ALS: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis Biology A Presentation By Jenna Tanner

Symptoms of ALS • muscle weakness in hands, arms, legs First, tripping and mild pain will occur in the abdominal area Then, the victim will have muscle weakness Finally, difficulty speaking and uncontrolled speech Symptoms of ALS • 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 it Since 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