Muscular dystrophy (MD) is a group of muscle diseases that weaken the musculoskeletal system and hamper locomotion. Muscular dystrophies are characterized by progressive skeletal muscle weakness, defects in muscle proteins, and the death of muscle cells and tissue.

In the 1860s, descriptions of boys who grew progressively weaker, lost the ability to walk, and died at an early age became more prominent in medical journals. In the following decade, French neurologist Guillaume Duchenne gave a comprehensive account of thirteen boys with the most common and severe form of the disease, which now carries his name—Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

It soon became evident that the disease had more than one form. The other major forms are Becker, limb-girdle, congenital, facioscapulohumeral, myotonic, oculopharyngeal, distal, and Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy. These diseases predominately affect males, although females may be carriers of the disease gene. Most types of MD are multi-system disorders with manifestations in body systems including the heart, gastrointestinal system, nervous system, endocrine glands, eyes and brain.

Todd Harrison is the founder and CEO of the Emmy Award-winning internet media company Minyanville.

Wall Street Career

Todd Harrison optioned out of a two-decade ascent toward the upper echelons of Wall Street leadership to found Minyanville, a website dedicated to financial education and related projects, such as the Ruby Peck Foundation for Children's Education which supports learning through creative education.

Harrison finished as Vice President after a seven-year stint (1992–1998) on the worldwide equity derivative desk at Morgan Stanley, went on to become Managing Director of Derivatives at The Galleon Group, and completed his Wall Street career as President of the $400 million hedge fund, Cramer Berkowitz, and writer for TheStreet.com. He became CEO of the Minyanville internet media company founded in 2003.

The Other Side of Wall Street: In Business it Pays to Be an Animal, In Life It Pays to Be Yourself (2011: FT Press) was written by Harrison to relate the story of how and why he left a lucrative career in trading and finance to create a company dedicated to informing both Wall Street professionals and the general public about the complexities, trends and harsh realities of the stock market.