eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Complex system modelling reveals oxalate homeostasis is driven by diverse oxalate-degrading bacteria

   This article has 11 authors:

   1. Sromona D Mukherjee
   2. Carlos A Batagello
   3. Ava Adler
   4. Jose Agudelo
   5. Anna Zampini
   6. Mangesh Suryavanshi
   7. Andrew Nguyen
   8. Teri Orr
   9. Denise Dearing
   10. Manoj Monga
   11. Aaron W Miller

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This work presents a valuable approach based on a complex systems theoretical framework to characterize diet-host-microbe interactions and develop targeted bacteriotherapies through a three-phase workflow. Despite the partial support of the description and experimental setup of the 'complex systems theoretical approach,' the collected data are solid and advance our understanding of oxalate bacterial metabolism in microbial communities. This study will interest researchers working on gut microbiomes and the possible modulation of host-microbial interactions.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Serial ‘deep-sampling’ PCR of fragmented DNA reveals the wide range of Trypanosoma cruzi burden among chronically infected human, macaque, and canine hosts, and allows accurate monitoring of parasite load following treatment

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Brooke E White
   2. Carolyn L Hodo
   3. Sarah Hamer
   4. Ashley B Saunders
   5. Susana A Laucella
   6. Daniel B Hall
   7. Rick L Tarleton

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study presents an important methodological advance to improve the sensitivity of PCR for detecting Trypanosoma cruzi in blood, combining DNA fragmentation, deep sampling, and blood cell pellet analysis. The findings offer solid evidence of enhanced detection sensitivity and shed light on parasite load dynamics during chronic infection in mammalian reservoirs. The evidence is sound for macaques and the method shows promise in expanding detection limits, but there is some variability in the limits of detection and small sample size of human samples. This work will be of interest to parasitologists, epidemiologists, and clinicians using molecular diagnostics to monitor responses to etiological treatments for Chagas disease.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Timely vaccine strain selection and genomic surveillance improves evolutionary forecast accuracy of seasonal influenza A/H3N2

   This article has 2 authors:

   1. John Huddleston
   2. Trevor Bedford

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study investigated the influence of genomic information and timing of vaccine strain selection on the accuracy of influenza A/H3N2 forecasting. The authors utilised appropriate statistical methods and have provided solid evidence that is an important contribution to the evidence base. While the study addresses a key aspect of public health, the impact is rather limited by its exclusive reliance on predictive methods using genomic information, without incorporating phenotypic data.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. HERV activation segregates ME/CFS from fibromyalgia while defining a novel nosologic entity

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Karen Giménez-Orenga
   2. Eva Martín-Martínez
   3. Lubov Nathanson
   4. Elisa Oltra

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study substantially expands observations of HERV expression in the clinical settings. The evidence provided by the authors that HERV activity is an underlying etiological factor in ME/CFS and fibromyalgia is compelling and suggests further investigation into mechanisms. This work will be of broad interest to clinicians and researchers alike.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. RAS–p110α signalling in macrophages is required for effective inflammatory response and resolution of inflammation

   This article has 19 authors:

   1. Alejandro Rosell
   2. Agata Adelajda Krygowska
   3. Marta Alcón Pérez
   4. Cristina Cuesta
   5. Mathieu-Benoit Voisin
   6. Juan de Paz
   7. Héctor Sanz-Fraile
   8. Vinothini Rajeeve
   9. Ana Carreras-González
   10. Alberto Berral-González
   11. Ottilie Swinyard
   12. Enrique Gabandé-Rodríguez
   13. Julian Downward
   14. Jordi Alcaraz
   15. Juan Anguita
   16. Carmen García-Macías
   17. Javier De Las Rivas
   18. Pedro R Cutillas
   19. Esther Castellano Sanchez

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This useful study investigates the impact of disrupting the interaction of RAS with the PI3K subunit p110α in macrophage function in vitro and inflammatory responses in vivo. Solid data overall supports a role for RAS-p110α signalling in regulating macrophage activity and so inflammation, however for many of the readouts presented the magnitude of the phenotype is not particularly pronounced. Further analysis would be required to substantiate the claims that RAS-p110α signalling plays a key role in macrophage function. Of note, the molecular mechanisms of how exactly p110α regulates the functions in macrophages have not yet been established.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Variations and predictability of epistasis on an intragenic fitness landscape

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Sarvesh Baheti
   2. Namratha Raj
   3. Supreet Saini

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This paper addresses the important question of quantifying epistasis patterns, which affect the predictability of evolution, by reanalyzing a recently published combinatorial deep mutational scan experiment. The findings are that epistasis is fluid, i.e. strongly background dependent, but that fitness effects of mutations are predictable based on the wild-type phenotype. However, these potentially interesting claims are inadequately supported by the analysis, because measurement noise is not accounted for, arbitrary cutoffs are used, and global nonlinearities are not sufficiently considered. If the results continue to hold after these major improvements in the analysis, they should be of interest to all biologists working in the field of fitness landscapes.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. How relevant is the prior? Bayesian causal inference for dynamic perception in volatile environments

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. David Meijer
   2. Roberto Barumerli
   3. Robert Baumgartner

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study makes a valuable contribution to understanding Bayesian inference in dynamic environments by demonstrating how humans integrate prior beliefs with sensory evidence, revealing an overestimation of environmental volatility while accurately tracking noise. The evidence is solid, supported by robust model fitting and principled factorial model set analyses, though limitations in sample size and inconclusive findings on memory capacity tradeoffs reduce the overall impact. Future work should expand validation across datasets, enhance model comparisons, and explore the generalizability of reduced Bayesian frameworks to strengthen the conclusions and broader relevance of the study.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Mapping the topographic organization of the human zona incerta using diffusion MRI

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Roy AM Haast
   2. Jason Kai
   3. Alaa Taha
   4. Violet Liu
   5. Greydon Gilmore
   6. Maxime Guye
   7. Ali R Khan
   8. Jonathan C Lau

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This important study uses diffusion magnetic resonance imaging to non-invasively map the white matter fibres connecting the zona incerta and cortex in humans. The authors present convincing evidence to indicate that these connections are organized along a rostro-caudal axis. The findings will be of interest to researchers interested in neuroanatomy and cortico-subcortical connectivity.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Biophysically inspired mean-field model of neuronal populations driven by ion exchange mechanisms

   This article has 13 authors:

   1. Giovanni Rabuffo
   2. Abhirup Bandyopadhyay
   3. Carmela Calabrese
   4. Kashyap Gudibanda
   5. Damien Depannemaecker
   6. Lavinia Mitiko Takarabe
   7. Maria Luisa Saggio
   8. Mathieu Desroches
   9. Anton Ivanov
   10. Marja-Leena Linne
   11. Christophe Bernard
   12. Spase Petkoski
   13. Viktor K Jirsa

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This manuscript presents a useful mean-field model for a network of Hodgkin-Huxley neurons retaining the equations for ion exchange between the intracellular and extracellular space. The mean-field model derived in this work relies on approximations and heuristic arguments that, on the one hand, allow a closed-form derivation of the mean-field equations, but also raise questions about their justifications and the degree to which the results agree with experiments as well as direct numerical simulations. Therefore, the evidence for the utility of this approach is at present incomplete.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Re-programming of GM-CSF-dependent alveolar macrophages through GSK3 activity modulation

    This article has 16 authors:

    1. Israel Ríos
    2. Cristina Herrero
    3. Mónica Torres-Torresano
    4. Baltasar López-Navarro
    5. María Teresa Schiaffino
    6. Francisco Díaz-Crespo
    7. Alicia Nieto-Valle
    8. Rafael Samaniego
    9. Yolanda Sierra-Palomares
    10. Eduardo Oliver
    11. Fernando Revuelta-Salgado
    12. Ricardo García-Luján
    13. Paloma Sánchez-Mateos
    14. Rafael Delgado
    15. Amaya Puig-Kröger
    16. Ángel L Corbí

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife Assessment

      This important study provides compelling data from in vitro models and patient-derived samples to demonstrate how modulation of GSK3 activity can reprogram macrophages, revealing potential therapeutic applications in inflammatory diseases such as severe COVID-19. The study stands out for its clear and systematic presentation, convincing experimental approach, and the relevance of its findings to the field of immunology.

    Reviewed by eLife