eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Ether lipid biosynthesis promotes lifespan extension and enables diverse pro-longevity paradigms in Caenorhabditis elegans

   This article has 19 authors:

   1. Lucydalila Cedillo
   2. Fasih M Ahsan
   3. Sainan Li
   4. Nicole L Stuhr
   5. Yifei Zhou
   6. Yuyao Zhang
   7. Adebanjo Adedoja
   8. Luke M Murphy
   9. Armen Yerevanian
   10. Sinclair Emans
   11. Khoi Dao
   12. Zhaozhi Li
   13. Nicholas D Peterson
   14. Jeramie Watrous
   15. Mohit Jain
   16. Sudeshna Das
   17. Read Pukkila-Worley
   18. Sean P Curran
   19. Alexander A Soukas

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     Using C. elegans as a model organism, the study hones in on the role of ether lipid biosynthesis as an effector of metformin--a process previously implicated in extending lifespan in response to diet--, TOR signalling, and mitochondrial interventions. The data in this paper are compelling, and a better understanding of biguanide impact on metabolism is highly important in the field.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Subcortico-amygdala pathway processes innate and learned threats

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Valentina Khalil
   2. Islam Faress
   3. Noëmie Mermet-Joret
   4. Peter Kerwin
   5. Keisuke Yonehara
   6. Sadegh Nabavi

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This study presents valuable insights into the circuits that are common for innate and learned threat. The evidence supporting the author's conclusions is solid, but the specificity of the circuit targeting methods requires further histological assessment and clarification. Deeper interpretation of novel mechanistic insights that are gained would benefit the study.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. An observational treatment study of metacognition in anxious-depression

   This article has 11 authors:

   1. Celine Ann Fox
   2. Chi Tak Lee
   3. Anna Kathleen Hanlon
   4. Tricia XF Seow
   5. Kevin Lynch
   6. Siobhán Harty
   7. Derek Richards
   8. Jorge Palacios
   9. Veronica O'Keane
   10. Klaas Enno Stephan
   11. Claire M Gillan

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This valuable study advances our knowledge of the effects of anxiety/depression treatment on metacognition, demonstrating that treatment increases metacognitive confidence alongside improving symptoms. The authors provide convincing evidence for the state-dependency of metacognitive confidence, based on a large longitudinal treatment dataset. However, it is unclear to what extent this effect is truly specific to treatment, as changes in metacognitive confidence in the group receiving online therapy were not statistically different from those in the control group.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Free volume theory explains the unusual behavior of viscosity in a non-confluent tissue during morphogenesis

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Rajsekhar Das
   2. Sumit Sinha
   3. Xin Li
   4. TR Kirkpatrick
   5. D Thirumalai

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This fundamental study substantially advances our physical understanding of the sharp increase and saturation of the viscosity of non-confluent tissues with increasing cell density. Through the analysis of a simplified model this study provides compelling evidence that polydispersity in cell size and the softness of cells together can lead to this phenomenon. The work will be of general interest to biologists and biophysicists working on development.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Gut microbiota-derived gamma-aminobutyric acid from metformin treatment reduces hepatic ischemia/reperfusion injury through inhibiting ferroptosis

   This article has 17 authors:

   1. Fangyan Wang
   2. Xiujie Liu
   3. Furong Huang
   4. Yan Zhou
   5. Xinyu Wang
   6. Zhengyang Song
   7. Sisi Wang
   8. Xiaoting Wang
   9. Dibang Shi
   10. Gaoyi Ruan
   11. Xiawei Ji
   12. Eryao Zhang
   13. Zenglin Tan
   14. Yuqing Ye
   15. Chuang Wang
   16. Jesse Zhu
   17. Wantie Wang

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This study presents a valuable finding on the impact of metformin-induced shifts in gut microbial community structure and metabolite levels for drug efficacy in a mouse model of liver injury. The current evidence supporting the claims of the authors is solid. This paper will be of broad interest to researchers across multiple disciplines, including the microbiome, liver disease, and pharmacology.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Sleep regularity and mortality: a prospective analysis in the UK Biobank

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Lachlan Cribb
   2. Ramon Sha
   3. Stephanie Yiallourou
   4. Natalie A Grima
   5. Marina Cavuoto
   6. Andree-Ann Baril
   7. Matthew P Pase

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This manuscript provides fundamental findings on the association between sleep regularity and mortality in the UK Biobank, which is a popular topic in recent sleep and circadian research in population-based studies. The study is based on a large accelerometer study with validated follow-up of incident diseases and deaths, and the data quality and large sample size are convincing and strengthen the credibility of the conclusion. This will be of wide interest to researchers in the sleep study field, epidemiologists, practicing clinicians and the general public.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Periaqueductal gray activates antipredatory neural responses in the amygdala of foraging rats

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Eun Joo Kim
   2. Mi-Seon Kong
   3. Sanggeon Park
   4. Jeiwon Cho
   5. Jeansok John Kim

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This study presents valuable findings describing how the midbrain periaqueductal gray matter and basolateral amygdala communicate when a predator threat is detected. Though the periaqueductal gray is usually viewed as a downstream effector, this work contributes to a growing body of literature from this lab showing that the periaqueductal gray produces effects by acting on the basolateral amygdala, the experimental design, data collection and analysis methods provide solid evidence for the main claims. The anatomical and immediately early gene evidence that the paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus may serve as a mediator of dorsolateral periaqueductal gray to basolateral amygdala neurotransmission provides and impetus for future functional assessment of this possibility. This study will appeal to a broad audience, including basic scientists interested in neural circuits, basic and clinical researchers interested in fear, and behavioral ecologists interested in foraging.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Comparative brain-wide mapping of ketamine- and isoflurane-activated nuclei and functional networks in the mouse brain

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Yue Hu
   2. Wenjie Du
   3. Jiangtao Qi
   4. Huoqing Luo
   5. Zhao Zhang
   6. Mengqiang Luo
   7. Yingwei Wang

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This important study used single-cell whole-brain imaging of the immediate early gene Fos to identify the brain areas recruited by two anesthetics, ketamine and isoflurane. The utilization of a custom software package to align and analyze brain images for c-Fos positive cells stands out as an impressive component of the approach. The results provide solid evidence that these anesthetics might induce anesthesia via different brain regions and pathways, and raw fos showed shared and distinct activation patterns after ketamine- v. isoflurane-based anesthesia. Though differences could also be due, as the authors note, to differences in dose and route of administration. This paper may be of interest to preclinical and clinical scientists working with anesthetic and dissociative drugs.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Event-related modulation of alpha rhythm explains the auditory P300-evoked response in EEG

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. Alina Studenova
   2. Carina Forster
   3. Denis Alexander Engemann
   4. Tilman Hensch
   5. Christian Sanders
   6. Nicole Mauche
   7. Ulrich Hegerl
   8. Markus Loffler
   9. Arno Villringer
   10. Vadim Nikulin

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This is valuable study on the mechanistic relationship between two prominent events in post-stimulus EEG: alpha desynchronization and P300 that are known for their slow/relatively late build up. The sample size is substantial. The data are compelling, showing that the P300 can be explained by desynchronization of a non-zero mean alpha oscillations over posterior sites through the baseline-shift model, at least partially. This makes a significant contribution to understanding and interpreting P300 generation (and possibly other ERP components) from concurrent changes in brain oscillations, with links to cognition.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Octopamine integrates the status of internal energy supply into the formation of food-related memories

    This article has 6 authors:

    1. Michael Berger
    2. Michèle Fraatz
    3. Katrin Auweiler
    4. Katharina Dorn
    5. Tanna El Khadrawe
    6. Henrike Scholz

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife assessment

      This important study dissects the role of octopamine in the interplay between internal energy homeostasis, food intake and food-related memories. The solid experimental evidence will shed additional light on previously published work and should be of interest to the growing community of biologists interested in how internal state shapes behavior, including decision making processes, learning and memory.

    Reviewed by eLife