FuturePundit (a.k.a. SARSPundit) points me to this article that indicates some interesting patterns in Parkinson’s Disease:
The scientists examined the mitochondrial DNA of 609 Parkinson’s disease patients and 340 normal controls who had no signs of the disease. In particular, they looked at nine well-known and well-studied gene variations that vary among ethnic groups. When they looked at the correlation between gene variation and incidence of Parkinson’s disease, they discovered that one variant, called “J” was much more common in people who do not have Parkinson’s disease, and particularly among women.
“The J haplogroup is much more common in unaffected individuals, so that would suggest it is protective,” said Vance.
The J variant is found in about 26 percent of Caucasians, versus two-thirds of Asians and more than 90 percent of sub-Saharan Africans. However, the researchers noted that since they only studied Caucasians in this study, they could venture no conclusion about whether the J variant is protective in other ethnic groups.
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