Submission + - Study Finds Banked Blood Not as Effective as Hoped (reuters.com)
URSpider writes: "A study by Duke Researchers, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that donated blood rapidly loses much of its ability to transfer oxygen, and that this loss is associated with the dissipation of the trace gas nitric oxide in as little as three hours after the blood is collected. This result explains previous findings that transfusion recipients did not fare as well as would be expected. The authors suggest that future work might focus on how to replace the lost nitric oxide, as well as to take a fresh look at the benefits of blood transfusion."
