...Ever seen someone struggle with a rare disease? Frank Dinucci is a common person, who was shattered when he saw his 3-year-old son diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. A rare degenerative genetic muscle disease, Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy leaves a sufferer with a life expectancy of 30 years. Earlier the disease had the life expectancy till teenage; Frank’s efforts and dedication have helped the researchers to find an ultimate cure for it. This disease is a sex-linked disease and only affects the boys at a young age. It encumbers the production of muscles cells in the body that holds the cellular membrane together. Young boys bound to a wheelchair in most cases, as they lose the ability to create that protein entirely. They experience lack of stamina and are unable to perform in any sports or daily activities; this makes them incompetent to take part in any physical activity. The physical activities tend to tear the cellular membrane that leads to breaking down in muscles, which can never be repaired. Supplements and steroids consumption can help to cope with this disease by reducing the inflammation and retaining the muscle strength. How did Frank Dinucci regain himself from this shock? It was disheartening for Frank to know about his son’s condition, but this doesn’t deter him from finding a cure to this dreadful disease. Frank Dinucci Jr. smile inspired Frank to find a cure for this disease, so when another child suffers from the same, then he can be cured. Frank...
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...Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis There are many types of diseases that attack the muscles, and doctors are still discovering new ones each day. This year there has been a wide spread of different challenges going around. One of the challenges was the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, this challenged spreaded awareness of the muscle disease Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). ALS has often been referred to as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. It is a progressive disease that affects the nerves in the brain and the spinal cord. The name of this muscle disease may sound really hard to understand, but really it is quite simple. Amyotrophic can be broken down into three parts and looked at separately. “A” means no, “myo” means muscle and “trophic” means nourishment. When these three are put together it means no muscle nourishment. When a muscle has no nourishment, it begins to waste away and become weak. The lateral in the name is stating the position of where the disease is located on the spine. Since it is later this would be the disease is found on the outer sides of the spinal cord. The sclerosis part of the name means the hardening of the muscle in that area. In the body there are motor neurons; which are located in the brain, brain stem, and spinal cord. These motor neurons are control units and communication links between the nervous system and the voluntary muscles in the body. The motor neurons in the brain send messages that are transmitted to motor neurons in the spinal...
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...Medical News Today the author suggests that a protein called ATF4 is involved in causing age-related weakness, which is one of the causes in Distal Myopathy . ATF4 is found to be a transcription protein which is proven to cause changes in the overall mass of muscles and weakens them. In this article, it is said that ATF4 inhibitors exist naturally in green tomatoes and apple peel, and these compounds could be potentially used to reduce (but not cure) muscle weakness. On the other hand, in the research article, it was found that a mutation in the matrin-3 gene (MATR3) is involved in causing late onset distal myopathy . A group of people known to have a mutation in the MATR3 were exposed to a series of tests such as MRI scans and electromyography, to find out the degree of muscle weakness, onset age, vocal pathology, and if their cardiac and respiratory muscles were affected or not. Note that the bloodlines of the patients are also important as different families (i.e. North American, Japanese, Bulgarian) may react differently towards the same MATR3 mutation. In this article, the research is focused on distal myopathy of German origin. After performing these tests, it was concluded that there was more muscle wasting in the legs than the arms, appears in affected individuals at around 42.5 years of age, causes some vocal loss and difficulty in swallowing, and some patients had respiratory issues and needed home ventilation. There are also no known treatments or cures...
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...Health and fitness have become one of the top subjects on television, in magazines, and even in stores. Fitness companies are changing their products in order to improve an individuals work out with half the time and effort. The advertisement at hand depicts athletic-fit men and women performing the Shake Weight’s ideal motion, and mentioning the “Dynamic Inertia Exercise” concept. The Shake Weight is an object like dumbbell that is shaken back and forth with the help of a spring at the ends of the handle. It is targeted to improve the upper body, such as an individuals’ chest, arms, and shoulders. Through its advertisements in magazines and late night television, the Shake Weight has grown into a product that many individuals’ have in their home because of its easy workout with proven results. However in some studies, it has proven that there is no significant difference between a regular dumbbell and the Shake Weight. Even though the Shake Weight has proven to be more effective because of its product design and diverse advertisements, the basic dumbbell has more variety of weights that an individual can improve their strength and overall fitness. The Shake Weight advertisements have shown the simplicity of working out, and yet building strength and fitness to ones’ upper body. The first study that I analyzed involved sixteen healthy volunteers, they completed a total of two exercise trials, one involving a 5 pound shake weight and a 5 pound dumbbell for men, and the...
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...Electromyography (EMG) Exercise 1: Voluntary contraction Study Questions Answer 1. Unlike the discrete waveform from an electrocardiogram, the electromyogram waveform is irregular. Why do you suppose this is? Since the skeletal muscle is voluntary you are aware of how you control the movement, for this reason the movement would not be in following a certain rhythm. Answer 2. In your own words, explain how the EMG trace changed when you added weights to your arm? Based on the data you collected what can you infer is happening to the muscles as weight is added? Once we had added more weight my muscles had to work harder in order to be able to move. The EMG trace had changed by increasing due to the addition of weight. Exercise 2: Alternating activity and coactivation Study Questions Answer 3. In your own words what is coactivation? What are some explanations you can come up with for this phenomenon? Coactivation is when a muscle coordinates with another muscle. Some explanations for this is that a muscle sometimes must rely on another muscle in order to move for example you can see the difference traces between your bicep and tricep. They alternate in order to coordinate movement even though they are moving in opposite directions. Answer 4. Coactivation of abdominal muscle and muscles supporting the spine has been shown to be essential for the bipedal posture of humans. Based on your data, is the coactivation of the triceps...
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...PARTH PATTNI BIOENGINEERING-‐MATLAB ASSIGNEMENT a) figure subplot(2,1,1) plot(ecg_emg) ylabel('Voltage,V/mV') xlabel('Time,t/ms') title('ECG which is contaminated with EMG signals from the diaphragm') axis([0 3000 -1 2]) subplot(2,1,2) plot(ecg50hz) xlabel('Time,t/ms') ylabel('Voltage,V/mV') title('ECG containing mains contamination') axis([0 3000 -1 2]) PARTH PATTNI BIOENGINEERING-‐MATLAB ASSIGNEMENT b & c) figure subplot(2,1,1) length=5; for x=1:3000-length+1; zecg_emg(x)=(ecg_emg(x)+ecg_emg(x+1)+ecg_emg(x+2)+ecg_emg(x+3)+ ecg_emg(x+4))/5; end plot(ecg_emg) ylabel('Voltage,V/mV') xlabel('Time,t/ms') title('ECG which is contaminated with EMG signals from the diaphragm') axis([0 3000 -1 2]) subplot(2,1,2) length=5; for x=1:3000-length+1; zecg50hz(x)=(ecg50hz(x)+ecg50hz(x+1)+ecg50hz(x+2)+ecg50hz(x+3)+ecg 50hz(x+4))/5; end plot(ecg50hz) xlabel('Time,t/ms') ylabel('Voltage,V/mV') title('ECG containing mains contamination') PARTH PATTNI BIOENGINEERING-‐MATLAB ASSIGNEMENT axis([0 3000 -1 2]) d) figure subplot(2,1,1) length=3; for x=1:3000-length+1; zecg_emg(x)=(ecg_emg(x)+ecg_emg(x+1)+ecg_emg(x+2))/3; end plot(zecg_emg) ylabel('Voltage,V/mV') xlabel('Time,t/ms') title('ECG which is contaminated with EMG signals from the diaphragm') PARTH PATTNI BIOENGINEERING-‐MATLAB ASSIGNEMENT axis([0 3000 -1 2]) ...
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...Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is often referred to as ALS or “Lou Gehrig’s Disease”. It is a progressive disease where the motor neurons degenerate and die. This causes the brain to not be able to start or control muscle movement. As the disease progresses, the patient becomes paralyzed. ALS is diagnosed through ruling out other diseases. There is no certain test to diagnose it. A patient might go through multiple testing; such as nerve conduction studies, EMG, labs, spinal tap, MRI, and muscle biopsy. A patient will also undergo a neurological exam based on their symptoms. To also be diagnosed, a patient must have symptoms of both the upper and lower motor neuron damage that can not be caused by something else. When a patient first gets ALS, the symptoms may be barely noticeable but as it gets worse then major symptoms show. One of the major symptoms is muscle weakness in either the hands, arms, legs, speaking, swallowing or breathing. There may be twitching or cramping of muscles. As it progresses, there will be shortness of breath. Most die with respiratory failure because the muscles in the diaphragm and chest wall fail. The prognosis for ALS is not good. Half of all people diagnosed live around 3 year after diagnosis. The average life expectancy is 2-5 years. Twenty percent of ALS patients live 5 years, ten percent will live 10 years. There is some evidence that patients are living longer due to medical management. Although there is...
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...Muscular I. Introduction of the disease A. Muscular dystrophy B. Muscular dystrophy-is a group of muscle diseases that weaken the musculoskeletal and hamper C. I pick this disease because it sounded interesting II. Causes A. How can a human being contract (get) this disease? 1. the most common form of muscular dystrophy in children is Duchene muscular dystrophy (DMD). Becker muscular dystrophy (BMD) is also relatively common. They are similar and are caused by mutations in the same gene, but BMD is less severe than DMD. 2. You can be born with this disorder 3. And it’s a genetic disorder B. Is this disease contagious? no III. Symptoms A. Poor balancing B. Frequent falls C. Limited range movements D. Inability to walk IV. Treatment A. Corticosteroids, such as prednisone, may help improve muscle strength and delay the progression of certain types of muscular dystrophy. But prolonged use of these types of drugs can weaken bones and increase fracture risk. B. Several different types of therapy and assistive devices can improve quality and sometimes length of life in people who have muscular dystrophy. C. Surgical remedies are an option for several of the problems common to muscular dystrophy, such as: Contractures. Tendon surgery can loosen joints drawn inward by contractures. Scoliosis. Surgery may also be needed to correct a sideways curvature of the spine that can make breathing more difficult. C. V. Cures-doesn’t have any cures-doesn’t...
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...Proposal: “The effects of taking a break during physical therapy for patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy” HSC 4730 Background: Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) or medically known as pseudohypertrophic muscular dystrophy is a genetic, degenerative disorder found predominantly in males. It is a recessive X-linked chromosome that affects approximately 1 in 3,500 male’s worldwide.3 The boys found with Duchenne’s have an absence of the protein, dystrophin, leaving them with continuing loss of muscular function.7 Regardless of current efforts, by the age of twelve, most who suffer from DMD depend upon a wheelchair for mobility.13 The purpose of the study is to delay the progression of DMD in boys between five to ten years of age. The intervention for the study is to apply a period of rest in their physical therapy to allow for their central nervous system to process the information. The central nervous system can take between seven to fourteen days to process information in order for the body to recover.2 With the recovery time given to these patients, we can determine a successful intervention or one that further deteriorates muscle mass. The time breaks allow the central nervous system (CNS) a set period of recovery in order to determine a change in the muscular degeneration rate. Corticosteroids are a steroid hormone produced in the adrenal cortex. It can also be synthetically made and regularly prescribed to patients with DMD. Corticoid steroids, along with physical...
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... Beloved funny man and actor, Gene Wilder died August 29th from complications related to Alzheimer's Disease. Best known as the charismatic candy man in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Wilder was diagnosed three years ago, but kept it as a secret to protect fans from being saddened by his condition. Experts are praising the family's decision to name Alzheimer's Disease as the cause of death in hopes of continuing to raise awareness about the number one cause of dementia and the sixth cause of death in the United States. "There's such a tendency to not name [Alzheimer's disease] for what it is, and it's commendable that they've identified it as a cause of death," said Alzheimer's disease expert Kristoffer Rhoads, a clinical neuropsychologist at the University of Washington School of Medicine's Memory and Brain Wellness Center at Harborview. However, he said that the condition is in dire need of a spokesperson who can continue to raise awareness about the importance of early diagnosis and treatments to prolong good mental function for as long as possible. Also hoping to raise awareness about this irreversable and progressive brain disorder, 2016 Olympic long jump Champion, Jeff Henderson has publicly dedicated his Olympic journey to his mother who was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's disease when he was only a teen. Henderson delievered on his promise to his mother, who is in a hospital bed in her final stages, that he would bring her the gold medal back from...
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...Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Duchene Muscular Dystrophy is a genetic disorder that is distinguished by progressive muscle degeneration and weakness. This genetic disorder is cause by an absence of Dystrophin . The onset of symptoms begin early in childhood between the age of three and five. This disease primarily affects males, but in some rare cases it has also affected females. What are the symptoms? As early as three the signs of muscle weakness begin to appear. The first muscles to be affected are the hips, pelvic area, thighs, and shoulders. Later on the voluntary skeletal muscles in the arms, legs, and trunk areas are affected. The calves of those affected are usually enlarged. The heart and respiratory system are affected beginning in the early teens. What causes DMD? French neurologist Guillaume Benjamin Amand Duchenne first described this genetic disorder in 1860. Researchers identified a specific gene on the X- chromosome, that when mutated lead to DMD. This discovery happened in 1986. A year later the protein associated with this gene was identified and was given the name dystrophin. The lack of this protein causes muscle cells to be fragile and damage easily. Who carriers this gene? This dystrophy has an X- linked recessive inheritance pattern when passed on by the mother. A mother who carriers this gene is known as acarrier. The mothers that carry this gene have a normal dystrophin gene on the X- chromosome and an abnormal one on the other X-chromosome. Almost all...
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...Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Imagine you’re going to be a new parent to a baby boy who will grow up being able to run, being able to ride his bike and being able to play various sports. Now imagine that you’re going to be a new parent to a baby boy who will start his life and be able to run around, be able to ride his bike and be able throw a ball just like any normal child. However, by around the age of 12 he will be unable to walk. This circumstance could be brought on by an incurable muscle weakening disorder called Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. Although, there are many different forms of Muscular Dystrophy; Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy or DMD as it’s commonly known is the most common form. DMD is a neuromuscular disorder caused by a flawed gene for dystrophin (a protein in the muscles). A neuromuscular disorder affects nerves that control voluntary muscles. Every 1 out of 3600 males inherit this disorder; while it is extremely rare for a female to inherit it. Unfortunately, someone with DMD may not make it through their late teens or early adulthood. Living with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy is challenging and makes everyday life a struggle not only for the person living with it but for the family as well. There is currently no cure for DMD but luckily there is some hope. Many young boys dream about being able to play a professional sport when they grow up. Their mother’s and father’s devote their time taking their child to practices and games in order for their child to reach...
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...Alzheimer’s affects the older generation with a gradual increase of symptoms, while ALS (Lou Gehrings Disease) usually affects adults between the ages of 40-60. In this paper you will learn information regarding the statistics, treatments, and survival rates of each of these chronic diseases. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis better known as ALS, I a serious neurological disease that causes muscle weakness, disability, and eventually death. Worldwide ALS occurs in 1 to 3 people per 100,000. In the vast majority of cases -90 to 95 percent- doctors don’t know yet why ALS occurs. About 5 to 10 percent of all ALS cases are inherited. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive disease that destroys memory and other important mental functions. It is the most common cause of dementia –a group of brain disorders that result in the loss of intellectual and social skills. These changes are sever enough to interfere with day to day life. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Alzheimer’s are both neurological diseases that affect different parts of the body. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis affects the limbs, while Alzheimer’s affects are in the brain. Initial symptoms of ALS are obvious muscle weakness usually in the foot, leg, or arm, slurred speech, or trouble swallowing. These symptoms can be seen at the onset of ALS, whereas symptoms of Alzheimer’s often go unrecognized and undiagnosed in the early stages, because the first symptoms...
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...in a patient. 2. Positron Emission Tomography: Also known as PET, this type of study was the first brain imaging technique that provided images of the brain and its activity rather than just straight faced images. 2-DG is injected into the patient and if the patient is doing an activity while taking this scan, bin about 30 seconds after the injection, the scan will show the brain level that most active. This can be beneficial because it can show if parts of the brain are reacting normally or abnormally to exposures to certain activities and stimulus. 3. Muscle Tension: Muscle Tension would be considered a Biofeedback. This is a method that uses the mind to control a body function that the body regulates automatically. (1) Electromyography is the normal procedure for measuring muscle tension. The results are called a EMG and most psychphysiologists usually do not work with the raw EMG signals and that they change them to a more understandable form. An example of how muscle tension can beneficial to mental health diagnosis is that muscle tension can be a sign of GAD General Anxiety Disorder. (2) 4. Functional MRI: These create images that represent the increase...
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...Uses of Hypnotherapy to treat a medical condition Introduction The purpose of this essay is to describe and explain the uses of hypnotherapy in the treatment of a medical condition. For this essay I have chosen to look at a chronic life limiting illness called Motor Neurone Disease. This is a disease that can affect many different aspects of a person’s life and is very aggressive in its symptoms. I have met quite a few people with this condition whilst working in the Neurophysiology department at the QMC, where all the nerve and muscles studies and EMG’s are performed. It not only changes the person’s life but also the lives of the people around them. I found this research both upsetting and informative. MND is a progressive degenerative disease which sadly has no known cure and sufferers will usually die within 5 years of the onset of the disease, there is no way to tell that you have this disease but there are many warning signs such as difficulty with speech, walking and dropping things due to not being able to grip correctly. MND is an unusual disease that damages nerve cells that the brain would usually use to send messages to the muscles and spinal cord where the upper and lower motor neurones are negatively affected. This then alters the muscle strength and can result in muscle loss. Theses neurons also if not working correctly will affect the messages sent to the brain giving the commands the body needs to enable walking, swallowing and any other muscle use. This...
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