eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Atypical local and global biological motion perception in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Junbin Tian
   2. Fang Yang
   3. Ying Wang
   4. Li Wang
   5. Ning Wang
   6. Yi Jiang
   7. Li Yang

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     The authors use point light displays to measure biological motion (BM) perception in children (mean = 9 years) with and without ADHD, and relate it to IQ, social responsiveness scale (SRS) scores and age. They report that children with ADHD were worse at all three BM tasks, but that those tasks loading more heavily on local processing relate to social interaction skills and those loading on global processing relate to age. There are still some elements of the results that need clarification with future work, but nevertheless, the important and solid findings extend our limited knowledge of BM perception in ADHD, as well as biological motion processing mechanisms in general.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Synthetic eco-evolutionary dynamics in simple molecular environment

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Luca Casiraghi
   2. Francesco Mambretti
   3. Anna Tovo
   4. Elvezia Maria Paraboschi
   5. Samir Suweis
   6. Tommaso Bellini

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     In this important study, the authors develop a promising experimental approach to a central question in ecology: What are the contributions of resource use and interactions in the shaping of an ecosystem? For this, they develop a synthetic ecosystem set-up, a variant of SELEX that allows very detailed control over ecological variables. The evidence is convincing, and the work should be of broad interest to the ecology community, leading to further quantitative studies.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. H1 restricts euchromatin-associated methylation pathways from heterochromatic encroachment

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. C Jake Harris
   2. Zhenhui Zhong
   3. Lucia Ichino
   4. Suhua Feng
   5. Steven E Jacobsen

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This important study indicates a role for linker Histone H1 in protecting heterochromatic regions from certain types of repression. The experiments and data analysis that support the model for the role of linker Histone H1are solid, although additional experiments could provide a deeper mechanistic understanding. The study will be of broad interest to those interested in the role of chromatin in eukaryotic gene expression.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Neurofeedback training can modulate task-relevant memory replay rate in rats

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Anna K Gillespie
   2. Daniela Astudillo Maya
   3. Eric L Denovellis
   4. Sachi Desse
   5. Loren M Frank

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This study tests the effects of using neurofeedback, in the form of reward delivery when large sharp wave-ripples (SWRs) are detected, on neurophysiological and behavioral measures. The results are important, and the authors provide convincing evidence that the rate of SWRs increased prior to reward delivery and decreased in the period after reward delivery, with no significant effect on memory performance. The ability to manipulate SWR rate in a naturalistic way is an exciting new tool for studies that seek to understand the function of SWRs.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. A computational model predicts sex-specific responses to calcium channel blockers in mammalian mesenteric vascular smooth muscle

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Gonzalo Hernandez-Hernandez
   2. Samantha C O'Dwyer
   3. Pei-Chi Yang
   4. Collin Matsumoto
   5. Mindy Tieu
   6. Zhihui Fong
   7. Timothy J Lewis
   8. L Fernando Santana
   9. Colleen E Clancy

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     The study is of importance for the cardiac modeling field by developing a novel mathematical model with sex difference. The data are compelling, and the model is helpful for mechanistic understanding, and thus is also important for experimental physiology. The model is based on experimental data and validated against some experimental data.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Inhibition of the Notch signal transducer CSL by Pkc53E-mediated phosphorylation to fend off parasitic immune challenge in Drosophila

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Sebastian Deichsel
   2. Lisa Frankenreiter
   3. Johannes Fechner
   4. Bernd M Gahr
   5. Mirjam Zimmermann
   6. Helena Mastel
   7. Irina Preis
   8. Anette Preiss
   9. Anja C Nagel

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This valuable study focuses on the regulation of Notch signaling during the immune response in Drosophila. The authors provide solid evidence in support of roles for Su(H) and Pkc53E-induced phosphorylation in Drosophila immunity. The work will be of interest to colleagues in immunity and receptor signaling.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. C. difficile may be overdiagnosed in adults and is a prevalent commensal in infants

   This article has 19 authors:

   1. Pamela Ferretti
   2. Jakob Wirbel
   3. Oleksandr M Maistrenko
   4. Thea Van Rossum
   5. Renato Alves
   6. Anthony Fullam
   7. Wasiu Akanni
   8. Christian Schudoma
   9. Anna Schwarz
   10. Roman Thielemann
   11. Leonie Thomas
   12. Stefanie Kandels
   13. Rajna Hercog
   14. Anja Telzerow
   15. Ivica Letunic
   16. Michael Kuhn
   17. Georg Zeller
   18. Thomas SB Schmidt
   19. Peer Bork

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This important study points out discrepancies between the clinical diagnosis of Clostridioides difficile infection and the lack of detectable C. difficile in gut microbiome samples, as well as different relationships between asymptomatic C. difficile carriage and adult or infant gut microbiota compositions. While the solid analysis of a comprehensive and diverse metagenomic dataset suggests an over-diagnosis of C. difficile infection and an under-diagnosis of other putative enteric pathogens, the work requires addressing the detection limitations of the approach to be more convincing. This work will interest microbiologists and clinicians concerned with understanding the role of C. difficile in gut microbiota health and dysbiosis.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Heterogeneous presynaptic receptive fields contribute to directional tuning in starburst amacrine cells

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. John A Gaynes
   2. Samuel A Budoff
   3. Michael J Grybko
   4. Alon Poleg-Polsky

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This important study uses a combination of computational modeling and glutamate imaging to show how a particular synaptic organization referred to as space-time wiring contributes minimally to a dendritic computation that occurs in the retina. The evidence supporting the claims of the authors is compelling, incorporating new findings regarding dynamic receptive field properties, an improvement over previous modeling and experimental results based on static visual stimuli. The work will be of interest to retinal neurobiologists and neurophysiologists interested in dendritic computations.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. 14-3-3 protein augments the protein stability of phosphorylated spastin and promotes the recovery of spinal cord injury through its agonist intervention

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Qiuling Liu
   2. Hua Yang
   3. Jianxian Luo
   4. Cheng Peng
   5. Ke Wang
   6. Guowei Zhang
   7. Hongsheng Lin
   8. Zhisheng Ji

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     The finding that Fusicoccin (FC-A) promotes locomotor recovery after spinal cord injury is supported by solid data, and the idea of harnessing small molecules that may affect protein-protein interactions to promote axon regeneration is valuable. The evidence showing that 14-3-3 and spastin interact and that 14-3-3 enhances spastin function and stability in cells is also solid.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Robust optogenetic inhibition with red-light-sensitive anion-conducting channelrhodopsins

    This article has 8 authors:

    1. Johannes Oppermann
    2. Andrey Rozenberg
    3. Thomaz Fabrin
    4. Cristian González-Cabrera
    5. Rafael Parker
    6. Oded Béjà
    7. Matthias Prigge
    8. Peter Hegemann

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife assessment

      This important study describes the discovery and further engineering of a red light-activated, chloride-conducting Channelrhodopsin (ACR) that could be used to inhibit neuronal activity. The evidence for the spectral confirmation and biophysical characterization of MsACR and raACR, and ion selectivity are solid; however, the evidence supporting the use of the tools in vivo is incomplete and missing proper controls. In addition, benchmarking against other inhibitory tools is somewhat missing. With the in vivo part strengthened, this paper would interest neuroscientists seeking more efficient ways to inhibit neuronal activity.

    Reviewed by eLife