ALS, PBP, PLS)

Lower and upper motor neuron findings
Motor neuron diseases are on a spectrum in terms of upper and lower motor neuron involvement. Some have just lower or upper motor neuron findings, while others have a mix of both. Lower motor neuron (LMN) findings include muscle atrophy and fasciculations, and upper motor neuron (UMN) findings include hyperreflexia, spasticity, muscle spasm, and abnormal reflexes.Pure upper motor neuron diseases, or those with just UMN findings, include PLS.Pure lower motor neuron diseases, or those with just LMN findings, include PMA.Motor neuron diseases with both UMN and LMN findings include both familial and sporadic ALS. Causes
Most cases are sporadic and their causes are usually not known. It is thought that environmental, toxic, viral, or genetic factors may be involved. DNA damage
TARDBP (TAR DNA-binding protein 43), also referred to as TDP-43, is a critical component of the non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) enzymatic pathway that repairs DNA double-strand breaks in pluripotent stem cell-derived motor neurons. TDP-43 is rapidly recruited to double-strand breaks where it acts as a scaffold for the recruitment of the XRCC4-DNA ligase protein complex that then acts to repair double-strand breaks. About 95% of ALS patients have abnormalities in the nucleus-cytoplasmic localization in spinal motor neurons of TDP43. In TDP-43 depleted human neural stem cell-derived motor neurons, as well as in sporadic ALS patients’ spinal cord specimens there is significant double-strand break accumulation and reduced levels of NHEJ. Associated risk factors
In adults, men are more commonly affected than women.
Cerocorticium molle is a species of crust fungus in the family Meruliaceae. Taxonomy
The fungus was first described by Miles Berkeley and Moses Ashley Curtis in 1868 as Corticium molle. They described the fruit body of the type specimen as resembling "a thin coating of wax poured over the surface". It was transferred to genus Cerocorticium by Walter Jülich in 1975. Habitat and distribution
Cerocorticium molle grows on the dead bark and wood of a variety of angiosperms, and it has occasionally been recorded growing on or under the bark of living trees. It is found in tropical and subtropical regions of Africa, Asia, North America, and South America. == References ==