2. By: Roman Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is also known as Lou Gehrig's disease

3. My Goals are: Help the other students understand what is ALS Help other students understand the symptoms of ALS And help other students know what is happening in researching this disease Get a good grade :-)

4. Definition A-myo-trophic is no muscle nourishment. Lateral is the area in the spinal chord where the nerve cells that nourish muscles are located. As that area is destroyed it leads to scarring or hardening(Sclerosis) in that region.

5. What Happens ALS is caused by motor neuron cells degenerating but we only know what makes that happen in 2% of the cases.

6. USA Statistics In the United States, ALS affects an estimated 2 to 7 out of every 100,000 people Mostly between the ages of 35 and 65 slightly more frequently in men than in women. Each year, 5,000 Americans are newly diagnosed with ALS. ALS is not rare and occurs throughout the world

7. Symptoms: About 1/3 of people with ALS (PALS) experience clumsiness in their hands about another 1/3 PALS experience weakness in legs and sometimes trip of minor foot drop The remaining 1/3 PALS experience difficulty in swallowing or talking

8. Prognosis:-( Currently all PALS will die in an average 2-5 years after diagnosis made by thorough physical examination.

9. Current Research Currently a couple of drugs are being tested to see can they extend life in PALS There are many projects to understand the causes of ALS but not many are very successful

10. Personal Story Many people that have ALS act the same way, they don’t give up hope, they try to live normally and they don’t put anything off for later example: Catfish Hunter

11. Conclusion ALS is incurable ALS symptoms are muscles getting weaker it is always deadly Most research isn’t helping much I should get a good grade :-)

12. Bibliography http://www.pmcguam.com/resource/als.htm http://www.pslgroup.com/ALS.HTM http://www.alsa.org/ http://www.wfnals.org/