Michael Rafii M.D. Ph.D

Co-Director of the Memory Disorders Clinic at UCSD Perlman Ambulatory Care Center in La Jolla, Assistant Professor of Neurosciences at the University of California, San Diego, and Associate Medical Director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study, Dr. Rafii specializes in cognitive disorders, including dementias such as Alzheimer’s disease. His current research interests include neuroimaging and clinical trials. He received his M.D. and Ph.D. from Brown University and conducted neurogenetics research at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Rafii went on to complete his neurology residency at the Johns Hopkins Hospital and fellowship in Dementia and Cognitive Disorders at the University of California, San Diego.

MR Study Shows That Amyloid Deposits Occur Years Before Diagnosis

Alzheimer's & the Brain, Current Studies 2 Responses »

Apr 212011

High-resolution magnetic resonance (MR) imaging studies have identified characteristic changes in brain structure — thinning of key cortical regions and reduced volume of structures such as the hippocampus — in persons with mild cognitive impairment, in individuals known to carry gene mutations that directly cause Alzheimer’s disease, and in diagnosed Alzheimer’s patients. The current study, published in the Annals of Neurology, involved 87 cognitively normal older individuals and 32 patients diagnosed with mild Alzheimer’s (matched [...]

Studies Reveal Very Early Cognitive Declines with Familial Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer's & the Brain, Current Studies, Diagnosing Alzheimer's 3 Responses »

Mar 182011

Studies Reveal Very Early Cognitive Declines with Familial Alzheimer's Disease

Last month, researchers Francisco Lopera and colleagues reported in the journal Lancet Neurology that they were able to capture a clear decline in cognition starting in people’s early 30s in the largest-known population with autosomal-dominant (inherited) Alzheimer’s disease. They define an earlier disease stage prior to what is called pre-MCI, in effect pushing the line of detectability back toward younger ages by some four years. Two other papers go in the same direction. Last year [...]

The Liver and Alzheimer’s

Current Studies 1 Response »

Mar 112011

Readers, Two recent papers* have shed light on the role of the liver in modulating beta-amyloid levels in the brain, and potentially the course of Alzheimer’s disease. First, researchers at the University of California, Irvine discovered that markedly depleted amounts of an omega-3 fatty acid in brain tissue samples from Alzheimer’s patients may be due to the liver’s inability to produce the complex fat. Low levels of docosahexaenoic acid, or DHA, have been associated with [...]

Updates in the World of Alzheimer’s Disease Research

Current Studies 1 Response »

Jan 312011

Updates in the World of Alzheimer’s Disease Research

Dear Readers, There are two notable updates in this week’s blog. First, The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Advisory Committee decided that it could not recommend approval of Amyvid™ (florbetapir) at this time based on the currently available data (13-3); but, voted unanimously (16-0) to recommend approval of Amyvid conditional on specialized training being instituted for the medical professionals who would administer it. They must train readers in a consistent technique, and then re-evaluate [...]

A New Method to Test for Alzheimer’s Disease?

Current Studies, Diagnosing Alzheimer's 7 Responses »

Jan 252011

A New Method to Test for Alzheimer's Disease?

Using a new technology that relies on thousands of synthetic molecules to fish for disease-specific antibodies, researchers have developed a potential method for detecting Alzheimer’s disease with a simple blood test. The same methodology might lead to blood tests for many important diseases, according to the report published by Thomas Kodadek’s group at the Scripps Research Institute in the January 7th issue of the journal Cell. The new method relies on the notion that many [...]

The Amyloid Plateau

Current Studies 2 Responses »

Jan 142011

Researchers from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, report in last month’s issue of the journal Brain, on the postmortem examination of the first-ever person with Alzheimer’s to be followed prospectively by positron emission tomography using Pittsburgh Compound B (PIB-PET), which allows visualization of amyloid plaques. They analyzed the brain of a woman with Alzheimer’s who had volunteered for the first PET-PIB scan ever performed. She received an additional PIB scan two years later, and [...]

Alzheimer’s Disease: 2010 Year In Review

Uncategorized 1 Response »

Jan 052011

Alzheimer's Disease: 2010 Year In Review

In this final blog of the year, we would like to review some of the highlights of what has happened in the AD world, and the new directions that we will likely be heading into in 2011. This year Medivation’s Dimebon, which started life as a Russian antihistamine and showed some promise against Alzheimer’s, failed in its first late-stage clinical trial. Later in the year, Eli Lilly halted development of semagacestat after the compound actually [...]

HDL Cholesterol and Alzheimer’s Disease

Current Studies, Risk Factors/ Prevention 4 Responses »

Dec 152010

According to researchers at Columbia University, people with high levels of HDL cholesterol (the “good” form) are 60 percent less likely to develop AD. The researchers followed 1,130 seniors with no history of memory loss or dementia and measured their cholesterol levels every 18 months for four years. When the researchers compared the cholesterol levels of study participants with and without Alzheimer’s, they found that those with the highest HDL counts, greater than 55 mg/dL, [...]

Walking and the Risk of Cognitive Decline

Risk Factors/ Prevention 1 Response »

Dec 082010

Walking and the Risk of Cognitive Decline

Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh analyzed the relationship between walking and brain structure in 426 people: 299 cognitively healthy adults, 83 people with MCI, and 44 people with Alzheimer’s dementia. The researchers monitored how far each of the patients walked in a week. After 10 years, all patients underwent 3-D MRI exams to identify changes in brain volume. When they entered the study in 1989-1990, participants were asked how many city blocks they walked [...]

Updates from the Annual Society for Neuroscience Meeting: ApoE4 and Beta-Amyloid

Uncategorized No Responses »

Nov 172010

Readers, The Annual Society for Neuroscience Meeting is where fundamental neuroscience research is presented to a worldwide audience. This year’s meeting includes research presentations from many of the cutting edge labs working on AD. In today’s blog, I will summarize a few of the many findings presented at this meeting that are helping us get a better picture of AD, as well as potential new avenues for its treatment. Our current thinking about the cause [...]

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