{"id":"5c3bdb87-ea85-5540-8d5d-4a9c55071b86","stable_key":"18100170-a014-51c3-adeb-9dab4162b8cc:malnutrition-thymulin","predicate":"decreases_in_recorded_experiment","statement":"Severe protein-energy malnutrition was associated with small thymuses and very low thymulin content in postmortem thymuses of 58 Senegalese children.","claim_class":"observational","status":"source_recorded","evidence_grade":"ungraded","direction":"negative","is_public":true,"mechanism_event_id":"1e2171f2-2d2d-5cd7-835b-d14ba24359f9","mechanism_event_label":"Severe protein-energy malnutrition was associated with small thymuses and very low thymulin content in postmortem thymuses of 58 Senegalese children.","subject":{"id":"4f0b1060-1f5a-5126-b633-945b9578eab5","slug":"severe-protein-energy-malnutrition","display_name":"Severe protein-energy malnutrition","entity_type_key":"cellular_process"},"object":{"id":"d020d903-8317-5136-a7fa-215279470eac","slug":"human-thymic-thymulin-content","display_name":"Human thymic thymulin content","entity_type_key":"cellular_process"},"evidence_count":1,"mechanism_event":{"id":"1e2171f2-2d2d-5cd7-835b-d14ba24359f9","stable_key":"18100170-a014-51c3-adeb-9dab4162b8cc:malnutrition-thymulin-event","event_type":"experimental_observation","label":"Severe protein-energy malnutrition was associated with small thymuses and very low thymulin content in postmortem thymuses of 58 Senegalese children.","description":"A crucial counterexample comes from postmortem thymuses of 58 Senegalese children. Severe protein-energy malnutrition was associated with small thymuses and very low thymulin content, **without depleted thymic zinc content**. This observational study cannot resolve intracellular zinc delivery, but it shows why reduced thymulin should not automatically be assigned to insufficient total tissue zinc. [Jambon et al., 1988](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3136643/)","status":"provisional","compartment":null,"participants":[{"entity":{"id":"4f0b1060-1f5a-5126-b633-945b9578eab5","slug":"severe-protein-energy-malnutrition","display_name":"Severe protein-energy malnutrition","entity_type_key":"cellular_process"},"role":"tested factor","stoichiometry":null,"state_label":"Severe protein-energy malnutrition","sequence_order":0,"notes":""},{"entity":{"id":"d020d903-8317-5136-a7fa-215279470eac","slug":"human-thymic-thymulin-content","display_name":"Human thymic thymulin content","entity_type_key":"cellular_process"},"role":"measured outcome","stoichiometry":null,"state_label":"decrease","sequence_order":1,"notes":""},{"entity":{"id":"23819462-9bdf-5856-beac-68b3dca9cf85","slug":"thymulin","display_name":"Thymulin","entity_type_key":"peptide"},"role":"measured peptide","stoichiometry":null,"state_label":"","sequence_order":2,"notes":""}]},"contexts":[{"dimension":"evidence_access","value_text":"Primary bibliographic record and abstract checked; full methods/figures not comprehensively reviewed.","comparator":null,"unit":null,"notes":"","entity":null},{"dimension":"experimental_contrast","value_text":"{\"intervention\": \"Severe protein-energy malnutrition\", \"comparator\": \"Study comparison children\", \"endpoint\": \"Severe protein-energy malnutrition was associated with small thymuses and very low thymulin content in postmortem thymuses of 58 Senegalese children.\", \"effect_direction\": \"decrease\", \"combination\": \"single\", \"conditions\": []}","comparator":null,"unit":null,"notes":"Explicit extracted experimental comparison; source-derived draft.","entity":null},{"dimension":"experimental_model","value_text":"Human postmortem observational comparison; not controlled intervention or proof of zinc loading defect.","comparator":null,"unit":null,"notes":"","entity":null},{"dimension":"interpretation_status","value_text":"Source-derived extraction of a fact-checked reference; access is explicit, not independent raw-data verification.","comparator":null,"unit":null,"notes":"","entity":null},{"dimension":"limitations","value_text":"Interpret only within the recorded preparation, exposure and comparator. The complete source passage retains qualifications; unspecified doses/timing have not been extracted here. No clinical efficacy, nutrient deficiency or unique molecular mediation is inferred.","comparator":null,"unit":null,"notes":"","entity":null},{"dimension":"plain_language","value_text":"Severe protein-energy malnutrition was associated with small thymuses and very low thymulin content in postmortem thymuses of 58 Senegalese children.","comparator":null,"unit":null,"notes":"","entity":null},{"dimension":"primary_references","value_text":"Thymulin (facteur thymique serique) and zinc contents of the thymus glands of malnourished children. | 1988 | DOI 10.1093/ajcn/48.2.335 | PMID 3136643 | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3136643/","comparator":null,"unit":null,"notes":"","entity":null},{"dimension":"source_locator","value_text":"Reviewed reference lines 116-116; exact primary location described in quoted passage where extracted.","comparator":null,"unit":null,"notes":"","entity":null}],"evidence":[{"id":"722aee1e-3b70-51d6-848d-337d2fab023a","evidence_kind":"source_excerpt","locator":"Lines 116-116","start_line":116,"end_line":116,"excerpt":"A crucial counterexample comes from postmortem thymuses of 58 Senegalese children. Severe protein-energy malnutrition was associated with small thymuses and very low thymulin content, **without depleted thymic zinc content**. This observational study cannot resolve intracellular zinc delivery, but it shows why reduced thymulin should not automatically be assigned to insufficient total tissue zinc. [Jambon et al., 1988](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3136643/)","model_system":"Human postmortem observational comparison; not controlled intervention or proof of zinc loading defect.","directness":"reported_statement","verification_status":"source_recorded","notes":"Exact excerpt of the retained AI-assisted reviewed reference; primary sources are cited in primary_references and access scope is retained. 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