Embracing the pandemonium in life with ALS

Adding a blood test that measures nerve damage or a test of brain activity to standard diagnostic criteria may help doctors diagnose amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) more accurately, a study suggests. Researchers found that incorporating either blood levels of neurofilament light chain (NfL), a biomarker of nerve cell damage, or…

Treatment with a novel one-time gene therapy improved motor function and extended survival in a mouse model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) driven by mutations in the SOD1 gene, according to researchers from the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School. The results, the team noted,…

A panel of 19 blood proteins may help estimate when symptoms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) will emerge in people who carry disease-associated genetic variants, a new study suggests. When the model was tested using data from carriers whose symptom-onset dates were known, its estimates differed from the actual timing…

For people serving in the U.S. armed forces, the risk of developing amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) varies by military branch and rank, a study suggested. The study found the risk of ALS is lower among people in the Marines or Army than among those who served in the Coast…

Mutations in the NEK1 gene — a major genetic cause of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) — can disrupt the molecular machinery that cells normally rely on to make new proteins, according to a new study. The results shed new light on the molecular mechanisms by which certain mutations can contribute…

Abnormal levels of certain fatty molecules in the body — which are broken down by metabolism to support daily functions —may increase the risk of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), according to a new study. The research, which was based on genetic data to reduce the influence of external factors,…

My brother and his family visited from out of town for a few days, so I planned a couple activities away from home and hired a caregiver for my husband, Todd, who has ALS and is paralyzed. Now that his neck is very weak and he needs noninvasive…

Even though I know my brain is in charge, there are days when my body seems to have a mind of its own. When that happens, I remind myself that my body is not the enemy. In fact, there is no enemy at all — just me, misunderstanding my…

People whose amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) begins with speech and swallowing problems, known as bulbar onset, are typically diagnosed about four months sooner than those whose disease begins with arm or leg weakness, known as limb onset. That’s according to a pooled analysis of data from 13 studies across…