No abstract

Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and its interconvertible sulfate derivative (DHEA-S) are human androgenic steroids that have been reported to inhibit viral expression and have been associated with a decreased risk of cancer. The relationship between serum DHEA and DHEA-S levels and subsequent progression to AIDS was investigated in a sample of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected men from the San Francisco Men's Health Study followed prospectively since 1984. Among 108 men seropositive for HIV at study entry and with CD4 lymphocyte counts of 200-499 microliters 24 months later, serum DHEA levels below the lower limit of normal (less than 180 ng/dl) at this later date were predictive of subsequent progression to AIDS (relative hazard = 2.34; 95% confidence interval = 1.18-4.63; P = .01) after controlling for hematocrit, age, and log absolute CD4 cell number in a Cox proportional hazards model. This is the first large prospective cohort in which an endocrinologic variable has been observed to independently predict progression to AIDS. These observations, in addition to recent in vitro data, suggest that DHEA might have a protective effect in HIV infection.

Cross sections and differential recoil range distributions have been measured for 22 spallation products formed in the interaction of 120 MeV ' C with ' Au. A Monte Carlo code has been produced that accounts for complete fusion as well as the transfer of o. particles and 'Be. The results of the calculation compare very well with the experimental data. Incomplete fusion is found to account for more than one-half of nonfission events, and preequilibrium emission of fast nucleons is essential to a full description of the reaction.