Biology 12
Name:
Nervous System Assignment
Your assignment is to choose one of the neurological diseases listed below that interests
you and then answer the questions that follow. Your answers should total no more than
two pages (if single spaced) but it need not be that long as long as you answer all the
questions successfully. If I missed one that you would like to do, please ask.
Adrenoleukodystrophy, Alzheimer's disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS),
Anencephaly, Angelman syndrome, Arteriovenous malformation,, Asperger's
syndrome, Traumatic brain injury, Brain tumor, Canavan disease, Cerebral aneurysm,
Cerebral palsy, Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, Dystonia,
Encephalitis, Epilepsy, Fatal familial insomnia, Gaucher's disease, Guillain-Barré
syndrome, Holoprosencephaly, Huntington's disease, Hydrocephalus, Kuru, LeschNyhan syndrome, Meningitis, Migraine, Multiple sclerosis (MS), Muscular dystrophy,
Myasthenia gravis, Narcolepsy, Neurofibromatosis, Parkinson’s DiseasePersistent
vegetative state, Polio, Prader-Willi syndrome, Progressive supranuclear palsy,
Restless legs syndrome (RLS), Rett syndrome, Reye's syndrome, Sleep apnea, Spinal
cord injury. Spinocerebellar ataxia, Stroke, Tay-Sachs disease, Tic Douloureux,
Tourette syndrome.
Questions (2 marks each except # 3 is 5 marks)
1. What is the disease called? Where does the name come from?
2. Why did you choose this disease to write about?
3. What causes this disease? That is, describe what happens on a molecular
basis in the nervous system that leads to this disease. MOST IMPORTANT
4. Is the disease genetic?
5. Who gets the disease (anyone, adults, children, the elderly, etc.)?
6. How common is it? Can it be prevented?
7. How is the disease treated?
8. What is the prognosis for the disease? Is there a “cure”?
9. If you had a patient with this disease, where would you direct them to get
information about it? That is, provide one reputable source with medical
information about this disease?
10. List your references
 2 marks per question (# 3 is worth 5 marks)
 All answers should be written as full sentences (2
formatting marks)
 Total 25 marks