This week in the news

VCU-created blood-clotting product nears Army OK

By April, a blood-clotting product
created by VCU scientists could win the
Army’s approval for battlefield use.
The decision on WoundStat hinges
on testing by the U.S. Army Institute
of Surgical Research, which studies
combat care and products for injured
soldiers. A test of five products found
that WoundStat was the sole product
found effective “100 percent of the
time.”

Nearly 50 percent of battlefield
deaths are the result of major blood
loss, the institute said.

TraumaCure, the Bethesda, Md.,
company that holds the license to sell
WoundStat, said it will have produced
by the end of March enough WoundStat
for every soldier in Afghanistan and
Iraq.

A contract with the Army could
generate about $5 million in sales for
TraumaCure. Some of those proceeds
would go to VCU and the scientists who
developed WoundStat in 2004.

Devinder S. Bawa, chief executive of-
ficer of TraumaCure, said his company
is confident it will win the contract and
can meet the Army’s needs. The Navy,
which supplies the Marines, is studying
the same five products, Bawa said.

The packets come with a perforated
top that can be opened with one hand
or the teeth.

Brief by the Associated Press

Va. Tech researcher studies link between athletic success, applications

As sports fans gather around the
television this year to watch March
Madness, college-admissions officials
will be tuning in too, but for a different
reason-the higher their team climbs
in the bracket, the more applications
they’re likely to see.

It’s called the “Flutie Effect,” a term
coined when student applications
jumped about 30 percent in the two
years after quarterback Doug Flutie’s
Hail Mary pass that gave Boston College
its win over Miami in 1984. Flutie
subsequently became a household
name.

A Virginia Tech researcher set out to
quantify what had been mostly anecdotal
evidence of the phenomenon.

His findings?

Schools that make it to the Sweet 16
in the NCAA tournament will see an
average 3 percent boost in applications
next year. The champion school is likely
to see a 7 to 8 percent jump. Just making
the 65-team field will net schools an
average 1 percent increase.

The same holds true for success
on the field, as applied-economics
assistant professor Jaren Pope found
schools that win the national football
championship see an average 7 percent
to 8 percent increase in applications.
Those that finish in the top 20 have a
2.5 percent gain.

“Certainly college administrators
have known about this for a while,
but I think this study helps to pin
down what the average effects are,”
Pope said.

For George Mason, the positive
effects of its unlikely Final Four
appearance two years ago were wide
reaching.

In addition to increases in fundraising,
attendance at games and
other benefits, freshman applications
increased 22 percent the year after the
team made its magical run. The percentage
of out-of-state freshmen jumped
from 17 percent to 25 percent, and
admissions inquiries rose 350 percent,
said Robert Baker, director of George
Mason’s Center for Sport Management
who conducted a study called “The
Business of Being Cinderella.”

Brief by Dena Potter, Associated Press
writer

Gov. to announce transportation plan

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine didn’t offer
details but said he will introduce
another transportation plan during a
special General Assembly session this
spring.

Kaine said at a town-hall meeting
at Virginia Wesleyan College this past
Wednesday that he has been discussing
a new transportation package with
General Assembly leaders.

He said those talks began after the
Virginia Supreme Court in February
struck down the plan for regional
authorities to impose taxes on Hampton
Roads and Northern Virginia
citizens.

Kaine did not detail his new plan
Wednesday but said he wants “to make
sure the regions have the money they
need and that statewide-maintenance
needs are addressed.”

The governor said he plans more
discussions with assembly leaders in
about 10 days.

Brief by The Virginian-Pilot, via AP