State getting
$17.1 million in grants

Star-Bulletin staff

Hawaii will receive about $17.1 million in federal grants, contracts and loan guarantees, U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie has announced.

The money will promote economic development, pay for scientific research, strengthen education, improve public health and provide human services and environmental protection.

"These funds represent an investment in Hawaii," Abercrombie said. "They will speed our economic recovery, help educate our young people and protect Hawaii's health and environment."

In education-related funds, five grants totaling $1.6 million will go to University of Hawaii community colleges for Native Hawaiian Education programs.

An additional $2.6 million will go to the state Department of Education to aid parents, communities and teachers in creating charter schools. And LEI (Learning Enhancement through Innovations) Aloha will get some $1.2 million to prepare future teachers to infuse technology into instruction.

Funds from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services include $1.7 million to UH for a diet and cancer study and $516,667 to Kalihi-Palama Health Center for its Rural Health Outreach Program.

The U.S. Agriculture Department is funding $2.5 million in loan guarantees to WorldTrade-Net.Com LLC, doing business as Tangora Seafoods of Honolulu, to purchase and improve fishing vessels to create sustainable fishing operations in Hawaii.

The U.S. Department of Energy is funding $3 million for the creation of a Center on Ocean Carbon Sequestration.

Other funds include:

$388,023 to UH for research in preventing smoking.

$220,000 to UH for research in maturation of female adolescents.

$415,438 to Alu Like Inc. to enhance the Native Hawaiian Library Web page.

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8 researchers receive
heart association funds

Star-Bulletin staf

The American Heart Association of Hawaii has awarded $552,728 in grants for cardiovascular research for the 1999-2000 fiscal year to the following recipients and projects:

Nadhipuram Bhagavan, Ph.D., of St. Louis Heights, "Interrelationships Between Cardiovascular Diseases and Human Serum."

Scott Lazanoff, Ph.D., of Kailua, "Reducing Systemic Hypertension and Renal Disease with Endothelin-1 Blockers.

Yi-Bing Ouyang, Ph.D., of Manoa, "Cell Death Pathway After Ischemic Stroke."

Kara Yamamoto, Ph.D., of Kaneohe, "Matrix Metalloproteinase Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor in Kawasaki Syndrome."

Jun-Tsu Chao of Manoa, "The Therapeutic Effect of Tocotrienol on Vascular Dysfunction."

Takahisa Tshii of Nuuanu, "Spectroscopic Studies of Transfer RNA Implicated in MELAS Syndrome."

David Jameson, Ph.D., of Kailua, "Self-Association and Ligand-Induced Aggregation of Dynamin."

Beatriz Rodriguez, M.D., Ph.D., of Nuuanu, "New Risk Factors for Coronary Heart Disease, Stroke and Total Mortality in Japanese American Elderly Men."

Nationwide, the parent American Heart Association spent more than $312 million in fiscal year 1997-1998 on research support, education and community programs.