ALS (Amyotrophic

Lateral Sclerosis)
BY: MICHAEL G7

History of ALS

In 1874, a French neurologist

named Jean-Marie Charcot (18251893) noted the first report od
ALS, and name the fatal syndrome
based on what he found. He has
been also called the Father of
Neurology.

He also explained how does the

central nervous system works

Basic Info
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, also known as ALS, is a type of very fast
progressive and fatal neurological disease that attacks your motor neurons
Motor neurons are nerve cells that is located in your brain. It controls the
voluntary muscles in your body. If you got ALS, you will lose your ability to
control your muscles such as the control over limbs and face.
Scientist still dont know how does ALS transmit but 10% of ALS patient
has a family member that had ALS or MND(Motor Neuron Disease)
ALS is a type of MND, some diseases that is similar to ALS are:
Progressive bulbar palsy (PBP), Progressive muscular atrophy (PMA) and
Primary lateral sclerosis (PLS)

ALS Affect on Human

In the US, approximately 5,000 people are diagnosed yearly with ALS.
Most are between the ages of 45-65, although many are not.In the
United States, about 30,000 people are victims of ALS, most of them
will die within 3-5 years of contracting the fatal syndrome. Ten percent
of all known cases are hereditary. Although theres a higher percentage
of male patient, the condition has no racial or ethnic boundaries.

While the average survival time is 3 years, about20%of people with

ALS live five years,10%will survive ten years and 5% will live 20 years
or more.

Signs and Symptoms

The earliest symptoms are fasciculation, cramps, tight and stiff muscles or a
muscle weakening on a arm or leg and difficulty of chewing or swallowing.

However, the sequences of symptoms and the rate progression may vary
from person to person. Eventually the patient will not be able to stand or
walk and cant use their limbs. And he cant eat normally because it is too
easy to get choke. Affected patient also face an increased risk of pneumonia
during later stages of ALS.

There is also a small chance of memory loss or lose the ability to make
decisions although theres no scientific evidence of why.

In the end, the patient will lose the ability to breathe and must depend on
ventilatary support for survival.

Diagnosis & Treatment

To diagnose ALS, a neurologist will use an electromyogram (EMG),

which is used to detectnerve damage. Additional tests can rule
outmuscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord tumors, or other
diseases.

Although theres no treatment slows the progression of ALS, some

drugs and devices are available to help control symptoms and make the
patient survive with the disease easier.

Rilutek is an approved drug for the treatment of ALS. How it works is

not exactly known, but it seems to prevent the damage that can result
from the nerve cell being overexcited by glutamate. But it might also
damage your liver.

Prevention and Extras

There is no scientific prevention of ALS but doctors suggest that keep a

happy and healthy life style and eat colorful vegetable can decrease
the chance of getting ALS.

USA has the highest percentage of ALS cases to its population due to
the fast-paced lifestyle and stressed work.

In a recent study, in almost 6000 ALS case, Approximately 75% of cases

were Caucasian, 9.3% were African American, 3.6% were Asian, and
12% were unknown race.

Connection
What is like for a person living with ALS?

It is hard to live with ALS becauseevery dayyou lose some control over
your body till the day you cant move at all, you need other peoples
help on everything, eating, going tothe bathroom, even breathing. It
can damage the patients mind because they are not able to do
anything and improve their relationship with their family or friends
which may lead toemotionaldepression or even suicide.

What will the disease and prevention of it looks like in 10

years?

In 10 years, maybe there will be a cure or treatment that can regrow

your nerve cells or a technology that can control your body without
using nerve cell likean exo-skeletonsuit. Or maybe we can use
microbots and change the entirenervoussystem of the patient into a

Connection (2)
What are they doing in regards to prevention?

Countries are investing more money on studies and trying to make more
people knows about ALS, there is a recent event call the Ice Bucket
challenge to let more people know about ALS and donate to charity
about ALS. However, theres no scientifically-proven prevention for ALS
yet.

Can I get ALS and how do I prevent it?

Technically, thereis a chance of me getting ALS since 90% of the causes

wereunknown, butas long as I keep a healthylifestyle, the chanceof me
getting ALS is low for me, because only 3.6% of all ALSpatientsare Asian
and none of my family member or ascendants have ALS or MND.

References And Resources

http://www.webmd.com/

http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/amyotrophiclateralsclerosis

http://dev.nsta.org/evwebs/2150/history.htm

http://alsdb.org/

http://www.alsa.org/

LP Rowland, NA Shneider - New England Journal of Medicine, 2001

MC Kiernan,S Vucic, 2011

THX 4 WATCHING