ALS DISEASE Oral Notes :: essays research papers

ALS- Amyotrophic lateral sclerosisLou Gehrigs disease- Yankee B-B both player 1903-1941Neurodegenerative disease- Unknown cause breaks tissue down in restless system.Motor Neurons- they manoeuvre muscle movementAffects nerves from the brain to the spinal cord (upper motor neurons) then the lower spinal cord (lower motor neurons) which control muscle movement. With this disease, for unknown reasons, these neurons die, meaning a progressive loss of the ability to move nearly any of the muscles in the body.Lou Gehrigs disease affects voluntary muscles, controlled by conscious thought, such as the arm, leg, and trunk muscles.ALS DOES NOT affect the heart muscle, or the smooth muscle of the digestive system, bladder, and other internal organs. most keep eye movement as well.Amyotrophic- means the loss of muscle bulk.Lateral indicates the spinal cord being affected.Sclerosis describes hardened tissue that develops in the place of healthy nerves.50,000 approximately people in the US, 5,0 00 new cases each year.Onset between ages 40-70, usually.Men have a slightly higher incident of developing ALS.Normally, neurons in the spinal cord and brain convey messages from the brain to muscles to give movement to the arms, legs, trunk, neck, and head. When the motor neurons die, the muscles cant move, with weakness in result. sack of bulk is also a symptom. Loss of Lower motor neurons can make twitching.Two forms are known- Familial and sporadic.Familial accounts for about 10% of all Lou Gehrigs cases.Sporadic LGD has no known cause.The earliest sign of LGD is weakness in arms or legs, and the throat and mouth muscles.-Speech slurred, hard to chew and swallow. other(a) early signs are twitching and muscle loss.Later symptoms lead to the loss of the ability to walk, use arms and hands, to speak clearly or at all, to swallow, and to stick out the head up. Eventually coughing and breathing become difficult.