Justin_D_Martin: Primary school teachers resign after posting #Facebook insults about pupils http://t.co/PcqrwK03

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Primary school teachers resign after posting #Facebook insults about pupils gu.com/p/34bvv/tw Justin_D_Martin

Justin D. Martin

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Evolutionary Medicine: Does reindeer have a circadian stop-watch instead of a clock?

I originally posted this on April 13th, 2010.

Whenever I read a paper from Karl-Arne Stokkan?s lab, and I have read every one of them, no matter how dense the scientese language I always start imagining them running around the cold, dark Arctic, wielding enormous butterfly nets, looking for and catching reindeer (or ptarmigans, whichever animal the paper is about) to do their research.

If I was not so averse to cold, I?d think this would be the best career in science ever!

It is no surprise that their latest paper ? A Circadian Clock Is Not Required in an Arctic Mammal (press release) ? was widely covered by the media, both traditional and blogs. See, for example, The Scientist, BBC, Scientific American podcast and Wired Science.

Relevant, or just cool?

It is hard to find a science story that is more obviously in the ?that?s cool? category, as opposed to the ?that?s relevant? category. For the background on this debate, please read Ed Yong, David Dobbs, DeLene Beeland, Colin Schultz, and the series of Colin?s interviews with Carl Zimmer, Nicola Jones, David Dobbs, Jay Ingram, Ferris Jabr, Ed Yong and Ed Yong again.

I agree, it is a cool story. It is an attention-grabbing, nifty story about charismatic megafauna living in a strange wilderness. I first saw the work from the lab in a poster session at a conference many years ago, and of all the posters I saw that day, it is the reindeer one that I still remember after all these years.

Yet, the coolness of the story should not hide the fact that this research is also very relevant ? both to the understanding of evolution and to human medicine. Let me try to explain what they did and why that is much more important than what a quick glance at the headlines may suggest. I did it only part-way a few years ago when I blogged about one of their earlier papers. But let me start with that earlier paper as background, for context.

Rhythms of Behavior

In their 2005 Nature paper (which was really just a tiny subset of a much longer, detailed paper they published elsewhere a couple of years later), Stokkan and colleagues used radiotelemetry to continuously monitor activity of reindeer ? when they sleep and when they roam around foraging.

You should remember that up in the Arctic the summer is essentially one single day that lasts several months, while the winter is a continuous night that lasts several months. During these long periods of constant illumination, reindeer did not show rhythms in activity ? they moved around and rested in bouts and bursts, at almost unpredictable times of ?day?. Their circadian rhythms of behavior were gone.

But, during brief periods of spring and fall, during which there are 24-hour light-dark cycles of day and night, the reindeer (on the northern end of the mainland Norway, but not the population living even further north on Svaldbard which remained arrhythmic throughout), showed daily rhythms of activity, suggesting that this species may possess a circadian clock.

Rhythms of Physiology

In a couple of studies, including the latest one, the lab also looked into a physiological rhythm ? that of melatonin synthesis and secretion by the pineal gland. Just as in activity rhythms, melatonin concentrations in the blood showed a daily (24-hour) rhythm only during the brief periods of spring and fall. Furthermore, in the latest paper, they kept three reindeer indoors for a couple of days, in light-tight stalls, and exposed them to 2.5-hour-long periods of darkness during the normal light phase of the day. Each such ?dark pulse? resulted in a sharp rise of blood melatonin, followed by just as abrupt elimination of melatonin as soon as the lights went back on.

Rhythms of gene expression

Finally, in this latest paper, they also looked at the expression of two of the core clock genes in fibroblasts kept in vitro (in a dish). Fibroblasts are connective tissue cells found all around the body, probably taken out of reindeer by biopsy. In other mammals, e.g., in rodents, clock genes continue to cycle with a circadian period for a very long time in a dish. Yet, the reindeer fibroblasts, after a couple of very weak oscillations that were roughly in the circadian range, decayed into complete arrhytmicity ? the cells were healthy, but their clocks were not ticking any more.

What do these results suggest?

There is something fishy about the reindeer clock. It is not working the same way it does in other mammals studied to date. For example, seals and humans living in the Arctic have normal circadian rhythms of melatonin. Some other animals show daily rhythms in behavior. But in reindeer, rhythms in behavior and melatonin can be seen only if the environment is rhythmic as well. In constant light conditions, it appears that the clock is not working. But, is it? How do we know?

During the long winter night and the long summer day, the behavior of reindeer is not completely random. It is in bouts which show some regularity ? these are ultradian rhythms with the period much shorter than 24 hours. If the clock is not working in reindeer, i.e., if there is no clock in this species, then the ultradian rhythms would persist during spring and fall as well. Yet we see circadian rhythms during these seasons ? there is an underlying clock there which can be entrained to a 24-hour light-dark cycle.

This argues for the notion that the deer?s circadian clock, unless forced into synchrony by a 24 external cycle, undergoes something called frequency demultiplication. The idea is that the underlying cellular clock runs with a 24-hour period but that is sends signals downstream of the clock, triggering phenotypic (observable) events, several times during each cycle. The events happen always at the same phases of the cycle, and are usually happening every 12 or 8 or 6 or 4 or 3 or 2 or 1 hours ? the divisors of 24 (not necessarily whole hours, e.g., 90minute bursts are also possible). Likewise, the clock can trigger the event only every other cycle, resulting in a 48-hour period of the observable behavior.

If we forget for a moment the metaphor of the clock and think instead of a Player Piano, it is like the contraption plays the note G several times per cycle, always at the same moments during each cycle, but there is no need to limit each note to appear only once per cycle.

On the other hand, both the activity and melatonin rhythms appear to be driven directly by light and dark ? like a stop-watch. In circadian parlance this is called an ?hourglass clock? ? an environmental trigger is needed to turn it over so it can start measuring time all over again. Dawn and dusk appear to directly stop and start the behavioral activity, and onset of dark stimulates while onset of light inhibits secretion of melatonin. An ?hourglass clock? is an extreme example of a circadian clock with a very low amplitude.
While we mostly pay attention to period and phase, we should not forget that amplitude is important. Yes, amplitude is important. It determines how easy it is for the environmental cue to reset the clock to a new phase ? lower the amplitude of the clock, easier it is to shift. In a very low-amplitude oscillator, onset of light (or dark) can instantly reset the clock to Phase Zero and start timing all over again ? an ?hourglass? behavior.

The molecular study of the reindeer fibroblasts also suggests a low-amplitude clock ? there are a couple of weak oscillations to be seen before the rhythm goes away completely.

There may be other explanations for the observed data, e.g., masking (direct effect of light on behavior bypassing the clock) or relative coordination (weak and transient entrainment) but let?s not get too bogged down in arcane circadiana right now. For now, let?s say that the reindeer clock exists, that it is a very low-amplitude clock which entrains readily and immediately to light-dark cycles, while it fragments or demultiplies in long periods of constant conditions.

Why is this important to the reindeer?

During long night of the winter and the long day of the summer it does not make sense for the reindeer to behave in 24-hour cycles. Their internal drive to do so, driven by the clock, should be overpowered by the need to be flexible ? in such a harsh environment, behavior needs to be opportunistic ? if there?s a predator in sight: move away. If there is food in sight ? go get it. If you are full and there is no danger, this is a good time to take a nap. One way to accomplish this is to de-couple the behavior from the clock. The other strategy is to have a clock that is very permissive to such opportunistic behavior ? a very low-amplitude clock.

But why have clock at all?

Stokkan and colleagues stress that the day-night cycles in spring help reindeer time seasonal events, most importantly breeding. The calves/fawns should be born when the weather is the nicest and the food most plentiful. The reindeer use those few weeks of spring (and fall) to measure daylength (photoperiod) and thus time their seasonality ? or in other words, to reset their internal calendar: the circannual clock.

But, what does it all mean?

All of the above deals only with one of the two hypotheses for the adaptive function (and thus evolution) of the circadian clock. This is the External Synchronization hypothesis. This means that it is adaptive for an organism to be synchronized (in its biochemistry, physiology and behavior) with the external environment ? to sleep when it is safe to do so, to eat at times when it will be undisturbed, etc. In the case of reindeer, since there are no daily cycles in the environment for the most of the year, there is no adaptive value in keeping a 24-hour rhythm in behavior, so none is observed. But since Arctic is highly seasonal, and since the circadian clock, through daylength measurement (photoperiodism) times seasonal events, the clock is retained as an adaptive structure.

This is not so new ? such things have been observed in cave animals, as well as in social insects.

What the paper does not address is the other hypothesis ? the Internal Synchronization hypothesis for the existence of the circadian clock ? to synchronize internal events. So a target cell does not need to keep producing (and wasting energy) to produce a hormone receptor except at the time when the endocrine gland is secreting the hormone. It is a way for the body to temporally divide potentially conflicting physiological functions so those that need to coincide do so, and those that conflict with each other are separated in time ? do not occur simultaneously. In this hypothesis, the clock is the Coordination Center of all the physiological processes. Even if there is no cycle in the environment to adapt to, the clock is a necessity and will be retained no matter what for this internal function, though the period now need not be close to 24 hours any more.

What can be done next?

Unfortunately, reindeer are not fruitflies or mice or rats. They are not endangered (as far as I know), but they are not easy to keep in the laboratory in large numbers in ideal, controlled conditions, for long periods of time.

Out in the field, one is limited as to what one can do. The only output of the clock that can be monitored long-term in the field is gross locomotor activity. Yet, while easiest to do, this is probably the least reliable indicator of the workings of the clock. Behavior is too flexible and malleable, too susceptible to ?masking? by direct effects of the environment (e.g., weather, predators, etc,). And measurement of just gross locomotor activity does not tell us which specific behaviors the animals are engaged in.

It would be so nice if a bunch of reindeer could be brought into a lab and placed under controlled lighting conditions for a year at a time. One could, first, monitor several different specific behaviors. For example, if feeding, drinking and defecation are rhythmic, that would suggest that the entire digestive system is under circadian control: the stomach, liver, pancreas, intestine and all of their enzymes. Likewise with drinking and urination ? they can be indirect indicators of the rhythmicity of the kidneys and the rest of the excretory system.

In a lab, one could also continuously monitor some physiological parameters with simple, non-invasive techniques. One could, for example monitor body temperature, blood pressure and heart-rate, much more reliable markers of circadian output. One could also take more frequent blood samples (these are large animals, they can take it) and measure a whole plethora of hormones along with melatonin, e.g., cortisol, thyroid hormones, progesterone, estrogen, testosterone, etc (also useful for measuring seasonal responses). One could measure metabolites in urine and feces and also gain some insight into rhythms of the internal biochemistry and physiology. All of that with no surgery and no discomfort to the animals.

Then one can place reindeer in constant darkness and see if all these rhythms persist or decay over time. Then one can make a Phase-Response Curve and thus test the amplitude of the underlying oscillator (or do that with entrainment to T-cycles, if you have been clicking on links all along, you?ll know what I?m talking about). One can test their reproductive response to photoperiod this way as well.

Finally, fibroblasts are peripheral cells. One cannot expect the group to dissect suprachiasmatic nuclei out of reindeer to check the state of the master pacemaker itself. And in a case of such a damped circadian system, testing a peripheral clock may not be very informative. Better fibroblasts than nothing, but there are big caveats about using them.

Remember that the circadian system is distributed all around the body, with each cell containing a molecular clock, but only the pacemaker cells in the suprachiasmatic nucleus are acting as a network. In a circadian system like the one in reindeer, where the system is low-amplitude to begin with, it is almost expected that peripheral clocks taken out of the body and isolated in a dish will not be able to sustain rhythms for very long. Yet those same cells, while inside of the body, may be perfectly rhythmic as a part of the ensemble of all the body cells, each sending entraining signals to the others every day, thus the entire system as a whole working quite well as a body-wide circadian clock. This can be monitored in real-time in transgenic mice, but the technology to do that in reindeer is still some years away.

Finally, one could test a hypothesis that the reindeer clock undergoes seasonal changes in its organization at the molecular level by comparing the performance of fibroblasts (and perhaps some other peripheral cells) taken out of animals at different times of year.

What?s up with this being medically relevant?

But why is all this important? Why is work on mice not sufficient and one needs to pay attention to a strange laboratory animal model like reindeer?

First, unlike rodents, reindeer is a large, mostly diurnal animal. Just like us.

Second, reindeer normally live in conditions that make people sick, yet they remain just fine, thank you. How do they do that?

Even humans who don?t live above the Arctic Circle (or in the Antarctica), tend to live in a 24-hour society with both light and social cues messing up with our internal rhythms.

We have complex circadian systems that are easy to get out of whack. We work night-shifts and rotating shifts and fly around the globe getting jet-lagged. Jet-lag is not desynchronization between the clock and the environment, it is internal desynchronization between all the cellular clocks in our bodies.

In the state of almost permanent jet-lag that many of us live in, a lot of things go wrong. We get sleeping disorders, eating disorders, obesity, compromised immunity leading to cancer, problems with reproduction, increase in psychiatric problems, the Seasonal Affective Disorder, prevalence of stomach ulcers and breast cancer in night-shift nurses, etc.

Why do we get all that and reindeer don?t? What is the trick they evolved to stay healthy in conditions that drive us insane and sick? Can we learn their trick, adopt it for our own medical practice, and use it? Those are kinds of things that a mouse and a rat cannot provide answers to, but reindeer can. I can?t think of another animal species that can do that for us. Which is why I am glad that Stokkan and friends are chasing reindeer with enormous butterfly nets across Arctic wasteland in the darkness of winter ;-)

Reference:

Lu, W., Meng, Q., Tyler, N., Stokkan, K., & Loudon, A. (2010). A Circadian Clock Is Not Required in an Arctic Mammal Current Biology, 20 (6), 533-537 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2010.01.042

Images: Reindeer drawing ? EnchantedLearning.com; Reindeer photos ? Reindeer Ranching and the Economic Benefits, by Emma Englesby, Kimberly Richards and Stephanie Bell; graphs from the Lu et al. 2010.

Related at Scientific American:

Rudolph Would Have Run Away From Santa by Jason G. Goldman

A Skill Better Than Rudolph?s by Anne-Marie Hodge

How Its Internal Clock Is Read, Knows Reindeer by Christopher Itagliata (podcast)

How Rudolph Remains Bright-Eyed and Bushy-Tailed Through the Big Night by David Biello

Trying to keep Rudolph, and his fellow reindeer, from going down in history by John R. Platt

Satellite snow maps help reindeer herders adapt to a changing Arctic, From ESA.

U.S. Seeks to Protect Forests to Save Wild Reindeer by Laura Zuckerman

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=4e0ad0936c57d52820cc7c0b23d8faa9

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Japan to ask Myanmar to join bilateral pact: Kyodo (Reuters)

TOKYO (Reuters) ? Japan's foreign minister will suggest that Myanmar enter negotiations on a bilateral investment accord when he holds talks with the country's top officials next week, Kyodo News reported Sunday.

The talks would mark another step as Myanmar gradually reconnects with the rest of the world after decades of tight military rule.

A series of reforms have been initiated by President Thein Sein aimed at pushing for the lifting of decades of Western sanctions and attracting much-needed foreign investment in the country formerly known as Burma.

Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba is traveling to Myanmar Sunday to meet his counterpart, Wunna Maung Lwin, as well as the president next week.

In Naypyitaw, Gemba will discuss the investment accord, which would promote cross-border investment and allow trade disputes to be settled under international frameworks, Kyodo said, citing a government source.

Gemba will also meet pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and will likely invite her to visit Japan in the near future, Kyodo said.

Gemba's visit is the first by a Japanese foreign minister in nine years.

In a landmark step, U.S. President Barack Obama decided last month to open the door to expanded ties, saying he saw potential for progress in a country until recently seen as an isolated military dictatorship firmly aligned with China.

That decision was followed soon after by a visit to Myanmar by U.S. Foreign Secretary Hillary Clinton, during which Myanmar's new civilian government pledged to forge ahead with political reforms and re-engage with the global community.

(Reporting by Mari Saito)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/japan/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111225/wl_nm/us_japan_myanmar

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Twonky Beam Browser hands-on

Showing your friends the latest viral video traditionally requires huddling around a smartphone or tablet, which is odd when you're sat in a room with a 40-inch flat-screen. Web connected TVs or media units like the Apple TV will let you watch YouTube as long as you spend five minutes tediously inputting the search term on your remote. For those of us who can't afford a unified Airplay setup, there's PacketVideo's Twonky Beam Browser, which lets you push mobile content to your TV as fast as your wireless router can handle it. Does it work as well as advertised? Is it the answer to your prayers? Read on to find out, dear reader, read on.

Continue reading Twonky Beam Browser hands-on

Twonky Beam Browser hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 23 Dec 2011 17:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/23/twonky-beam-browser-hands-on/

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How Best Buy Stole Christmas

best-buy-grinch"I wouldn't touch you with a thirty-nine-and-a-half foot pole." There's a bit of inherent risk when shopping online. You're handing over your credit card to a retailer that promises to ship you something in return. Most of the time transactions are completed without issue and orders are fulfilled as promised. Sometimes things go awry, though. And sometimes Best Buy ruins Christmas. Best Buy started reaching out to customers earlier this week -- you know, mere days before Christmas -- that the retailer was unable to fulfill orders placed as far back as November. Big Blue was sorry but they were canceling the affected orders. Happy holidays! Signed, your merry friends at Best Buy!

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/9cMLzCHcafg/

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wcfcourier: Video of people caroling for Oliver Palmer, a young cancer patient - http://t.co/JSnh4gpz

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Video of people caroling for Oliver Palmer, a young cancer patient - bit.ly/t0XmId#Holiday? wcfcourier

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Stock Market and Investing: Five Things Investors Have to Worry ...

Investors can blame Europe for choking off stock market gains in 2011, but there?s a growing list of geopolitical flashpoints lurking in 2012?and any one of them could pose a risk to stocks.

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Photo: Dieter Spannknebel | Photodisc | Getty Images


Market guru Laszlo Birinyi said there already is a long list of ?known unknowns? coming in 2012, and many of them involve elections in places like the France, Mexico, India and Russia.

Of course, the U.S. presidential election is also on the horizon in November, and there was plenty of domestic political squabbling that swamped the market this past year.

But looking outside the U.S., the geopolitical landscape has become a bigger source of focus for U.S. investors, who are starting to feel a bit better about the U.S. economy and the investing environment at home.

Fears about contagion from Europe?s sovereign debt crisis will continue to dominate in 2012, as will concerns about a hard landing in China, and slow down in other emerging markets. Beyond that there are other situations that could easily progress to a point where they become factors for markets.

Here are five areas to watch for 2012:

  1. Conflict with Iran: The U.S. and other Western countries are moving to put economic sanctions on Iran for its nuclear weapons program. Tensions are rising and analysts worry about scenarios where Israel could take action against Iran, or that it could take some action to reduce the flow of world oil through the Straits of Hormuz, a key shipping channel between Iran and Oman. Either way, the worst case scenario drives oil prices higher, hurting the global economy and financial markets.
  2. North Korea?s New Kim: Kim Jong-un, the youngest son of Kim Jong-il, took over after his father died last Saturday. There is little known about the 28-year-old leader, but he now heads a secretive and closed off country with an advanced nuclear weapons program. There are reports he will head a ruling group that includes his uncle and the military.
  3. Iraq Civil War?: Just a day after the U.S. pulled out of Iraq, the country?s Shiite dominated government ordered the arrest of Sunni vice president Tariq al-Hashimi, accusing him of running death squads and assassinating public officials. The fragile coalition government is at risk of dissolving, creating more instability in the Middle East and an unknown for oil supplies.
  4. Pakistan-U.S. alliance weakens: The bristly relationship between the U.S. and Pakistan worsened after U.S. and NATO troops accidentally killed Pakistani soldiers on the Afghanistan border. The relationship is critical to the U.S. efforts in the war on terror and in keeping balance in its relationship with neighboring India, a U.S. ally. Recent rumors of a coup were quashed when President Zardari returned from medical treatment in Dubai.
  5. Russian Election Uncertainty: Prime Minister Vladimir Putin?s coalition lost its majority in parliamentary elections that were criticized for fraud. The question is does the Russian populace want the strong armed leader to return to his position as president in the March 4 election. A shift in the center of power in Russia, viewed as unlikely as of now, could have impact on its dealings with the rest of the world, and has implications for energy, as Russia is the world?s largest oil producer.
?I?m bullish, but I?m just picking my spots, recognizing the wind is going shift a lot," says Birinyi. "It?s not going to be at my back the whole time, and I don?t want to make a strong assertive bet or position on the entire market. I want to recognize that there?s going to be stocks, like the number one stock Apple [AAPL? Loading...? ? ? () ? ], that doesn?t care who wins the election in Russia.?

Citigroup [C? Loading...? ? ? () ? ] chief U.S. equity strategist Tobias Levkovich said the market is always pricing in some level of geopolitical risk, and right now it?s also pricing in negative U.S. corporate earnings growth.

?Geopolitical risk is always in place. We?re not really aware of it at the moment,? he said, blaming data overload. He has been watching the situation in Iran and says that North Korea is another area to watch, but for now the market is not focused on them.

?Your risk premiums are pretty substantial if they flare up,? he said.

Of the worrisome situations around the world, analysts see Europe as the number one focus for now, followed closely by worries about China, but they also put the tensions around Iran high on the list. Oil markets are sensitive to developments on Iran, but many traders say there would be a much higher premium in oil if the market thought the situation was coming to a head.

This past year has been affected by a series of surprising, exogenous events, like the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, and the flooding in Thailand that dealt a blow to the supply chain of technology companies when factories were literally underwater.

There was the surprising Arab spring uprisings, which toppled governments in Tunisia and Egypt. It sparked the revolution in Libya, which cut the flow of oil and caused a temporary spike in oil prices. Unrest continues in Syria which has been sanctioned by other Arab nations for its handling of protests.

Then there?s Europe, which stressed world markets regularly with market-moving headlines on its leaders? slow and uneven efforts to contain the sovereign debt crisis, forcing investors to focus on developments there with a heightened intensity.

On top of that, one of the biggest bubbling concerns is that China is stumbling and that it could have a hard landing from its period of high growth, taking the rest of the world with it.

?The Chinese situation for me is a very big deal,? said Barry Knapp, head of equity portfolio strategy at Barclays [BCS? Loading...? ? ? () ? ]. Knapp said China has now rolled its growth target to 7.5 percent from 9 percent. He also said the reversal of portfolio flows may also be signaling something bigger is going on there.

?The other big emerging market issue for me is Eastern Europe,? he said, noting the Hungarian Central Bank this week raised rates to 7 percent to stop the decline in its currency. ?For me, Eastern Europe is the real canary in the coal mine for European bank deleveraging. All those places don?t have really developed banking systems so if Europe cuts them out, it?s a big problem.?

Oil Tight Rope

Topping the geopolitical concerns that could significantly impact oil markets is the difficult situation with Iran. While hoping to harm it enough economically to stop its progress towards nuclear weapons, Western governments are balancing the potential impact on the price of oil.

A spike in oil?and gasoline prices?could have a swift negative impact on the fragile economic recovery and on a European economy on the brink of recession. In the U.S. gasoline prices spiked above $4 a gallon this past summer, immediately hurting the U.S. consumers? ability to spend.

As gasoline prices eased up, so did consumer attitudes and spending improved along with sentiment.

Trevor Houser, director of energy and climate practice at the Rhodium Group, follows Iran closely and he says oil markets could be in for a choppy year.

?You have legislation the president will sign by the end of the year as part of the Defense Authorization Act that will impose sanctions on the Central Bank of Iran. There is a relatively tight timeline on the implementation,? he said. The sanctions are a change in strategy for the U.S. which has previously tried to discourage the long term investment in Iranian oil production, not target near term exports.

?The view is that while the investment sanctions have been effective on long term production that?s not sufficient given the time line for Iran?s nuclear program,? he said.

Meanwhile, Europeans are debating an Iranian oil embargo with a decision expected by the end of the month.

Houser said under the U.S. sanctions, if an entity is involved in processing oil payments with the Central Bank of Iran, it would be precluded from doing business with the U.S. financial system. He also said there is some flexibility in the bill which would allow for the president to make the decision based on input from the Department of Energy on the oil market.

?We think that it has a potential to be meaningful in terms of impact,? he said. ?The problem with this is it?s all opaque political risk. How exactly are the sanctions going to be implemented and on what time frame??

?People are going to be trying to read the tea leaves?and it will make for a choppy year? (in the oil market), he said.

Follow Patti Domm on Twitter: @pattidomm

Disclaimer

? 2011 CNBC.com

Source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/45752402

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Hugh Hefner Talks Spicing Up Lindsay Lohan's Playboy Reshoot (omg!)

Access Hollywood's Shaun Robinson and Playboy's Hugh Hefner, December 15, 2011 -- Access Hollywood

Lindsay Lohan's Playboy issue hit newsstands today and Access Hollywood's Shaun Robinson caught up with Hugh Hefner to get the details on the actress' Marilyn Monroe-inspired shoot. Hef says the tribute was a last-minute choice after he was disappointed with what the photographer first shot with Lindsay.

"I saw the results of the first day of shooting and it was not what I was looking for," Hef told Shaun in an interview at the Playboy Mansion on Thursday. "[Lindsay] hadn't bared it all in the first one and she looked like she had just come out of rehab... She looked like she just got up in the morning.

PLAY IT NOW: Why Is Hugh Hefner ?Concerned? For Ex-Fiance Crystal Harris?

"I wanted her to do something that would be truly unforgettable," he added.

Inside the pages of Playboy, Lilo's poses are nearly identical to those of Marilyn's iconic 1953 spread in the men's mag. While Lindsay was on board for the reshoot, her handlers -- at first -- were not, because this time she would be fully nude.

VIEW THE PHOTOS: Hugh Hefner: Hollywood?s Original Playboy

"They wanted a little more clothing and I said, 'You know, this is going to be what it's going to be, because we're doing a tribute here to the original nudes,'" Hef explained.

"Marilyn Monroe's comment after the original shoot was, when they asked what she was wearing, [she] said, 'All I had on was the radio.' All Lindsay Lohan had on during this was the radio!"

When asked if the actress arrived to the photo shoot on time, the Playboy magnate wasn't able to provide an answer, but said if she was truly channeling Marilyn, punctuality would not be one of her strongest points.

VIEW THE PHOTOS: Lindsay Lohan: The Early Years

"I don't know the answer to that, [but] if she's doing a tribute to Marilyn Monroe, I assume that means she probably didn't show up on time because Marilyn didn't show up on time," he told Shaun.

"Marilyn was late also?" Shaun asked.

VIEW THE PHOTOS: Bunnies Who Made It Big In Hollywood

"Oh yes, with regularity," Hef answered.

Despite the unauthorized, premature release of Lindsay's pictorial, Hef still has high hopes for the issue.

"I think you can count on it," he told Shaun, when asked if he believes Lindsay's issue will be a bestseller. "The publicity surrounding it and the anticipation is remarkable."

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