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Motor Neurone Disease (MND) is a term used to cover a number of illnesses of the motor neurone. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), Progressive Muscular Atrophy (PMA), Progressive Bulbar Palsy (PBP) and Progressive Lateral Sclerosis (PLS) are all types of MND. MND is the term used internationally while ALS is often used in the United States (where it is also known as Lou Gehrig's disease) to cover all forms of MND. It was first described by Jean-Martin Charcot, a French neurologist, in 1869 and in France the disease is also known as Maladie de Charcot. 1 Overview
The disorder is characterized by the progressive loss of voluntary muscle contraction due to the destruction of nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord that are responsible for the stimulation of the voluntary muscles.
The muscles are simply stimulated by a group of neurons located on the frontal portion of the spinal cord projecting to the muscle cells (second motor neurons) and these nerve cells are stimulated by a group of nerve cells that project from a specific region called the motor area, located on the frontal lobe (first motor neurons). The latter projection is called the corticospinal tract. The nerve cells of both pathways shrink and die for some unknown reason giving rise to muscle weakness, muscle cramps, speech impairment, difficulty swallowing and breathing. The international support organization uses the abbreviation ALS/MND to refer to the disease.
2 History
Lou Gehrig brought national and international attention to the disease in 1939 when he abruptly retired from baseballBusch Stadium in Saint Louis, Missouri. Baseball is a team sport in which a small hand-sized ball is thrown and hit with a bat. Scoring involves running and touching markers on the ground called bases, hence the name. The ball itself is also called a base after being diagnosed with ALS/MND. Theoretical physicistTheoretical physics attempts to understand the world by making a model of reality, used for rationalizing, explaining, predicting physical phenomena through a physical theory . There are three types of theories in physics; mainstream theories, proposed th Stephen HawkingReuters/Stephen Hird Stephen William Hawking, CH CBE FRS (born January 8 1942) is one of the world's leading theoretical physicists. Hawking is Lucasian professor of mathematics at the University of Cambridge (a post once held by Isaac Newton). Biography, ex- Glasgow Celtic football player Jimmy JohnstoneJimmy Johnstone (born 30 September 1944) is a Scottish football legend. Johnstone, known as "Jinky", was voted the greatest player who ever played for Glasgow Celtic by Celtic fans. Jimmy was born in Viewpark, in the district of Bothwell, Lanarkshire and and former guitar virtuoso Jason BeckerAn amazingly agile guitarist who achieved fame at 16 as a technical virtuoso and guitar prodigy, as part of the Mike Varney-produced duo Cacophony with Marty Friedman. He released two albums with Cacophony, Speed Metal Symphony (1987) and Go Off (1988). also suffer from the disease. American soap operaTIME cover devoted to soap operas: Dated January 12, 1976, Bill Hayes and Susan Seaforth Hayes of Days of Our Lives are featured with the headline "Soap Operas: Sex and suffering in the afternoon". A soap opera or daytime serial is an ongoing, episodic wo veteran Michael ZaslowMichael Joel Zaslow ( November 1, 1942 December 6, 1998) was an American actor. He is most remembered for his role as villain Roger Thorpe on CBS's Guiding Light a role he played from 1971 to 1980 and from 1989 to 1997. He also played David Renaldi on ABC and Hall of Fame pitcher Jim "Catfish" Hunter died from the disease.
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