Question

A patient is diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The nurse is aware that ALS is a:

Group of answer choices

Disorder of the upper and lower neurons resulting in muscle weakness.

Damage to the brain resulting in ddyskinesia.

Impaired neural tube closure resulting in neurological deficits.

Muscle cell instability causing leakage of intracellular components resulting in progressive muscle weakness.

Answer 1

Ans) Disorder of the upper and lower neurons resulting in muscle weakness.

Explaination:

- Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is typically defined by a loss of motor neurons in the central nervous system. Accordingly, morphological analysis for decades considered motor neurons (in the cortex, brainstem and spinal cord) as the neuronal population selectively involved in ALS. Similarly, this was considered the pathological marker to score disease severity ex vivo both in patients and experimental models. However, the concept of non-autonomous motor neuron death was used recently to indicate the need for additional cell types to produce motor neuron death in ALS. This means that motor neuron loss occurs only when they are connected with other cell types. This concept originally emphasized the need for resident glia as well as non-resident inflammatory cells.

- ALS is characterized by stiff muscles, muscle twitching, and gradually worsening weakness due to muscles decreasing in size. It may begin with weakness in the arms or legs, or with difficulty speaking or swallowing.