Award-Winning Project Empowers Women to Make Health Care Decisions

The ENDOW (Ethnicity, Needs, Decisions of Women) Project, sponsored in part by the NHLBI through the Women's Health Initiative, received an International CINDY (cinema in industry) award and a Telly award for its video to educate women about communicating with health care providers. Although the video's target audience is women facing surgery, the film and accompanying pamphlets teach decision making skills that women can apply to all aspects of medical care. The pamphlets,"The Wise Woman's Guide to Making Decisions" and "The Decision is Yours - Talking to Your Doctor," can be viewed online at www.dopm.uab.edu/endow/intervention.html.

Conference Grants are Available from the NHLBI

If you are interested in partnering with the NHLBI for conferences and other meetings, consider applying for an "R13" conference grant. To learn more about R13 funding opportunities, read grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/nihgps/part_iii_5.htm, grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/gps/app7.htm, and the surrounding pages. Application forms and instructions are at grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/phs398/phs398.html. Please read the instructions carefully, since they may direct you to other relevant forms. For example, some applicants will need to provide additional information regarding lobbying activities before federal law will allow their applications to be considered. After you've decided that a conference grant is right for your organization, but before you apply, please contact the appropriate NHLBI staff member listed at grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/not97-006.html. We look forward to learning about additional opportunities to partner with your groups.

Spotlight on Our Web Site

Two Tools to Help You Get Where You Need to Go

Looking for the article in last year's FYI from the NHLBI on the Institute's mission but don't remember which issue it was in? Tired of waiting for pages to load so you can search through back issues, looking for that research advance you knew you read "e;a few months ago?"e; You need the FYI from the NHLBI index.

On the other hand, if you have the opposite problem of knowing exactly where to find the information you want, but you get tired of drilling through multiple layers of NHLBI Express pages to the link you need, hop aboard the Direct Express. The new page features the most popular NHLBI Express stops, but trades the user-friendly explanations and graphics, which can often make a trip on the NHLBI Express enjoyable, for a more streamlined effect that shaves precious minutes from downloading times.

Sleep Well, Do Well with the NHLBI Star Sleeper Campaign

New NHLBI Research Initiatives

From time to time, the NHLBI invites investigators to submit grant applications or contract proposals for specific research programs. We are currently soliciting applications for the programs described below. For a full details of these and other research initiatives, visit http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/funding/inits/index.htm or the Web page that are linked each initiative number.

Ancillary Studies in Heart, Lung, and Blood Disease Trials

• Initiative Number: RFA-HL-00-012
• Applications are accepted for the following deadlines: March 9, June 11, September 10, December 10, 2001; and March 11, June 10, 2002.
• Objective: To conduct mechanistic studies by utilizing patients and patient materials from clinical trials related to heart, lung, and blood diseases.

Biobehavioral Research for Effective Sleep

• Initiative Number: PA-00-046
• Applications are accepted for February 1, June 1, and October 1 deadlines each year.
• Objective: To support research on sleep-related problems found in healthy and chronically ill individuals with acute and chronic sleep deprivation.

Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms of Primary Pulmonary Hypertension

• Initiative Number: PA-00-043
• Applications are accepted for February 1, June 1, and October 1 deadlines each year.
• Objective: To promote research in primary pulmonary hypertension with an emphasis on understanding the disease mechanisms.

Comprehensive Sickle Cell Centers

• Initiative Number: RFA-HL-01-015
• Applications are due on September 25, 2001.
• Objectives: To stimulate engineering of biological substitutes for damaged tissues and organs and to promote development of novel tissue regeneration and remodeling approaches.

Functional Tissue Engineering for Heart, Vascular, Lung, Blood, and Sleep Disorders and Diseases

• Initiative Number: PAR-01-006
• Phase I and II applications applications are accepted for the following deadlines: March 13, 2002 for Phase I and II applications. March 13, 2003 and March 12, 2004 deadlines are for Phase II applications only.
• Objectives: To stimulate engineering of biological substitutes for damaged tissues and organs and to promote the development of novel tissue regeneration and remodeling approaches.

Pathogenesis and Treatment of Lymphedema

• Initiative Number: PA-01-035.html
• Applications are accepted for February 1, June 1, and October 1 deadlines each year.
• Objective: To stimulate research on the biology of the lymphatic system, to characterize the pathophysiologic mechanisms that cause the disease, and to discover new therapeutic interventions.

Physical Activity and Obesity Across Chronic Diseases

• Initiative Number: PA-01-017
• Applications are accepted for February 1, June 1, and October 1 deadlines each year.
• Objectives: To examine relationships between physical activity and obesity, to improve methodology of assessment of physical activity and energy balance, and to test intervention approaches that incorporate physical activity for obesity prevention or treatment related to chronic diseases.

Response to the Presidential Vaccine Initiative - Overcoming the Tuberculosis Latency Challenge

• Initiative Number: RFA-AI-01-009
• Applications are due on July 16, 2001.
• Objective: To elucidate the mechanisms underlying persistent, asymptomatic infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

SBIR/STTR Technologies for Monitoring and Performing Resuscitation

• Initiative Number: PA-01-054
• Applications are accepted for February 1, June 1, and October 1 deadlines each year.
• Objective: To foster better systems and methods for monitoring of genetic, molecular, biochemical, physical or metabolic derangements associated with circulatory, hypoxemic, or traumatic arrest and for elucidating the unique pathophysiology of irreversible injury following multiple organ or whole-body ischemia and reperfusion.

SCOR: Molecular Medicine and Atherosclerosis

• Initiative Number: RFA-HL-00-015
• Applications are due on June 15, 2001.
• Objective: To support molecular research of the etiology and pathophysiology of atherosclerosis.

Self-Management Strategies Across Chronic Diseases

• Initiative Number: PA-00-109
• Applications are accepted for February 1, June 1, and October 1 deadlines each year.
• Objectives: To expand research on established self-management interventions, such as those used in treating blood disorders, and understand their implications in treating other chronic diseases.

Need More Information?

For health related questions and publications, please contact the trained information specialists at the NHLBI Information Center.