It isn’t news that [s0lly] likes to do ray tracing using Microsoft Excel. However, he recently updated his set up to use functions in a C XLL — a DLL, really — to accelerate the Excel rendering. Even if ray tracing isn’t your thing, the technique of creating custom high-performance Excel functions might do you some good somewhere else.

We’ve seen [s0lly’s] efforts before, and you can certainly see that the new technique speeds things up and produces a better result, which isn’t especially surprising. In addition to being faster, the new routines produce more detail.

The Microsoft documentation on doing this is pretty clear if you want to provide it a go. One of the things you can do in your C code is to take advantage of things like threads to get better performance, which [s0lly] shows in his example.

Of course, you could argue that you don’t need Excel here, but what fun would that be? Besides, then you’d need to handle all the data input and output which would be a pain in its own right.

If you need a simple explanation of ray tracing, they just covered that. They aren’t above abusing spreadsheets, ourselves.

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The latest weight loss craze could also help people control their drinking.

Semaglutide treatments such as Ozempic and Wegovy have been shown to reduce the symptoms of alcohol use disorder (AUD), according to a study published in The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry on Nov. 27.

The collaborative study from The University of Oklahoma (OU) and Oklahoma State University (OSU) found a “significant and noteworthy decrease” in the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) scores of six patients who were receiving semaglutide treatment for weight loss.

Lead study author Dr. Jesse Richards, director of obesity medicine and assistant professor of medicine at the OU-TU School of Community Medicine, said the study was inspired by his conversation with Dr. Kyle Simmons, professor of pharmacology and physiology at the OSU Center for Health Sciences.

“I had been hearing from a significant number of patients that their alcohol intake was spontaneously decreasing while [they were] on the medication,” Richards told Fox News Digital.

As a bariatric surgery clinic employee, Richards noted that it’s standard to screen patients for alcohol use.

At the clinic, a number of patients tested positive for alcohol consumption, sometimes in concerning amounts.

Later, while on semaglutide medication, they reported reduced alcohol intake.

One of Richards’ patients — who previously drank large amounts of alcohol — shared a new inability to drink more than two cans of beer now because it “just doesn’t sound good.”

This response piqued Richards’ interest in learning more about patients’ aversion to alcohol, which directly correlated to his research.

Research has shown that this effect is “mediated through adjustments in the reward pathway in the brain,” he said.

“The GLP-1s are actually modifying dopamine, decreasing the craving and decreasing the motivation to acquire things in that compulsive intake category.”

The most surprising takeaway from the study, Richards said, was that the same significant treatment response was seen even at very low doses.

“We found that even patients on the lowest dose of semaglutide — a quarter milligram — had a quite significant and relatively … quick onset reduction in alcohol intake,” he said.

Of the six patients studied, all but one were on low doses — from a quarter to a half milligram.

“And that’s very encouraging because they know that the lower doses of these medications are tolerated much better,” said Richards.

While the results seem promising, the doctor said he does not recommend that patients use semaglutide treatments for alcohol use disorder at this time, due to supply and safety issues.

“If patients have [obesity and diabetes] indications for the medication and they also struggle with alcohol intake … having them on this treatment may potentially be beneficial,” Richards said.

“But because there has been a global medication shortage, and because they don’t have prospective trials and don’t know what the specific safety is versus the well-established safety data in obesity and diabetes, [I] would not recommend it just for patients who have AUD.”

There are three FDA-approved drugs available for alcoholic use disorder that are currently underused, the doctor noted.

Given that five million people in the U.S. are currently taking semaglutide medications, if it is proven that those drugs have a significant effect on alcohol use disorder, “by default, they are going to become the most widely used drug to Excellerate these symptoms — just by virtue of the fact that so many people are on them for diabetes or obesity,” Richards noted.

He confirmed that additional research is underway with two ongoing trials.

“Since they were able to show clinically meaningful reductions in alcohol intake and AUD symptomatology in a real-world setting, that bodes very well for these types of medications,” he said.

Looking ahead, Richard said there is a need for higher-quality evidence of the medication’s impact on AUD compared to placebo drugs or environmental factors.

Even though it’s unclear whether GLP-1 producers will market the medication to AUD patients in the future, Richards said this could become an “established medical practice once the safety and efficacy has been determined.”

For patients who struggle with AUD, Richards recommended they talk to their health care providers about available treatment.

He also alerted patients that if they experience a reduced appetite and usually consume “a bunch of calories” in alcohol, it may be necessary to look into a more balanced diet.

Avantika Waring, 9amHealth’s chief medical officer and a trained physician and endocrinologist in San Francisco, applauded the OU and OSU study findings for further supporting what clinicians “are already seeing in practice,” she told Fox News Digital.

“GLP-1 medications have a lot of effects that they are still learning about, and the ability to decrease cravings and the reward signals related to alcohol use are just some of the benefits,” she said.

“It’s an important starting point for further clinical trials,” she added.

Waring also warned that GLP-1 medications should not be used to treat AUD specifically, as they can cause side effects such as nausea and changes in appetite.

“People struggling with alcohol use disorder should consult with their physicians before starting GLP-1 medications to make sure that they can stay hydrated and safe on therapy,” she said.

Waring noted that if ongoing clinical trials find semaglutide treatments to be effective for AUD, the medical community will “have another tool to help people living with alcohol addiction and we’ll see expanded use of these already popular drugs.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Novo Nordisk for comment on the potential link between semaglutide medications and alcohol use disorder.

They say that there's no sense in crying over spilled milk. But what do they know? Crying can get you another glass of milk if you do it loud enough. Plus, crying may serve a real physiologic purpose, according to a study published recently in Emotion, meaning the journal and not in an Emo-kind of way.

For the study, three researchers from the University of Queensland (Leah S. Sharman, Genevieve A. Dingle, and Eric J. Vanman) and one from Tilberg University (Ad J. J. M. Vingerhoets) recruited 197 female undergraduate students. They said that they choose all women rather than including men because pilot testing of sad videos had revealed that more women than men cried or at least more women revealed that they were crying. This did not account for the men who cried inside or used some bro-language or high fives to hide the crying.

The research team then showed each of the study participants either a video that are supposed to make them feel sad (sad videos) or a video that was not supposed to elicit any emotion (neutral videos) like something from a documentary or a ted talk. Each video lasted for close to 18 minutes. After the video, the researchers noted whether or not each participant had cried while watching the video. Ultimately, 65 participants watched the neutral video, 71 watched the sad video and cried during it, and 61 watched the sad video and did not cry. Presumably, no one cried during the neutral video. But then again, actor Bryce Dallas Howard was able to cry when Conan O'Brien talked about Home Depot in this Conan clip:

Then, each participant underwent a Cold Pressor Stress Test (CPT), which involved placing the participant's left hand, up to the wrist, in cold 0° to 5°C water. Unless you are the Iceman or Killer Frost, this is supposed to be painful. The research team measured how long each participant could stay in this position until pulling her hand out of the water. During the study, the research team continuously measured each participant's heart rate and respiratory rate and periodically measured cortisol levels from saliva samples. Cortisol is a stress-hormone that's produced by the body.

Also, at four points during the study, participants answered questions from the Positive and Negative Affect Scale short form (PANAS). These questions asked the degree to which the participant was experiencing ten different emotions and to rank each on a five-point scale that ranged from a one (very slightly or not at all) to a five (extremely).

When it came to cortisol levels and how long the participants could keep their hands submerged in the cold water, the study ended up finding not much difference between the neutral video watchers, the sad video non-criers, and the sad video criers. So if you are about to dunk yourself in cold water or take a cold shower, it may not help to cry first.

But here's a difference that the study found. Are you ready? Take a deep breath. The difference was breathing rates. While watching the videos, the non-criers tended to have elevations in their breathing rates, whereas, by contrast, the criers tended to maintain their initial breathing rates. In other words, tearing up could have helped participants better control their breathing rates. This provides further evidence that crying may help you better regulate arousal, serving as an emotional release.

Another interesting finding was that right before crying, participants tended to experience decreases in their heart rates, seemingly in anticipation of the crying. Once the crying began, their heart rates then tended to creep back up but not above where their heart rates had been before everything began. This may be further evidence that crying has a beneficial regulatory effect on your physiology.

So perhaps next time you start crying you can tell people that you are regulating your physiology. You've probably heard of people saying that they had a good cry and feel better after they've let the tears flow. It can be important to find reasonable ways to periodically release your emotions. Otherwise, you may end up bottling everything up like a hot air balloon that can explode when you least expect it.

Moreover, crying can be a way of communicating. It's really the only way that babies can express their needs before they learn how to say things like "why you throwing shade on me," or "I'm not Gucci." Crying can help communicate to others that you need more sympathy, comfort, or help. Of course, this can be misused. You don't want to cry every time your order at a restaurant doesn't come out right. And of course, there is the whole concept of crocodile tears: people crying to get something when they don't really mean it.

Crying can also be a way of communicating with yourself. Even when you cry alone, you may be telling yourself about your own state because, like many people, you could be terrible at memorizing your own emotions and situation. Tears could be your body's way of saying, "hey, take a break," or "something's not right," or "take care of yourself." Tearing up can then be a way of your body literally crying out to you.

Your body is a complex system. Crying can be complex. Your tears can flow when you are very sad, very angry, or even very happy. Better understanding what causes us to cry and what happens as a result could help us better handle their emotions and stress.

A new study suggests getting that cute dog in one's more mature years might be a good idea after all. 

Researchers from the Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China, found that pet ownership can be associated with slower rates of developing dementia. 

The study, published on Tuesday in JAMA Network Open, determined that owning a pet made a difference in verbal memory and fluency among adults who lived alone.

NEW STUDY SHOWS THE EFFECT OWNING PETS HAS ON OWNERS' BRAINS

The study's author, professor Ciyong Lu, said in the study that slower rates of declining verbal memory and fluency were seen in those who lived alone — but not in those who lived with others.

"Pet ownership offset the associations between living alone and declining rates [of] verbal memory and verbal fluency," he said. 

The research involved more than 7,900 participants over the age of 50, with roughly 35% of them owning pets and 27% of them living alone.

In the study, Lu said that those living alone with a pet showed slower rates of developing signs of dementia.

DOG OWNER GOOD NEWS: PETTING YOUR DOG MAY LEAD TO STRONGER MEMORY AND BETTER PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS

"These findings suggest that pet ownership may be associated with slower cognitive decline among older adults living alone," he said.

"Contrary to living alone," the authors also wrote, "pet ownership (for example, raising dogs and cats) is related to reduced loneliness, an important risk factor for dementia and cognitive decline."

Lu said that clinical trials will be necessary in order to confirm the study's findings.

Currently, more than 55 million people worldwide have dementia — with nearly 10 million new cases each year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). 

EATING ONE POPULAR FRUIT COULD HELP REDUCE YOUR CHANCES OF DEVELOPING DEMENTIA, STUDY FINDS

Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia, which is currently the 7th leading cause of death, the WHO also notes. 

Early symptoms of dementia include forgetfulness, being confused, losing track of time, misjudging distances, feeling anxious, personality changes, inappropriate behavior and more.

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There is currently no cure for dementia or for someone developing signs of dementia, but the WHO suggests that staying active and continuing to stimulate the brain may help.

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Fox News Digital reached out to Lu for further comment. 

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