Lou Gehrigs Disease (ALS)
Genetic Research Project
Who is Lou Gehrig's
He was a professional baseball player who played for the yankees for 17 seasons. he was known as the iron horse because he played 2130 straight games. Then he got this disease. And had to retire. Marking the end of his career and his life.
Intro
I choose ALS because its one of the only disorders I knew about. also because of how much I saw it on the internet last summer. And because it seemed interesting.
What is ALS?
ALS is a nervous system disease that weakens muscles and take away the use of your body. It effects your nervous system everywhere.
What Is ALS and the Ice Bucket Challenge? | Mashable Explains
Symtoms-
- Trouble Swallowing
- Its hard to walk
- Hard to hold your head up
- Cramps and twitching
- weakness in legs
Causes-
You can get ALS in many ways-
- There can be a Gene mutation
- Chemical Imbalance
- Disorganized Immune Response
- Protein Mishandling
- It can be a mutation also
How is this disorder inherited-
- ALS is not sex linked
- ALS is located on Chromosome 9 and 21
- ALS is effects people differently, in most cases one mutated copy of DNA is needed to have the disease, making it dominant, but it can be recessive if both mutate.
Treatment
There is no cure for ALS but treatment can slow the process down.
Some procedures are-
- Gastrostomy
- Chest wall oscillation
- tracheotomy
ALS - Lou Gehrig's disease
Diagnoses
There is not a test to find ALS. Doctors just look for signs of ALS, and run tests to make make sure its not other diseases.
Population effects
ALS is very rare, less than 20,000 get it a year, ALS is more common in men than women.
What i discovered..
I found out what ALS was i didn't even know what it does to the body, now i do, i learned that there was no cure for ALS. Also, that it was found on 2 chromosomes.