Ballistic behavior of alumina with niobia additions

The combination of hard and brittle ceramics with ductile materials is an efficient way of providing enhanced protection of armored vehicles against bullet penetration without losing mobility. For the first kind of material, alumina based ceramic compositions containing up to 6 wt% niobia were sintered at temperatures between 1400$^{\circ}$C and 1600$^{\circ}$C. The samples were characterized by x-ray diffraction, energy dispersive spectroscopy and fracture analysis using scanning electron microscopy. Elastic longitudinal and shear wave velocities were also measured. This material was submitted to ballistic test simulations using the 2D AUTODYNE Program, where a 7.62 mm AP projectile with 870 m/s impact velocity hit ceramic plates glued onto Al 6061-T6 aluminum blocks. The technique was used to study, in a systematic way, a variable that correlates projectile fragmentation with that of the target, thus quantifying the efficiency of each composition regarding ballistic protection. The results were used to evaluate the influence of niobia addition and sintering temperature on the densification, microstructure, and ballistic protection of alumina based ceramics

Cytomegalovirus Infection In Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation; Review In The Literature And A Single Center Experience, (state University Of Campinas, Brazil)

Human cytomegalovirus is a ß human herpesvirus characterized by its restricted host range, production of nuclear as cytoplasmic inclusions, and its long life cycle. It is the largest known human herpesvirus, with genome of about 240 kb. CMV establishes latency in peripheral blood monocytes and tissue macrophages and can reactivate during HSCT. CMV is one of the most common viruses after HSCT and had been the most common infection cause of death. During the two decade ago, major advances have been achieved regarding the management CMV infection and disease. These advances have been made possible through the development of new diagnostic techniques for the detection of the virus and through the performance of prospective clinical trials of antiviral agents. Two principal strategies have been used for prevention of CMV disease: prop-hylactic strategy in which regular administration of an antiviral is used to prevent CMV reactivation and preemptive strategy in which reactivation of CMV is screened for during the period of higher risk and antiviral therapy promptly initiated when CMV reactivation occurs. In 1993 was realized the first HSCT in Bone Marrow Transplant Unit, State University of Campinas (Brazil), using the prophylactic strategy with intravenous ganciclovir in allogenic HSCT recipient but without using assays for monitoring active CMV infection in post-transplant. Surveillance of active CMV infection began in 1996 by PCR and serology. Preliminary results of this protocol were exhibited in the 2nd meeting of the European Haematology Association - Paris , France (1996). Preemptive strategy was deployed in 2004 by Bonon et al. In this research was described the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit, State University of Campinas (Brazil) experience in the control of active CMV infection following HSCT using two strategies of CMV infection treatment: ganciclovir universal prophylaxis at low doses and preemptive therapy with ganciclovir. The surveillance was based on the monitoring by antigenemia and PCR for detection of CMV and the conclusion was that the patients with a propensity for developing CMV disease can be readily identified and preemptive therapy instituted, avoiding the toxicity related to antivirals and the high cost of universal prophylaxis. Though the antigenemia method is the gold standard to guide previous treatment in HSCT receptors, real-time PCR is emerging as an alternative to substitute antigenemia because it presents several advantages over the antigenemia, including an increased sensitivity for the detection of CMV reactivation, the reliable detection of CMV reactivation during severe neutropenia in the early post-transplant period, the shorter time required for the procedure, and the convenient processing of large numbers of specimens. For this reason Peres et al. (2010) in order to switch the monitoring method from antigenemia to real-time PCR in Bone Marrow Transplant Unit, State University of Campinas (Brazil) determined the cutoff of 418.4 copies/104 PBL (peripheral blood leukocytes) by real-time PCR for preemptive therapy. 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