Disease Progression Has Significant Effect on Quality of Life of ALS Patients, Study Says

In addition to symptoms of depression, disease progression is one of the strongest influences on health-related quality of life in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients, a study reports. According to the study, titled Disease progression impacts health-related quality of life in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis,” slower disease progression is linked to…

“Reports of my demise have been greatly exaggerated.” —Mark Twain, in a letter to The New York Sun I spent the better part of November under the weather. I am always taken aback by the “uncommon” havoc the “common” cold can wreak on someone with the deficit baseline…

The new year is just beginning, and my email inbox is already overflowing with suggestions about the importance of setting goals and resolutions. But for many living with ALS, traditional goals and resolutions for self-improvement can feel empty and useless. In truth, most of us are just…

When I look back at 2018, I feel pride. I fought my ALS hard. I forced myself to finish all my meals, even when I had zero appetite, to minimize weight loss. I made it to all my appointments, though I had to reschedule multiple times. I asked…

A new method called Axon-seq allows researchers to analyze the content of messenger RNAs (mRNAs) in the motor neuron’s axons, the tips of the nerve cells that communicate with muscle cells, a new study reports. Using Axon-seq, researchers identified 121 mRNAs that are deregulated in ALS motor neurons, highlighting the new…

Difficulty in recognizing emotions may be a sign of changes in the frontal lobe of the brain and associated behavioral symptoms in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The study with that finding, “Deficits in Emotion Recognition as Markers of Frontal Behavioral Dysfunction in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis,”…