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Daniela Gonzalez
Professor Syretta Massey
ENC 1101
November 6th, 2014
Annotated bibliography: Fighting ALS
Bumas, E. Shaskan. Lou Gehrigs disease and everyone elses Southwest Review
00384712 (2014): EBSCO Host. 2 Nov 2014.
Naming a disease has various steps, the doctor who discovers is usually given the
righto name it. A disease is non-existent until its given a specific name. ALS is
known for Lou Gehrig, a major league, well known baseball player who was
diagnosed with the disease and died at 37 years of age. His speech at the Yankees
stadium was memorable. the name was selected because, doctors believed it
would bring more attention to the public, ad also brought a colorful name to it.
ALS also scourged Adele Zinberg; her face became an emblem of the disease-;
however, she didnt let this stop her from doing her job and raising awareness.
She considered her disease as a second job; she attends fundraisers and social
events to motivate patients suffering from it. ALS could be related to other
diseases

such as

Huntingtons, Alzheimers,

and Parkinsons.

Whats

disappointing is that only a small percentage of ALS patients are considered

news worthy, which explains why this disease is not widely understood.
Medicine has been used to fight the disease, chemical cretine, stem cells, are all
examples of the drugs that slow down the pace of the disease in certain patients.
Just as Lou and Adele many influential people have been affected with ALS and

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somehow have contributed to raise awareness, nonetheless more needs to be done
to find a way to fight it off. This article is relevant to my topic because it provides
the reader with basic information on naming diseases, and why they chose Lou
Gehrigs as the name for this disease.

Frick, Jordyn, Turner Les. Les Turner ALS Foundation. EIN 36-2916466 Les Turner
Foundation, 1977. Web. 1 Nov 2014.
The les Turner ALS foundation has focused their time and effort to research
regarding ALS, or Lou Gehrigs disease. The people involved with this
association provide the families of ALS patients with resources. Also, Les Turner
has educated people about the disease; its symptoms and ways that could help
prevent it. The organization is located in Chicago, and they are currently helping
about 90% of the population. All their work is focused on patients with ALS, and
on the public to try and make a stand for this illness. Their work has affected
everyone, specially the people fighting against ALS; their events and fundraisers
has done an excellent job at getting their message across to aid the community.
This website is relevant to my topic because this foundation has helped a
numerous amount of ALS patients and has tried to reach to every single one of
them, also theyve created awareness of this disease.

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Mayfield, Eleanor. Glimmer of hope for people with ALS. FDA Consumer 30.7
(1996): 11. EBSCO Host. Web. 27 Oct. 2014.
Lou Gehrig was a famous major league baseball player, however, the great player
started to tip off; his reflexes were completely failing him and also his career was
on the edge. A few tests were conducted and doctors found out that Lou suffered
from Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS. Lou Gehrig passed away at 37 years
of age; no one knew what this disease did or how it could be treated. After his
death many drugs have been tested to find a way to treat this illness, scientists,
have been trying for 54 years but havent found an accurate remedy. The food
and Drug administration approved Ruilutek in December 1995. This drug was
the first to actually have an effect on ALS; it was made available in more than
3000 ALS patients in the US. Myotrophin was granted a place in the IND; this
drug helps regeneration of neurons. An estimate of 30,000 Americans suffer from
ALS, also about 3,000 cases are diagnosed each year. This deadly disease usually
appears between the ages of 40-70. ALS attacks the nerve cells that are
responsible of the control of voluntary muscles, and the cells located in the spinal
cord and brain. As the disease continues its course the patients starts to lose use of
hands, legs, arms, neck muscles, and after become paralyzed. Many theories have
been brought of where the disease originated from, some say its toxic causes, and
some doctors believe its an autoimmune disease. This article is relevant to my
topic because it gives background knowledge on the disease, and also helps on the
understanding of what its being done to find a cure for ALS.

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Paul,Mehta, antao Vinicius, Kaye Wendy, Sanchez Marchelle, Williamson David, Bryan
Leah, Muravov Oleg, Horton Kevin. Prevalence of Amyotrophic Lateral
Sclerosis MD Divisions of Toxicology and Human Health Sciences 63(2014):
Surveillance summaries 2 Nov 2014. Print
ALS, popularly known as Lou Gehrigs disease, is a fatal neuromuscular disease,
and no cure has been identified. ALS usually affects white males between the
ages of 60 and up. However, ALS is not a condition that needs to be notified,
except in the state of Massachusetts. The (ATSDR) implemented the ALS in the
country (U.S) in an effort to raise awareness, they decided to examine risk factors
in the environment and other exposures. Also, analyze the conditions of people
living with the disease. The first approach involves the use of medical entities
such as Medicare, Medicaid, etc. The second approach involves databases that
collect any data related to the risk factors. This was one of the national efforts to
estimate a prevalence of ALS in the U.S. People die within 3-5 years of diagnosis.
Riluzole has been the only drug that slows down the process, and is legally
approved by the FDA. Exposure to heavy metals and family inheritance could be
the cause of it. ALS is more common in males than in females, 1.6 people per
100,000 are diagnosed every year. This rate has continued to grow to about 4
people per year; with these studies they wanted to get a ore accurate outlook on
ALS patients. This study is relevant to my topic because it shows the things that
are being done to create an accurate look on how many people are being affected
and how to find a treatment for ALS.

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Rabin, Roni. Six Parts of Love: one familys battle with Lou Gehrigs disease.
This book is based on the true story of a family- the Rabins, and their valor and
strength they showed against this catastrophic disease. The father, head of the
family Dr. David Rabin; he was a scientist working on the causes of male
contraception. Later on in 1979, he was diagnosed with ALS. This book, which
was written by Davids daughter, shows an inside look in the families life and
how David dealt with this degenerating illness. Diets, exercise, and medicine that
David went through, all his struggles are shown. This book is based on the true
story of a family- the Rabins, and their valor and strength they showed against
this catastrophic disease. The father, head of the family Dr. David Rabin; he was a
scientist working on the causes of male contraception. Later on in 1979, he was
diagnosed with ALS. This book, which was written by Davids daughter, shows
an inside look in the families life and how David dealt with this degenerating
illness. Diets, exercise, and medicine that David went through, all his struggles
are shown. This book could be some type of guide for patients fighting against the
dangerous disease known as ALS or Lou Gehrigs. It provides tips, and other
helpful methods this family used to help their father, David. This book shows the
real face of this devastating disease; Davids story is very inspirational and also
encouraging for the patients that can relate to him. This book is relevant to my
topic because it shows a more in-depth look on the life of an actual ALS patient
and all the struggles they go through, and also their families.

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Seelen, Meinie, Doormaal van T.CC Perry, Visser E. Anne, Huisman H. B. Mark,
Roozekrans H. J. Margot, de Jong W. Sonja, van der Kooi J. Anneke, de Visser
Marianne, Voermans C. Nicol, Veldink H. Jan, van den Berg Leonard. Prior
medical conditions and the risk of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis SpringerVerlag Berlin Heidelberg J Neurol (2014): Original Communication Web. 2 Nov
2014.
ALS is believed to be a degenerating disease in which various factors contribute
to the loss of the motor neurons. A population study was conducted in
Netherlands, which included 722 sporadic ALS patients, these studies helped
determine that drugs such as hypercholesterolemia and immunosuppressive
medicine help reduce the risk of ALS. However, patients who had first, second, or
third degree family influence with ALS were excluded from the study conducted
in Netherlands because It was defines as familial ALS. They prefer patients who
have been diagnosed recently to see if they can find the factors, which cause the
disease. C9orf72 was one of the important factors in the formation of ALS.
Removing certain habits like smoking, and drinking dint reduce risk for the
disease, which was quite surprising. After all the studies they discovered that
hypercholesterolemia and statin are linked to the decrease of ALS. Evidence
didnt support that immunosuppressive drugs could stop the pace of ALS. This is
relevant to my topic because it shows results for a study done to sporadic patients;
which helps on creating awareness, and inform the public on the disease.

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