They say that “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.” But this is definitely not true of the vagus nerve, which wanders from the stomach to the brain, passing through the heart, esophagus and lungs along the way. A new study offers fresh support for an intriguing theory about the vagus nerve’s role in Parkinson’s disease, a neurological disorder that causes tremors, gait difficulties and sometimes dementia in roughly 1 million Americans and as many as 10 million people worldwide.

Todd Sherer, from the Michael J. Fox Foundation, authored a blog post on the Scientific American website in April.  He writes:  "Two centuries after its discovery, it's still incurable—but research is accelerating, with major help from citizen scientists in the patient community."

Here's a very helpful article from yesterday's STAT News about what 23andMe's genetic reports can and cannot show.

On April 6, the New York Times reports that the FDA will allow 23andMe to sell genetic tests for disease risk to consumers.  According to the article, customers have to specifically ask to be tested for Alzheimer's and Parkinson's risk.

From the shaking palsy to alpha-synuclein, the stories behind the science from many of the researchers who played key roles in achieving significant milestones are published.