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GUAM: 1,000 Sign Up For Research Project On Lytico-Bodig By Katie Worth, [log in to unmask] Pacific Daily News Originally published Wednesday, December 17, 2003 More than a third of the island's Chamorro elderly have signed on to volunteer for a research project that hopes to learn more about the mysterious brain disease lytico-bodig. Yesterday, researchers from the University of Guam and the University of California celebrated their 1,000th recruit for the study. The recruitment drive for Chamorros over the age of 65 has been in place since the beginning of the year, said Roy Adonay, associate director for UOG's Micronesian Health and Aging Studies. Adonay said the goal was to recruit 1,000 participants each year for two years. According to the U.S. Census, just under 2,800 Chamorros over 65 were living on Guam in 2000, he said. The project is a collaborative effort between six universities, and is directed by Dr. Douglas Galasko, a professor of neurology at the University of California, San Diego. The project is looking at possible environmental as well as genetic factors that could contribute to the high rate of the brain degenerative diseases lytico and bodig on island, Galasko said. Lytico is now known as ALS or Lou Gehrig's Disease, and bodig, which only exists on Guam, is now known as Parkinson's Dementia Complex. The diseases became increasingly common after World War II but have slowed in younger generations. The researchers are doing a variety of tests and surveys on the participants, in hopes of determining possible environmental factors that could contribute to the diseases, Galasko said. Researchers also are looking at rates of dementia in the population, he said, to explore a hypothesis that a genetic factor may contribute to higher rates of that disease in the population. The project is largely funded by a $10.7 million grant provided by the National Institute on Aging, according to Pacific Daily News files. The 1,000th participant, former Sen. Carmen Kasperbauer, was at the celebration and helped cut a sheet cake for the project staff. Kasperbauer said she knew several people who had suffered from the diseases, including her uncle, whom she said died from the disease in the 1960s. "I think it's a great project to find out if the cause of these diseases may have to do with the food we eat, or the chemicals we have ingested, or things we experienced during the war, or the change of diet after the war," she said. "It's not well understood, and that can be really tragic and heart-wrenching for the patients and their families." SOURCE: Agana Pacific Daily News, GU http://www.guampdn.com/news/stories/20031217/localnews/48344.html * * * ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn