Presentation in Science and Health

1. Is a disease in which the function or structure of the affected
tissues or organs increasingly deteriorate over time, whether due
to normal bodily wear or lifestyle choices such as exercise or
eating habits
often contrasted with infectious diseases

2. A. AMYOTROPHIC LATERAL SCLEROSIS (ALS)
 from the Greek words:
a – no
myo – muscles
trophic – nourishment
lateral – side of the spinal cord
sclerosis – hardening or scarring

3.  Charcot disease
– (French)
named after
Dr. Jean-Martin
Charcot(1869)

4.  Lou Gehrig's disease – (USA) named
after Lou Gehrig, a hall of fame baseball
player for the New York Yankees(1930)

5.  Motor Neuron Disesase(MND)
(England and Australia)
=> it damages the
motor neurons in
the brain and
spinal cord
*motor neurons
are the nerve cells
that controls
muscle movements

6. Cause:
According to ALS Association most people who develop the disease
were adults between 40-70
 2out of 100 people each year get the disease
 half of all people with ALS live at least 3years after they found out
they have the disease
 20% or 1 in 5 live 5 years or more
 10% will survive more than 10years
 5-10% hereditary; which means the disease runs in the family,
called familial ALS
 90% is not inherited, this is called sporadic ALS
 Potential Causes: Occupation(chemical exposure, electromagnetic
field, physical trauma, electric shock) but without consistent findings
**Generally the cause of the disease is unknown.

7. Symptoms:
 leg-onset form - may experiences awkwardness in
walking or running
 arm-onset form – may experience difficulty with
tasks requiring manual dexterity
 bulbar-onset – difficulty speaking clearly or
swallowing
 respiratory-onset - muscles that support breathing
are affected first
* Patients may ultimately lose the ability to initiate
and control all voluntary movement, most patients
are not able to walk or use their hands and arms,
but will maintain hearing, sight, touch, smell and
taste.

8. Treatment:
=( There's no way to prevent or cure ALS, but
treatments are available to people with the
disease:
 Medicine: Riluzole or Rilutek it can slow the
development of the disease but does not
reverse the damage already done to motor
neurons.
*Patients must be
monitored for liver
damage(10%).

9.  Therapy: physical therapist can set goals and
promote benefits by delaying loss of strength,
maintaining endurance, limiting pain,
preventing complications and promoting
functional independence(aerobic exercise
and performing activities of daily living;
walking, swimming, stationary biking)

10.  speech therapists teach strategies or
techniques to help patients speak louder and
clearly or recommend use of augmentative
and alternative communications(voice
amplifiers, speech generating device or
voice output communication
devices)
and low tech
communication
techniques
(alphabet boards,
yes/no signals)

11. The following gestures are an easy way
to quickly communicate with ALS
patients.
Eyebrows Up I’m interested, tell me more
Eyes Up
Yes
Hard Blink
No
Eyes Closed for a moment I need a break or rest
Multiple Blinks I need something

12.  Breathing Support - ventilator can ease
problems with breathing and prolong
survival, it does not affect the progression
of ALS

13.  Nutrition: prepare numerous small meals that
provide enough calories, fiber, and fluid; avoid
foods that are difficult to swallow
 feeding tube may be advised by doctors when
patients can no longer get enough nourishment
from eating, it reduces the risk of choking and is
not painful
 research has found out that people who ate
fruits and vegetables containing carotenoids
had reduced chance of developing ALS(carrots,
watermelon, and tomatoes)

14. Notable Case:
 Lou Gehrig
 Stephen Hawking – famous physicist who furthered our
understanding of the universe

15. B. ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE
 named after the
German scientist and
neuropathologist
Aloysius
Alzheimer(1901)
 is the most common
form of dementia
 there is no cure for the
disease, which
worsen as it
progresses and
eventually leads to
death

16.  diagnosed most often in people over 45-65
years of age
 life expectancy 7 years, less than 3% live
more than 14years
 in 2006, there were 26.6 million people
worldwide with AD
 is predicted to affect 1 in 85 people globally
by 2050
 men have a less favorable survival than
women

17. 2 Division:
 a. Early onset- it happens before the age of
65
 b. Late onset- symptoms started after 65
Causes:
 Alzheimer cases is mostly unknown
 Hypothesis: 1%-5% genetic, exposure to air
pollution and smoking

18. Treatment:
There is no cure for Alzheimer's. Treatments can be divided into
three:
 Pharmaceutical – medications are currently used to treat AD, yet
the benefit from their use is small. No medication has been clearly
shown to delay the progression of the disease. Side effects are
nausea and vomiting, muscle cramps, decreased heart rate,
decreased appetite and weight, and increased gastric acid
production.
 Psychosocial- used as an adjunct to pharmaceutical treatment, it
can reduce problem in behavior such as wandering. ex. Music
therapy
 Care giving - the role is taken by the spouse or a close relative

19. Notable
Cases:
 former US
President
Ronald
Reagan

20. C. PARKINSON'S DISEASE
 is a disorder of the central
nervous system, which
includes the brain and
spinal cord and controls
everything you do including
moving
 first describe as “shaking
palsy” by English physician,
Dr. James Parkinson(1817)
 about 1million people in US
have the disease both men
and women

21. Causes
 low dopamine level
in the brain but no
one really knows
why the nerve cells
that produce
dopamine get
damaged and die
 environmental
factors; pesticides or
other chemicals

22. Symptoms:
 Symptoms usually appear when someone is
older than 50.
 tremors or trembling – shaking hands
 difficulty maintaining balance and coordination
– trouble standing or walking
 slowness
 overtime a person may have trouble smiling,
talking or swallowing- their faces may appear
flat or without expression
 sometimes have trouble thinking and
remembering
 * it develops slowly, most people can live a
long life

23. Treatment:
 a. levodopa/l-dopa increases the
amount of dopamine in the body and
has shown to improve a persons
ability to walk and move around
*Side effects: nausea, vomiting and
fainting;

24. Notable Cases
 Michael J. Fox – actor
 Muhammad Ali – boxer
 Coach Freddie Roach – boxing coach
 Love and Other Drugs - starring Anne
Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal