Lou Gehrig’s Disease or Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a collection of rare neurological diseases that affect the motor neurons that control the voluntary muscle movements. ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative illness that affects the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. ALS is a disease that belongs to a wider group of disorders that are known as motor neuron diseases. This is caused by gradual deterioration and the death of motor neurons. ‘Amyotrophic’ comes from the Greek roots that mean ‘without nourishment to muscles’. ‘Lateral’ means ‘to the side’ and refers to the position of the destruction in the spinal cord. ‘Sclerosis’ means the hardening of the spinal cord.
ALS was founded in 1869 by Jean-Martin Charcot and ALS is
sometimes referred to as the Charcot disease. However, the disease was brought to global attention in 1939 by Lou Gehrig, hence the name of the disease. Charcot discovered ALS through careful work and scientific observation. Charcot and his associate Joffroy conducted studies from 1865 to 1869. The term ‘amyotrophic lateral sclerosis’ was not given by Charcot until 1874 when his lectures were accumulated into a collection of his opus. ALS is produced by several different causes, for examples, genetics and environmental factors. Scientists have found mutations in the SOD1 gene that have been associated with other cases of ALS but are not certain that the gene influences the cause of the disease. Since then, scientists have found more than a dozen genetic mutations. Scientists have also researched the impact of environmental factors that could possibly cause ALS such as toxic exposures or infectious agents, viruses, diet, physical trauma and behavioural and occupational factors. ALS affects the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. The motor neurons in the body reach from the brain, to the spinal cord, to the muscles in the body. The ongoing disintegration of the motor neurons from ALS caused many motor neurons to die which causes the ability of the brain to commence and control the movement of the muscles is lost. Patients are usually left paralysed and incapable of functioning properly. ALS causes muscle twitches in arms, legs, shoulders and the tongue, muscle cramps, tight and stiff muscles or spasticity, muscle weakness affecting an arm, leg, diaphragm or neck. ALS can also cause slurred and nasal speech and difficulty swallowing or chewing. ALS may appear in the arm or the hand as they might have trouble performing simple tasks such as buttoning a shirt, writing or turning a key in a lock. Sometimes, the symptoms may affect a leg and people may suffer awkwardness in walking and running or find that they are stumbling more often. The symptoms of ALS may affect facial muscles, swallowing and speech. ALS is not usually considered painful. If motor neurons in the lower spinal cord are involved, movement in the torso, neck and limbs may become affected or lost. ALS is a disease that eventually taking away the ability to walk, dress, write, speak, swallow and breathe. The life expectancy for a person with ALS is about two to five years, however some people can live for five or more years as ALS is a variable disease. Supportive care and advanced technology in nutrition and breathing can prolong life. There is no cure for ALS, but treatment can sometimes help to prevent unnecessary complications, control symptoms and make life with the ALS easier but cannot stop or reverse the development of ALS. Medications like riluzole and edaravone have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for treatment. Treatments can include medication, physical therapy such as walking, swimming and stationary bicycling, speech therapy, nutritional support and breathing support.
The overview definition of Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is defined in the Medical Dictionary for Allied Health as a “progressive degenerative disease of the lateral columns of the spinal cord leading to weakness paralysis and death (Breskin, 2008).” This definition is brief but by looking at this one helps to better define the disease, which follows. ALS is also known as Lou Gehrig disease the progressive destruction is of the motor neuron this results in muscular atrophy. The nerve cells effected are from the brain to the spinal cord and the spinal cord to the peripheral these are the nerves that control muscle movement. ALS affects muscles that are controlled by conscious thought, this includes arms, legs, and trunk muscles. ALS leaves sensation, thought processes, the heart muscle, digestive system, bladder, and other internal organs unaffected.
There is no cure for ALS at this time and treatment is focused on management of the symptoms, involving a combination of physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech, respiratory, and nutritional therapies. Moderate exercise may help maintain muscle strength and function. Drugs can also treat excessive saliva and drooling, and speech therapy can help compensate for loss of muscular control of the mouth. As the disease progresses and muscular degeneration spreads throughout the body, various devices may provide support, such as ankle braces, neck collars, reclining chairs, wheelchairs, and hospital beds. Respiratory support and feeding tubes are required when the person loses cont...
Lou Gehrig's disease is often referred to as Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), this is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. Motor neurons come from the brain to the spinal cord and from the spinal cord to the muscles throughout the entire body. The progressive degeneration of the motor neurons in ALS would eventually leads to their death. When the motor neurons die, the ability of the brain to initiate and control muscle movement is also lost. With voluntary muscle action progressively affected, for this reason patients in the later stages of the disease may become totally paralyzed (Choi, 1988).
Lewy body dementia (LBD) is a progressive dementia and the second most common type of dementia after Alzheimer's disease dementia. Protein deposits, called Lewy bodies, develop in nerve cells in the brain regions involved in motor control such as, thinking, memory and movement (Mayo Clinic). LBD has similar symptoms with both Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease and is often misdiagnosed. Of particular note, Robin Williams suffered from this debilitating disease which lead to his suicide in 2014. It was not discovered until his autopsy three months after his death.
performance that involves, but is not limited to, a loss in at least 2 of the
Alzheimer’s disease, named after Dr. Alois Alzheimer, is a disease that is on the rise in America and the rest of the world. People should learn as much as they want about this disease, because as you age, your chances of becoming an Alzheimer’s Disease, or AD, patient increases. It is estimated that approximately 3 percent of Americans between the ages of 65 and 74 have the illness, and more than half of all people over age 85 have the ailment.
A piece of well-oiled machinery consists of an intricate and complex system: there are well-organized processes, mechanisms within the device work efficiently, and multiple processes function simultaneously to subsequently perform various functions. What happens when there is a glitch in the machine? When there is something wrong, such as connections between intricate processes, which do not follow through, the machine fails to function properly. In some cases, there are not any adjustment or fallback mechanisms. At that point, the damage can be irreversible and the machinery is no longer salvageable. [However, this can illustrate the interactions and processes within the complex machinery.]
Alzheimer’s disease is a complex illness that affects the brain tissue directly and undergoes gradual memory and behavioral changes which makes it difficult to diagnose. It is known to be the most common form of dementia and is irreversible. Over four million older Americans have Alzheimer’s, and that number is expected to triple in the next twenty years as more people live into their eighties and nineties. (Johnson, 1989). There is still no cure for Alzheimer’s but throughout the past few years a lot of progress has been made.
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, is a degenerative disease affecting the human nervous system. It is a deadly disease that cripples and kills its victims due to a breakdown in the body’s motor neurons. Motor neurons are nerve cells in the brainstem and spinal cord that control muscle contractions. In ALS, these neurons deteriorate to a point that all movement, including breathing, halts. Muscle weakness first develops in the muscles of body parts distant from the brain, such as the hands, and subsequently spreads through other muscle groups closer to the brain. Such early symptoms as this, however, can hardly be noticed.
Alzheimer’s disease or AD is an incurable disorder of the brain that results in loss of normal brain structure and function. In an AD brain, normal brain tissue is slowly replaced by structures called plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. The plaques represent a naturally occurring sticky protein called beta amyloid and in an Alzheimer’s brain, sufferer’s tend to accumulate too much of this protein. Neurofibrillary tangles represent collapsed tau proteins which, in a normal brain along with microtubules, form a skeleton that maintains the shape of the nerve cells. In Alzheimer’s disease, the tau proteins break loose from their normal location and form tangles. Without the support of these molecules, nerve cells collapse and die. As normal brain structure is lost with progression of the disease, brain function also degenerates. Patients afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease display a gradual mental decline. Initially, and most apparently, there is a loss of short-term memory. Eventually, as a patient progresses to later stages of the disease, the brain becomes so damaged that patients can no longer communicate or recognize immediate family or even themselves. They have difficulty walking and standing and frequently fall. In the final stages, they lose bladder and bowel control and have difficulty with swallowing, frequently leaving them malnourished and dehydrated. Eventually, they are forced to remain bedridden and, without the help of life-prolonging measures provided in a hospital, die. However, this level of deterioration is severe and may take as long as twenty years. Because of the disease’s slow progress and its usual later start in a person’s life, a victim of AD will usually die first of natural causes. Under the objectives ...
In this day and age, it seems as though almost everyone has experience a loved one taken away form a very serious disease known as Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s disease is unbelievably devastating for everyone affected by it. This disease is causing major economical problems such as less occupancy in the nursing homes, and hospitals due to the rising population of elderly men and women being diagnosed with it everyday. Because there is not yet a cure for this disease and the percent of the population being diagnosed keeps rapidly rising, more time and money needs to go towards Alzheimer’s research.
Alzheimer's Disease Introduction to Alzheimer's Alzheimer's disease is a progressive, degenerative disease of the brain. It was first described by the German neuropathologist Alois Alzheimer (1864-1915). in 1905. This disease worsens with advancing age, although there is no evidence. that it is caused by the aging process.
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ASL), Lou Gehrig’s disease, a brutal, unforgiving illness of the neurological system with no known cure.
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a neurological disorder that affects roughly one in 200,000 people (DiDonato et al., 2003). As such, ALS is among the most common neurological disorders found in humans. It typically occurs mid-life and kills motor neurons, which leads to paralysis and death. Most cases of ALS do not show a genetic linkage. However, five to ten percent of cases are, in fact, inherited in an autosomal recessive manner (DiDonato et al., 2003). This inherited ALS is referred to as familial ALS (FALS), and twenty percent of these cases are connected to mutations in the SOD1 gene.
This is a neurodegenerative disease, meaning it results in progressive loss or death of neurons. It often starts off with effecting simple motor skills like writing and holding things, after a few months usually patients start losing the ability to walk, talk, or move any of their limbs. Although the brain trauma is what causes it, ALS has little-no-effect on the brain. This fatal disease is typically diagnosed around age 60 and most patients are given about 3-5 years to live after being diagnosed. It has been found that 10% of cases are shown as genetic. It was brought to attention that athletes were beginning to get diagnosed with ALS at a younger age than most. After extensive research in the early 2000’s, Brain Analyst, Dr. Mckee ran tests and finally came to the conclusion that the toxic proteins in the brains of ALS patients were coming from repeated blows to the head. It was then made evident why so many athletes in contact sports such as football, soccer, boxing, etc… were being diagnosed at such a young age and more frequently than