WILTIMS #68: Myasthenia gravis

Apologies for the brief post this evening; the SO is in town and takes precedent. I will give you this sunset picture I took yesterday as some little recompense.

TIL: Myasthenia gravis is a rare autoimmune disease whereby the body attacks a specific postsynaptic receptor at neuromuscular junctions. This means that the nerves send neurotransmitters to the muscles telling them to contract, but the muscles gradually lose their ability to recognize this signal. The result of this is the very slow cumulative debilitation of muscle strength. It is often first noticed as an eye condition, because the muscles of the eye are very fine tuned and are easily affected. Untreated, it can progress to near paralysis.

The most amazing thing about the disease is the treatment. An acetylcholinesterase inhibitor is administered which causes the neurotransmitters released by the nerve to stick around longer, amplifying the signal to the muscle and reversing the condition (at least for a while). This was seen as a miracle drug when it was first used for this disease because it is able to turn a bedridden patient into a normal healthy person within seconds.