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Male transvestites, or drag queens, are a part of homosexual iconography and serve as symbols of freedom of expression. It is important to place them correctly in the gay culture of the 1990s.

Keith Allan convincingly played the character Lola in the musical, 'Damn Yankees.' However, the current Broadway revival in which Bebe Neuwirth casted as Lola lacked the intensity Keith had put into the act.

The play 'Angels in America' chronicles the lives of several people affected by homosexuality. Written by a gay playright, Tony Kushner, it signals Broadway's acceptance of gay characters.

The works of Philip Glass and Robert Wilson reflect the direction of opera in the 20th century. An analysis of 20th-century opera production is presented featuring such notable talents as Placido Domingo, Eli Weisgall and Lauren Flanigan.

The New York, NY, drama circle will be treated to several new plays by Brian Friel, Howard Korder, Paula Vogel and Nicky Silver. These plays are 'Wonderful Tennessee,''The Lights,''Desdemona, A Play About a Handkerchief,' and 'Pterodactyls.'

Vitiligo is an autoimmune disease of the skin that is characterized by patchy depigmentation (i.e., white spots) and results from the loss of melanocytes, which are pigment-producing cells. The pathogenesis of human vitiligo consists of an interaction between intrinsic melanocyte defects, environmental factors, and autoimmune mechanisms that target these cells for destruction. Human clinical and translational studies have outlined pathways that are important in human disease; however, combining human correlative studies with mechanistic studies in representative preclinical animal models is a powerful approach to study disease pathogenesis and develop new treatments. Because of the complex pathogenesis of vitiligo, it is unlikely that any one single animal model will adequately reflect all factors implicated in the initiation, progression, and maintenance of the disease. Therefore, vitiligo is best modeled by multiple systems—each with its strengths and weaknesses—that allow insight into specific components of vitiligo pathogenesis. In this paper, we describe some of the available animal models that have been developed to study vitiligo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the North Carolina Attorney General's duty to defend and the responses of other government actors. Topics discussed include the Attorney General's duty to defend the constitutionality of state laws and the intra-government relationships, historical development of the North Carolina Attorney General, and legal options available to other government actors to the defense of the state law.

Walt Disney has exploited homosexual and African-American stereotypes in the film 'The Lion King.' This may be seen in Jeremy Iron's rendition of the evil Scar, the meercat, the warthog and Whoopi Goldberg's characterization of the hyenas' leader.

Vitiligo is an autoimmune disease of the skin causing disfiguring patchy depigmentation of the epidermis and, less commonly, hair. Therapeutic options for vitiligo are limited, reflecting in part limited knowledge of disease pathogenesis. Existing mouse models of vitiligo consist of hair depigmentation but lack prominent epidermal involvement, which is the hallmark of human disease. They are thus unable to provide a platform to fully investigate disease mechanisms and treatment. CD8+ T cells have been implicated in the pathogenesis of vitiligo, and expression of IFN-γ is increased in the lesional skin of patients, however, it is currently unknown what role IFN-γ has in disease. Here, we have developed an adoptive transfer mouse model of vitiligo using melanocyte-specific CD8+ T cells, which recapitulates the human condition by inducing epidermal depigmentation while sparing the hair. Like active lesions in human vitiligo, histology of depigmenting skin reveals a patchy mononuclear infiltrate and single-cell infiltration of the epidermis. Depigmentation is accompanied by accumulation of autoreactive CD8+ T cells in the skin, quantifiable loss of tyrosinase transcript, and local IFN-γ production. Neutralization of IFN-γ with antibody prevents CD8+ T-cell accumulation and depigmentation, suggesting a therapeutic potential for this approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The zinc finger transcription factor EGR-2 has been shown to play an important role in the induction of T cell anergy and the regulation of peripheral T cell tolerance. In vitro, a prior study has show that T cells deficient in EGR-2 are hyperproliferative to IL-2 and produce elevated levels of the effector cytokine IFN-γ. EGR-2 deficient mice have increased levels of CD44high T cells in peripheral lymphoid organs, and with age, develop autoimmune-like features. Principal Findings: Here we show that despite increased numbers of cells bearing an activated CD44highCD62Llow phenotype, T cells from young healthy EGR-2 deficient mice have normal proliferative and cytokine responses, and the mice themselves mount normal immune responses against minor histocompatibility antigens, and the pathogens Toxoplasma gondii and lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus. Conclusions: Our results indicate that EGR-2 is not required to mount normal acute in vivo immune responses against foreign antigens, and suggest instead that it may serve to regulate the response to chronic antigenic exposure, such as that which occurs to autoantigens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on a study on melanocytes in psoriasis. Topics discussed include examination of T-cell clone-developed ADAMTSL5 autoantigen, existence of ADAMTSL5 in esophagus, heart and female reproductive tissues, and presence of ADAMTSL5 in skin fibroblasts and melanocytes. Other topics include psoriatic inflammation due to ADAMTSL5-T cells.

Abstract: Recent studies have implicated the cell surface receptor Programmed Death-1 (PD-1) in numerous models of T cell anergy, though the specific mechanisms by which the PD-1 signal maintains tolerance is not clear. We demonstrate that the depletion of PD-1 with siRNA results in a complete reversal of clonal anergy in the A.E7 T cell model, suggesting that the mechanism by which PD-1 maintains the anergic phenotype is a T-cell-intrinsic phenomenon, and not one dependent on other cell populations in vivo. We have also shown that the neutralization of IL-2 during restimulation abrogates the effect of PD-1 depletion, suggesting that tolerance mediated by PD-1 is wholly IL-2 dependent, and likewise intrinsic to the tolerized cells. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Exophiala spinifera has been reported as an agent of cutaneous disease 18 times in the literature. Clinical presentations of cutaneous lesions vary widely, including erythematous papules, verrucous plaques, and deep subcutaneous abscesses. The clinical distribution and course of disease are also variable, depending on the age and immune competency of the patient. Histologic appearance occurs in one of two patterns - phaeohyphomycosis or chromoblastomycosis. While E. spinifera appears to be susceptible to multiple antimicrobial agents in vitro, clinical experience with treatment modalities has been variable. Prior to the availability of sequencing methods, species identification was based on the histopathologic presentation in tissue and morphologic features of the fungus in culture. It is likely that E. spinifera cutaneous infections have been underreported due to its incorrect identification based on earlier methods. We report an additional case of E. spinifera phaeohyphomycosis, the first to be definitively identified by sequencing. In addition, we summarize the variable clinical, histopathologic, and morphologic features, as well as treatment responses described in previously reported cutaneous infections caused by E. spinifera. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]