them.
In a completely full auditorium, the doctor explained the risk factors for Alzheimer's disease and other memory disorders, what to watch out for and what can be improved regarding memory at different stages of life. It is advisable to study as much as possible at a young age, in middle age to watch out for obesity and hypertension, and even at an older age it is important to take regular physical exercise and avoid smoking, for example. Certain vitamins have a positive effect, but sedentary lifestyles are a risk. Next, Dr. Caisberger explained how memory is examined and that memory and attention problems are two different things. Finally, the visitors could try to test their memory practically.
A day later, on Wednesday 13 March 2024, the lecture was followed by a workshop by memory trainer Mgr. Gabriela Holečková from the Study and Research Library in Hradec Králové.
Visitors were given practical advice on how to remember the common shopping list and the tricky names of medicines. Mgr. Holečková explained that pictures are easier to remember than words, it is good to engage as many senses as possible, because as she aptly noted: "What does not pass through the senses does not enter the mind." Mrs. Holečková also pointed out that the problem is sometimes more with attention and concentration than with memory.
Thank you to Dr. Filip Caisberger and Mgr. Gabriele Holečková for their time and willingness and to all participants of the lecture and workshop for their attendance and active participation. We look forward to seeing you again in March 2025 at other events within the 26th Brain Week.
In 2023, the Faculty of Medicine in Hradec Králové joined the festival of the Czech Academy of Sciences Week of the Brain. On Wednesday, 15 March 2023, it held a debate with experts on the topic of how to deal with pain. It took place in the large hall of the Bio Central cinema. The invitation to the debate was accepted by Assoc. Prof. Zbyšek Pavelek from the Department of Neurology, Dr. Karel Kulda from the Department of Anesthesiology, Resuscitation and Intensive Medicine and Prof. Přemysl Mladěnka from the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the Faculty of Pharmacy in Hradec Králové of CU.
At the beginning of the debate, the trio of experts presented their work and the scope of their professional departments and how it relates to the topic of pain. Subsequently, together they answered many questions of about a hundred visitors. Among the questions, the topic of migraine dominated - how to recognize it, how it arises, how to prevent it and how to control it with medicines available in the pharmacy, but also with medicines of natural origin. The audience also asked about the use of medicinal cannabis in the treatment of pain, the possibilities of treating chronic pain, how to recognize pain of psychosomatic origin, how to deal with drug addiction, what new discoveries have been made in recent years in the field of pain treatment or even how to treat so-called phantom pain.
As part of the Week of the Brain 2022 festival, which ran from 14 to 20 March 2022, the Faculty of Medicine in Hradec Králové prepared a talk and panel discussion for the public and an evening of board games for its staff and students.
On Tuesday, 15 March 2022, a discussion about healthy sleep was held in the seminar room in the building Na Hradě. Dr. Vratislav Sedlák from the Centre for Sleep Disorders and biorhythms at the University Hospital Hradec Králové talked about, among other things, how much sleep is necessary for the regeneration of our physical and mental activity, how our sleep cycle works, how common sleep disorders are and how they are treated, how changing work shifts affects us or how blue light affects our sleep. The doctor also answered questions from the audience, for example about the sleeping patterns of babies or eating food before bed and its effect on sleep quality and overall recovery.
On Wednesday, 16 March 2022, a panel discussion of five experts from the Faculty of Medicine in HK and the University Hospital HK took place in the large hall of the Bio Centrál cinema. The event was entitled What to eat and drink to keep our brains fit and was held both in person and online.
Invited to the discussion were: Prof. Miroslav Kuba from the Department of Pathological Physiology, Dr. Tomáš Soukup the Department of Histology and Embryology, Dr. Julius Šimko from the Department of Neurology, Dr. Pavla Staňková from the Department of Physiology and Dr. Vojtěch Erbrt from the Department of Psychiatry. Thanks to the large audience in the art cinema hall and online at the live broadcast on YouTube, the discussion was really varied and continued after the main part.
On Thursday, 17 March 2022, the faculty has prepared a light-hearted programme in the form of DeskoWellness for students and staff of our Faculty and their enthusiastic friends. The fun evening of board games was attended by several professional gamers from the Poutník Board Game Club in Hradec Králové, who introduced the participants to some new games and strategies from their wide gaming portfolio.
For epidemic reasons, Week of the Brain was conducted online in 2021. The Faculty of Medicine in Hradec Králové prepared a live broadcast for the public on the Faculty's YouTube channel on three topics.
Faculty of Medicine in Hradec Králové
Charles University
Šimkova 870
500 03 Hradec Králové
Czech Republic, Europe
Phone: +420 495 816 111
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