eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Top-down feedback matters: Functional impact of brainlike connectivity motifs on audiovisual integration

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Mashbayar Tugsbayar
   2. Mingze Li
   3. Eilif B Muller
   4. Blake Richards

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This valuable study investigates the computational role of top-down feedback - a property found in biological circuits - in artificial neural network (ANN) models of the neocortex. Using hierarchical recurrent ANNs in an audiovisual integration task, the authors show that an anatomically inspired feedback motif induces a stable visual bias consistent with human perception and yields modest but meaningful benefits for learning dynamics and robustness. The strength of evidence is solid: the modeling, analyses, and controls mostly support the central claim that top-down feedback motifs impose persistent inductive biases that shape functional specialization and behavior. But the evidence for a broad, general framework that predicts behavior remains only partially supported, and the Methods would benefit from a compact, reproducible summary of hyperparameters and architectural details.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Predictive modeling of hematoma expansion from non-contrast computed tomography in spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage patients

   This article has 16 authors:

   1. Natasha Ironside
   2. Kareem El Naamani
   3. Tanvir Rizvi
   4. Mohammed Shifat El-Rabbi
   5. Shinjini Kundu
   6. Andrea Becceril-Gaitan
   7. Kristofor Pas
   8. M Harrison Snyder
   9. Ching-Jen Chen
   10. Carl Langefeld
   11. Daniel Woo
   12. Stephan A Mayer
   13. E Sander Connolly
   14. Gustavo Kunde Rohde
   15. VISTA-ICH
   16. on behalf of the ERICH Investigators

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study proposes a valuable and interpretable approach for predicting hematoma expansion in patients with spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage from non-contrast computed tomography. The evidence supporting the proposed method is solid, including predictive performance evaluated through external validation. This quantitative approach has the potential to improve hematoma expansion prediction with better interpretability. The work will be of interest to medical biologists working on stroke and neuroimaging.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Audiovisual cues must be predictable and win-paired to drive risky choice

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Brett A Hathaway
   2. Dexter R Kim
   3. Salwa BA Malhas
   4. Kelly M Hrelja
   5. Lauren Kerker
   6. Tristan J Hynes
   7. Celyn Harris
   8. Angela Langdon
   9. Catharine Winstanley

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study provides a nuanced analysis of the impact of cues on cost/benefit decision-making deficits in male rats that could have translational relevance to many addictive disorders. The main findings are that cues paired with rewarded outcomes increase the proportion of risky outcomes, whereas risky choice is reduced when cues are paired with reward loss. The experimental data are compelling, whereas the computational analysis based on the optimisation of different Q-learning models is solid. The findings will be of interest to behavioural neuroscientists and clinicians with an interest in risk, decision making, and gambling disorders.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. The coarse mental map of the breast is anchored on the nipple

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Katie H Long
   2. Emily E Fitzgerald
   3. Ev I Berger-Wolf
   4. Amani Fawaz
   5. Stacy T Lindau
   6. Sliman J Bensmaia
   7. Charles M Greenspon

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study thoroughly assesses tactile acuity on women's breasts, for which no dependable data currently exists. The study provides two important contributions, by convincingly showing that tactile acuity on the breast is poor in comparison to other body parts, and that acuity is worst in larger breasts, indicating that the number of tactile sensors is fixed. However, further arguments concerning the role of the nipple in spatial localisation are not well supported by the current evidence, therefore diluting the overall contribution of the study. This study will be of interest to the broader community of touch, as well as those interested in breast reconstruction and sexual function.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. The context-dependent epigenetic and organogenesis programs determine 3D vs. 2D cellular fitness of MYC-driven murine liver cancer cells

   This article has 15 authors:

   1. Jie Fang
   2. Shivendra Singh
   3. Brennan Wells
   4. Qiong Wu
   5. Hongjian Jin
   6. Laura J Janke
   7. Shibiao Wan
   8. Jacob A Steele
   9. Jon P Connelly
   10. Andrew J Murphy
   11. Ruoning Wang
   12. Andrew Davidoff
   13. Margaret Ashcroft
   14. Shondra M Pruett-Miller
   15. Jun Yang

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This manuscript provides potentially important findings examining in 2D and 3D models in MYC liver cancer cells changes in DNA repair genes and programs in response to hypoxia. The authors use convincing methodology in most cases, but there is some concern that the analysis is incomplete.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Single-cell transcriptomes of zebrafish germline reveal progenitor types and feminization by Foxl2l

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Chen-wei Hsu
   2. Hao Ho
   3. Ching-Hsin Yang
   4. Yan-wei Wang
   5. Ker-Chau Li
   6. Bon-chu Chung

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This manuscript provides important findings for understanding the mechanisms of a major gene causing the gonad of fish and other vertebrates, including mammals, to become an ovary rather than a testis. Evidence is solid, but alternative explanations for a number of the claims must be considered and discussed. The impact of the work would benefit by placing it in a richer historical context.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Cholesterol taste avoidance in Drosophila melanogaster

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Roshani Nhuchhen Pradhan
   2. Craig Montell
   3. Youngseok Lee

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This useful study provides convincing evidence that Drosophila can taste cholesterol through a subset of bitter-sensing gustatory receptor neurons, and that flies avoid high-cholesterol food. However, the same receptors have been previously found to be involved in the detection of multiple seemingly unrelated chemicals, and the reported expression patterns of these receptors contradict past reports. These caveats are not mentioned in the paper, raising critical concerns about the study's conclusions.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Single-cell RNA-seq reveals trans-sialidase-like superfamily gene expression heterogeneity in Trypanosoma cruzi populations

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. Lucas Inchausti
   2. Lucia Bilbao
   3. Vanina A Campo
   4. Joaquín Garat
   5. José Sotelo-Silveira
   6. Gabriel Rinaldi
   7. Virginia M Howick
   8. Maria A Duhagon
   9. Javier G De Gaudenzi
   10. Pablo Smircich

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study provides important insights into how Trypanosoma cruzi populations diversify surface protein expression, showing through single-cell RNA sequencing that trans-sialidase-like genes are expressed heterogeneously across individual parasites, a pattern with clear implications for immune evasion. The evidence is convincing, supported by robust single-cell transcriptomic analyses, consistent quantitative measures of expression heterogeneity, and integration with genomic organization that together argue against purely stochastic expression.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Molecular dynamics of the matrisome across sea anemone life history

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Bruno Gideon Bergheim
   2. Alison G Cole
   3. Mandy Rettel
   4. Frank Stein
   5. Stefan Redl
   6. Michael W Hess
   7. Aissam Ikmi
   8. Suat Özbek

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This valuable study provides a comprehensive description of the Nematostella vectensis matrisome - the genes encoding the proteins of the extracellular matrix. The authors combine new mass spectrometry data with bioinformatic analyses of previously published genomic and single-cell RNAseq data. The analysis is thorough, and the discussion and conclusions are convincing. This work will be of interest to biologists working on the evolution of the matrisome, as well as more broadly those working with non-bilaterian animals.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. A network regularized linear model to infer spatial expression pattern for single cell

    This article has 3 authors:

    1. Chaohao Gu
    2. Hu Chen
    3. Zhandong Liu

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife Assessment

      The development of glmSMA represents a valuable advancement in spatial transcriptomics analysis, offering a mathematically robust regression-based approach that achieves higher-resolution mapping of single-cell RNA sequencing data to spatial locations than existing methods. The evidence is convincing, as the authors demonstrate the method's superiority by formulating it as a convex optimization problem that ensures stable solutions, coupled with successful validation across multiple biological systems. The rigorous mathematical framework and validation across diverse tissues enable precise spatial mapping of cellular heterogeneity at enhanced resolution.

    Reviewed by eLife