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General Press Articles

• Many cyanobacteria make a neurotoxin
  Susan Milius
  Science News, Vol. 167, No. 18, April 30, 2005, p. 285.
• News Scan Briefs: Brain-Destroying Algae?
  JR Minkel, Charles Q. Choi
  Scientific American, June 2005, p. 34.
• Could a botanist have the answer to Alzheimer’s?
  Georgia Tasker
  The Miami Herald, May 10, 2005, p. 7E.
• Environmental Neurotoxin May Pose Health Threat
  Bridget M. Kuehn
  JAMA, Vol. 293, No. 20, May 25, 2005, p. 2460-2462.
• Water-scum toxin linked to nerve ailments
  Helen Altonn
  Honolulu Star Bulletin, April 5, 2005
• Food toxin linked to Alzheimer's
  Michael Le Page
  New Scientist, Issue no. 2459, August 7, 2004, p. 14.
• Bat out of hell
  Stephanie Pain
  New Scientist, Issue no. 2429, January 10, 2004, p. 50-51.
• Mechanism suggested for Guam illness
  Susan Milius
  Science News, Vol. 166, No. 7, Aug. 14, 2004, p. 110.
• Gene deal boosts indigenous rights
  Andy Coghlan
  New Scientist, Issue no. 2468, October 9, 2004, p. 8. 
• Naturally occurring amino acid causes neurodegeneration
  Peter Hayward
  The Lancet Neurology, Vol. 3, Issue 1, January 2004, p. 7.
• Food Chain of Evidence Points to Brain Toxin
  Tracy Hampton
  JAMA, Vol. 290, No. 21, December 3, 2003, p. 2788-2789.
• Fruit Bats Linked to Mystery Disease
  Richard Stone
  Science, Vol. 296, No. 5566, April 12, 2002, p. 241.
• The Plant Hunter
  Christopher Hallowell
  Time, October 1, 1997, p. 17-22.

BMAA Articles

• A nonprotein amino acid and neurodegeneration.
  Cox PA, Banack SA.
  Science. 2006 Nov 24;314(5803):1242.
• Commentary on: Return of the cycad hypothesis--does the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis/Parkinsonism dementia complex (ALS/PDC) of Guam have new implications for global health?
  Cox PA, Banack S, Murch S, Sacks O.
  Neuropathol Appl Neurobiol. 2006 Dec;32(6):679-82.
• BMAA selectively injures motor neurons via AMPA/kainate receptor activation
  Shyam D. Rao, Sandra Anne Banack, Paul Alan Cox and John H. Weiss
  Exp Neurol. 2006 Sep;201(1):244-52. Epub 2006 Jun 9.
• Neurotoxic flying foxes as dietary items for the Chamorro people, Marianas Islands
  Sandra Anne Banack, Susan J. Murch and Paul Alan Cox
  J Ethnopharmacol. 2006 Jun 15;106(1):97-104. Epub 2006 Feb 7.
• Diverse taxa of cyanobacteria produce beta-N-methylamino-L-alanine, a neurotoxic amino acid
  Cox PA, Banack SA, Murch SJ, Rasmussen U, Tien G, Bidigare RR, Metcalf JS, Morrison LF, Codd GA, Bergman B.
  Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2005 Apr 5;102(14):5074-8. Epub 2005 Apr 4.
  Erratum in: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2005 Jul 5;102(27):9734.
• Occurrence of beta-methylamino-l-alanine (BMAA) in ALS/PDC patients from Guam
  Murch SJ, Cox PA, Banack SA, Steele JC, Sacks OW.
  Acta Neurol Scand. 2004 Oct;110(4):267-9.
• A mechanism for slow release of biomagnified cyanobacterial neurotoxins and neurodegenerative disease in Guam
  Murch SJ, Cox PA, Banack SA.
  Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2004 Aug 17;101(33):12228-31. Epub 2004 Aug 4.
• Conservation Implications of Chamorro Consumption of Flying Foxes as a Possible Cause of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis–Parkinsonism Dementia Complex in Guam
  Monson CS, Banack SA, Cox, PA.
  Conservation Biology June 2003;17(3):678–686.
• Biomagnification of cyanobacterial neurotoxins and neurodegenerative disease among the Chamorro people of Guam
  Cox PA, Banack SA, Murch SJ.
  Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2003 Nov 11;100(23):13380-3.
• Biomagnification of cycad neurotoxins in flying foxes: implications for ALS-PDC in Guam
  Banack SA, Cox PA.
  Neurology. 2003 Aug 12;61(3):387-9.
• Distribution of the neurotoxic nonprotein amino acid BMAA in Cycas micronesica
  Banack, SA, Cox, PA
  Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society. Oct 2003;143(2):165–168.
• Cycad neurotoxins, consumption of flying foxes, and ALS-PDC disease in Guam
  Cox PA, Sacks OW.
  Neurology. 2002 Mar 26;58(6):956-9

Prostratin Articles

• Ensuring Equitable Benefits: The Falealupo Covenant and the Isolation of Anti-Viral Drug Prostratin from a Samoan Medicinal Plant
  Cox PA.
  Pharmaceutical Biology. 2001; 39(1)Suppl.:33-40
• A nonpromoting phorbol from the samoan medicinal plant Homalanthus nutans inhibits cell killing by HIV-1
  Gustafson KR, Cardellina JH 2nd, McMahon JB, Gulakowski RJ, Ishitoya J, Szallasi Z, Lewin NE, Blumberg PM, Weislow OS, Beutler JA, et al.
  J Med Chem. 1992 May 29;35(11):1978-86.

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“In the study, the investigators found that the diet of the indigenous Chamorro people may account for their strikingly high incidence of a neurodegenerative disease called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis/parkinsonism- dementia complex (ALS-PDC).” – Journal of the American Medical Association, December 2003