Endocrinology, Metabolism, and Diabetes

Multiple news outlets published stories on new research co-authored by Paresh Dandona, MD, PhD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine in the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism. In a single-site study, conducted over 11 years in Bremerhaven, Germany, Dandona and colleagues found that testosterone therapy reversed Type 2 diabetes in one-third of the study participants.

One-third of a cohort of men with Type 2 diabetes and hypogonadism who received testosterone undecanoate therapy experienced a sustained remission of their diabetes, according to findings from a single-center study. “The message is clear. All people with type 2 diabetes and/or obesity should have their testosterone measured and, if appropriate, be treated with testosterone for hypogonadism,” says Paresh Dandona, MD, PhD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism.

For people living with type 1 diabetes, new treatments may be finally on the horizon. Paresh Dandona, MD, PhD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism, describes how the University at Buffalo Endocrinology Research Center is helping to revolutionize the treatment of this condition. He explains why two non-insulin medications currently used in type 2 diabetes, SGLT-2 inhibitors and GLP-1 receptor agonists, are among the most promising new therapies. “The hope is that non-insulin therapies will soon be approved for type 1 diabetes. By unlocking the potential of these therapies, we can do more than manage blood glucose levels – we can improve people’s lives,” writes Dandona.

Paresh Dandona, MD, PhD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism, is quoted in an article about the death of Erie County Holding Center inmate Connell Burrell. A Type 2 diabetic, Burrell’s blood sugar crashed to dangerously low levels after he was given a large dose of jail-provided insulin. Holding Center nurses tried to restore his glucose with, among other things, a peanut butter sandwich. “That treatment was wrong, in my view,” Dandona said. “To be given a sandwich to chew is an impossible undertaking.”

An article spotlights the work of Paresh Dandona, MD, PhD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism, and his colleagues at the Diabetes-Endocrinology Center of Western New York in Amherst.

An article in the Buffalo News’ special Prospectus section details that health care is the region’s largest employer and discusses health care trends in 2019. The article highlights UB’s Center for Successful Aging, described as “an effort that involves almost 50 researchers from 19 UB departments and a dozen schools within the university. The aim this year is to work more closely with community centers, civic organizations and other schools.”​ Also mentioned is Paresh Dandona, MD, PhD, SUNY Distinguished Professor and chief of the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism in the Department of Medicine, who with his team are now studying how drugs developed for Type 2 diabetes patients can help those with Type 1 diabetes.

A feature story on a website covering news in diabetes, covers the work of Paresh Dandona, MD, PhD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism, that has shown that drugs developed for Type 2 diabetes are also effective in treating patients with Type 1 diabetes. Dandona now is recruiting patients with Type 1 diabetes in a major Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation-funded clinical trial to further test these drugs.

Paresh Dandona, MD, PhD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism, was interviewed about his $1.6 million grant from the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, in which he is enrolling Type 1 diabetes patients in a study of his “triple therapy” approach involving insulin plus two additional drugs that he has found help even out blood sugar control in Type 1 diabetics.

An article about the rapid revolution of technology-aided care that is available through remote patient monitoring interviews Anne B. Curtis, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor and Charles and Mary Bauer Professor and chair of medicine; Ajay Chaudhuri, MD, clinical director of medicine and director of the endocrinology, metabolism and diabetes fellowship program; and Andrew H. Talal, MD, professor of medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition; about the devices that can reduce patients’ trips to the doctor’s office.

New diabetes research by Paresh Dandona, MD, PhD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism found that taking a fiber supplement can help patients with type 2 diabetes boost their insulin secretion even after eating a high-fat, high-carbohydrate meal.

New research suggests that insulin may be effective in treating Alzheimer’s disease. Paresh Dandona, MD, PhD, SUNY Distinguished Professor and chief of endocrinology in the Department of Medicine, first discovered about 17 years ago that Alzheimer’s inflammation is resistant to insulin, and now researchers in the U.K. are testing the concept on rats. “This is about the only ray of hope right now in this moment,” he said. “We need to demonstrate that insulin conclusively and in multi-center trails will improve cognitive function.”

Research by Paresh Dandona, MD, PhD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism, shows that a majority of patients with type 1 diabetes did significantly better at controlling blood sugar when they used insulin and a medicine for type 2 diabetes. “It can save a lot of lives,” he said. “It can reduce complications like eye disease, blindness, kidney disease and failure. Type 1 is really a disaster and, overall, not a disease you want to have.”

Research by Paresh Dandona, MD, PhD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism, shows that patients with type 1 diabetes who were treated with a type 2 diabetes drug had a significant decline in their blood sugar levels. “There remains a high unmet medical need in helping treat the millions of patients living with type 1 diabetes while managing the complications associated with the disease,” he said. “It is critical that we continue to advance clinical research with newer and novel therapies.”

A new study shows that people with type 1 diabetes experienced improvements in HbA1c levels after treatment with liraglutide, according to Raju Panta, MD, a medical resident in the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism in the Department of Medicine.

A new meta-analysis led by a research group at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences suggests that liraglutide produces modest reductions of HbA1c levels with significant weight loss as well as small insulin dose reductions in type 1 diabetes.