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The article discusses 2022 United States Department of Treasury subjected an Indian company, alongside seven others from the UAE, Hong Kong and China, to secondary sanctions. It accused them of helping already-sanctioned Iranian entities evade sanctions by transferring large quantities of Iranian petroleum and petro-chemicals to Asian countries including China.

One of the most important geochemical data in petroleum exploration is total organic carbon (TOC) which is used to evaluate the hydrocarbon generation potential of source rocks. To measure this parameter, expensive and time-consuming geochemical experiments are carried out on few cutting or core samples. In this study, stochastic optimization algorithms (ant colony and genetic programming) were hybridized with gradient optimization in a back propagation neural network structure to estimate TOC from petrophysical logs. The methodology is illustrated by using a case study from four wells of the Ahwaz oilfield. The results show that the hybrid ant colony-back propagation neural network model (ACO R -BP) provides better results compared to the other intelligent models used. MSE and R 2 of the ACO R -BP model in testing samples are 0.0051 and 0.952, respectively. This level of accuracy along with the fast speed of the algorithm is highly desirable for the estimation of the TOC parameter. The findings of this research demonstrate that employing ant colony optimization to initialize weights and biases of neural networks minimizes or avoids the risk of getting stuck in local minima. The methodology introduced in this study has a good performance and can be used to synthesize geochemical logs for the other wells of the Ahwaz oilfield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The efficacy of three types of mineral spray oil (MSO), and Abamectin plus MSO to control the citrus leafminer Phyllocnistis citrella Stainton were compared with the conventional broad spectrum pesticides, Confidor, and Dursban, in two citrus orchards in northern Iran. Differences were found among the various concentrations of MSO in the number of mines and live larva per leaf, sampled 5 days after the application of 3 sprays at an interval of 5 days. Mineral spray oil applied at a rate of ≥ 0.65% in water, showed no significant differences when compared with Confidor, and Dursban. Abamectin plus MSO at a rate of 0.02% plus 0.50% in water respectively, provided the highest level of control and reduced the population of larva up to 85%. Generally, a concentration of ≥ 0.65% MSO in water caused a significant damage reduction. However, by reducing the MSO concentration, the rate of control was decreased. In another field experiment conducted in mature citrus orchards, the effect of two pest management types (applying just MSO vs. usage of synthetic pesticides) on the activity of P. citrella, was evaluated. The comparison results indicated that there is more P. citrella damage in orchards under pressure of synthetic pesticides than in orchards in which the synthetic pesticides were eliminated for years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Functional constipation is one of the most prevalent childhood gastrointestinal disorders. We evaluated effects of adding a probiotic to mineral oil in the treatment of functional constipation in children. Materials and Methods: This controlled trial was conducted on 60 children (2 to 14 years old) with functional constipation (Rome III criteria). Children were allocated to receive the synbiotic (Lactol®, composed of Lactobacillus Sporogenes, 1 Tab/20 kg/d) plus mineral oil (Paraffin 1 ml/kg/d) or the mineral oil alone for two months. Symptoms of constipation including defecation frequency, stool form, strain and pain at defecation, incomplete evacuation and soiling were assessed and compared before and after the intervention. After the treatment period, the two groups were also compared with regards to subjective global assessment of improvement. Results: After the treatment, stool frequency increased in both groups (P < 0.001), with greater increase in synbiotic + mineral oil group (P = 0.001). Frequency of hard/very hard stool and frequency of painful defecation decreased similarly in both groups (P < 0.001). Straining at defecation, incomplete evacuation, and soiling decreased in both groups (P < 0.001), but more decrease was seen in the synbiotic + mineral oil group (P < 0.05). Finally, there was a better global improvement in the synbiotic + mineral oil group (P < 0.05). No severe side‑effects were observed in any group. Conclusion: Adding the synbiotic Lactol® (containing Lactobacillus Sporogenes) to mineral oil can increase the improvement in the constipation symptoms of children without specific side‑effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The prevalence of Pediatric Functional Constipation (FC) has been reported between 0.7% to 29.6%. This study was conducted to compare the laxative effect of cassia fistula emulsion (CFE) with mineral oil (MO) on FC. Cassia fistula is named in Traditional Iranian Medicine (TIM) as "Folus". Materials and methods: A randomized clinical trial was carried on 81 children (age range: 4-13 years) with FC, according to Rome III criteria in Amirkola Children's Hospital, Babol, Iran. They received CFE or MO randomly for three weeks. CFE was produced according to the order of TIM references. Children were counted as improved when they exited from Rome III criteria of FC. Frequency of defecation, fecal incontinence, retentive posturing, severity of pain, consistency of stool and anal leakage of oily material were compared between the two groups and with baselines. An intent-to-treat analysis was used. Safety of drugs was assessed with the evaluation of clinical adverse effects. Results: 41 children were assigned randomly to receive CFE and 40 children received MO. After three weeks of medication, 84% of children in CFE group and 50% in MO group (p = 0.002) exited from the criteria of FC, so called improved. All measurable criteria improved in both groups. The frequency of defecation in CFE group improved from 1.7 per week (before the study) to 10.6 per week (at the third week) while this parameter differed in MO group from 2 to 6.1 (p < 0.001). The severity of pain during defecation and consistency of stool improved significantly better in CFE group than MO group (p < 0.05), but there were not any significant differences between the two groups in fecal incontinence and retentive posturing. Anal leakage of oily material occurred as an important complication in MO group while the children in CFE group did not complaint it. Drug's compliances were not significantly different in the two groups. CFE and MO did not cause clinically significant side effects. Conclusions: CFE was most effective than MO in the 3-week treatment of children with FC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]