The Viagra AdVenture: Masculinity,media, and the performance of sexual health

In Canada, there is a paucity of research aimed at understanding Black gay men and the antecedents to risk factors for HIV. This study is an attempt to move beyond risk factor analysis and explore the role of sexual and ethnic communities in the lives of these men. The study utilized a community-based research and critical race theory approach. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight key informants to augment our understanding of Black gay men and to facilitate recruitment of participants. In-depth interviews were done with 24 Black gay men. Our data showed that the construction of community for Black gay men is challenged by their social and cultural environment. However, these men use their resilience to navigate gay social networks. Black gay men expressed a sense of abjuration from both gay and Black communities because of homophobia and racism. It is essential for health and social programmers to understand how Black gay men interact with Black and gay communities and the complexities of their interactions in creating outreach educational, preventive and support services.     

FR255734, a humanized, Fc-Silent, Anti-CD28 antibody, improves psoriasis in the SCID mouse-psoriasis xenograft model

In psoriasis, CD28/B7 costimulatory molecules are well characterized. Here, using the severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) mouse-psoriasis xenograft model, we report therapeutic efficacy of a humanized anti-CD28 monoclonal antibody (FR255734; Astellas Pharmaceuticals Inc., Tokyo, Japan). Transplanted psoriasis plaques on the SCID mouse were treated weekly for 4 weeks with intraperitoneal injections of FR255734 at 10, 3, and 1-mg kg(-1) doses. Groups treated with doses of 10 and 3 mg kg(-1) had significant thinning of the epidermis and reduced HLA-DR-positive lymphocytic infiltrates. The length of the rete pegs changed from 415.2+/-59.6 to 231.4+/-40.4 microm (P<0.005) in the 10-mg kg(-1) group, and from 323.4+/-69.6 to 237.5+/-73.6 microm in the 3-mg kg(-1) group (P=0.002). Positive controls treated with CTLA4-Ig and cyclosporine had significant histological improvement, whereas plaques treated with saline and isotype controls (human and mouse IgG2) remained unchanged. In vitro studies have shown that FR255734 effectively blocked T-cell proliferation and proinflammatory cytokine production. These observations warrant studies to evaluate the efficacy of FR255734 in human autoimmune diseases.     

The early history of Stanford Immunology

From its 1960 beginnings in a pair of windowless Genetics Department laboratories under the Stanford Medical School Dean’s Office to its current broad-based program, which joins faculty members from departments across the Medical School, the Stanford Immunology Program has played a central role in shaping both basic and clinical immunology thinking. In this article, we tell the story of the beginnings of this odyssey in a reminiscence-based format that brings the flavor of the time in the words of people who lived and built the history.     

Three crises facing sexology

Three crises facing sexology are described: what is happening with sexuality in the culture, what is happening with sexuality in academia, and what is happening with sexuality in medicine. In each case, the response of sexology has been benign neglect, disinterest, and a failure to understand the profound implications of these challenges for a field that considers itself the premiere source of accurate facts and comprehensive theories about sexuality. As a consequence we are losing control of our subject matter, and we are losing our professional legitimacy. A wake-up call is offered for sexologists to become more knowledgeable, for our paradigms and organizations to become more inclusive, and for our research methods to become more sophisticated.This paper, slightly modified, was originally delivered as the Presidential Address to the International Academy of Sex Research, June 1993, Asilomar Conference Center, Pacific Grove, California.     

Dynamics of fine T-cell subsets during HIV disease and after thymic ablation by mediastinal irradiation

The T-cell compartment is considerably more complex than just CD4 and CD8 T cells. Indeed, we can identify dozens of functionally and phenotypically distinct subsets within the peripheral blood of humans. These subsets are differentially affected in diseases which may underly some of the functional defects attributable to the disease. In HIV disease, all thymic-derived T-cell populations are gradually lost at identical rates during late-stage disease progression, while unusual, perhaps extrathymically-derived T cells expand. This expansion may reflect an attempt on the part of the immune system to compensate for the significant insult of HIV infection to the host: the abrogation of normal thymopoiesis and T-cell homeostasis.     

Populations of herpes simplex virus glycoprotein gC with and without affinity for the N-acetyl-galactosamine specific lectin ofHelix pomatia

Two fractions of herpes simplex virus glycoprotein gC were isolated and characterized by means of immunosorbent-purification with monoclonal antibodies against gC and Helix pomatia lectin (HPA) affinity chromatography. About 25 per cent of the glycoprotein gC population demonstrated affinity for the lectin, compatible with presence of N-acetylgalactosamine as terminal sugar of the oligosaccharide. The HPA-binding populations of gC appeared as two electrophoretic bands with lower molecular weights than the non-binding gC. The gC subfraction without affinity for the HPA was subjected to treatments aiming to desialylize the carbohydrate moiety. Only 5 per cent of the initially non-reactive fraction of gC became reactive to HPA after the treatments, suggesting that masking of penultimate N-acetylgalactosamine by sialic acid was not a main reason for lack of HPA affinity. Results of treatment with alkaline Na BH4 demonstrated presence of oligosaccharide-peptide linkages sensitive to beta-elimination suggesting O-glycosidic type of linkage. The subfraction of gC demonstrating affinity for HPA as well as gC devoid of HPA binding capacity both revealed affinity for Con A. Therefore N-glycosidically as well as O-glycosidically linked oligosaccharides seemed to be present on the one and same glycoprotein. On the basis of the results presented we assume that the glycosylation of HSV glycoprotein gC may lead to, at least, two populations of the glycoprotein gC, one with terminal N-acetylgalactosamine residues of oligosaccharides O-glycosidically linked to the polypeptide and the other without affinity for HPA. However, both populations of gC contain similar proportions of oligosaccharides of the high mannose or complex types with N-glycosidic carbohydrate-peptide linkages as indicated by their affinity for Con A.