Your Chance to be an ALS Celebrity

The 2011 Neuro Film Festival is a contest by the American Academy of Neurology Foundation to raise awareness through film and video about brain disorders and the need to support for research into preventions, treatments, and cures. Submit your video entry by going to http://www.neurofilmfestival.com Deadline is February 15, 2011.



Related:  American Academy of Neurology-Mindfulneess Meditation

Beware of the Human Neuron Borer !

The emerald ash borer is an insect. An infestation can kill a healthy ash tree in two to five years. Sound familiar?

The UDSA, local agencies, and Purdue University have started a program to tag all healthy ash trees so that people are aware that each tree is at risk.

With ash trees, you can apply preventive treatments and be careful in moving firewood from infested trees to avoid spreading the borer. That part doesn't sound familiar, does it?

Next time we go to Washington, DC, for advocacy efforts, perhaps we should tag all the healthy assistants and legislators we talk to that they are at risk for ALS which can kill a healthy human specimen in two to five years.

People with ALS this year were playing golf and running and pursuing life's work and pleasures with gusto before they were diagnosed. They were not sickly people. They were like every healthy person on earth. It could be anyone next. Everyone is at risk.

Nice Job, Alzheimer's Association!

Today is World Alzheimer's Day.

I saw that in the newspaper. I saw that on the CBS Evening News (both in great advertisements and as a news item). I saw a new 2010 World Alzheimer's Report at www.alz.org .

The Alzheimer's Association traditionally does a great job of describing the costs of the disease - both human and dollar costs. When I heard an ad on the national evening news that said that Alzheimer's Disease could bankrupt Social Security, my curiosity was piqued.

Nice job, Alzheimer's Association. Another "A" disease could take lessons.

Fortunately People With ALS Are Good At Spelling

Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska has been the ALS cause's biggest friend on Capitol Hill. Behind the scenes she has worked with her colleagues of all political persuasions to enable legislation to help those with ALS and to add to ALS research.

If you have friends in Alaska, please spread the word and ask them to consider writing in her name on their November ballots. Without her in the Senate, the work of ALS advocacy gets a whole lot harder.

Seldom do we see prominent people wearing red Strike Out ALS wristbands. Here is a Senator who wears the wristband and a profound commitment to the cause. She hates ALS. We need that rage and commitment.

Thanks, CBS, For Asking A Very Good Question

"Dayne Crist: Is Notre Dame Quarterback Heroic Or Dumb?"

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-20016653-10391704.html

And trust me, nobody wanted the best qb in that game more than Sleepy. Thanks for asking a question that has bothered a lot of us, CBS. Perhaps it should have been directed to the team medical and coaching staffs, too.

We Need Our Registry! Over 16 Americans Croak From ALS Every Day (Or So We Think)

This morning we learned that our U.S. government conducts an important and thorough census of frogs every year.

WSJ.com http://on.wsj.com/dzaTVS

Why has it taken Acts of Congress, far too many years, repeated trips to Washington by advocates, thousands of emails, millions and millions and millions of dollars, and we still don't have a registry of cases of ALS in the United States?

We get it that the frog census is important. It seems that our government is motivated and smart about some things but not about others. The "others" are Americans who are lost every day to Lou Gehrig's Disease and whose clues are buried with them. The human ALS carnage continues and we still don't have a deliverable from the CDC so that the dots might be collected.

This is a wart on our national conscience.