HEXANUCLEOTIDE REPEAT EXPANSION IN C9ORF72: A POTENTIAL GAME CHANGER FOR THE UNDERSTANDING OF ALS

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a rapidly progressive disorder of motor neurons in the cortex, brainstem and spinal cord, for which there is no cure.  The pathophysiological mechanisms underlying ALS remain to be fully elucidated, although approximately 10% of cases were previously regarded as familial.  Mutations in the superoxide dismuate-1 gene (SOD-1) were first reported […]

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Who’s in Control Here?

According to a recently released study in Current Directions in Psychological Science, the key to self-control is practice. As in, the more you practice self-control, the more inclined you are to engage it when you need it most. Take Wednesday night for example, when two excellent hours were spent at a concert, leaping around to […]

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Exercise and motor neurone disease

What advice should a neurologist provide to ALS patients about exercise?

In the midpoint of the 1938 season, it became clear there was a problem. James Kahn, a reporter who wrote often about Gehrig, wrote in one article:
“I think there is something wrong with him. Physically wrong, I mean. I don’t know what it is, but I am satisfied that it goes far beyond his ball-playing. I have seen ballplayers ‘go’ overnight, as Gehrig seems to have done. But they were simply washed up as ballplayers. It’s something deeper than that in this case, though.” […]

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I Never Met a Curry I Didn’t Like

For enhanced audio enjoyment click here: Handsome Devil From our roving JNNP Web Editor Clare Caldwell This month’s JNNP Featured Patient may well have been a fan of the educational philosopher Maynard Hutchins, whose most memorable quip remains, “whenever I feel the need to exercise, I lie down until it goes away.” Imagine our patient, […]

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