Karin Lewis probably never thought of herself as becoming a spokesperson for a computer program, but lately, that’s exactly what she’s been doing.

Lewis is "completely sold" on an innovative and free computer program called Dasher.

Dasher is a text-entry interface (translation: a program that helps you type or create text) for people who can’t use an ordinary keyboard. It was created by a team of physicists led by David MacKay at Cambridge University in Great Britain.

A registered nurse with a bachelor’s degree from the City College of New York, Patricia O’Connor is the nurse case manager for the Forbes Norris MDA/ALS Research Center’s multidisciplinary clinic at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco. O’Connor has been at the ALS center for eight years.

Cyclosporine revisited

The pharmaceutical company Maas Biolab, of Albuquerque, N.M., and Lund, Sweden, has received Orphan Drug designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to develop cyclosporine specifically for ALS.

Gulf War report available online

The Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses has published online its full report, originally released in September.

People who receive a daunting diagnosis of ALS often also find themselves weathering a blizzard of information and paperwork concerning vital choices they have to make about coping with the disease.

Add in a mountain of details about pricey equipment that you may or may not need someday, and it doesn’t take much to get overwhelmed.

But foresight and realistic planning can make time your ally and stave off frustration when it comes to obtaining items that can greatly affect your quality of life.

In deepest winter, most Earth creatures are quiet and withdrawn, wisely conserving their energy for the months ahead. Not so the human creature, which scurries through December like a frantic chicken squawking, “So much to do! So much to do!”

The holiday season plops a big load of extra stress on top of the regular stresses of life with ALS. Many of these stresses are physical: shopping, travel, decorating, etc. Other stresses are emotional: the poignancy of each holiday, tensions among family members, an inner urge to “do it all” in spite of circumstances.

November is the month officially set aside to honor the nation’s family caregivers, and to advocate changes that support and empower their caregiving.

Organized by the National Family Caregivers Association, National Family Caregivers Month 2004 — with the theme “Share the Caring!” — focuses on public policy, and patient and caregiver health and safety. Activities and presentations on these topics are being held across the country.

Cellular transport protein implicated

A research group led by Mayana Zatz at the Biosciences Institute of São Paulo (Brazil) University has identified a mutation in a chromosome 20 gene as a likely cause of motor neuron diseases in some families. Motor neurons are the muscle-controlling nerve cells.