HJAR Jan/Feb 2020

30 JAN / FEB 2020  I  HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF ARKANSAS   Healthcare Briefs through a grant from the USDA. The program leads free health screenings and health educa- tion programs and works with community lead- ers to provide solutions to the unique challenges they face in their towns. “All of these initiatives are aimed at removing barriers, creating access to resources and making people aware of the assets that are available to them to help them live healthier lives and in turn help build healthier communities,” Laurent said. Pulmonologist Joins Conway Regional Multispecialty Clinic Alok Surana, MD, pulmonologist, has joined the team at Conway Regional Health System. Surana is practicing alongside Rachana Yendala, MD, hematologist/oncologist at the Conway Regional Multispecialty Clinic. Surana specializes in pulmonary and critical care medicine, which includes diagnosis and treat- ment of conditions that affect the lungs, includ- ing, but not limited to, asthma, COPD, sleep apnea, and pneumonia. “We are happy to welcome Dr. Surana to the Conway Regional Medical Staff,” said Rebekah Fincher, chief administrative officer. “Dr. Surana will provide exceptional care to our outpatient pulmonology patients, as well as our most criti- cally ill hospital patients.” Surana completed pulmonology and critical care fellowship training at the University of Arkan- sas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock and com- pleted an internal medicine residency at Crozer Chester Medical Center in Pennsylvania. He is a member of the American College of Chest Physicians. “I am excited for the opportunity to work at Conway Regional,” said Surana. “I look forward to establishing the Multispecialty Clinic and expanding the services provided to the community.” UAMS Scientist Shows Brain Sugar Malfunction in Alzheimer’s, Gains National Attention Steven Barger, PhD — a researcher at the Uni- versity of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) — has entered the national spotlight for showing how the mechanism that brings sugar to the brain malfunctions in people with Alzheimer’s disease, highlighting a potential target for treatment. The study also explains why Alzheimer’s can mimic the symptoms of diabetes, and ultimately concludes there is not as strong a connection between the two diseases as previously believed. The work also deepens the understanding of how the brain uses sugar, or glucose, to fuel important mental functions and memory. Barger is a professor with appointments in the Geriatrics, Neurobiology and Developmental Sci- ences, and Internal Medicine departments in the UAMS College of Medicine. His work was fea- tured during a news conference hosted by the Society for Neuroscience at its annual meeting in Chicago. The findings were featured in Forbes , the American Association for the Advancement of Science EurekAlert!, and other outlets such as dLife. Researchers have long tried to explain the apparent connection between Type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease. A diabetes diagnosis doubles a person’s risk of developing dementia. Memory loss and other symptoms of dementia are common among older adults with diabetes. However, Alzheimer’s is just one form of demen- tia, and it includes other unique symptoms that diabetes does not. Notably, brain samples of dia- betics do not show excessive beta-amyloid pep- tide, which is a hallmark of Alzheimer’s. These observations have led scientists to ques- tion whether diabetes leads to Alzheimer’s or if the converse might be true. Barger’s research began as an exploration of whether Alzheimer’s might cause some cases of diabetes. Barger looked at Alzheimer’s brains and discov- ered a very specific process at work. He focused on a protein called glucose transporter 1 (GLUT1), which takes glucose from the blood vessels to the neurons in the brain, and found that beta-amyloid peptide can cause GLUT1 to be defective. The Alok Surana, MD