Eur J Pediatr DOI 10.1007/s00431-014-2293-7
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Thymic size correlates with cord blood zinc levels in low-birth-weight newborns Ashok Kumar & Madhukar Pandey & Sriparna Basu & Ram Chandra Shukla & Ravi Kumar Asthana
Received: 9 December 2013 / Revised: 11 February 2014 / Accepted: 27 February 2014 # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014
Abstract Thymus is essential for immunity as it provides environment for T cell differentiation and maturation. There is limited information on various factors which determine thymic size at birth. We studied the influence of cord blood zinc and copper levels and maternal and neonatal nutritional status on thymic size in term low-birth-weight (LBW) newborns. A prospective observational study on 44 term LBW (
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Thymic size correlates with cord blood zinc levels in low-birth-weight newborns Ashok Kumar & Madhukar Pandey & Sriparna Basu & Ram Chandra Shukla & Ravi Kumar Asthana
Received: 9 December 2013 / Revised: 11 February 2014 / Accepted: 27 February 2014 # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014
Abstract Thymus is essential for immunity as it provides environment for T cell differentiation and maturation. There is limited information on various factors which determine thymic size at birth. We studied the influence of cord blood zinc and copper levels and maternal and neonatal nutritional status on thymic size in term low-birth-weight (LBW) newborns. A prospective observational study on 44 term LBW (
