Home Tags Posts tagged with "als association"

als association

0

According to ALS Association, the Ice Bucket Challenge has funded an important scientific gene discovery in the progressive neurodegenerative disease ALS.

The Ice Bucket Challenge went viral in 2014 and raised $115 million from people, including prominent celebrities, pouring cold water over themselves and posting the video on social media.

The project was criticized as a stunt, but has funded six research projects.

Photo Getty Images

Photo Getty Images

Scientists have identified a new gene contributing to the disease, NEK1.

Research by Project MinE, published in Nature Genetics, is the largest-ever study of inherited ALS, also known as motor neurone disease (MND).

More than 80 researchers in 11 countries searched for ALS risk genes in families affected by the disease.

Lucie Bruijn of the ALS Association says: “The sophisticated gene analysis that led to this finding was only possible because of the large number of ALS samples available.”

The identification of gene NEK1 means scientists can now develop a gene therapy treating it.

Although only 10% of ALS patients have the inherited form, researchers believe that genetics contribute to a much larger percentage of cases.

Social media was awash with videos of people pouring cold water over their heads to raise money for ALS in the summer of 2014.

More than 17 million people uploaded videos to Facebook, which were then watched by 440 million people worldwide.

0

Vin Diesel has nominated Russian President Vladimir Putin to do the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.

The star also put forward Angelina Jolie and Michelle Obama.

Although Vladimir Putin has not given an outright no, his spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the President probably wasn’t aware of the challenge – and apparently has more important things to be thinking about.

Vin Diesel has nominated Russian President Vladimir Putin to do the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

Vin Diesel has nominated Russian President Vladimir Putin to do the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge (photo YouTube)

“We’ve had other things on our agenda,” Dmitry Peskov told Russian newspaper Lenta.ru.

Other high-profile names to have taken part in the campaign, which raises money for ALS Association, the US charity that helps sufferers of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, include Oprah Winfrey, Justin Bieber, Britney Spears, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Lady Gaga and Charlie Sheen.

President Barack Obama has already declined his nomination and has made a donation to the ALS Association instead.

[youtube Ro5UoZ74OwA 650]

0

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge is an activity involving pouring a bucket of ice water on someone’s head or donating to the ALS Association in the US.

Participants get a bucket of ice water tipped over their head. Then they nominate two of their friends, who have 24 hours to tip a bucket of ice water over their own heads or forfeit by way of a charitable financial donation.

They’re raising money for the ALS Association, to research the motor neurone disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

The Ice Bucket Challenge went viral throughout social media during the Northern Hemisphere summer of 2014 with numerous celebrities, politicians, athletes, and everyday Americans posting videos of themselves online and on TV participating in the event.

Although pouring water over someone’s head on the internet for charity has been around since last winter, it only went viral when the family of Pete Frates, a baseball player who was diagnosed with ALS two years ago, started their own campaign.

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge is an activity involving pouring a bucket of ice water on someone's head or donating to the ALS Association

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge is an activity involving pouring a bucket of ice water on someone’s head or donating to the ALS Association (photo Getty Images)

The origins of the idea of dumping cold water on one’s head to raise money for charity are unclear and have been attributed to multiple sources.

The challenge was popularized in the US on June 30, 2014, when the Golf Channel Morning Show televised the social media phenomenon and performed a live on-air ice bucket challenge.

Before the popularity of the Ice Bucket Challenge, levels of awareness, fundraising, research funds, and overall public support for ALS were extremely low.

After the Ice Bucket Challenge went viral on social media, public awareness and charitable donations for ALS soared to unprecedented levels. On August 18, 2014, the ALS Association announced that it had received $15.6 million in donations compared to $1.8 million during the same time period, July 29 to August 18 in 2013. These donations came from both existing donors and 307,598 new donors to the Association.

This year, Steve-O questioned the campaign, suggesting that celebrities’ videos generally forgot to share donation information for ALS charities, and that the $15 million in funds is insignificant, given the star power of the celebrities participating. He noted that, of the videos he viewed, only Charlie Sheen and Bill Gates noted that point is to donate money.

[youtube XS6ysDFTbLU 650]

© © 2011 - 2023 BelleNews.com