Long delays between symptom onset and diagnosis are common with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and need not be if general practitioners (GPs) were more aware of the disease and its likely “red flags,” a study suggests. Its researchers highlighted specific “flags,” like difficulties with speech or swallowing or muscle…

For Pat Quinn, co-founder of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, everyday communication has become more challenging as his amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) disease has progressed. But eye-tracking technology has helped him, in a sense, retain his “voice.” In fact, Quinn recounts a time when inadvertently letting his…

Patient dosing has finished in the pivotal Phase 3 trial assessing the safety and efficacy of repeat administrations of NurOwn, a cell-based therapy for people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics, the therapy’s developer, announced. The Phase 3 trial (NCT03280056), which enrolled…

Scientists have identified molecules that enable them to study and manipulate a specific type of cell present in the central nervous system, called glial cells, at the junctions where nerve cells communicate with muscles. Understanding how these cells operate at such sites, called neuromuscular junctions or synapses, has…

Recently, my husband and I experienced a staycation of sorts — we dined on two weeks of gourmet meals without leaving our home. Although it gave my husband-caregiver a much-needed break from meal preparations and was a nice change of pace for both of us, we wouldn’t do it again.

Protocatechuic acid, a metabolite of one of the main substances that give blackberries and black rice their distinctive dark color, can extend the lifespan and reduce the progression and severity of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in a mouse model of the disease, a study found. The study, “…

A research project underway at the University of Rhode Island (URI) aims to help people with advanced amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and other severely limiting disorders communicate better by interacting with a computer that can translate their thoughts. Among the consequences of motor diseases like ALS is the…

Distinct RNA patterns in a person’s blood may signal the presence of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a study reports. Researchers, led by Majid Hafezparast, PhD, a professor of molecular neuroscience at the University of Sussex in the U.K., discovered that certain types of non-coding RNA (ncRNA), a…

The lyrics to “God Shuffled His Feet,” a song by the Canadian band Crash Test Dummies, portray God as indifferent to our struggles. When he speaks of someone perhaps having “some strange disease,” the people…

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients who never regularly engaged in sports or physical activity have more extensive metabolic changes in the brain that likely help them to better cope with the disease’s neurodegenerative processes, a study from Europe suggests. These changes can reflect either greater metabolic activity in a…