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

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

The two different forms are Sporadic and Familial. The Sporadic ALS makes up approximately 90 to 95 percent of the people who have this disease in the US. The other 5 to 10 percent cases of ALS in the US are made up by Familial ALS. When someone is diagnosed with Familial ALS it means that they inherited it.

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 20,000 new cases of ALS diagnosed each year in the United States. This yields an incidence of 3 per 100,000 (Brown, 2006). There is no known cause for ALS in 95% of patients; however, 5% have an identifiable genetic mutation (Elman, 2016). The disease can present in individuals less than 30 years of age, but peaks between 40 and 60 years of age. Before the age of 65, more diagnoses are made in men; after the age of 65, gender incidence is equal. There is no clear-cut ethnic or racial predisposition in ALS (Ricks, 2016). The lifespan is approximately 3-4 years after diagnosis. However, in 10 % of

This article discusses that there are two ways you can get this disease it is either by Inherited ALS or Sporadic ALS. In all the articles that were read about this disease very few mentioned how this disease is contracted. Researchers say that 10 percent of cases of ALS appear to be inherited due to some form of gene mutation. Sporadic ALS , more than 90 percent of cases of ALS appear to occur randomly, with no identifiable risk factors. Majority of the articles say they don't know how this disease comes about and why people get it.

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.

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 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

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.

People first need to know what ALS is. ALS is very difficult to diagnose. So far there is no

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.

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

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.

Autoimmune responses and the environment are possible causes as well. An autoimmune response is where the body’s immune system attacks regular cells. Some theories state that antibodies may attack motor neurons, which would have an effect on the communication of signals between the brain and muscles. The possibility of the environment causing ALS deals with questions on modern day diets or the amount of pollution that the

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