u/SabziZindagi

Rights groups express support for directors of Guardian-produced film facing threats from Israeli ministers and far-right activists

Reddit is putting 5 day old posts at the top of my feed, which I have already seen and downvoted. This wasn't happening a few weeks ago now it's really bad. Any way to help with this?

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The Core Issue

Non alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the most common liver conditions worldwide, and a growing body of research ties it to imbalances in gut bacteria. Researchers wanted to know whether a polysaccharide extract from Moutan Cortex, the root bark of the peony plant used in traditional Chinese medicine, could interrupt that gut to liver connection.

The Finding

Mice were split into four groups of 10: healthy controls, mice fed a methionine and choline deficient diet to induce fatty liver disease, and diseased mice given either a low or high dose of the Moutan Cortex extract (MC-Pa). The high dose substantially reduced liver fat buildup, inflammation, and oxidative stress in the diseased mice, and lowered the elevated liver enzymes (ALT and AST) that signal liver damage. It also reshaped the gut microbiome, cutting the ratio of Firmicutes to Bacteroidota bacteria and restoring two bacterial groups, Muribaculaceae and Akkermansia, that had dropped off in diseased mice. On the biochemistry side, the extract partly restored two bile acid signaling proteins, FXR and CYP7A1, that dropped in diseased mice, and reduced a third, TGR5, that had risen.

Why it Matters

This adds a specific mechanism to the herb versus fatty liver story rather than just showing the liver looked better on a slide. Tying a plant extract to a defined shift in gut bacteria and a defined bile acid signaling pathway (FXR and CYP7A1) gives future researchers something concrete to test and try to replicate.

Limitations of Study

This is mouse only research using a diet induced disease model that causes weight loss, the opposite of the obesity typically seen in human NAFLD patients, so it does not fully mirror human disease. There was no positive control drug included for comparison. Most importantly, the researchers themselves are upfront that this study does not prove the gut bacteria changes caused the liver improvement, only that the two happened together. They call for future fecal transplant and gene knockout experiments to establish that causal link.

Conflicting Interests

The authors state they have no competing financial interests. The work was funded by two Chinese regional government science grants, not a company with a stake in the extract.

Interesting Statistics

• 4 mouse groups, 10 mice per group (healthy control, diseased, low dose extract, high dose extract)

• 18 bile acids differed between diseased and healthy mice; after high dose treatment, only 7 metabolites still differed from the untreated diseased group

• The Firmicutes to Bacteroidota ratio, a common marker of gut imbalance, dropped significantly after treatment

TL;DR

In mice with diet induced fatty liver disease, a Moutan Cortex polysaccharide extract reduced liver fat and inflammation while restoring key gut bacteria and bile acid signaling, but the study itself has not yet proven that the microbiome shift is what caused the liver improvement.

Reform deputy leader condemned for seeking disclosure of documents that could reveal reporter’s sources

Nigel Farage’s criminal funder runs a Montenegro company whose corporate advisors work for a Belgrade Russian-arms dealer and individuals tied to Russian state-linked enterprises.

Anyone else have this same problem?

I usually change the genres I'm listening to each day, to switch things up. But now if I use "mix" on a playlist, it keeps trying to play whatever I was listening to yesterday. It only half pays attention to the playlist I'm using as a source for the algorithm.

Things have slightly improved over the last few weeks, but it's still based far to much on 'recently listened' than the actual songs I'm trying to work from. I submitted comments to Youtube feedback and will keep doing so.