NIU is one of 11 state institutions receiving money for clinical studies from the Illinois Affiliate of the American Heart Association.

A record of slightly more than $1 million was allocated this year by the American Heart Association. The funds support basic research of the blood vessels and heart.

NIU will receive $20,000 for one research project to be conducted by Assistant Chemistry Professor Gary M. Baker.

“Some $586,000 has been appropriated by the American Heart Association’s Illinois Affiliate and National Center this year to support 28 researchers at 11 institutions within the Illinois Affiliate’s service area,” said John Daily, chairman of the Illinois Affiliate’s service area.

The projects deal with a wide range of topics such as those described by the American Heart Association: the effects of hormones in the regulation of sugar metabolism which could provide new information for diabetics, investigations toward a new class of antihypertensive drugs, new drugs for migraine headache sufferers, reduced infant medical costs through improved heart monitoring techniques, and the effect of dietary protein on cholesterol metabolism in newborn infants.

The American Heart Association, between 1949 and 1990, has invested more than $900 million in research. It is the second largest voluntary health agency and has one goal: the reduction of disabilities from cardiovascular diseases and strokes.

Research, education and community service programs are how the American Heart Association achieves its goals.

From 1963 to 1986, death rates from heart attacks dropped 47 percent and the death rate from strokes fell 59 percent.

“The work of the American Heart Association is paying off, but cardiovascular diseases still kill more Americans than all other causes combined, claiming one life every 32 seconds,” Daily said.