BackgroundCytomegalovirus (CMV) causes severe diseases in premature infants and immunocompromised hosts, and antiviral therapy is often required for disease control. However, the clinical manifestations and treatment courses for CMV-associated thrombocytopenia in immunocompetent children are unclear.MethodsMedical records of the children who suffered from thrombocytopenia, and showed positive CMV polymerase chain reaction and CMV-like symptoms were retrospectively analyzed at three university hospitals in Daegu from January 2000 to March 2017. Patients suffering from leukemia, immunodeficiency, and other infections were excluded.ResultsAmong 1,065 children with thrombocytopenia, 29 (2.7%) displayed CMV-associated thrombocytopenia. The median age at diagnosis was 15 months and the median platelet count was 26,000/µL. They were classified into the CMV-induced thrombocytopenia (23/29) and CMV-related secondary immune thrombocytopenia (ITP, 6/29) groups. Fourteen subjects had hepatic dysfunction, four had Evans syndrome, two had pneumonitis, and one had gastritis. IVIG was used for 21 patients, and six patients among them showed recurrence, for whom IVIG or antiviral therapy was used. All, except one, recurrent or chronic cases belonged to the CMV-induced thrombocytopenia group. Antiviral therapy was used more frequently for the CMV-induced thrombocytopenia group (8/23, 34.8%) than for the CMV-related secondary ITP group (0/6); however, the results were not statistically significant (P=0.148).ConclusionCMV is a rare but unique etiology of thrombocytopenia, and observed even in healthy children after the neonatal period. About one-third patients need antiviral therapy for disease control. Further, CMV-induced thrombocytopenia is more complex than CMV-related secondary ITP.

In this study, Sn-Ag nano solders of three different compositions (Sn-1.0 mass%Ag, Sn-3.5 mass%Ag and Sn-6.5 mass%Ag) were synthesized via arc-discharge process. The properties of Sn-Ag nano solders were analyzed using X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). Particle size relatively widely ranged from 10 nm to 340 nm. For Sn-1.0 mass%Ag and Sn-3.5 mass%Ag, average size was 200$240 nm, and that for Sn-6.5 mass%Ag was 40$50 nm with some extra-ordinary large particles of $100 nm. The melting points of the prepared SnAg nano solders were examined with DSC at different heating rates 1 K, 3 K and 5 K/min. The congruent melting point of Sn-Ag nano solders was found to be 487 K.

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The wettability of Mn x Si y O z by liquid Zn-Al alloys was investigated to obtain basic information on the coating properties of high-strength steels with surface oxides in the hot-dip galvanizing process. In this study, the contact angles of liquid Zn-Al alloys (Al concentrations were 0.12 and 0.23 wt pct) on four different Mn x Si y O z oxides, namely MnO, MnSiO 3 , Mn 2 SiO 4 , and SiO 2 , were measured with the dispensed drop method. The contact angle did not change across time.With an increasing Al concentration, the contact angle was slightly decreased for MnO and Mn 2 SiO 4 , but there was no change for MnSiO 3 and SiO 2 . With an increasing SiO 2 content, the contact angle gradually increased by 54 wt pct to form MnSiO 3 , and for pure SiO 2 substrate, the contact angle decreased again. Consequently, the MnSiO 3 substrate showed the worst wettability among the four tested oxide substrates.

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