1. ALS: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Biology A Presentation
By Jenna Tanner

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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.

5. 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

6. 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

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