When George Lucas released Star Wars in 1977, little did he know that it would revolutionize the world of filmmaking. The groundbreaking techniques and awe-inspiring special effects showcased in the original Star Wars trilogy forever changed the landscape of cinema. In this article, we will explore the profound impact of Star Wars on filmmaking techniques…
A recent report by the esteemed Brookings Institution revealed that the internal migration patterns of African Americans in the United States have contributed to “black-majority cities.”
These urban areas, where African Americans constitute a significant portion of the population, have become magnets for individuals seeking more substantial opportunities and sustainable living.
According to Insider Monkey, despite a mere 1.5% growth in their overall share since 1970, the African American community’s strategic relocation has paved the way for their rising influence in critical regions nationwide.
Experts project that the United States will transform into a minority-white country by 2045, as racial minorities, including African Americans, Hispanics, and Asians, are set to become the primary drivers of the country’s economy.
Census experts attribute this transformation to two reasons: the combined racial minority population is projected to grow by a staggering 74% between 2018 and 2060, while the aging white population is expected to experience a decline during the same period.
Jackson, Mississippi, widely regarded as the “blackest city” in America, is at the forefront of this demographic shift.
With African Americans constituting over 80% of the city’s population, Jackson is a testament to the vitality and prominence of African American culture and influence.
Looking at the state level, Texas boasts the highest African American population, with 3.55 million individuals, followed closely by Georgia and Florida.
These three states rank as the top contenders with the highest concentrations of African Americans nationwide.
The following ten urban areas have the highest percentage of African American residents:
Baltimore (Md.), Shreveport (La.), New Orleans, Mount Vernon (N.Y.), Macon (Ga.), Augusta (Ga.), Mobile (Ala.), Baton Rouge (La.), Portsmouth (Va.), Savannah (Ga.), Trenton (N.J.), Cleveland (Ohio), Hampton (Va.), and Newark (N.J.), rounded out the top 25 cities with the highest African American population.
In a study focused on the interplay between sleep and genetic factors associated with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in older African Americans, researchers have discovered that high-quality sleep may mitigate cognitive deficits related to the ABCA7 gene.
The study sheds light on the importance of sleep in reducing the risk of cognitive decline in this vulnerable population.
“This new finding suggests that someone with a high-risk variant might be able to overcome their genetic inheritance by improving their sleep habits,” Bernadette Fausto, a member of the research faculty at Rutgers University-Newark in New Jersey, said in a news release.
“The findings were striking,” declared Fausto, the lead author of the study.
The findings, published in the latest issue of The Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, highlighted the disproportionate impact of both sleep deficiencies and AD on older African Americans.
Furthermore, genetic susceptibility to AD, particularly the ABCA7 rs115550680 locus, compounds the risk for cognitive decline among individuals in this group.
The study’s goal was to look at how the quality of sleep and the ABCA7 rs115550680 gene variant affect cognitive function.
The study focused on hippocampal-dependent cognitive tasks closely linked to AD, and involved 114 cognitively healthy older African Americans genotyped for ABCA7 risk. Of the participants, 57 were carriers of the risk “G” allele, while the remaining 57 were non-carriers.
The participants completed lifestyle questionnaires, underwent cognitive assessments, and provided self-reported sleep quality ratings (poor, average, good).
Age and years of education were considered covariates in the analysis.
The results obtained through analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) revealed a significant interaction between the ABCA7 risk genotype and sleep quality.
Carriers of the risk genotype who reported poor or average sleep quality exhibited markedly poorer generalization of prior learning—a cognitive marker of AD—compared to their non-risk counterparts.
In contrast, no genotype-related difference in generalization performance was observed among individuals who reported good sleep quality.
“These findings suggest that high-quality sleep may have a neuroprotective effect against the genetic risk for Alzheimer’s disease,” the researchers commented.
“Improving sleep quality could potentially be an effective strategy in reducing cognitive decline in older African Americans.”
Researchers said the study’s conclusions underscored the need for further investigation into how sleep affects the pathogenesis and progression of AD associated with the ABCA7 gene.
The researchers concluded that future studies employing more rigorous methodology and examining sleep neurophysiology are warranted to elucidate the specific role of sleep in AD development.
Further, they emphasize the importance of developing non-invasive sleep interventions tailored to racial groups, considering their specific genetic risk profiles for AD.
“Such interventions could prove crucial in mitigating the cognitive impact of genetic susceptibility in older African Americans and reducing health disparities in AD,” the study found.
Researchers determined that, as the scientific community gains a deeper understanding of the complex relationship between sleep, genetics, and cognitive function, the findings may pave the way for novel approaches to prevent or delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease in vulnerable populations, ultimately improving the overall well-being of older African Americans.
ImageNation’s 21st annual IMAGENATION OUTDOORS Film and Music Festival is happening from July 7th to October 21st, 2023. All events are free and open to the public, including an Eastside and Westside Open Streets Movie series, Drive-In Movie series, New York City Parks screenings, a Black Anime Series, a Great Day Harlem Food & Music…
WASHINGTON (AP) — America’s employers pulled back on hiring but still delivered another month of solid gains in June, adding 209,000 jobs, a sign that the economy’s resilience is confounding the Federal Reserve’s drive to slow growth and inflation.
The latest evidence of economic strength makes it all but certain that the Fed will resume its interest rate hikes later this month after having ended a streak of 10 rate increases intended to slow inflation.
The June hiring figure reported by the government Friday is the smallest in 2 1/2 years. But it still points to a durable labor market that has produced a historically high number of advertised openings. The unemployment rate fell from 3.7% to 3.6%, near a five-decade low.
Most of the details in the report underscored the job market’s durability. The length of the average work week edged up, a sign that customer demand is strong enough to keep employees busy. And wage growth accelerated: Hourly pay is up 4.4% from a year ago. Wages are now growing faster than year-over-year inflation, which amounted to 4% in May.
The wage data will likely raise concerns at the Fed, which is worried that faster pay gains will perpetuate inflation by leading companies to raise prices to offset their higher labor costs. The Fed wants to see hiring and wage increases slow before halting its rate hikes.
The economy is beset by high interest rates, elevated inflation and nagging worries about a possible recession resulting from the Fed’s ever-higher interest rates. Yet many industries keep adding jobs to keep up with consumer spending and restore their workforces to pre-pandemic levels.
The solid pace of hiring and rising wages have enabled consumers to keep spending on services, from traveling to dining out to attending entertainment events. While economists have repeatedly forecast a recession for later this year or next year, a downturn is unlikely as long as companies keep steadily filling jobs.
The Fed has jacked up its key interest rate by a sizable 5 percentage points — the fastest pace of rate hikes in four decades. Those increases have made mortgages, auto loans and other forms of borrowing significantly more expensive.
Some Fed officials have said they are looking for signs of what they describe as better balance in the job market, by which they mean the supply and demand for workers would become more equal. After the economy emerged from the pandemic, the number of available jobs surged above 10 million — the highest level on record.
The burgeoning demand for labor coincided with millions of Americans dropping out of the workforce to retire, avoid COVID, care for relatives or prepare for new careers. With companies struggling to fill openings, many offered sharply higher pay and better benefits to attract or keep employees.
There has been some progress toward a better alignment of supply and demand: More people have started looking for work in recent months, and most of them have found jobs. As the supply of workers has improved, businesses have said they’re seeing more people apply for open positions. The number of job openings dropped in May, a sign that demand for workers is gradually cooling, though it remains above pre-pandemic levels.
In a sign of a potential slowdown in the job market, fewer Americans are quitting their jobs to seek new positions. Quits had soared after the pandemic. Millions of Americans had sought more meaningful or better-paying jobs, stoking the pressure on companies to raise pay to keep their employees. In May, about 4 million Americans left their jobs, up from April’s figure but below a peak of 4.5 million reached last year.
Still, other recent reports suggest that the economy has continued to expand and that demand for workers remains high. On Thursday, a survey of service providers — including banks, restaurants and shipping companies — found that the sector expanded at a healthy clip in June and that services companies accelerated their hiring compared with May.
Saturday, July 8th, 12:00PM–2:00PM, The Billion Oyster Project at The Baylander, West Harlem Piers on the Hudson at 125th Street. Come see the Billion Oyster Project on the Baylander’s Jungle Deck. Learn about the project’s latest effort to restore our harbor! Oysters are the green way to filter New York waterways and used to be one of the most abundant species with the local ecosystem. The Billion Oyster Project has been successfully re-introducing the bivalves back in the greater New York Harbor and has a goal of one billion oysters in the waters by the time 2035 rolls around. More details at the city parks site: LINK
Harlem Bespoke: After selling for $1.9 million back in 2020 during the start of the pandemic, Number 465 West 144th Street in Hamilton Heights is now back on the market for a cool $2.5 $2.1 million. So what is different this time around? The listing mentions that everything is in a multi-family layout and a Certificate of No Harrassment in place so an SRO situation might have been the case in the past. With that said, that would mean the next owner can start with changing the layout right away and there lies the new value of the apparent fixer-upper. As previously mentioned, this is one of the rarely available landmark townhouses on the block of West 144th Street between Convent and Amsterdam Avenue which is one of our favorite blocks in all of the city. More details and photos can be found on Streeteasy: LINK
Harlem Bespoke: The goats are back at Riverside Park and West 120th Street on the upper level! Did you know the word Gotham basically means goat town? Harlem was known as a village full of goats before the brownstones arrived by the end of the 1800s and now everything has gone full circle.
Check out these guys for free all summer starting Wednesday, July 7th at 11:00AM when the official Running of the Goats welcomes the seasonal guests to Riverside Park at Morningside Heights just a couple of blocks south of Grant’s Tomb. There are five all together helping to eat up all the weeds in the park which means do no feed them and also no petting. Check out the archival photo taken over 100 years ago showing a local goat hanging out at home nearby: LINK
Harlem Bespoke: Harlem’s most followed blog on Facebook! Join our growing community of over 14,665 followers on the Harlem Bespoke Facebook site and receive daily to your account by liking our page: LINK
Mark your calendar for this Sunday, July 9, 2023. For the second time this year – and the third time in the last 12 months – the price of postage is going up. A first-class stamp will cost 66 cents. Americans could be facing a government bailout of the U.S. Postal Service. An advocacy group of…
