A motor neuron disease (MND) is any of five neurological disorders that selectively affect motor

neurons, the cells that control voluntary muscle activity including speaking, walking, swallowing, and
general movement of the body. They are neurodegenerative in nature, and cause increasing disability
and, eventually, death.[1]
Terminology[edit]
In the United States the term motor neuron disease is often used interchangeably with amyotrophic lateral
sclerosis.[2] The other four motor neuron diseases are: primary lateral sclerosis, progressive muscular
atrophy, progressive bulbar palsy and pseudobulbar palsy.[2] In the United Kingdom motor neurone
disease is used to differentiate this disorder from the other motor neuron diseases though it is also known
as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. To avoid confusion, the annual scientific research conference dedicated
to the study of MND is called the "International ALS/MND Symposium". [citation needed]
While MND refers to a specific subset of similar diseases, there are numerous other diseases of motor
neurons that as a group are referred to as motor neuron disorders. [1]Example include spinal muscular
atrophy, spinobulbar muscular atrophy, CharcotMarieTooth disease, GuillainBarr syndrome, and
many others.

Introduction
Motor neurone disease is a rare condition that progressively damages parts of the nervous
system. This leads to muscle weakness, often with visible wasting.
Motor neurone disease, also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), occurs when specialist nerve
cells in the brain and spinal cord called motor neurones stop working properly. This is known as
neurodegeneration.
Motor neurones control important muscle activity, such as:

gripping
walking
speaking
swallowing
breathing

As the condition progresses, people with motor neurone disease will find some or all of these activities
increasingly difficult. Eventually, they may become impossible.
It's not clear what causes motor neurones to stop working properly. In about 5% of cases there's a family
history of either motor neurone disease or a related condition called frontotemporal dementia. This is
known as familial motor neurone disease. In most of these cases, faulty genes have been identified as
making a major contribution to the development of the condition.
There's no single test to diagnose motor neurone disease and diagnosis is based mainly on the opinion of
a brain and nervous system specialist (a neurologist). The diagnosis of motor neurone disease is usually
clear to an experienced neurologist, but sometimes specialised tests are needed to rule out other
conditions with similar features.
Read more about the causes of motor neurone disease and diagnosing motor neurone disease.

Progression of symptoms
The symptoms of motor neurone disease begin gradually over weeks and months, usually on one side of
the body initially, and get progressively worse. Common early symptoms include:

a weakened grip, which can cause difficulty picking up or holding objects

weakness at the shoulder that makes lifting the arm difficult

a "foot drop" caused by weak ankle muscles
dragging of the leg
slurred speech (dysarthria)

The condition isn't usually painful.

As damage progresses, symptoms spread to other parts of the body and the condition becomes more
debilitating.
Eventually, a person with motor neurone disease may be unable to move. Communicating, swallowing
and breathing may also become very difficult.
In up to 15% of cases, motor neurone disease is associated with a type of dementia that can affect
personality and behaviour. This is called frontotemporal dementia, and is often an early feature when it
occurs in motor neurone disease. The affected person may not realise that their personality or behaviour
is different.

Who's affected by motor neurone disease?

Motor neurone disease is a rare condition that affects around two in every 100,000 people in the UK each
year. There are about 5,000 people living with the condition in the UK at any one time.
The condition can affect adults of all ages, including teenagers, although this is extremely rare. It's usually
diagnosed in people over 40, but most people with the condition first develop symptoms in their 60s. It
affects slightly more men than women.

Treating motor neurone disease

There's currently no cure for motor neurone disease. Treatment aims to:

make the person feel comfortable and have the best quality of life possible
compensate for the progressive loss of bodily functions such as mobility, communication,
swallowing and breathing

For example, a breathing mask can greatly help the symptoms of breathing and weakness, and a feeding
tube (called a gastrostomy) helps maintain nutrition and overall comfort. If necessary, medication can be
used to help control excessive drooling.
A medication called riluzole has shown a very small improvement in patients' overall survival, but it isn't a
cure and doesn't stop the condition progressing.
Read more about treating motor neurone disease.

The Theory of Everything is the story of the most brilliant and celebrated physicist of our time, Stephen
Hawking, and Jane Wilde the arts student he fell in love with whilst studying at Cambridge in the 1960s. Little was
expected from Stephen Hawking, a bright but shiftless student of cosmology, given just two years to live following
the diagnosis of a fatal illness at 21 years of age. He became galvanized, however, by the love of fellow Cambridge
student, Jane Wilde, and he went on to be called the successor to Einstein, as well as a husband and father to their
three children. Over the course of their marriage as Stephen's body collapsed and his academic renown soared, fault
lines were exposed that tested the lineaments of their relationship and dramatically altered the course of both of their
lives.

- Written by Spencer Higham

"The theory of everything" gives us a glimpse of Stephen Hawking's life. It describes his college days and
his relationship with his wife Jane. It also portrays how his condition affected his relationship with Jane and how he
rose above it and wrote his book " A brief history of time " .

- Written by Keith Francis

A look at the relationship between the famous physicist Stephen Hawking and his wife.

Everyone knows who Stephen Hawking is, but I'm not sure that many people outside of a physics
department could actually tell you what he did or that much about Hawking himself. We know that
he speaks through a computer, we know that he's largely unable to move, and we know that
somewhere along the way, he proved himself to be a genius. But what did he actually do? And
how did he wind up this way?
These are the questions you would expect a biopic like The Theory of Everything to address, but
it turns out that The Theory of Everything isn't entirely about Hawking and it certainly isn't
specifically about his science or his struggle with motor neuron disease. Instead, this movie is
about Hawking's marriage to Jane Wilde and the difficulties they both went through as Hawking
began losing the ability to move and communicate. It's a movie about a relationship, but its still
structured like a biopic, which ultimately creates a storytelling structure that doesnt quite
The film spans decades and tells the story of Hawking, played by Eddie Redmayne, beginning
with his time as a cheeky Cambridge grad student in the 60s and running all the way through his
adult life and the release of A Brief History of Time in 1988. Within those decades, the film is
largely structured around key points of scientific discovery and the progression of his disease,
throughout which Redmayne does an incredible job of recreating the crooked positions of
Hawking's fingers and the uncomfortable shifts in his neck and cheeks. We see him come up with
breakthrough theories, and we see him fall and stumble and head to the hospital. This is a film
tracking Hawking's life but the film isnt primarily concerned with those key events.
That makes orienting yourself within the movie pretty darn confusing. You may be expecting
a Diving Bell and the Butterfly type of deep dive into an impenetrable mind but you'll get
nothing like that. You may be expecting to simply learn the impact Hawking's discoveries had, or
how you become a person who thinks of such incredible things, or how you cope with developing
a crippling disease. But none of these things are within the movies scope. You'll see each of
these events happen, but the movie has a limited attention for them. They're all presented in the
context of how Hawking's relationship with Jane is developing, but his relationship with Jane isn't
made half as interesting as these world-changing events that we're just speeding past. Its hard
not to want to see more of them.
THE FILM IS TORN BETWEEN JANE AND STEPHEN
At the same time, the film never gives you as much as you want of Jane, played here by Felicity
Jones, who actually is quite interesting. As Hawking becomes less and less capable of expressing
himself, the film slowly diverges from him and begins to explore what it's like to be around him. It
isn't pleasant. Jane works slavishly to assist Hawking while also raising kids and pursuing her
own studies. She's ignored by Hawking's colleagues, all men, who don't care about her beyond
her ability to get him to and from campus. Even Hawking is ungrateful sometimes.
Jane is fascinating and strong and dealing with all kinds of problems. She's a woman trying to
have an academic career and a family at a time when that really, really is not easy. And she's
constantly torn over what to do about Hawking: she married this man because she truly loves him,
but she only expected him to live for two more years not to require constant care for ten or

twenty or thirty or more. That's an intense struggle, and the best parts of The Theory of
Everything are when we get to see Jane living it.
What's strange is, The Theory of Everything never realizes that Jane is the most interesting part
of this story. In fact, The Theory of Everything is based on a memoir by Jane, so the source
material is coming from her point of view perhaps explaining why we never really get inside of
Hawking's head. That's not to say that Jane doesn't get her due here: she increasingly does as
the film goes on, but Hawking is always the core of the movie. Jane, for the sake of her narrative,
is often quite literally in the background or being pushed aside, and there simply isn't enough of
Hawking himself to provide us with something meaningful to hang on to instead.
What's even more strange is that the most interesting moment of this movie wasn't originally in it.
It's a brief scene, basically just a shot of Jane working on her thesis while her family goofs around
in front of her, but it says absolutely everything about her life: she is trying, hard, and no one
notices. When I spoke with Felicity Jones, she said that this moment was actually added at her
input, that she felt it was critical to get across that Jane was an academic, trying to balance her
career and family. Jones is right, though I do wonder: if we hadn't been given such an interesting
and revealing moment of Jane, perhaps the film would feel less torn between her and Hawking. It
might even be more fulfilling, if only because we wouldn't be left unfulfilled with how much more
we want to see of Jane.
The lack of focus in this film is really too bad, particularly given that it's coming from director
James Marsh, who did some truly incredibly documentary work with Man on Wire. Marsh does
dramas too, but it feels like somewhere in The Theory of Everything those wires got crossed or
perhaps didn't get crossed enough. It's a logical movie for him to take on because it's half
narrative, half history, but the way it pans out is unsatisfying because we never get enough of
either. There's at least one truly fascinating story hidden inside The Theory of Everything and
probably many, many more. I'd really love to see them.