Matthew Dalby

🌍 #WorldMicrobiomeDay 2025
At @halllab.bsky.social we’re uncovering how microbes - right from day one - help shape the gut, strengthen immunity, and protect against infection.
We're exploring how, when, and which microbes colonise - in order to develop interventions for a healthier start to life.

An excellent rapid response from Katharine Cheston to this awful BMJ opinion piece.

I remain completely unaware of most of the causes that other people are trying to raise my awareness about. So why should I expect them to become aware of the things I want them to be aware of.

Raising awareness of things is difficult now because people are trying to raise awareness of all sorts of things every day and week. It's just a constant cacophony of appeals to our awareness and there is only so much awareness to go around.

Such good weather and sunny evenings lately.

It could be if it is gut microbiome research.

Then the toilet is the source of all knowledge.

Is this strike in a Paris library the first to improve indoor air quality? Most interesting because no one in Britain seems to have hear about indoor air quality yet.

Screenshot of the google translated article in English.
www.revolutionpermanente.fr/Maux-de-tete...

Blaming Ukraine for starting the war is the "She shouldn't have dressed provocatively" of international politics.

I've never liked noisy environments like loud pubs because I simply cannot distinguish anything anybody says. I just hear everything at once. Even though I have very good hearing as I can hear very faint distant sounds very well.

I have never used anything like noise cancelling headphones though.

Audiologists raise concern over headphone use in young people More young people are presenting to audiology teams in England with difficulty processing sound.

"But, for some, those background noises can become so overwhelming that they distract them from recognising voices or alerts."

This is interesting about auditory processing disorder. I've always experienced something like this in noisy environments.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Key findings:

More advanced liver cirrhosis and acute liver failure = higher Enterococcus in the gut.

In order of severity:
Healthy = Healthy controls.
Stable= Stable cirrhosis.
Decomp = Decompensated cirrhosis.
ACLF = Acute-on-chronic liver failure.

💡 Targeting gut microbiota may restore gut-liver axis homeostasis in CLD! Strategies like prebiotics, probiotics, FMT & tailored antibiotics could prevent Enterococcus dominance & slow disease progression. Huge thanks to everyone involved - this was a massive team effort!

📊 Key findings:
✅ Advanced cirrhosis = higher Enterococcus, lower beneficial anaerobes (Roseburia, Ruminococcus, Faecalibacterium)
✅ Microbial shifts correlate with systemic inflammation & gut barrier dysfunction
✅ Lower urinary hippurate & TMAO suggest microbial metabolic changes 📉 #ACLF

Really excited that @matthewjdalby.bsky.social is able to share this exciting collaborative study with @drvishalcpatel.bsky.social - its been a long-time coming! We explore how gut #microbiome alterations drive systemic inflammation & immune dysfunction in chronic liver disease (CLD) #LiverDisease

This research has involved contributions from @drmeriannem.bsky.social and @raymondkiu.bsky.social and others I don't have tags for here. At various institutions including @inst-of-liver.bsky.social, @kingscollegenhs.bsky.social, @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social, and @unibirmingham.bsky.social.

Pathological expansion of gut microbiome-associated Enterococcus in advanced cirrhosis corresponds with multilevel perturbations of the gut-liver-immune axis Background Chronic liver disease (CLD) is a progressive condition that, in its advanced stages, leads to cirrhosis with related clinical complications, and can lead to acute-on-chronic liver failure (...

This is my great new preprint with @drvishalcpatel.bsky.social and @halllab.bsky.social. We investigated the gut microbiota in patients with liver disease in which we show an increasing dominance of Enterococcus in the gut of patients with more severe liver disease.
www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...

Potato the cat keeping me company while I'm resting.

Not sure about the patient confidentiality though. All your deepest thoughts belong to the Chinese Communist Party now.

'DeepSeek brought me to tears': How young Chinese find therapy in AI Some young people in China are finding that AI can offer the unexpected - emotional support

""DeepSeek has been such an amazing counsellor. It has helped me look at things from different perspectives and does a better job than the paid counselling services I have tried," says Holly..."

Will AI be replacing therapists?

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

YouTube video by Sabine Hossenfelder A Big Nuclear Bomb Could Fix Climate Change, Physicist Says

Nuking climate change with a truly massive nuclear bomb under the ocean is certainly an inventive idea.

youtu.be/aGPKpx6pMko?...

One of my sansevieria plants is growing flower buds. Drops of nectar form under the flower buds before they open.

People campaigning for more low-carbon energy seems like a good thing.

The Science Media Centre continues their malignant influence on journalists promoting some really bad people.

I think it's normal for society to be more willing to make accommodations for larger majorities of people. I don't see this as a personal victimisation of myself.

Not enough of a fan of naturalness to walk.

Air pollution and brain damage: what the science says Epidemiological studies have linked dirty air to dementia and other brain disorders. Now researchers are trying to determine how pollutants do their damage, and how much harm they cause.

"Air pollution and brain damage: what the science says

Epidemiological studies have linked dirty air to dementia and other brain disorders. Now researchers are trying to determine how pollutants do their damage, and how much harm they cause."

Seems worth reducing it.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

A cartoon in which the character says "oh no".

Experts: "Public health is political."

*politicization of public health*

Politicians: "I can do public health now?"

Experts:

Cochrane is continuing to protect bad science on this topic. But unfortunately their authority still carries weight.

A cartoon in which the character says "oh no".

Experts: "Public health is political."

*politicization of public health*

Politicians: "I can do public health now?"

Experts:

On social media a misunderstanding can make it around the world before the correction has gotten its boots on.