Handout image shows a flow chart illustrating the process by which stem cell lines are generated directly from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients. Ordinary skin cells taken from patients with ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease, a fatal and incurable nerve disease, have been transformed into nerve cells in a first step toward treating them, U.S. researchers reported on July 31, 2008. There is no immediate medical use for the motor neurons, the cells that waste away and die in ALS. There is no cure for ALS, whose causes are not clear, and it kills by gradually paralyzing patients. REUTERS/Kit Rodolfa/John Dimos/Handout. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. NO SALES. NO ARCHIVES.