ALS: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Biology A Presentation By Jenna Tanner

Symptoms of ALSFirst, tripping and

mild pain will occur in the abdominal

area

Then, the victim will

have muscle weakness

Finally, difficulty

speaking and uncontrolled

speech

• muscle weakness in hands, arms, legs• twitching/cramping of muscles, especially in the hands and feet• impairment of the use of the arms and legs• "thick speech" and difficulty in projecting the voice• advanced stages = shortness of breath, difficulty in breathing swallowing

How is it Caused? • ALS is not contagious. So, in

the people that it effects, the gene is already mutates

• Since ALS affects only motor neurons, sight, touch, hearing, taste and smell are not affected.› Ex: muscles of the eyes and bladder are

generally not affected

Continued.. ALS is known mutations in the SOD1

enzyme make a change in this protein. These are examples of people with ALS. Sometimes you can tell when people have this disease, but other times, the people just look normal. Sometimes you wouldn’t even know they had it.

Is it Treatable? Currently, ALS is not treatable. There area ways to prevent it from

taking over your life, but these medicines area not permanent.

Medicine that can prevent ALS an help the patient live longer, but not stop itSince ALS is an genetic related disease, it is extremely hard to pinpoint which gene causes it

How Many People Have It? • Based on U.S. population studies,

a little over 5,600 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with ALS each year. (That's about 15 new cases a day.)

Only about 10% live 10 years after being diagnosed with ALS

Newer studies have shown that advances in medicine are adding years for some patients

Citations http://

www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&sa=X&tbo=d&biw=1080&bih

http://www.alsa.org/about-als/symptoms.html http://www.alsa.org/about-als/who-gets-als.html http://

www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/WSIHW000/32193/36577.html

http://www.alsa.org/research/about-als-research/genetics-of-als.html

http://www.alsa.org/about-als/facts-you-should-know.html