eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Alzheimer disease—The proposed role of tanycytes in the formation of tau tangles and amyloid beta plaques in human brain

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Ruth Fabian-Fine
   2. Abigail G. Roman
   3. Adam L. Weaver

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     The authors propose the existence of an AQP4-positive tanycyte-associated canal system in the hippocampus based on histological, ultrastructural, immunohistochemical, and RNA-based approaches. There are serious concerns regarding the evidence, and the identification of the tanycyte-related structures can be questioned. At this stage, the evidence for the central claims of the manuscript has to be regarded as inadequate.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. An innovative tool for non-invasive contact-free pathogen monitoring in animal saliva

   This article has 13 authors:

   1. Maristela Martins de Camargo
   2. Aspen Caim Fernandes Gonçalves
   3. Diana Netto Hernandez Blazquez
   4. Maggie E. Weber
   5. Washington Agostinho
   6. Zubin Kremer Guha
   7. Melissa Sá Fernandes
   8. Mariana Furtado
   9. Aaron Dollar
   10. Paulo Brandão
   11. Serap Aksoy
   12. Vanessa O. Ezenwa
   13. Dawn Zimmerman

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This work describes a valuable method for monitoring pathogens using an innovative, field-deployable device that attracts animals and collects saliva on filter paper in a non-invasive manner. While the strategy is effective at collecting samples and ensuring their preservation, support for some claims remains incomplete. This study will interest scientists in various fields, ranging from biodiversity, ecology, and conservation to infectious diseases and public health.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Identifying Novel Estrogenic Mitochondrial Targets in Hypothalamic Proopiomelanocortin Neurons by Chemoproteomics

   This article has 18 authors:

   1. Jian Qiu
   2. Martha A. Bosch
   3. Mya Wolfe
   4. Ksenija Korac
   5. Stefano Rizzo
   6. Todd L. Stincic
   7. Scotland E. Farley
   8. Wendy Fitzgerald
   9. Megha Rajendran
   10. Aurélien Laguerre
   11. Frank Stein
   12. Philip F. Copenhaver
   13. Oline K. Rønnekleiv
   14. Sean M. Rønnekleiv-Kelly
   15. Tatiana K. Rostovtseva
   16. Sergey M. Bezrukov
   17. Carsten Schultz
   18. Martin J. Kelly

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This useful study employs an innovative chemoproteomic and multi-modal experimental approach to support VDAC2 as a key functional mediator of STX effects on mitochondrial bioenergetics. However, concerns remain regarding the physiological and disease relevance, including the reliance on cell lines, lack of loss-of-function validation, unresolved binding specificity, and limited justification for focusing on POMC neurons in the context of Alzheimer's disease. As a result, the evidence is incomplete for a link between VDAC2 and Alzheimer's pathogenesis, and aspects of the binding data raise alternative interpretations, including a potential role for other VDAC isoforms.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Closed-loop neurofeedback reshapes preparatory brain states to bias subsequent pain processing

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Yinhua Zhang
   2. Shuang Qiu
   3. Qianqian Zheng
   4. Shihao Chen
   5. Jia Li
   6. Xiaoyun Li
   7. Richu Jin
   8. Weiwei Peng

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     In this valuable study, Zhang et al. investigated EEG neurofeedback as a method to modulate brain activity prior to painful stimulation and examined its effect on pain perception in a well-powered, double-blind study. Results showed that real, but not sham, feedback enabled learning-dependent enhancement of pre-stimulus α oscillations. However, the evidence for a neurofeedback-specific reduction in pain remains incomplete, as the current paradigm cannot distinguish between genuine neurofeedback effects and placebo effects. Nonetheless, this work is likely to be of interest to researchers in the fields of neurofeedback and pain.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. A shared neural code for gender across faces, bodies, and objects in the human brain

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Wenjie Liu
   2. Xiqian Lu
   3. Yuhui Cheng
   4. Ruidi Wang
   5. Xinquan Lu
   6. Xiangyong Yuan
   7. Yi Jiang

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study investigates whether perceived gender is represented in the brain in a category-invariant manner across faces, bodies, and objects, identifying the right middle temporal gyrus (rMTG) as a potential locus. The evidence is incomplete due to major conceptual concerns, weak statistical methods, and unaddressed low-level confounds like stimulus size and motion. This work will be of interest to psychology and social neuroscience researchers in face and person perception literature, provided the authors temper their claims regarding abstract representation.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Reproductive experience promotes permanent body growth independently of growth hormone

   This article has 13 authors:

   1. Gabriel O. de Souza
   2. Willian O. dos Santos
   3. Frederick Wasinski
   4. Ligia M. M. de Sousa
   5. Andressa G. Amaral
   6. Daniela O. Gusmao
   7. Edward O. List
   8. John J. Kopchick
   9. Gimena Fernandez
   10. Mario Perelló
   11. Carla R. P. Oliveira
   12. Manuel H. Aguiar-Oliveira
   13. Jose Donato

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study reports a novel phenomenon of maternal growth during pregnancy that is independent of growth hormone (GH), adding a new dimension to maternal biology of reproduction. The evidence is convincing and supported by state-of-the-art methodologies conducted in mice and persuasive observations in humans with hereditary isolated GH deficiency. Revised discussion should focus on possible mechanisms, including the role of IGF2, and on directions for future research.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Hierarchical Neural Circuit Theory of Normalization and Inter-areal Communication

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Asit Pal
   2. Shivang Rawat
   3. David J. Heeger
   4. Stefano Martiniani

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study extends a model of cortical normalization (ORGaNICs) to interacting cortical areas and shows that communication through coherence and communication subspaces can arise from a single set of dynamics. The evidence is solid, showing analytically that contrast-dependent gamma dynamics and a low-dimensional inter-areal communication subspace arise from one parameter set, though the comparisons to data remain qualitative and the analytics rest on a linearization that is not checked against numerical simulation. The work will interest neuroscientists and theorists concerned with inter-areal communication, cortical oscillations, and divisive normalization.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. We couldn't get details of this article at this time:
   10.64898/2026.05.22.727292

9. We couldn't get details of this article at this time:
   10.64898/2026.01.09.698730

10. We couldn't get details of this article at this time:
    10.1101/2024.12.02.24318334