Applied web traffic analysis for numerical encoding of SQL Injection attack features.

SQL Injection Attack (SQLIA) remains a technique used by a computer network intruder to pilfer an organisation’s confidential data. This is done by an intruder re-crafting web form’s input and query strings used in web requests with malicious intent to compromise the security of an organisation’s confidential data stored at the back-end database. The database is the most valuable data source, and thus, intruders are unrelenting in constantly evolving new techniques to bypass the signature’s solutions currently provided in Web Application Firewalls (WAF) to mitigate SQLIA. There is therefore a need for an automated scalable methodology in the pre-processing of SQLIA features fit for a supervised learning model. However, obtaining a ready-made scalable dataset that is feature engineered with numerical attributes dataset items to train Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and Machine Leaning (ML) models is a known issue in applying artificial intelligence to effectively address ever evolving novel SQLIA signatures. This proposed approach applies numerical attributes encoding ontology to encode features (both legitimate web requests and SQLIA) to numerical data items as to extract scalable dataset for input to a supervised learning model in moving towards a ML SQLIA detection and prevention model. In numerical attributes encoding of features, the proposed model explores a hybrid of static and dynamic pattern matching by implementing a Non-Deterministic Finite Automaton (NFA). This combined with proxy and SQL parser Application Programming Interface (API) to intercept and parse web requests in transition to the back-end database. In developing a solution to address SQLIA, this model allows processed web requests at the proxy deemed to contain injected query string to be excluded from reaching the target back-end database. This paper is intended for evaluating the performance metrics of a dataset obtained by numerical encoding of features ontology in Microsoft Azure Machine Learning (MAML) studio using Two-Class Support Vector Machines (TCSVM) binary classifier. This methodology then forms the subject of the empirical evaluation.

'Expanding Horizons': investigating the Glasgow 2014 legacy for young people in the East End of Glasgow

The recent staging of Glasgow 2014 drew universal praise as the ‘Best Games Ever’. Yet the substantial undertaking of hosting the Commonwealth Games (CWG) was sold to the nation as more than just eleven days of sporting spectacle and cultural entertainment. Indeed, the primary strategic justification offered by policymakers and city leaders was the delivery of a bundle of positive and enduring benefits, so-called ‘legacy’. This ubiquitous and amorphous concept has evolved over time to become the central focus of contemporary hosting bids, reflecting a general public policy shift towards using major sporting mega events as a catalyst to generate benefits across economic, environmental and social dimensions, on a scale intended to be truly transformative. At the same time, the academy has drawn attention to the absence of evidence in support of the prevailing legacy rhetoric and raised a number of sociological concerns, not least the socially unequitable distribution of purported benefits. This study investigated how young people living in the core hosting zone related to, and were impacted upon, by the CWG and its associated developments and activities with reference to their socio-spatial horizons, the primary outcome of interest. An ‘ideal world’ Logic Model hypothesised that four mechanisms, identified from official legacy documents and social theories, would alter young people’s subjective readings of the world by virtue of broadening their social networks, extending their spatial boundaries and altering their mind sets. A qualitative methodology facilitated the gathering of situated and contextualised accounts of young people’s attitudes, perceptions, beliefs and behaviours relating to Glasgow 2014. In-depth interviews and focus groups were conducted before and after the Games with 26 young people, aged 14-16 years, at two schools in the East End. This approach was instrumental in privileging the interests of people ‘on the ground’ over those of city-wide and national stakeholders. The findings showed that young people perceived the dominant legacy benefit to be an improved reputation and image for Glasgow and the East End. Primary beneficiaries were identified by them as those with vested business interests e.g. retailers, restaurateurs, and hoteliers, as well as national and local government, with low expectations of personal dividends or ‘trickle down’ benefits. Support for Glasgow 2014 did not necessarily translate into individual engagement with the various cultural and sporting activities leading up to the CWG, including the event itself. The study found that young people who engaged most were those who had the ability to ‘read’ the opportunities available to them and who had the social, cultural and economic capital necessary to grasp them, with the corollary that those who might have gained most were the least likely to have engaged with the CWG. Doubts articulated by research participants about the social sustainability of Glasgow 2014 underscored inherent tensions between the short-lived thrill of the spectacle and the anticipated longevity of its impacts. The headline message is that hosting sporting mega events might not be an effective means of delivering social change. Aspirant host cities should consider more socially equitable alternatives to sporting mega events prior to bidding; and future host cities should endeavour to engage more purposefully with more young people over longer time frames.

Numerical encoding to tame SQL injection attacks.

Recent years have seen an astronomical rise in SQL Injection Attacks (SQLIAs) used to compromise the confidentiality, authentication and integrity of organisations’ databases. Intruders becoming smarter in obfuscating web requests to evade detection combined with increasing volumes of web traffic from the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud-hosted and on-premise business applications have made it evident that the existing approaches of mostly static signature lack the ability to cope with novel signatures. A SQLIA detection and prevention solution can be achieved through exploring an alternative bio-inspired supervised learning approach that uses input of labelled dataset of numerical attributes in classifying true positives and negatives. We present in this paper a Numerical Encoding to Tame SQLIA (NETSQLIA) that implements a proof of concept for scalable numerical encoding of features to a dataset attributes with labelled class obtained from deep web traffic analysis. In the numerical attributes encoding: the model leverages proxy in the interception and decryption of web traffic. The intercepted web requests are then assembled for front-end SQL parsing and pattern matching by applying traditional Non-Deterministic Finite Automaton (NFA). This paper is intended for a technique of numerical attributes extraction of any size primed as an input dataset to an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and statistical Machine Learning (ML) algorithms implemented using Two-Class Averaged Perceptron (TCAP) and Two-Class Logistic Regression (TCLR) respectively. This methodology then forms the subject of the empirical evaluation of the suitability of this model in the accurate classification of both legitimate web requests and SQLIA payloads.

Performances of dead-end ultrafiltration of seawater: from the filtration and backwash efficiencies to the membrane fouling mechanisms

The present work investigates the fouling mechanisms of PVDF hollow fibre membrane (0.03 μm) during the dead end ultrafiltration at a fixed permeate flux (outside to inside configuration) of complex synthetic seawater composed by humic acids, alginic acids, inorganic particles and numerous salts at high concentrations. Short term ultrafiltration experiments at 100 L.h-1.m-2 show that the optimal specific filtered volume seems to be equal to 50 L.m-2. A residual fouling resistance equal to 2.1010 m-1 is added after each cycle of filtration during 8h of ultrafiltration at 100 L.h-1.m-2 and 50 L.m-2. Most of the fouling is reversible (80%). Organics are barely (15% of humic acids) retained by the membrane. Backwash efficiency drops during operation which induces less organics into backwash waters. Humic acids could preferentially accumulate on the membrane early in the ultrafiltration and alginic acids after the build-up of a fouling pre-layer. Colloids and particulates could accumulate inside a heterogeneous fouling layer and/or the concentrate compartment of the membrane module before being more largely recovered inside backwash waters.

Effect of Aging in the Perception of Health-Related Quality of Life in End-Stage Renal Disease Patients under Online-Hemodiafiltration

This work aimed to evaluate how aging could influence patients' perception of health quality of life (HRQOL), as well as, the effect of aging on dialysis adequacy and in hematological, iron status, inflammatory and nutritional markers. In this transversal study were enrolled 305 ESRD patients under online-hemodiafiltration (OL-HDF) (59.67% males; 64.9 ± 14.3 years old). Data about comorbidities, hematological data, iron status, dialysis adequacy, nutritional and inflammatory markers were collected from patient's records. Moreover, HRQOL score, by using the Kidney Disease Quality of Life-Short Form (KDQOL-SF), was assessed. Analyzing the results according to quartiles of age, significant differences were found for some parameters evaluated by the KDQOL-SF instrument, namely for work status, physical functioning and role-physical, which decreased with increasing age. We also found a higher proportion of diabetic patients, a decrease in creatinine, iron, albumin serum levels, transferrin saturation and nPCR, with increasing age. Moreover, significant negative correlations were found between age and mean cell hemoglobin concentration, iron, transferrin saturation, albumin, nPCR, work status, physical functioning and role-physical. In conclusion, our results showed that aging is associated with a decreased work status, physical functioning and role-physical, with a decreased dialysis adequacy, iron availability and nutritional status, and with an increased proportion of diabetic patients and of patients using central venous catheter, as the vascular access. The knowledge of these changes associated with aging, which have impact in the quality of life of the patients, could be useful in their management.

Effect of remote ischaemic preconditioning in cardiac dysfunction and end-organ injury following cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass in children: A translational approach investigating clinical outcome and myocardial molecular biology

Congenital heart disease (CHD) is the most common birth defect, causing an important rate of morbidity and mortality. Treatment of CHD requires surgical correction in a significant percentage of cases which exposes patients to cardiac and end organ injury. Cardiac surgical procedures often require the utilisation of cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB), a system that replaces heart and lungs function by diverting circulation into an external circuit. The use of CPB can initiate potent inflammatory responses, in addition a proportion of procedures require a period of aortic cross clamp during which the heart is rendered ischaemic and is exposed to injury. High O2 concentrations are used during cardiac procedures and when circulation is re-established to the heart which had adjusted metabolically to ischaemia, further injury is caused in a process known as ischaemic reperfusion injury (IRI). Several strategies are in place in order to protect the heart during surgery, however injury is still caused, having detrimental effects in patients at short and long term. Remote ischaemic preconditioning (RIPC) is a technique proposed as a potential cardioprotective measure. It consists of exposing a remote tissue bed to brief episodes of ischaemia prior to surgery in order to activate protective pathways that would act during CPB, ischaemia and reperfusion. This study aimed to assess RIPC in paediatric patients requiring CHD surgical correction with a translational approach, integrating clinical outcome, marker analysis, cardiac function parameters and molecular mechanisms within the cardiac tissue. A prospective, single blinded, randomized, controlled trial was conducted applying a RIPC protocol to randomised patients through episodes of limb ischaemia on the day before surgery which was repeated right before the surgery started, after anaesthesia induction. Blood samples were obtained before surgery and at three post-operative time points from venous lines, additional pre and post-bypass blood samples were obtained from the right atrium. Myocardial tissue was resected during the ischaemic period of surgery. Echocardiographic images were obtained before the surgery started after anaesthetic induction and the day after surgery, images were stored for later off line analysis. PICU surveillance data was collected including ventilation parameters, inotrope use, standard laboratory analysis and six hourly blood gas analysis. Pre and post-operative quantitation of markers in blood specimens included cardiac troponin I (cTnI) and B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP), inflammatory mediators including interleukins IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, tumour necrosis factor (TNF-α), and the adhesion molecules ICAM-1 and VCAM-1; the renal marker Cystatin C and the cardiovascular markers asymmetric dymethylarginine (ADMA) and symmetric dymethylarginine (SDMA). Nitric oxide (NO) metabolites and cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) were measured before and after bypass. Myocardial tissue was processed at baseline and after incubation at hyperoxic concentration during four hours in order to mimic surgical conditions. Expression of genes involved in IRI and RIPC pathways was analysed including heat shock proteins (HSPs), toll like receptors (TLRs), transcription factors nuclear factor κ-B (NF- κ-B) and hypoxia inducible factor 1 (HIF-1). The participation of hydrogen sulfide enzymatic genes, apelin and its receptor were explored. There was no significant difference according to group allocation in any of the echocardiographic parameters. There was a tendency for higher cTnI values and inotropic score in control patients post-operatively, however this was not statistically significant. BNP presented no significant difference according to group allocation. Inflammatory parameters tended to be higher in the control group, however only TNF- α was significantly higher. There was no difference in levels of Cystatin C, NO metabolites, cGMP, ADMA or SDMA. RIPC patients required shorter PICU stay, all other clinical and laboratory analysis presented no difference related to the intervention. Gene expression analysis revealed interesting patterns before and after incubation. HSP-60 presented a lower expression at baseline in tissue corresponding to RIPC patients, no other differences were found. This study provided with valuable descriptive information on previously known and newly explored parameters in the study population. Demographic characteristics and the presence of cyanosis before surgery influenced patterns of activity in several parameters, numerous indicators were linked to the degree of injury suffered by the myocardium. RIPC did not reduce markers of cardiac injury or improved echocardiographic parameters and it did not have an effect on end organ function; some effects were seen in inflammatory responses and gene expression analysis. Nevertheless, an important clinical outcome indicator, PICU length of stay was reduced suggesting benefit from the intervention. Larger studies with more statistical power could determine if the tendency of lower injury and inflammatory markers linked to RIPC is real. The present results mostly support findings of larger multicentre trials which have reported no cardiac benefit from RIPC in paediatric cardiac surgery.

A short treatise on the game of whist : containing the laws of the game and also some rules whereby a beginner may, with due attention to them attain to the playing it well ... /

In folder.

Optical Waveguides and Structures for Short Haul Optical Communication Channels within Printed Circuit Boards

Optical waveguides have shown promising results for use within printed circuit boards. These optical waveguides have higher bandwidth than traditional copper transmission systems and are immune to electromagnetic interference. Design parameters for these optical waveguides are needed to ensure an optimal link budget. Modeling and simulation methods are used to determine the optimal design parameters needed in designing the waveguides. As a result, optical structures necessary for incorporating optical waveguides into printed circuit boards are designed and optimized. Embedded siloxane polymer waveguides are investigated for their use in optical printed circuit boards. This material was chosen because it has low absorption, high temperature stability, and can be deposited using common processing techniques. Two sizes of waveguides are investigated, 50 $unit{mu m}$ multimode and 4 - 9 $unit{mu m}$ single mode waveguides. A beam propagation method is developed for simulating the multimode and single mode waveguide parameters. The attenuation of simulated multimode waveguides are able to match the attenuation of fabricated waveguides with a root mean square error of 0.192 dB. Using the same process as the multimode waveguides, parameters needed to ensure a low link loss are found for single mode waveguides including maximum size, minimum cladding thickness, minimum waveguide separation, and minimum bend radius. To couple light out-of-plane to a transmitter or receiver, a structure such as a vertical interconnect assembly (VIA) is required. For multimode waveguides the optimal placement of a total internal reflection mirror can be found without prior knowledge of the waveguide length. The optimal placement is found to be either 60 µm or 150 µm away from the end of the waveguide depending on which metric a designer wants to optimize the average output power, the output power variance, or the maximum possible power loss. For single mode waveguides a volume grating coupler is designed to couple light from a silicon waveguide to a polymer single mode waveguide. A focusing grating coupler is compared to a perpendicular grating coupler that is focused by a micro-molded lens. The focusing grating coupler had an optical loss of over -14 dB, while the grating coupler with a lens had an optical loss of -6.26 dB.

DOING MORE WITH SHORT PERIOD DATA: DETERMINING MAGNITUDES FROM CLIPPED AND OVER-RUN SEISMIC DATA AT MOUNT ST. HELENS

How can we calculate earthquake magnitudes when the signal is clipped and over-run? When a volcano is very active, the seismic record may saturate (i.e., the full amplitude of the signal is not recorded) or be over-run (i.e., the end of one event is covered by the start of a new event). The duration, and sometimes the amplitude, of an earthquake signal are necessary for determining event magnitudes; thus, it may be impossible to calculate earthquake magnitudes when a volcano is very active. This problem is most likely to occur at volcanoes with limited networks of short period seismometers. This study outlines two methods for calculating earthquake magnitudes when events are clipped and over-run. The first method entails modeling the shape of earthquake codas as a power law function and extrapolating duration from the decay of the function. The second method draws relations between clipped duration (i.e., the length of time a signal is clipped) and the full duration. These methods allow for magnitudes to be determined within 0.2 to 0.4 units of magnitude. This error is within the range of analyst hand-picks and is within the acceptable limits of uncertainty when quickly quantifying volcanic energy release during volcanic crises. Most importantly, these estimates can be made when data are clipped or over-run. These methods were developed with data from the initial stages of the 2004-2008 eruption at Mount St. Helens. Mount St. Helens is a well-studied volcano with many instruments placed at varying distances from the vent. This fact makes the 2004-2008 eruption a good place to calibrate and refine methodologies that can be applied to volcanoes with limited networks.

Stilling Basin Scour Remediation Using Air Injection and Flat Plate Extension

The South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) is responsible for managing over 2500 miles of waterways and hundreds of water control structures. Many of these control structures are experiencing erosion, known as scour, of the sediment downstream of the structure. Laboratory experiments were conducted in order to investigate the effectiveness of two-dimensional air diffusers and plate extensions (without air injection) on a 1/30 scale model of one of SFWMD gated spillway structures, the S65E gated spillway. A literature review examining the results of similar studies was conducted. The experimental design for this research was based off of previous work done on the same model. Scour of the riverbed downstream of gated spillway structures has the potential to cause serious damage, as it can expose the foundation of the structure, which can lead to collapse. This type of scour has been studied previously, but it continues to pose a risk to water control structures and needs to be studied further. The hydraulic scour channel used to conduct experiments contains a head tank, flow straighteners, gated spillway, stilling basin, scour chamber, sediment trap, and tailwater tank. Experiments were performed with two types of air diffusers. The first was a hollow, acrylic, triangular end sill with air injection holes on the upstream face, allowing for air injection upstream. The second diffuser was a hollow, acrylic rectangle that extended from the triangular end sill with air injection holes in the top face, allowing for vertical air injection, perpendicular to flow. Detailed flow and bed measurements were taken for six trials for each diffuser ranging from no air injection to 5 rows of 70 holes of 0.04" diameter. It was found that with both diffusers, the maximum amount of air injection reduced scour the most. Detailed velocity measurements were taken for each case and turbulence statistics were analyzed to determine why air injection reduces scour. It was determined that air injection reduces streamwise velocity and turbulence. Another set of experiments was performed using an acrylic extension plate with no air injection to minimize energy costs. Ten different plate lengths were tested. It was found that the location of deepest scour moved further downstream with each plate length. The 32-cm plate is recommended here. Detailed velocity measurements were taken after the cases with the 32-cm plate and no plate had reached equilibrium. This was done to better understand the flow patterns in order to determine what causes the scour reduction with the extension plates. The extension plate reduces the volume of scour, but more importantly translates the deepest point of scour downstream from the structure, lessening the risk of damage.

The effects of prone position ventilation on experimental mild acute lung injury induced by intraperitoneal lipopolysaccharide injection in rats

The benefits of prone position ventilation are well demonstrated in the severe forms of acute respiratory distress syndrome, but not in the milder forms. We investigated the effects of prone position on arterial blood gases, lung inflammation, and histology in an experimental mild acute lung injury (ALI) model. ALI was induced in Wistar rats by intraperitoneal Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide (LPS, 5 mg/kg). After 24 h, the animals with PaO2/FIO2 between 200 and 300 mmHg were randomized into 2 groups: prone position (n = 6) and supine position (n = 6). Both groups were compared with a control group (n = 5) that was ventilated in the supine position. All of the groups were ventilated for 1 h with volume-controlled ventilation mode (tidal volume = 6 ml/kg, respiratory rate = 80 breaths/min, positive end-expiratory pressure = 5 cmH2O, inspired oxygen fraction = 1). Significantly higher lung injury scores were observed in the LPS-supine group compared to the LPS-prone and control groups (0.32 ± 0.03; 0.17 ± 0.03 and 0.13 ± 0.04, respectively) (p < 0.001), mainly due to a higher neutrophil infiltration level in the interstitial space and more proteinaceous debris that filled the airspaces. Similar differences were observed when the gravity-dependent lung regions and non-dependent lung regions were analyzed separately (p < 0.05). The BAL neutrophil content was also higher in the LPS-supine group compared to the LPS-prone and control groups (p < 0.05). There were no significant differences in the wet/dry ratio and gas exchange levels. In this experimental extrapulmonary mild ALI model, prone position ventilation for 1 h, when compared with supine position ventilation, was associated with lower lung inflammation and injury.

Coupled wellbore-reservoir simulation of thermal effects during multiphase CO2 injection

T2Well-ECO2M is a coupled wellbore reservoir simulator still under development at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (USA) with the ability to deal with a mixture of H2O-CO2-NaCl and includes the simulation of CO2 phase transition and multiphase flow. The code was originally developed for the simulation of CO2 injection into deep saline aquifers and the modelling of enhanced geothermal systems; however, the focus of this research was to modify and test T2Well-ECO2M to simulate CO2 injection into depleted gas reservoirs. To this end, the original code was properly changed in a few parts and a dedicated injection case was developed to study CO2 phase transition inside of a wellbore and the corresponding thermal effects. In the first scenario, the injection case was run applying the fully numerical approach of wellbore to formation heat exchange calculation. Results were analysed in terms of wellbore pressure and temperature vertical profiles, wellhead and bottomhole conditions, and characteristic reservoir displacement fronts. Special attention was given to the thorough analysis of bottomhole temperature as the critical parameter for hydrate formation. Besides the expected direct effect of wellbore temperature changes on reservoir conditions, the simulation results indicated also the effect of CO2 phase change in the near wellbore zone on BH pressure distribution. To test the implemented software changes, in a second scenario, the same injection case was reproduced using the improved semi-analytical time-convolution approach for wellbore to formation heat exchange calculation. The comparison of the two scenarios showed that the simulation of wellbore and reservoir parameters after one year of continuous CO2 injection are in good agreement with the computation time to solve the time-convolution semi-analytical reduced. The new updated T2Well-ECO2M version has shown to be a robust and performing wellbore-reservoir simulator that can be also used to simulate the CO2 injection into depleted gas reservoirs.

Estimated Disability-adjusted Life Years Averted By Long-term Provision Of Long Acting Contraceptive Methods In A Brazilian Clinic.

What is the contribution of the provision, at no cost for users, of long acting reversible contraceptive methods (LARC; copper intrauterine device [IUD], the levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine system [LNG-IUS], contraceptive implants and depot-medroxyprogesterone [DMPA] injection) towards the disability-adjusted life years (DALY) averted through a Brazilian university-based clinic established over 30 years ago. Over the last 10 years of evaluation, provision of LARC methods and DMPA by the clinic are estimated to have contributed to DALY averted by between 37 and 60 maternal deaths, 315-424 child mortalities, 634-853 combined maternal morbidity and mortality and child mortality, and 1056-1412 unsafe abortions averted. LARC methods are associated with a high contraceptive effectiveness when compared with contraceptive methods which need frequent attention; perhaps because LARC methods are independent of individual or couple compliance. However, in general previous studies have evaluated contraceptive methods during clinical studies over a short period of time, or not more than 10 years. Furthermore, information regarding the estimation of the DALY averted is scarce. We reviewed 50 004 medical charts from women who consulted for the first time looking for a contraceptive method over the period from 2 January 1980 through 31 December 2012. Women who consulted at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Campinas, Brazil were new users and users switching contraceptive, including the copper IUD (n = 13 826), the LNG-IUS (n = 1525), implants (n = 277) and DMPA (n = 9387). Estimation of the DALY averted included maternal morbidity and mortality, child mortality and unsafe abortions averted. We obtained 29 416 contraceptive segments of use including 25 009 contraceptive segments of use from 20 821 new users or switchers to any LARC method or DMPA with at least 1 year of follow-up. The mean (± SD) age of the women at first consultation ranged from 25.3 ± 5.7 (range 12-47) years in the 1980s, to 31.9 ± 7.4 (range 16-50) years in 2010-2011. The most common contraceptive chosen at the first consultation was copper IUD (48.3, 74.5 and 64.7% in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, respectively). For an evaluation over 20 years, the cumulative pregnancy rates (SEM) were 0.4 (0.2), 2.8 (2.1), 4.0 (0.4) and 1.3 (0.4) for the LNG-IUS, the implants, copper IUD and DMPA, respectively and cumulative continuation rates (SEM) were 15.1 (3.7), 3.9 (1.4), 14.1 (0.6) and 7.3 (1.7) for the LNG-IUS, implants, copper IUD and DMPA, respectively (P < 0.001). Over the last 10 years of evaluation, the estimation of the contribution of the clinic through the provision of LARC methods and DMPA to DALY averted was 37-60 maternal deaths; between 315 and 424 child mortalities; combined maternal morbidity and mortality and child mortality of between 634 and 853, and 1056-1412 unsafe abortions averted. The main limitations are the number of women who never returned to the clinic (overall 14% among the four methods under evaluation); consequently the pregnancy rate could be different. Other limitations include the analysis of two kinds of copper IUD and two kinds of contraceptive implants as the same IUD or implant, and the low number of users of implants. In addition, the DALY calculation relies on a number of estimates, which may vary in different parts of the world. LARC methods and DMPA are highly effective and women who were well-counselled used these methods for a long time. The benefit of averting maternal morbidity and mortality, child mortality, and unsafe abortions is an example to health policy makers to implement more family planning programmes and to offer contraceptive methods, mainly LARC and DMPA, at no cost or at affordable cost for the underprivileged population. This study received partial financial support from the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP), grant # 2012/12810-4 and from the National Research Council (CNPq), grant #573747/2008-3. B.F.B., M.P.G., and V.M.C. were fellows from the scientific initiation programme from FAPESP. Since the year 2001, all the TCu380A IUD were donated by Injeflex, São Paulo, Brazil, and from the year 2006 all the LNG-IUS were donated by the International Contraceptive Access Foundation (ICA), Turku, Finland. Both donations are as unrestricted grants. The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest associated with this study.

[temporomandibular Disorders In Fibromyalgia Syndrome: A Short-communication.]

Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) is a chronic painful syndrome and the coexistence of a painful condition caused by Temporomandibular Disorders (TMD) and FMS has been frequently raised for several studies, however, more likely hypothesis is that a set of FMS characteristics may lead to the onset of TMD symptoms and they are not merely coexisting conditions. Therefore, our aim is presenting a review of literature about the relation between fibromyalgia and the signs and symptoms of temporomandibular disorders. For this purpose, a bibliographic search was performed of the period of 1990-2013, in the Medline, Pubmed, Lilacs and Scielo databases, using the keywords fibromyalgia, temporomandibular disorders and facial pain. Here we present a set of findings in the literature showing that fibromyalgia can lead to TMD symptoms. These studies demonstrated greater involvement of the stomatognathic system in FMS and myogenic disorders of masticatory system are the most commonly found in those patients. FMS appears to have a series of characteristics that constitute predisposing and triggering factors for TMD.

Effect Of Sodium Hypochlorite And Peracetic Acid On The Surface Roughness Of Acrylic Resin Polymerized By Heated Water For Short And Long Cycles.

To evaluate the surface roughness of acrylic resin submitted to chemical disinfection via 1% sodium hypochlorite (NaClO) or 1% peracetic acid (C2H4O3). The disc-shaped resin specimens (30 mm diameter ×4 mm height) were polymerized by heated water using two cycles (short cycle: 1 h at 74°C and 30 min at 100°C; conventional long cycle: 9 h at 74°C). The release of substances by these specimens in water solution was also quantified. Specimens were fabricated, divided into four groups (n = 10) depending on the polymerization time and disinfectant. After polishing, the specimens were stored in distilled deionized water. Specimens were immersed in 1% NaClO or 1% C2H4O3 for 30 min, and then were immersed in distilled deionized water for 20 min. The release of C2H4O3 and NaClO was measured via visual colorimetric analysis. Roughness was measured before and after disinfection. Roughness data were subjected to two-way ANOVA and Tukey's test. There was no interaction between polymerization time and disinfectant in influencing the average surface roughness (Ra, P = 0.957). Considering these factors independently, there were significant differences between short and conventional long cycles (P = 0.012), but no significant difference between the disinfectants hypochlorite and C2H4O3 (P = 0.366). Visual colorimetric analysis did not detect release of substances. It was concluded that there was the difference in surface roughness between short and conventional long cycles, and disinfection at acrylic resins polymerized by heated water using a short cycle modified the properties of roughness.