Category: Uncategorized

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Deep sleep might help buffer against memory loss for older adults facing a heightened burden of Alzheimer’s disease, new research suggests.

Deep sleep, also known as non-REM slow-wave sleep, can act as a “cognitive reserve factor” that may increase resilience against a protein in the brain called beta-amyloid that is linked to memory loss caused by dementia. Disrupted sleep has previously been associated with faster accumulation of beta-amyloid protein in the brain.

“Think of deep sleep almost like a life raft that keeps memory afloat…”

However, the new research reveals that superior amounts of deep, slow-wave sleep can act as a protective factor against memory decline in those with existing high amounts of Alzheimer’s disease pathology—a potentially significant advance that experts say could help alleviate some of dementia’s most devastating outcomes.

“With a certain level of brain pathology, you’re not destined for cognitive symptoms or memory issues,” says Zsófia Zavecz, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Berkeley’s Center for Human Sleep Science. “People should be aware that, despite having a certain level of pathology, there are certain lifestyle factors that will help moderate and decrease the effects.

“One of those factors is sleep and, specifically, deep sleep.”

Cognitive reserve factors

The research in the journal BMC Medicine is the latest in a large body of work aimed at finding a cure for Alzheimer’s disease and preventing it altogether.

As the most prevalent form of dementia, Alzheimer’s disease destroys memory pathways and, in advanced forms, interferes with a person’s ability to perform basic daily tasks. Roughly one in nine people over age 65 have the progressive disease—a proportion that is expected to grow rapidly as the baby boomer generation ages.

In recent years, scientists have probed the ways that deposits of beta-amyloid associate with Alzheimer’s disease and how such deposits also affect memory more generally. In addition to sleep being a foundational part of memory retention, the researchers previously discovered that the declining amount of a person’s deep sleep could act as a “crystal ball” to forecast a faster rate of future beta-amyloid buildup in the brain, after which dementia is more likely set in.

Years of education, physical activity, and social engagement are widely believed to shore up a person’s resilience to severe brain pathology—essentially keeping the mind sharp, despite the decreased brain health. These are called cognitive reserve factors. However, most of them, such as past years of education or the size of one’s social network, cannot be easily changed or modified retroactively.

That idea of cognitive reserve became a compelling target for sleep researchers, says Matthew Walker, a professor of neuroscience and psychology and senior author of the study.

“If we believe that sleep is so critical for memory,” Walker says, “could sleep be one of those missing pieces in the explanatory puzzle that would tell us exactly why two people with the same amounts of vicious, severe amyloid pathology have very different memory?”

“If the findings supported the hypothesis, it would be thrilling, because sleep is something we can change,” he adds. “It is a modifiable factor.”

Filling in a missing puzzle piece

To test that question, the researchers recruited 62 older adults from the Berkeley Aging Cohort Study. Participants, who were healthy adults and not diagnosed with dementia, slept in a lab while researchers monitored their sleep waves with an electroencephalography (EEG) machine. Researchers also used a positron emission tomography (PET) scan to measure the amount of beta-amyloid deposits in the participants’ brains. Half of the participants had high amounts of amyloid deposits; the other half did not.

After they slept, the participants completed a memory task involving matching names to faces.

Those with high amounts of beta-amyloid deposits in their brain who also experienced higher levels of deep sleep performed better on the memory test than those with the same amount of deposits but who slept worse. This compensatory boost was limited to the group with amyloid deposits. In the group without pathology, deep sleep had no additional supportive effect on memory, which was understandable as there was no demand for resilience factors in otherwise intact cognitive function.

In other words, deep sleep bent the arrow of cognition upward, blunting the otherwise detrimental effects of beta-amyloid pathology on memory.

In their analysis, the researchers went on to control for other cognitive reserve factors, including education and physical activity, and still sleep demonstrated a marked benefit. This suggests that sleep, independent of these other factors, contributes to salvaging memory function in the face of brain pathology. These new discoveries, they says, indicate the importance of non-REM slow-wave sleep in counteracting some of the memory-impairing effects of beta-amyloid deposits.

Walker likened deep sleep to a rescue effort.

“Think of deep sleep almost like a life raft that keeps memory afloat, rather than memory getting dragged down by the weight of Alzheimer’s disease pathology,” Walker says. “It now seems that deep NREM sleep may be a new, missing piece in the explanatory puzzle of cognitive reserve. This is especially exciting because we can do something about it. There are ways we can improve sleep, even in older adults.”

Chief among those areas for improvement? Stick to a regular sleep schedule, stay mentally and physically active during the day, create a cool and dark sleep environment and minimize things like coffee late in the day and screen time before bed. A warm shower before turning in for the night has also been shown to increase the quality of deep, slow-wave sleep, Zavecz says.

With a small sample size of healthy participants, the study is simply an early step in understanding the precise ways sleep may forestall memory loss and the advance of Alzheimer’s, Zavecz says.

Still, it opens the door for potential longer-term experiments examining sleep-enhancement treatments that could have far-reaching implications.

“One of the advantages of this result is the application to a huge population right above the age of 65,” Zavecz says. “By sleeping better and doing your best to practice good sleep hygiene, which is easy to research online, you can gain the benefit of this compensatory function against this type of Alzheimer’s pathology.”

Source: UC Berkeley

The post Deep sleep may buffer against Alzheimer’s memory loss appeared first on Futurity.

Futurity

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Babylon Bee

A new web portal allows "Star Trek" fans to explore the iconic bridge of the starship Enterprise through 360-degree, 3D models and learn about its evolution throughout the franchise’s history. Smithsonian Magazine reports: The site features 360-degree, 3D models of the various versions of the Enterprise, as well as a timeline of the ship’s evolution throughout the franchise’s history. Fans of the show can also read detailed information about each version of the ship’s design, its significance to the "Star Trek" storyline and its production backstory. Developed in honor of the "Star Trek: Picard" series finale, which dropped late last month on Paramount+, the portal is a collaboration between the Roddenberry Estate, the Roddenberry Archive and the technology company OTOY. A group of well-known "Star Trek" artists — including Denise and Michael Okuda, Daren Dochterman, Doug Drexler and Dave Blass — also supported the project.
The voice of the late actress Majel Roddenberry, who played the Enterprise’s computer for years, will be added to the site in the future. Gene Roddenberry died in 1991, followed by Majel Roddenberry in 2008; the two had been married since 1969. The portal’s creators also released a short video, narrated by actor John de Lancie, exploring every version of the Enterprise’s bridge to date, "from its inception in Pato Guzman’s 1964 sketches, through its portrayal across decades of TV shows and feature films, to its latest incarnation on the Enterprise-G, as revealed in the final episode of ‘Star Trek: Picard,’" per the video description. Accompanying video interviews with "Star Trek" cast and crew — including William Shatner, who played Captain Kirk in the original series, and Terry Matalas, a showrunner for "Star Trek: Picard" — also explore the series’ legacy.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Slashdot

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Last weekend the Satanists were shredding Bibles for the glory of Satan at SatanCon in Massachusetts.

Not the Bee

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The original Double Dragon basically invented co-op beat-em-up action in 1987, and now modern players are about to get a dose of nostalgic side-scrolling goodness thanks to a new franchise installment. Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons launches this fall for every major platform, including PC, Xbox consoles, PlayStation 4 and 5 and the Nintendo Switch.

What to expect from this installment? The trailer suggests a return to the tried-and-true beat-em-up formula. There’s a nice retro pixelated art style, 13 playable characters to choose from and, of course, two-player local co-op. The new title also includes a tag-team ability, so you actually play as two characters at once.

Developer Modus Games is teasing some roguelite elements, like a dynamic mission select feature that randomizes stage length, enemy number and difficulty. This is also a 2023 console game and not an arcade machine from the 1980s, so expect purchasable upgrades and some light RPG mechanics.

As for the plot, the years haven’t been kind to series protagonists Jimmy and Billy Lee. The sequel finds New York City devastated by nuclear war, which leads to gangs of hooligans roaming the radioactive streets. You know what happens next (you beat them up). It remains to be seen if your avatars can beat up that long nuclear winter.

Modus Games isn’t a well-known developer but it has plenty of well-regarded indie titles under its belt, like Afterimage and Teslagrad 2. The trailer looks cool, so this is worth keeping an eye on, especially given that there hasn’t been a Double Dragon game since the long ago days of 2016.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/new-double-dragon-game-trailer-promises-nostalgic-beat-em-up-thrills-175831891.html?src=rssEngadget

https://laraveldaily.com/storage/393/Untitled-design—2023-04-27T113003.756.png

sudo nano /etc/php/8.1/fpm/php.ini

post_max_size = 20M
upload_max_filesize = 20M

sudo service php8.1-fpm restart

class Video extends Model
{
    protected $fillable = [
        'attachment',
        'type',
    ];
}

php artisan make:filament-resource Video --view

class VideoResource extends Resource
{
    // ...
    public static function form(Form $form): Form
    {
        return $form
            ->schema([
                FileUpload::make('attachment')
                    ->required()
                    ->preserveFilenames()
                    ->maxSize(20000),
            ]);
    }
    // ...
}

php artisan livewire:publish --config

return [
    // ...
    'temporary_file_upload' => [
        'disk' => null,        // Example: 'local', 's3'              Default: 'default'
        'rules' => 'max:20000', 
        'directory' => null,   // Example: 'tmp'                      Default  'livewire-tmp'
        'middleware' => null,  // Example: 'throttle:5,1'             Default: 'throttle:60,1'
        'preview_mimes' => [   // Supported file types for temporary pre-signed file URLs.
            'png', 'gif', 'bmp', 'svg', 'wav', 'mp4',
            'mov', 'avi', 'wmv', 'mp3', 'm4a',
            'jpg', 'jpeg', 'mpga', 'webp', 'wma',
        ],
        'max_upload_time' => 5, // Max duration (in minutes) before an upload gets invalidated.
    ],
    // ...
];

<?php
 
namespace App\Filament\Resources\VideoResource\Pages;
 
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Storage;
use App\Filament\Resources\VideoResource;
use Filament\Resources\Pages\CreateRecord;
 
class CreateVideo extends CreateRecord
{
    protected static string $resource = VideoResource::class;
 
    protected function mutateFormDataBeforeCreate(array $data): array 
    {
        $data['type'] = Storage::disk('public')->mimeType($data['attachment']);
 
        return $data;
    } 
}

class ViewVideo extends ViewRecord
{
    protected static string $resource = VideoResource::class;
 
    protected static string $view = 'filament.pages.view-video'; 
}

<x-filament::page>
    <video controls>
        <source src="" type="">
        Your browser does not support the video tag.
    </video>
</x-filament::page>

Laravel News Links

https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:1200/1*3cp7CgW1ePqLM-Ct4174jQ.jpegLearn how to create your own custom Service Providers in Laravel and register them with your application. This guide includes real-life examples and code snippets to help you get started.Laravel News Links

https://www.danielwerner.dev/assets/img/home-bg.jpg

$tableName = config('laravel-analytics.db_prefix') . 'page_views';

Schema::create($tableName, function (Blueprint $table) {
    $table->id();
    $table->string('session_id')->index();
    $table->string('path')->index();
    $table->string('user_agent')->nullable();
    $table->string('ip')->nullable();
    $table->string('referer')->nullable()->index();
    $table->string('county')->nullable()->index();
    $table->string('city')->nullable();
    $table->string('page_model_type')->nullable();
    $table->string('page_model_id')->nullable();
    $table->timestamp('created_at')->nullable()->index();
    $table->timestamp('updated_at')->nullable();

    $table->index(['page_model_type', 'page_model_id']);
});

public function handle(Request $request, Closure $next)
{
    $response = $next($request);

    try {
        if (!$request->isMethod('GET')) {
            return $response;
        }

        if ($request->isJson()) {
            return $response;
        }

        $userAgent = $request->userAgent();

        if (is_null($userAgent)) {
            return $response;
        }

        /** @var CrawlerDetect $crawlerDetect */
        $crawlerDetect = app(CrawlerDetect::class);

        if ($crawlerDetect->isCrawler($userAgent)) {
            return $response;
        }

        /** @var PageView $pageView */
        $pageView = PageView::make([
            'session_id' => session()->getId(),
            'path' => $request->path(),
            'user_agent' => Str::substr($userAgent, 0, 255),
            'ip' => $request->ip(),
            'referer' => $request->headers->get('referer'),
        ]);

        $parameters = $request->route()?->parameters();
        $model = null;

        if (!is_null($parameters)) {
            $model = reset($parameters);
        }

        if (is_a($model, Model::class)) {
            $pageView->pageModel()->associate($model);
        }

        $pageView->save();

        return $response;
    } catch (Throwable $e) {
        report($e);
        return $response;
    }
}

public static function routes()
{

    Route::get(
        'analytics/page-views-per-days',
        [AnalyticsController::class, 'getPageViewsPerDays']
    );

    Route::get(
        'analytics/page-views-per-path',
        [AnalyticsController::class, 'getPageViewsPerPaths']
    );
}

<template>
    <div>
        <div><strong>Visitors: </strong></div>
        <div>
            <LineChartGenerator
                :chart-options="chartOptions"
                :chart-data="chartData"
                :chart-id="chartId"
                :dataset-id-key="datasetIdKey"
                :plugins="plugins"
                :css-classes="cssClasses"
                :styles="styles"
                :width="width"
                :height="height"
            />
        </div>
    </div>
</template>

<script>


import { Line as LineChartGenerator } from 'vue-chartjs/legacy'
import {
    Chart as ChartJS,
    Title,
    Tooltip,
    Legend,
    LineElement,
    LinearScale,
    CategoryScale,
    PointElement
} from 'chart.js'

ChartJS.register(
    Title,
    Tooltip,
    Legend,
    LineElement,
    LinearScale,
    CategoryScale,
    PointElement
)

export default {
    name: 'VisitorsPerDays',
    components: { LineChartGenerator },
    props: {
        'initialData': Object,
        'baseUrl': String,
        chartId: {
            type: String,
            default: 'line-chart'
        },
        datasetIdKey: {
            type: String,
            default: 'label'
        },
        width: {
            type: Number,
            default: 400
        },
        height: {
            type: Number,
            default: 400
        },
        cssClasses: {
            default: '',
            type: String
        },
        styles: {
            type: Object,
            default: () => {}
        },
        plugins: {
            type: Array,
            default: () => []
        }
    },
    data() {
        return {
            chartData: {
                labels: Object.keys(this.initialData),
                datasets: [
                    {
                        label: 'Visitors',
                        backgroundColor: '#f87979',
                        data: Object.values(this.initialData)
                    }
                ]
            },
            chartOptions: {
                responsive: true,
                maintainAspectRatio: false,
                scales: {
                    y: {
                        ticks: {
                            precision: 0
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    },
    mounted() {
    },

    methods: {

    },
}
</script>

Laravel News Links

https://www.percona.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/lucas.speyer_an_icon_of_an_electronic_cloud_97fa4765-ec96-44fb-b23e-dbe3512b9710-150×150.png

[Note] InnoDB: page_cleaner: 1000ms intended loop took 4460ms. The settings might not be optimal. (flushed=140, during the time.)

# InnoDB #####################################################
                  Version | 5.7.38
         Buffer Pool Size | 93.0G
         Buffer Pool Fill | 100%
        Buffer Pool Dirty | 1%
           File Per Table | ON
                Page Size | 16k
            Log File Size | 2 * 128.0M = 256.0M
          Log Buffer Size | 8M
             Flush Method | O_DIRECT
      Flush Log At Commit | 1
               XA Support | ON
                Checksums | ON
              Doublewrite | ON
          R/W I/O Threads | 4 4
             I/O Capacity | 200
       Thread Concurrency | 0
      Concurrency Tickets | 5000
       Commit Concurrency | 0
      Txn Isolation Level | REPEATABLE-READ
        Adaptive Flushing | ON
      Adaptive Checkpoint | 
           Checkpoint Age | 78M
             InnoDB Queue | 0 queries inside InnoDB, 0 queries in queue

# InnoDB #####################################################
                  Version | 5.7.38
         Buffer Pool Size | 92.0G
         Buffer Pool Fill | 100%
        Buffer Pool Dirty | 2%
           File Per Table | ON
                Page Size | 16k
            Log File Size | 2 * 1.9G = 3.7G
          Log Buffer Size | 8M
             Flush Method | O_DIRECT

Percona Database Performance Blog

https://theawesomer.com/photos/2023/04/thin_line_metal_cuts_t.jpg

Link

Metal objects like the Metmo Cube are fascinating because they feature parts that are so precisely cut that you can’t see where one piece begins and the other one ends. Science educator Steve Mould explains wire EDM machining, which enables the creation of such incredibly tight-fitting objects.

The Awesomer