...Lou Gehrig’s disease or Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, commonly known as ALS, is a neurodegenerative disease that attacks the nerve cells within the brain and spinal cord very quickly. This disease is named after Lou Gehrig, the famous baseball player, who suffered from it as well. Studies show that one can learn what Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis is, understand how it affects the body, and gather the information about treatments to help with the symptoms of this disease. This disease causes weakness in the body and impairs physical function. While living with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, the nerve cells that are in control of movement in muscles slowly die, so the muscles weaken and atrophy. Studies have revealed many causes such as chemical...
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...LS Lou Gehrig’s Disease Samantha Candela Chamberlain College of Nursing NR 283 Professor Hommelson May 28, 2016 Lou Gehrig’s Disease Lou Gehrig’s disease or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is commonly known as ALS. It is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord (2016). The body’s motor neurons reach from the brain to the spinal cord then to the muscles throughout the body. In ALS the motor neurons slowly degenerate eventually leading to a person’s death. When the motor neurons die our brain loses the ability to initiate and control muscle movement. As the neurons die, a person’s body loses voluntary muscle action. This causes people to lose the ability to speak, eat, move and breathe. There are two different types of ALS, sporadic and familial. Sporadic is the most common form of the disease, with 90 – 95 percent of the cases (2016). Familial means the disease is inherited, accounting for 5 to 10 percent of the cases. According to The ALS Association a population study has show that a little over 5,600 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with ALS each year (2016). 60% of the people with ALS are men and 93% are Caucasian. People usually develop ALS between the ages of 40 – 70, but has occurred when a person is in their twenties and thirties (2016). ALS is 20% more common in men than in women. Heredity is also a risk factor with 5 to 10 percent of people with ALS inheriting the disease (Mayo, 2014). A recent study...
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...Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Throughout our lives we learn and discover the world through our self-regulated abilities to ambulate, laugh, hug, consume, and even breath. Yet there is an aggressive disease known as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) that threatens to eliminate our most basic and human capabilities. Over the course of this research paper we will explore various aspects of ALS which include the historical context of ALS, symptoms or characteristics of the disease, causes of ALS on a cellular level, as well as diagnosis and management. In 1869 ALS was first acknowledged by a french neurologist named Jean-Martin Charcot a man historically renowned as the “founder of modern neurology”. However it wasn't until 1939 that...
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...HCS245 TRACIE SHARP Disease in the new: Lou Gehrig's disease Due: Monday, October 1,2012 By: Gabrielle Reina Lou Gerhig’s disease, also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a disease that affects the upper and lower neurons in the brain. This disease will lead to death and there is no known cure for it as of today. There are many treatment options for those who suffer with disease that may help in coping. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis had believed to be a disease that affected motor skills and to be a motor skills disorder but further testing on the disease have shown that disease also attacks the frontal and temporal regions on the brain and areas that do not affect the motor skills. ALS picked up the name Lou Gerhig’s disease after a very well known baseball player died from the disease after a seventeen year career. Along with there being no cure for the disease there has not been much to link the causes of the disease. When patients get a disease like cancer sometimes there are factors that show why and how they could have received this disease but with ALS there have been no shown reasons for why someone would get this disease. Most patients with ALS have no mental disability and fully understand that there is something no correct with how their body is acting. There are about fifteen new cases for Lou Gerhig’s disease a day. The symptoms associated with ALS are very wide ranged but the most common are muscle cramping, depression, and widespread pain...
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...Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is a devastating disease that is caused by the degeneration of motor neurons that affect voluntary movement. This will cause paralysis as the disease progresses and eventually will lead to death. ALS is difficult to diagnose since it resembles many other neurological disorders. It is not known what causes ALS and as of now there is no cure and very limited medications and treatments for those diagnosed with the disease. ALS is a disease that will ultimately make you a prisoner in your own body, mentally alert but unable to move. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. The body uses motor neurons to send information to and receive information from the Central Nervous System. They travel from the brain to the spinal cord and from the spinal cord to the muscles resulting in voluntary movement. ALS will cause these neurons to progressively degenerate. The neurons will no longer be able to send impulses to muscle fibers that normally cause muscles to function. Eventually the brain will lose its ability to communicate with the body and to control muscle movement. There are many types of nerves in the body. ALS only affects the nerves that are responsible for voluntary movements. These movements are mainly controlled by the muscles in the arms and legs. The heart and digestive system are also made of muscle but they under involuntary control. Everything that...
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...Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis or Lou Gehrig’s Disease Frederick Aladad Abstract Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease is a neurodegenerative disease that portrays progressive muscle paralysis, and eventually ends with death. As many as twenty thousand to thirty thousand people in the United States have amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and an estimated five thousand people in the United States are diagnosed with the disease each year (Shiel, 2012). The etiology of the disease is unknown, but it plays a genetic factor. Less than ten percent has been shown to be inherited in families. ALS begins with the client with muscle weakness, stiffness, eventually to paralysis, then death caused by respiratory failure. Dysphagia occurs at onset in about one third of case, although generally it occurs in later stage of the disease (Noh, 2010). The nursing diagnosis is risk for aspiration related to impaired swallowing. Intervention for the diagnosis includes positioning the client in a 90 degree angle while in bed, a wheel chair or a chair. There is no known cure for the disease, but symptoms can be treated. Riluzole is administered to slow the progression of the disease. Pathophysiology Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is a neurodegenerative disease that begins with rapid, progressive muscle weakness. It attacks the neurons that are responsible for moving voluntary muscles. Once the person is diagnosed with the disease...
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...Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis There are many types of diseases that attack the muscles, and doctors are still discovering new ones each day. This year there has been a wide spread of different challenges going around. One of the challenges was the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, this challenged spreaded awareness of the muscle disease Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). ALS has often been referred to as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. It is a progressive disease that affects the nerves in the brain and the spinal cord. The name of this muscle disease may sound really hard to understand, but really it is quite simple. Amyotrophic can be broken down into three parts and looked at separately. “A” means no, “myo” means muscle and “trophic” means nourishment. When these three are put together it means no muscle nourishment. When a muscle has no nourishment, it begins to waste away and become weak. The lateral in the name is stating the position of where the disease is located on the spine. Since it is later this would be the disease is found on the outer sides of the spinal cord. The sclerosis part of the name means the hardening of the muscle in that area. In the body there are motor neurons; which are located in the brain, brain stem, and spinal cord. These motor neurons are control units and communication links between the nervous system and the voluntary muscles in the body. The motor neurons in the brain send messages that are transmitted to motor neurons in the spinal...
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...I have been tasked with writing a paper about amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The ALS Association website has described ALS in a very clear and concise manner and I would like to share that with you know. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. Motor neurons reach from the brain to the spinal cord and from the spinal cord to the muscles throughout the body. The progressive degeneration of the motor neurons in ALS eventually leads to their death. When the motor neurons die, the ability of the brain to initiate and control muscle movement is lost. With voluntary muscle action progressively affected, patients in the later stages of the disease may become totally paralyzed. A-myo-trophic comes from the Greek language. "A" means no or negative. "Myo" refers to muscle, and "Trophic" means nourishment–"No muscle nourishment." When a muscle has no nourishment, it "atrophies" or wastes away. "Lateral" identifies the areas in a person's spinal cord where portions of the nerve cells that signal and control the muscles are located. As this area degenerates it leads to scarring or hardening ("sclerosis") in the region. As motor neurons degenerate, they can no longer send impulses to the muscle fibers that normally result in muscle movement. Early symptoms of ALS often include increasing muscle weakness, especially involving the arms and legs, speech, swallowing or breathing. When muscles...
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...Clinical subjective, objective signs and symptoms of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis are: difficulty walking or tripping; weakness in the leg, feet, or ankle; hand weakness or clumsiness; slurring of speech; muscle cramps or spasticity in the arms, shoulders, and tongue; difficulty holding the head up or keeping a good posture. This ailment usually begins in the hands, feet, or limbs, and then spreads to the rest of the body; as the disease advances, the muscles become weaker. Correspondingly, physicians typically diagnosis ALS based primarily on the symptoms and signs they observe in the patient along with a series of tests to rule out other possible explanations. Physicians will obtain the individual’s full medical history and generally conduct...
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...Alzheimer’s affects the older generation with a gradual increase of symptoms, while ALS (Lou Gehrings Disease) usually affects adults between the ages of 40-60. In this paper you will learn information regarding the statistics, treatments, and survival rates of each of these chronic diseases. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis better known as ALS, I a serious neurological disease that causes muscle weakness, disability, and eventually death. Worldwide ALS occurs in 1 to 3 people per 100,000. In the vast majority of cases -90 to 95 percent- doctors don’t know yet why ALS occurs. About 5 to 10 percent of all ALS cases are inherited. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive disease that destroys memory and other important mental functions. It is the most common cause of dementia –a group of brain disorders that result in the loss of intellectual and social skills. These changes are sever enough to interfere with day to day life. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Alzheimer’s are both neurological diseases that affect different parts of the body. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis affects the limbs, while Alzheimer’s affects are in the brain. Initial symptoms of ALS are obvious muscle weakness usually in the foot, leg, or arm, slurred speech, or trouble swallowing. These symptoms can be seen at the onset of ALS, whereas symptoms of Alzheimer’s often go unrecognized and undiagnosed in the early stages, because the first symptoms...
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...Journal of Medical Sciences Journal of Cancer Theranostics Journal of Genomics PubMed Central Indexed in Journal Impact Factor PDF Int J Biol Sci 2015; 11(5):546-558. doi:10.7150/ijbs.11084 Research Paper Evidence for Fungal Infection in Cerebrospinal Fluid and Brain Tissue from Patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Ruth Alonso1, Diana Pisa1, Ana Isabel Marina1, Esperanza Morato1, Alberto Rábano2, Izaskun Rodal2, Luis Carrasco1 Corresponding address 1. Centro de Biología Molecular “Severo Ochoa”. c/Nicolás Cabrera, 1. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. Cantoblanco. 28049 Madrid. Spain. 2. Department of Neuropathology and Tissue Bank, Unidad de Investigación Proyecto Alzheimer, Fundación CIEN, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid. Spain. How to cite this article: Alonso R, Pisa D, Marina AI, Morato E, Rábano A, Rodal I, Carrasco L. Evidence for Fungal Infection in Cerebrospinal Fluid and Brain Tissue from Patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. Int J Biol Sci 2015; 11(5):546-558. doi:10.7150/ijbs.11084. Available from http://www.ijbs.com/v11p0546.htm Abstract Among neurogenerative diseases, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal illness characterized by a progressive motor neuron dysfunction in the motor cortex, brainstem and spinal cord. ALS is the most...
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...loss of MeCP2 and this is the primary source of neurotoxicity, or that both astrocytes and neurons are affected directly by a loss of MeCP2, but a loss of MeCP2 from glia causes a glial damage response that enhances the initial damage in neurons. The latter scenario has precedence in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; although mutant SOD1 expression in motor neurons is required for disease initiation, neurotoxicity is also produced by damage in the neighboring mutant glia, which facilitates the initiation and progression of the disease44,45. Further in vivo studies are required to distinguish between these possible mechanisms. Toward this end, we are currently generating mouse models in which MeCP2-null astrocytes are produced in a background of wild-type neurons. Preliminary findings suggest that the selective loss of MeCP2 in astrocytes elicits, at least in part, an RTT-like phenotype neurons stimulate damaging responses from glia that then affect the neurons, that astrocytes are affected directly by a loss of MeCP2 and this is the primary source of neurotoxicity, or that both astrocytes and neurons are affected directly by a loss of MeCP2, but a loss of MeCP2 from glia causes a glial damage response that enhances the initial damage in neurons. The latter scenario has precedence in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; although mutant SOD1 expression in motor neurons is required for disease initiation, neurotoxicity is also produced by damage in the neighboring mutant glia, which facilitates...
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...Throughout history there have been an array of diseases and illnesses, everything from the common cold to epidemics that have decimated populations. Medical Science has progressed to the point that many diseases are now treatable, curable, or even extinct. Yet even with this incredible progress there are still many diseases that remain not only without a cure, but without even effective treatments. One of these diseases is amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease as it is commonly known, is a degenerative disease affecting the nervous system and the only outcome is death. Let’s take a look at the symptoms and how the effect they have on ALS patients. The early symptoms are slight and hardly noticed, they are easy for victim’s to ignore and even easier for physician’s to misdiagnosis. Early symptoms include muscle weakness, fatigue, and a heavy or numb feeling in the arms and legs. These symptoms begin slowly as simply dropping things or tripping frequently. Then the symptoms begin to cause a lot more problems that are much more difficult to ignore. Patients begin having trouble with things we do every day without really even having to think much about them. As this disease progresses into the more advanced stages victims experience difficulty with swallowing, breathing will become difficult and leave the patient at high risk for pneumonia and they lose the ability to speak. The only abilities spared by this devasting disease are brain function, eye...
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...Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is often referred to as ALS or “Lou Gehrig’s Disease”. It is a progressive disease where the motor neurons degenerate and die. This causes the brain to not be able to start or control muscle movement. As the disease progresses, the patient becomes paralyzed. ALS is diagnosed through ruling out other diseases. There is no certain test to diagnose it. A patient might go through multiple testing; such as nerve conduction studies, EMG, labs, spinal tap, MRI, and muscle biopsy. A patient will also undergo a neurological exam based on their symptoms. To also be diagnosed, a patient must have symptoms of both the upper and lower motor neuron damage that can not be caused by something else. When a patient first gets ALS, the symptoms may be barely noticeable but as it gets worse then major symptoms show. One of the major symptoms is muscle weakness in either the hands, arms, legs, speaking, swallowing or breathing. There may be twitching or cramping of muscles. As it progresses, there will be shortness of breath. Most die with respiratory failure because the muscles in the diaphragm and chest wall fail. The prognosis for ALS is not good. Half of all people diagnosed live around 3 year after diagnosis. The average life expectancy is 2-5 years. Twenty percent of ALS patients live 5 years, ten percent will live 10 years. There is some evidence that patients are living longer due to medical management. Although there is...
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...Conner Dierksen 11-5-13 CHPA Mrs. Ludaul Rough draft period 1 Lou Gehrigs Disease (ALS) The name of my Disease is Lou Gehrigs Disease or Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS for short a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. The Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis affects the nerve system and causes you to go paralyze and not move. What happens is that the motor neutrons die and you lose all control of your muscles and you cannot move your muscles and then you are paralyze until you die of (ALS).In the next Paragraph I will tell you of the symptoms what you will see if you have (ALS).This is the name of my disease and I hope that this Gave you some information on (ALS). Some of the early sighs of (ALS) are that muscle weakness in one or more of the following: hands, arms, legs or the muscles of speech, swallowing or breathing are some of the early symptoms .Some more of the symptoms are twitching and cramping of muscles; especially those in the hands and feet itch are some more of the symptoms. The most common impairment of the use of the arms and legs, and thick speech and difficulty in projecting the voice. The most advanced symptoms are shortness of breath, difficulty in breathing and swallowing. These are the symptoms of ALS. In the next paragraph I will who discovered this disease And how it was discovered. Jean Marie Charcot noted the first reports of ALS in 1874, and named the fatal...
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