Does obesity affect nursing-care facility admission among whites but not blacks?
The large increase in the prevalence of obesity coupled with the rapid expansion of the number of older Americans will likely increase the demand for nursing facility use. More research is needed to understand differences in factors related to nursing home admission among ethnic groups.
Nondestructive loading of Fluo-8 into human erythrocytes permits measurement of Ca++ uptake kinetics. The greater Ca++ permeability of cells infected with malaria parasites is apparent when probenecid is used to inhibit Fluo-8 efflux at the host membrane. This permeability is mediated by a distinct pathway and may be essential for intracellular parasite development. The miniaturized assay presented here should help clarify the precise transport mechanism and may identify inhibitors suitable for antimalarial drug development.