Adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD)
By Alex Burgan and Emily Buis
Adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD) is one of a group of genetic disorders called the leukodystrophies that cause damage to the myelin sheath, an insulating membrane that surrounds nerve cells in the brain.
ALD disables the body from breaking down very long chain fatty acids. These chains make up myelin, the fatty substance that protects and insulates axons that carry signals throughout the brain and spinal cord. When this myelin is damaged the signals may slow or stop completely, causing disabilities in movement, memory, speech, learning, and other mental functions. This demyelination causes damage to the white brain matter and adrenal glands.
ALD Genetics 2
Symptoms of ALD 2
Diagnosis and Treatment of ALD 2
Other types of ALD 2
History of ALD 2
Lorenzo's Oil
Comments (17)
rryoung@... said
at 9:27 am on Oct 29, 2009
Use footnotes, not parenthetical. Make this page more appealing. Add: pictures, your names, etc. Footnotes required for the intro information
Amanda Lengerich said
at 9:00 am on Nov 4, 2009
The page on the gentics of the disease is easy to understand and the pictures are good and very helpful.
Bradley Vivace said
at 9:01 am on Nov 4, 2009
The links at the end of the page make it really easy to navigate.
Macy Plummer said
at 9:49 am on Nov 4, 2009
You could've added a caption under the picture on the diagnosis page that tells what each of the different brains are.
Candace Boone said
at 3:58 pm on Nov 4, 2009
The pictures on the genetics page make it easy to follow with the text.
Emily Mason said
at 4:53 pm on Nov 4, 2009
It's easy to navigate, but you could've used some more pictures/video/color on most of the pages.
Aaron Nehamkin said
at 9:36 pm on Nov 4, 2009
I liked the "Lorenzo's Oil" page; it provided a good example of the attention ALD has received. A few more pictures would have been nice.
Saumya Nagar said
at 9:40 pm on Nov 4, 2009
The "Lorenzo's Oil" page was pretty interesting because I had never heard about him. Good job, but a few more links and pictures would have helped present the disorder more effectively.
Kathryn Snyder said
at 6:21 am on Nov 5, 2009
This site is easy to navigate and has good pictures that are helpful in understanding ALD. I also enjoyed the "Lorenzo's Oil" page.
Cara Maher said
at 8:51 am on Nov 5, 2009
The picture of the inheritance from the parents really helps show the disorder.
Candace Boone said
at 9:36 am on Nov 5, 2009
I thought the timeline on the history page was a very detailed explanation of when this disease was brought about. I thought it was interesting how it started in 1910 and went to 1999 and here we are 9 years 10 years later and nothing new came up about the disease.
Jamie Milligan said
at 9:37 am on Nov 5, 2009
You guys did a nice job with your page. Your links helped me understand certain things about the disease, like white brain matter, that before i didn't know about
Kyle Gooding said
at 9:41 am on Nov 5, 2009
I honestly have never heard of this disease and your symptoms page really help me understand what happens to people with this disease. Like how they turn into a vegetative state once the symptoms progress
Chelsea Johnson said
at 9:41 am on Nov 5, 2009
It's sad that the symptoms do not manifest themselves until the child is four years old. At that point, the parents would probably have a hard time coping to this change. It was interesting to see on the Lorenzo's oil page how some parents took it upon themselves to develop a treatment for their child. I don't know if I would be able to do that if I were a parent with a disabled child.
Amanda Lengerich said
at 9:45 am on Nov 5, 2009
It's really interesting how a child could be completely normal but then suddenly have an onset of many of these symptoms. That would be so heartbreaking as a parent to find out that soon your child will be in a vegitative state.
Macy Plummer said
at 9:48 am on Nov 5, 2009
The other types of ALD page was insightful. I thought only children got this disease but now i know there are different types of ALD that adults can get
Alex Gregory said
at 9:50 am on Nov 5, 2009
I had no idea that there were so many types of ALD. I didn't know that a child can have childhood cerebral ALD, and adults have adult cerebral ALD. It's interesting to find out that the same disorder can be in different forms depending on the age of a person.
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