Edited by Drummond Rennie, MD, Senior Contributing Editor; Sharon Iverson, Assistant Editor.
To the Editor. —It has been proposed that thymic secretory function, as assessed by determining levels of circulating thymulin—like activity,1 is greatly reduced in patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) or AIDS-related complex.2,3 In fact, in both young3 and adult2 patients, levels of circulating thymulin, as measured by the rosette inhibition bioassay, are either undetectable or below the values found in age-matched healthy subjects. These findings have been interpreted as showing human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)—induced injury of the thymic epithelial cells that synthesize and release thymic hormones.4Since thymulin is biologically active, and therefore measurable by bioassay only when the nonapeptide thymulin is bound to a zinc ion,5 a reduced circulating level may depend not only on defective production by the thymus, but also on decreased zinc binding, as might occur in zinc deficiencies.6 In these conditions, inactive, zinc—unbound thymulin molecules are found
Country-Specific Mortality and Growth Failure in Infancy and Yound Children and Association With Material Stature
Use interactive graphics and maps to view and sort country-specific infant and early dhildhood mortality and growth failure data and their association with maternal
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