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Chimonanthus fragrans Lindle (Calycanthaceae) is an aromatic plant which little information has been reported so far on the composition of its essential oil. In this study the essential oil of flower of this plant was obtained by hydrodistillation and analyzed by GC and GC-MS. Forty nine components were identified corresponding to ca. 98.12 % of the total components of the essential oil with 0.12 % yield. The major components were elemol (20.06%), β-caryophyllene (9.51%), β-elemene (8.65%), bicyclogermacrene (8.15%), γ-elemene (7.2%), germacrene-D (5.65%), trans-β-ocimene (5.5%), sabinene (3.65%), linalool (2.6%), caryophyllene oxide (2.3%), and δ-cadinene (1.95%). Comparison of the data of this study with other data including recent report by HS-SPME-GC-MS showed quantitative and qualitative differences due to geographical, agricultural, and technical factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the main causes of chronic liver disease worldwide. Flavonoids, a group of natural compounds, have garnered a great deal of attention in the management of NAFLD because of their profitable effects on glucose and lipid metabolism, inflammation, and oxidative stress which are the pivotal pathophysiological pathways in NAFLD. Naringenin is a citrus-derived flavonoid with a broad spectrum of potential biological effects including anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, which may exert protective effects against NAFLD. The present clinical trial aims to examine the efficacy of naringenin supplementation on plasma adiponectin and neurogulin-4 (NRG-4) concentrations, metabolic parameters, and liver function indices in overweight/obese patients with NAFLD.Methods and Analysis: This is a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical study that will investigate the impacts of naringenin supplementation in overweight/obese patients with NAFLD. Liver ultrasonography will be applied to diagnose NAFLD. Forty-four eligible overweight/obese subjects with NAFLD will be selected and randomly assigned to receive naringenin capsules or identical placebo (each capsule contains 100 mg of naringenin or cellulose), twice daily for 4 weeks. Participants will be asked to remain on their usual diet and physical activity. Safety of naringenin supplementation was confirmed by the study pharmacist. The primary outcome of this study is changes in adiponectin circulating levels. The secondary outcomes include changes in NRG-4 levels, liver function indices, metabolic parameters, body weight, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), blood pressure, and hematological parameters. Statistical analysis will be conducted using the SPSS software (version 25), and P value less than 0.05 will be regarded as statistically significant.Discussion: We hypothesize that naringenin administration may be useful for treating NAFLD by modulating energy balance, glucose and lipid metabolism, oxidative stress, and inflammation through different mechanisms. The current trial will exhibit the effects of naringenin, whether negative or positive, on NAFLD status.Ethical Aspects: The current trial received approval from the Medical Ethics Committee of Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran (IR.TUMS.MEDICNE.REC.1399.439).Trial Registration: Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials IRCT201311250155336N12 . Registered on 6 June 2020. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The juvenile correction and rehabilitation center is a place for reforming and rehabilitating juvenile adolescents. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of mindfulness-based training on aggression and empathy of adolescents at the juvenile correction and rehabilitation center in Tehran. The research was a quasiexperimental design with pretest-posttest and the control group. The statistical population of the study was all of the adolescents in the juvenile correction and rehabilitation center in Tehran. In this research sampling method was convenience sampling method (availability sampling). In this regard, two groups of 16 were selected for each experimental and control. At the implementation stage, 4 participants from the experimental group and 4 from the control group were excluded. Finally, sample of 24 adolescents was randomly assigned into experimental and control groups and responded to the Batson Empathy Questionnaire and Buss and Warren's aggression questionnaire. The experimental group received a 90-minute session for 8 sessions and a weekly 90-minute session, and no training was taken in the control group. Multivariate covariance and variance analysis was used for data analysis. The results showed that there is a significant difference between the two groups of experimental and control after the implementation of mindfulness-based training in terms of empathy and aggression components. Mindfulness-based therapy led to empathy promotion and reduction of aggression components in adolescents at the juvenile correction and rehabilitation center. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the main objectives of fund managers in financial service industry is to select superior stocks by analyzing financial ratios. This paper proposes a novel methodology for stock selection by integrating optimistic and pessimistic ordered weighted averaging (OWA) and data envelopment analysis (DEA) methods. The paper first reveals the drawback of using the standard DEA models for stocks evaluation and then proposes a new method by using the OWA operator. Unlike the classical DEA, the proposed method in this paper does not involve the specification of inputs and outputs. The paper incorporates optimistic and pessimistic scenarios and generates interval OWA scores for all stocks. This is followed by using appropriate interval DEA models for selecting superior stocks. The proposed method in this paper is applied to identify high financial performance stocks in the Tehran stock market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]