Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Part I Basic aspects of neurodegeneration
- Part II Neuroimaging in neurodegeneration
- Part III Therapeutic approaches in neurodegeneration
- Normal aging
- Part IV Alzheimer's disease
- Part VI Other Dementias
- Part VII Parkinson's and related movement disorders
- Part VIII Cerebellar degenerations
- Part IX Motor neuron diseases
- 50 An approach to the patient with motor neuron dysfunction
- 51 The genetics of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
- 52 Current and potential therapeutics in motor neuron diseases
- 53 The hereditary spastic paraplegias
- 54 Spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy (Kennedy's disease): a sex-limited, polyglutamine repeat expansion disorder
- 55 Spinal muscular atrophies
- 56 Western Pacific ALS/parkinsonism–dementia complex
- Part X Other neurodegenerative diseases
- Index
- References
56 - Western Pacific ALS/parkinsonism–dementia complex
from Part IX - Motor neuron diseases
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 August 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Part I Basic aspects of neurodegeneration
- Part II Neuroimaging in neurodegeneration
- Part III Therapeutic approaches in neurodegeneration
- Normal aging
- Part IV Alzheimer's disease
- Part VI Other Dementias
- Part VII Parkinson's and related movement disorders
- Part VIII Cerebellar degenerations
- Part IX Motor neuron diseases
- 50 An approach to the patient with motor neuron dysfunction
- 51 The genetics of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
- 52 Current and potential therapeutics in motor neuron diseases
- 53 The hereditary spastic paraplegias
- 54 Spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy (Kennedy's disease): a sex-limited, polyglutamine repeat expansion disorder
- 55 Spinal muscular atrophies
- 56 Western Pacific ALS/parkinsonism–dementia complex
- Part X Other neurodegenerative diseases
- Index
- References
Summary
Introduction
Guam, the southernmost of the Marianas, an archipelago consisting of a chain of 15 islands, is the largest island in the western Pacific. The Marianas are part of Micronesia, a group of Pacific islands that, in addition to the Marianas, consists of the Carolines, the Marshalls, and the Gilberts. Guam is a relatively small island measuring approximately 20 miles long and from 4 to 9 miles wide (total area, 212 square miles). Located at 13 degrees north of the equator, Guam is approximately 3500 miles west of Hawaii, 1500 miles south of Tokyo and 1500 east of Manila. Guam was obtained by the United States as a territorial possession in 1898, as part of the settlement of the Spanish–American War. In the early portion of the twentieth century, Guam served as valuable stopping off place for coal-burning steamships needing to take on fresh water and other vital supplies during their long ocean-going voyages. From a military perspective, Guam's strategic central location in the western Pacific was also important and the United States Navy administered the island from 1898 until 1950 (with the exception of the Japanese occupation during World War II). In 1950, the Organic Act of Guam was passed by the US Congress and gave the inhabitants of Guam United States citizenship. This law also gave the inhabitants of Guam the right to elect a local governor and island legislature, and to send a non-voting representative to the US Congress.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Neurodegenerative DiseasesNeurobiology, Pathogenesis and Therapeutics, pp. 827 - 844Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2005