The Effects Of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis ( Als )

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

In some people with ALS, the parts of the brain that allow us to think, remember, and learn also are affected by the disease (Labby).

ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) or Lou Gehrig’s Disease is a classified as a degenerative neurological disorder that inhibits motor neurons in the spinal cord and brain to function properly. This disease eventually results in paralysis and imminent death over a period of time. ALS patients have anywhere from a few months, to a couple years to live after diagnosis since their nervous systems are slowly destroyed, rendering the body useless, and sustaining life impossible.

Lou Gehrig’s Disease Thesis: Weakness in the hands, arms, legs or slurred speech. Imagine having these symptoms and not knowing what is wrong. Then the most dreaded words are uttered, “You have Lou Gehrig’s Disease”. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), or other wise known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, is a disease that attacks muscles and brain cells. “ALS was first found in 1869 by French neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot,but it wasn’t until 1939 that Lou Gehrig brought national and international attention to the disease” (About).

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a terminal disease that degenerates the nerves in the brain and spinal cord. Motor neurons run from the brain, through the spinal cord, and into the muscles of person; this is what allows a person to have control over voluntary movement. When an individual is diagnosed with ALS, their motor neurons begin to degenerate, thus eradicating their ability to walk, eat, and eventually breathe.

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.

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

ALS, better known as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, is considered as a complex genetic disorder, in which multiple hereditary and environmental factors combine to cause this disease. This is seen as an illness of parts of the nervous system that control voluntary muscle movement. In ALS, the motor neurons (nerve cells that control muscle cells) are gradually lost. When these motor neurons turn out to be lost, the muscles they control become weak and ultimately nonfunctional. We see that “amyotrophic” is rooted in Greek origin meaning without nourishment to muscles and refers to the loss of signals nerve cells normally send to muscle cells. “Lateral” simply means to the side and refers to the location of the damage in the spinal cord. “Sclerosis” means hardened and refers to the toughened nature of the spinal cord in advanced ALS. This progressive neurodegenerative disease, that was first discovered 150 years ago, is associated with a life expectancy of approximately three years after symptom onset. In the United States, ALS is also known as Lou Gherig’s Disease, named after the Yankees Baseball player who passed away because of it in 1941. In the United Kingdom and other parts of the world, it’s often referred to as motor neuron disease in reference to the cells that are lost in the disorder (ALS Association, 2015).

ALS stands for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, and is also referred to as Lou Gehrig’s disease. After this disease is contracted, it weakens skeletal muscles and the body is eventually paralyzed. In some cases, ALS affects the limbs first, causing difficulty to move. Due to being a progressive condition, patients will suffer from many different symptoms as time goes by. After being diagnosed, only about fifty percent of patients live for at least two more years (Facts You Should Know 2010). Moreover, about twenty percent live five years after being diagnosed and only ten percent of people can expect to live for over ten years after the diagnosis (NINDS 2013). This being said, ALS is typically very rare. Approximately two out of one hundred

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) 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.

The brain is a complex organ that controls all of our bodies’ functions. In a normal functioning brain, there are thousands of neurons that lead to the muscles so they can control movement and feeling throughout the body. A rare disease called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) affects these neurons in the brain, specifically in the medulla oblongata and the spinal cord. ALS is a neurodegenerative disease that leads to the inability of the brain to signal muscle movements, which cause the person to be unable to walk, speak, eat or breathe, and ultimately leads to paralysis and death.

There are several factors being explored as potential causes. Because there are familial cases of ALS, gene-related causes are worthy of investigation with the SOD1 (copper-zinc superoxide dismutase) gene being one of greater interest. Mutations in the SOD1 gene have been found in a fifth of familial cases of ALS (Rosen). Mutations to this gene, rather than having a detrimental effect on its own antioxidant enzyme function, appear to cause disease through toxic gain (Shaw). Oxidative stress and increase in reactive oxygen species can cause cell death, and because mutations in the SOD1 gene can allow this to occur, it could be a potential mechanism for ALS neural degeneration (Wijesk).

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects the brain and spinal cord nerve cells. The degeneration of these neurons result in their death, which prevents the brain from initiating voluntary muscle movement. Patients may not experience the same symptoms throughout the phases, early symptoms include difficulties swallowing, breathing, speaking, and increasing muscle weakness. Muscle atrophy occurs and paralysis may result in the later stages of the disease. The cause of ALS is unknown and although there is no cure, current treatment can halt the progression or possibly reverse it (ALS Association, 2010). Many people do not think twice about the early signs and symptoms of ALS, as the disorder progresses, the signs and symptoms can mimic other illnesses. Early signs usually begin in the upper and lower extremities. The patient appears to be clumsy. As ALS progresses, all voluntary muscle movements will be affected. The patient will have difficulty speaking, chewing, swallowing, breathing, and holding their head up. The average person lives 3 to 5 years after diagnosis, death of the motor neurons lead to death of the patient (Mayo Clinic, 2015). ALS is seen more in men than in women and more in Caucasian’s than any other race. Most patients are diagnosed between the ages of 40 and 75 (CDC, 2014).

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease) is considered one of the most common and highly fatal motor neuron disease amongst adults. ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that effects both upper motor neuron (central neuron cells) function and lower motor neuron (peripheral neuron cells) function and usually results in muscle weakness, muscle atrophy, speech and swallowing dysfunctions, progressive paralysis, and possible death from respiratory failure. Spasticity, altered behavior disturbances, dysexecutive impairment, and frontotemporal dementia may also be present with ALS as well. In general, neurons in specific tracts/areas (corticospinal tracts, cerebellum, medulla, pons, anterior horn cells, motor cortex) of the brain and spinal cord undergo marked degeneration and premature cell death which may be caused by a toxic buildup of glutamate but that is only one of many factors that may be

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.