Lou Gehrig's Disease or Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a neurological disorder characterized by progressive degeneration of motor neuron cells in the spinal cord and brain, which ultimately results in paralysis and death. The disease takes its less-scientific name from Lou Gehrig, a baseball player with the New York Yankees in the late 1920s and 1930s, who was forced to retire in 1939 as a result of the loss of motor control caused by the disease.
In 1991, a team of researchers linked familial ALS to chromosome 21. Two years later, the SOD1 gene was identified as being associated with many cases of familial ALS. The enzyme coded for by SOD1 carries out a very important function in cells: it removes dangerous superoxide radicals by converting them into non-harmful substances. Defects in the action of this enzyme mean that the superoxide radicals attack cells from the inside, causing their death. Several different mutations in this enzyme all result in ALS, making the exact molecular cause of the disease difficult to ascertain.
Recent research has suggested that treatment with drugs called antioxidants may benefit ALS patients. However, since the molecular genetics of the disease are still unclear, a significant amount of research is still required to design other promising treatments for ALS.
On the surface, the movement disorder amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, and the cognitive disorder frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD), which underlies frontotemporal dementia, manifest in very different ways. In addition, they are known to primarily affect very different regions of the brain.
Two progressively degenerative diseases, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD, recently in the news with the diagnoses of actor Bruce Willis and talk show host Wendy Williams), are linked by more than the fact that they both damage nerve cells critical to normal functioning -; the former affecting nerves in the brain and spinal cord leading to loss of movement, the latter eroding the brain regions controlling personality, behavior and language.
Researchers at Nagoya University in Japan have discovered a relationship between the progression of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, and the disruption of mitochondria-associated membranes (MAM), the contact point between the mitochondria and the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) of the cell.
Researchers have found a gene that links deafness to cell death in the inner ear in humans – creating new opportunities for averting hearing loss.
Hackensack Meridian Neuroscience Institute at Jersey Shore University Medical Center's Mary Sedarous, M.D., medical director of the ALS Center, was honored at ALS United Mid-Atlantic's 2023 Annual Celebration with the organization's Flame of Hope Award, recognizing research and innovation.
In science, a simple but thorough observation can kick-start the most surprising findings. Researchers at the Hollings Cancer Center at the Medical University of South Carolina noticed that mice lacking a protein of interest in cancer research were showing visible signs of abnormal motor functions as they aged, including loss of coordination and strength.
A small clinical trial with a pharmacokinetic sub-study, led by a world-renowned pharmacologist at the University of Houston, has demonstrated the promising effectiveness of the drug Riluzole for improving functionality in people with acute spinal cord injuries (SCI) if the drug is taken within 12 hours post-injury.
Researchers at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and College of Medicine led the creation of evidence-based consensus guidelines for genetic testing and counseling for patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a neurodegenerative disease that affects the cells in the brain and spine.
The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center is one of the first nationwide to administer a targeted gene therapy for patients with a specific form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a neurodegenerative disease that affects the cells in the brain and spine.
Even with extensive caregiving experience, Patti LaFleur was unprepared for the crisis that hit in April 2021, when her mother, Linda LaTurner, fell out of a chair and broke her hip.
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, is a fatal motor neuron disease that causes people to gradually lose control of their muscles.
For Aida Beltré, working remotely during the pandemic came as a relief.
Researchers at Nagoya University in Japan have discovered a receptor, sigma-1 receptor, and a protein, ATAD3A, that are associated with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.
Scientists at Scripps Research, with collaborators in Japan, have discovered how a "poisoned" form of a protein could set off a cascade of events that encourage the growth of some cancers.
Each year in the U.S., 5,000 patients receive a diagnosis of ALS, an incurable neurodegenerative disease that will likely kill them within two to five years.
A team of researchers from the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) has developed a soft robotic wearable capable of significantly assisting upper arm and shoulder movement in people with ALS.
A new microscopic technique allows for the real-time study of RNA G-quadruplexes in living cells, with implications for the fight against amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
For people with paralysis caused by neurologic injury or disease-;such as ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig's disease), stroke, or spinal cord injury-;brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) have the potential to restore communication, mobility, and independence by transmitting information directly from the brain to a computer or other assistive technology.
UVA Health researchers have discovered a molecule in the brain responsible for orchestrating the immune system's responses to Alzheimer's disease and multiple sclerosis (MS), potentially allowing doctors to supercharge the body's ability to fight those and other devastating neurological diseases.
Researchers at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, located at the University of South Florida, successfully tested a protein that has the potential to aid in the development of a protein-based therapy for patients with ALS, a progressive nervous system disease, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord.
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