Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0002736 (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis)
 19,048 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

We reviewed the medical records of 821 Olmsted County residents who had suffered head trauma with presumed brain injury between 1935 and 1974 and were more than 40 years old at the time of their last medical assessment. These patients were followed over 15,000 person-years for dementia and other degenerative neurologic diseases. The standardized morbidity ratio (SMR) for dementia was 1.06, and the SMR for dementia of the Alzheimer type was 1.00. These values are not significantly elevated and are inconsistent with studies that suggest that head trauma is a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease. In addition, the SMRs for parkinsonism (1.04), Parkinson's disease (0.94), and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (1.05) were not significantly elevated, providing no evidence that head trauma is a risk factor for these disorders. However, these latter results are based on smaller total case numbers.
 ...
PMID:Brain injury and neurologic sequelae: a cohort study of dementia, parkinsonism, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. 192 95

In a recent report on the clinical and pathological features of Guamanian ALS/PD and post-encephalitic parkinsonism/ALS a number of similarities were described, notably in the distribution of neurofibrillary tangles throughout the nervous system. In this account additional pathological features which these disorders share (and which differ from classical ALS, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases) are described. These include atrophy of the globus pallidus and the entire substantia nigra, viz. pars compacta and pars reticulata. Moreover, neither Lewy bodies nor senile plaques are features of the Guamanian and post-encephalitic disorders. The significance of these observations and their relationship, more generally, to parkinsonism, ALS and dementia are discussed.
 ...
PMID:Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis/parkinsonism/dementia: clinico-pathological correlations relevant to Guamanian ALS/PD. 193 86

A 50-year-old woman with a progressive neurologic illness clinically resembling amyotrophic lateral sclerosis had Pick's disease verified at autopsy. This case represents another example of Pick's disease in which the early manifestations were not those of dementia. This patient also showed some unusual histopathologic features, including degeneration of the substantia nigra and occasional "compound Pick bodies."
 ...
PMID:Pick's disease: a case clinically resembling amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. 140 95

Acute neurological injury from hypoxia-ischemia, hypoglycemia, and trauma is thought to be predominantly mediated by activation of the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) subtype of glutamate receptor in the brain and the subsequent influx of calcium ions through receptor-operated channels. Several chronic degenerative diseases, such as Huntington's disease and the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis-Parkinsonism-dementia complex found on Guam, may share a similar pathogenesis due to a glutamate-like toxin. This laboratory recently reported that exposure to a reducing agent, such as dithiothreitol (DTT), selectively increases ionic current flow through NMDA-activated channels in several types of central neurons; conversely, oxidizing agents reverse this effect. To investigate the novel influence of redox modulation on NMDA neurotoxicity, in the present in vitro study we monitored survival of an identified central neuron, the retinal ganglion cell, approximately 24 h after a brief exposure to DTT. To determine the degree of killing specifically related to activation of the NMDA receptor, 2-amino-5-phosphonovalerate (APV, a selective NMDA antagonist) was added to sibling cultures. APV-preventable, glutamate-induced death was increased 70 +/- 9% with DTT treatment. This effect was totally blocked by the concomitant addition of an oxidizing agent, 5,5-dithiobis-2-nitrobenzoic acid (DTNB). These findings suggest that the enhanced killing following chemical reduction with DTT is mediated at the NMDA receptor site, and that the redox state of the NMDA receptor is crucial for the survival of neurons facing glutamate-related injury.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
 ...
PMID:Redox modulation of NMDA receptor-mediated toxicity in mammalian central neurons. 197 Jan 45

In animal models of parkinsonism, the ability to lose a substantial proportion of dopaminergic neurons without behavioral deficits does not derive from other systems taking over function of the dopaminergic pathway. The surviving nigrostriatal projection increases both the rate of synthesis and the release of dopamine, as compensatory adjustments. This capacity allows at least a fivefold rise in dopamine delivery per neuron, and this enhancement is potentiated further by receptor up-regulation. Decreased reuptake, due to loss of nerve endings, may also lead to augmented occupancy of dopamine receptors, and so constitute yet another compensatory mechanism. In humans, positron emission tomography has revealed subclinical impairment of the dopaminergic nigrostriatal pathway in subjects at risk for parkinsonism caused by 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine and Lytico-Bodig (the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis-parkinsonism dementia complex of Guam). However, the separation of patients with clinically overt idiopathic parkinsonism from controls is less marked in vivo (by positron emission tomography) than in postmortem analysis (by neurochemical assay). This disparity may be attributable to the reduction in the number of nigrostriatal nerve endings, leading, in vivo, to a relative increase of extracellular dopamine because active reuptake into the nerve endings is an important mechanism for removing dopamine from the synaptic cleft. In contrast, in a postmortem setting, dopamine that is not sequestered in the storage vesicles of nerve endings is readily available for biochemical degradation during the interval between death and brain analysis. Finally, it is also possible that differences may derive, in part, from dissimilar kinetic systems for handling exogenous and endogenous levodopa.
 ...
PMID:Compensatory mechanisms in degenerative neurologic diseases. Insights from parkinsonism. 201 8

The western Pacific parkinsonism-dementia and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis complex is a prototypical neurodegenerative disorder found among inhabitants of Guam, New Guinea (Irian Jaya, Indonesia) and Japan (Kii Peninsula, Honshu). Nonviral environmental factors peculiar to the affected populations seem to play a prominent etiologic role. Although cause-effect relationships cannot be established by epidemiologic studies alone, we have shown in all three affected population groups that individuals develop the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis variant of this disorder after heavy exposure to the raw or incompletely detoxified seed of neurotoxic cycad plants. Since long periods may elapse between cycad exposure and the appearance of neurological disease in humans, cycads may harbor a "slow toxin" that causes the postmitotic neuron to undergo slow irreversible degeneration. Two cycad neurotoxins are recognized, one of which (cycasin) is known to have long-latency effects (tumorigenesis) on mitotic neurons and replicating cells in other tissues. This paper explores the possible relationship between tumorigenesis and long-latency neurotoxicity, and discusses possible biologic markers of cycad exposure and subclinical neurodegenerative disease.
 ...
PMID:Slow toxins, biologic markers, and long-latency neurodegenerative disease in the western Pacific region. 204 95

In this paper, I described clinical and basic problems on neurology of the aged patients. These studies have been done in various institutions with many co-workers. 1) A PET study revealed some age differences on CBF, CMRO2, or CMRgl. But these results are not so rigid in which much of individual variations should be considered in interpretation. Calendar age is not always compatible to biological age. 2) Saccular aneurysms in the brain artery were found in 7.3% of 1200 routine autopsy series of the aged subjects. Aneurysms with external diameter exceeding 6 mm had been fatally ruptured in 14 (78%) of 18 subjects. 3) Variations of the pyramidal crossing are found responsible for bizarre clinical manifestations. Non-crossing component was more prominent in the right pyramidal tract; consequently, right pyramidal tracts including ventral and lateral one seemed to have more extensive representation in the spinal cord level. 4) I123-IMP SPECT study showed a reduced uptake in the area 4 or area 4-6 of the ALS patients. 5) I introduced a new simplified Wartenberg's maneuver, which is useful for detection of subtle pyramidal dysfunctions. 6) Cases with central pontine myelinolysis and those of paraneoplastic syndrome were presented with an emphasis on their patho-chemical mechanisms. 7) Lewis-Sumner syndrome showing multifocal persistent conduction block is not rare in the aged, in which we have already had some useful therapeutic methods. 8) Dementia complicated with neurodegenerative disease was discussed on its clinical and chemical features of mental disturbances. In ALS-dementia, CSF-homovanilic acid reduced significantly than in the control and L-dopa was effective in some patients. 9) Vascular and Alzheimer-type dementias were presented and discussed on their pathogenetic mechanism according to our recent studies with review of literature.
 ...
PMID:[Neurological diseases in the aged]. 209 73

Abnormalities in calcium homeostasis have been reported in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and in the neurofibrillary tangle disorders of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and parkinsonism-dementia occurring in the Pacific. In order to more fully evaluate calcium physiology in AD, we analyzed the size of pineal and choroid plexus calcifications, using X-ray computed tomography, in 23 patients with probable AD and 18 healthy age-matched control subjects. The area occupied by calcification was measured from hard copies of the data by two independent observers who were blind to the diagnosis. There were no differences in the areas occupied by pineal or choroid plexus calcifications between the two groups. These data suggest that AD is not accompanied by alternations in intracranial calcium deposition in pineal gland or choroid plexus.
 ...
PMID:A quantitative study of intracranial calcification in dementia of the Alzheimer type. 210 Dec 96

Decades of acid precipitation have caused soil acidification in regions with low neutralizing capacity of industrial countries, thus mobilizing aluminium from clay minerals into soil solution and ground water. In the southern sandy heath-land of Lower Saxony all the wells with pH values lower than 4.5 showed aluminium contents higher than 2.0 mg/l. 66.7% of the specimens within the pH-range 4.5 to 5.0 and 20% of the specimens within the pH-range 5.0 to 5.5 had aluminium levels of more than 0.2 mg/l, that is the maximum permissible limit value of the drinking water regulation. High contents of aluminium in drinking water are objectionable from the hygienic point of view, as they may cause intoxications in infants and patients with impaired renal function. In addition to this, the involvement of aluminium in the pathogenesis of severe degenerative disorders of the central nervous system cannot be excluded, such as Alzheimers disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Parkinsons dementia.
 ...
PMID:[High aluminum concentrations in well water of southern Lower Saxony sandy soil areas caused by acid precipitation--evaluation from the public health and ecologic viewpoint]. 213 68

We studied the brains of two cases of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis with dementia. Bunina bodies were found in the motor neurons of cranial nerve nuclei (trigeminal, facial and hypoglossal nerves) as well as in the spinal motoneurons. They appeared mostly in the cytoplasm and occasionally in the neuronal processes. However, the present electron microscopic study disclosed clearly that Bunina bodies were present not only in the cell body but also in the dendrites. No Bunina bodies were observed in the axons. It is inferred that the Bunina bodies were degenerative products formed as a result of a protein metabolism disorder.
 ...
PMID:Bunina bodies in dendrites of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. 215 40


<< Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next >>