Multiple Sclerosis :: essays research papers

The name itself is revealing multiple, more than one, and induration, which refers to areas of sclerotic (scarred) tissue. Multiple sclerosis is a demyelinating disease of the white matter of the aboriginal sickish system.These areas of sclerosis, also referred to as lesions or plaques, occur in the white matter of the central anxious(p) system. Gray matter consists primarily of case cellular phones. Axons (nerve fibers) are the conjunctives between the cell body and the muscles, sensory organs, and primary organs such as the heart. These nerve cells are the communication system both within the central nervous system and between it and the rest of the body. Axons are sheathed in myelin, a white substance (hence the term "white matter") that insulates them and speeds transmission of impulses on the cell fibers. Electrical impulses move along the nerve fiber to the synapse (the connection point between cells) to the next nerve cell.The lesions or plaques of multiple scl erosis are areas of tissue damage arising from inflammation, which occurs when white blood cells and fluid wrap up around blood vessels. This inflammation causes destruction of myelin. After the fragments are well-defined away, a scar is formed--the lesion--in the area of demyelinization. The cause-and-effect process of inflammation and demyelinization is unclear. These lesions impede conductivity of signals by blocking or slowing communication, either completely or interpreterially and from time to time. The process can be thought of as similar to an electrical short circuit. The symptoms of multiple sclerosis result from that neediness or diminution of signal conduction.MS is the most common demyelinating disease of the central nervous system. In the United States alone, there are at least 250,000 cases. For reasons that remain unclear, it is more prevalent in northern temperate zones and affects noticeably more women than men. The average age of onset is thirty years.Researc h into the underlying causes and processes of MS is ongoing, and in recent years, advances in virology and immunology have rapidly increased intimacy and understanding of the disease. However, its etiology remains unclear. Epidemiological studies indicate that an environmental factor, possibly exposure to a virus, when combined with a genetic predisposition to the disease, whitethorn well control occurrence of the disease. MS is not a genetically transmitted disease. MS may also be or learn a defect of some kind in the bodys autoimmune system--some part of the body may, in effect, attack itself.Diagnosis of MS is difficult.