Introduction Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a

ALS is also known as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis is a disease in which the brain, nerves, and spinal cord deteriorate. It attacks every part of the body except the brain. Causing major body malfunction along with muscle weakening. Which includes lack of strength, the ability to move arms, legs and body, eventually you lose the ability to breathe. The average time of life after being diagnosed is two - five years. It was believed to be inherited or maybe an infection. After years of research scientist have found a major

Amyotrophic meaning, “no muscle nourishment” in Greek, lateral meaning where the neurons are in the spinal cord, and sclerosis meaning “scarring.” ALS, often known as “Lou Gehrig’s Disease,” named after the New York Yankee who first brought awareness to the disease in the late 1930’s, is a neurodegenerative disease, which affects the neurons in the brain. The nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that are responsible for sending and receiving motor signals progressively die off, causing the deterioration of simple motor skills in patients with ALS, such as walking, talking, and eventually speaking and breathing, however thinking is not affected by ALS. Early symptoms cause the person to slowly lose mobility of limbs, but in a matter of a few years, the person loses the mobility of most of their body and will eventually lose the ability to eat and breath, which will ultimately cause death. ALS deteriorates the patient's body, however does not affect the patient's state of mind or sanity while the rest of the body shuts down. People usually get ALS between the ages of 40 and 70. However, there is a growing trend where athletes are getting ALS in their thirties. ALS can be contributed to genetic predisposition, which means that the gene that is responsible for ALS is already in the person’s DNA. In recent studies, however, it was observed that individuals who have had suffered multiple concussions or any other head trauma are

ALS is usually diagnosed in people between 40 to 70 years old, and more common among caucasians. “For unknown reasons, military veterans are twice as likely to be diagnosed with the disease than the general public”(ALS association: What Is ALS?). Although, even with this statistic on it, anybody can get ALS. Symptoms for ALS are so generic that they are overlooked most of the time.

There are many factors that may determine how the disease affects an individual. The first factor is how much muscle and fat the victim had before Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis began wasting the muscles away. Smoking has been thought to double a person’s risk of developing ALS, although it has not yet been proven. Military service seems to also have an effect on who contracts ALS. Military men and women have the chance of being exposed to various metals, infections, exertion, chemicals and trauma that can affect the impact of

ALS is more commonly known as Lou Gehrigs disease. The progressive disease poisons the nervous system by a chemical that is released after a blow to the head; this chemical is known as Tou. Tou is released into the brain after a blow, poisoning the nervous system causing body muscles to shut down.

ALS is a disease which is prevent the body from producing normal things. Most people who develop ALS are between the age of 40 and 70, with an average age of 55. The athletes is between 20 and 30. “Lou Gehrig, he was a baseball player, he had ALS in his 30 years old”. “Dou Revie, he was a football player, he had ALS when he was 29”. People who have ALS gradually become more disabled, they can’t walk, speak, eat and anything in

There are two different types of ALS, sporadic and familial. Sporadic ALS is the most common, 90 to 95 percent of people with this disease have sporadic ALS. However, the other 5 to 10 percent of people have familial ALS, meaning it is inherited. People with familial ALS have a 50 percent chance that their offspring will inherit the gene mutation and could possibly inherit the disease. Regardless if it is sporadic or familial, other than the gene being passed along the disease is the same. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), is a neurological disease that mainly involves the nerve cells. Nerve cells are responsible for controlling voluntary muscle movement; such as walking, talking, and eating. However, this disease causes the upper and lower motor neurons to degenerate or die. When

Treatment for ALS is getting closer and closer every day. Although there isn’t a treatment yet there are treatments to slow down the process. “First, there is medicine, Rilutek, which slows the disease progression by decreasing glutamate levels. In addition there are many ongoing Clinical Trials that use agents that target possible causes of the disease. Furthermore, advances in the aggressive treatment of respiratory complications of ALS with noninvasive ventilation and respiratory management as well as aggressive nutritional intervention have provided significant improvements in the morbidity and mortality. Finally, there are symptom specific treatments and a multidisciplinary approach utilizing occupational and physical therapists, speech therapists, nutritionists, and nurse specialists that have led to improved quality of life and maximization of function in the person living with ALS. A review of disease specific treatment, clinical trials, and symptom management follows” Dedicated to the Care and Cure of People with Lou Gehrig's Disease." Treating ALS. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Nov.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) or Lou Gehrig’s disease is a progressive nervous system disease. It constantly destroys the neurons responsible for muscle movements, especially the lower and upper motor neurons. ALS affects the nerves in your brain and spinal cord that controls your muscles. The nerves that are affected eventually break down and disappear. It got the name Lou Gehrig’s disease because of the famous baseball player, Lou Gehrig who died of ALS.

Some things that can cause ALS is a genetic mutation in the SOD1 gene when a baby is born. It can also develop over time. There is no known cure but some things that can help are medication and physical therapy. In most cases, patients die within 2-5 years of being diagnosed.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a neurodegenerative autoimmune disease. This means that the neurons ( nerve cells of the brain and spinal cord), particularly the ones that control voluntary muscles (motor neurons), degenerate and die. Naturally, motor neurons in the brain send signals to the motor neurons in the spinal cord, which in turn, sends signals to the muscles. However, the degeneration and death of these neurons (upper and lower motor neurons) doesn’t allow the body to transmit signals to permit the movement of muscles. This eventually causes the weakening of the muscles, and the brain’s loss of controlling voluntary muscle movement. By this, people lose their ability to speak, walk, and breathe.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis was discovered in 1873 1. Since then, scientists have tried to understand its causes in order to treat it effectively. They discovered the cause of 10% of ALS, the familial ALS, to be genetic causes, but the remainder 90% of ALS, the sporadic ALS, are still idiopathic 1. Thus, they used the concept that ALS is characterized by death or damage of the upper and lower motor neurons to find the causes. They have found several causes that affect the upper or the lower motor neuron such as oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, and cytoskeletal protein defects. Nevertheless, the main cause of ALS is still unknown. Although ALS etiological research has not found the exact cause of ALS yet, it has contributed to discover lifestyle, environmental, and genetic risk factors of ALS.

Neurodegenerative diseases is an umbrella term used to describe diseases of the nervous systems that result in the degradation of neurons in the brain and or spinal cord (CITATION). In the case of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) the body’s motor neurons die in the motor cortex, brain steam and spinal cord because the brain can no longer send signals from the brain to the muscles. Leaving the individuals on a rapid progressive decline in motor function, which ultimately ends in death as a result of the loss of the muscles (paralysis) that preform breathing and coughing and or other respiratory complications that result in death (Redler & Dokholyan, 2012). ALS was first noted in 1869 by a French neurologist named Jean –Martin Charcot

In 1869 French neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot first discovered ALS based on presenting symptoms. He was aware of symptoms that accompanied upper motor neuron damage which was: muscle weakness, stiffness an altered muscle reflexes. He was also aware of symptoms associated with lower motor neuron damage which included: muscle atrophy, twitching and decreased muscle reflexes. Who also observed a decrease in muscles associated with mastication. After studying these symptoms, the “Father of Neurology” termed the disease “Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis”.

A distinctive characteristic of ALS is that although the motor neurons die, the brain, cognitive functions and sensory neurons stay intact (Porth & Matfin, 2009). This makes the disease especially devastating because patients become trapped inside their dying body, with a fully alert mind, but are unable to move. It is not known what causes the exact death of the motor neurons in the body, but “five percent to 10% of cases are familial; the others are believed to be sporadic” (Porth & Matfin, 2009, p.