eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Endotaxis: A neuromorphic algorithm for mapping, goal-learning, navigation, and patrolling

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Tony Zhang
   2. Matthew Rosenberg
   3. Zeyu Jing
   4. Pietro Perona
   5. Markus Meister

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This valuable work proposes a framework inspired by chemotaxis for understanding how the brain might implement behaviours related to navigating toward a goal. The evidence supporting the conceptual claim is convincing. The manuscript proposes a hypothesis that would be of interest to the broad systems neuroscience community, although it was noted the relationship to existing similar hypotheses could be clarified.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Expanding the stdpopsim species catalog, and lessons learned for realistic genome simulations

   This article has 42 authors:

   1. M Elise Lauterbur
   2. Maria Izabel A Cavassim
   3. Ariella L Gladstein
   4. Graham Gower
   5. Nathaniel S Pope
   6. Georgia Tsambos
   7. Jeffrey Adrion
   8. Saurabh Belsare
   9. Arjun Biddanda
   10. Victoria Caudill
   11. Jean Cury
   12. Ignacio Echevarria
   13. Benjamin C Haller
   14. Ahmed R Hasan
   15. Xin Huang
   16. Leonardo Nicola Martin Iasi
   17. Ekaterina Noskova
   18. Jana Obsteter
   19. Vitor Antonio Correa Pavinato
   20. Alice Pearson
   21. David Peede
   22. Manolo F Perez
   23. Murillo F Rodrigues
   24. Chris CR Smith
   25. Jeffrey P Spence
   26. Anastasia Teterina
   27. Silas Tittes
   28. Per Unneberg
   29. Juan Manuel Vazquez
   30. Ryan K Waples
   31. Anthony Wilder Wohns
   32. Yan Wong
   33. Franz Baumdicker
   34. Reed A Cartwright
   35. Gregor Gorjanc
   36. Ryan N Gutenkunst
   37. Jerome Kelleher
   38. Andrew D Kern
   39. Aaron P Ragsdale
   40. Peter L Ralph
   41. Daniel R Schrider
   42. Ilan Gronau

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This important paper reports recent improvements and extensions to stdpopsim, a community-driven resource that is built on top of powerful software for performing simulations of population genomic data and provides a catalog of species with curated genomic parameters and demographic models. In addition to describing the new features and species in stdpopsim, the authors provide a set of practical guidelines for implementing realistic simulations. Overall, this convincing manuscript serves as an excellent overview of the utility, challenges, common pitfalls, and best practices of population genomic simulations. It will be of broad interest to population, evolutionary, and ecological geneticists studying humans, model organisms, or non-model organisms.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Structural foundation for the role of enterococcal PrgB in conjugation, biofilm formation, and virulence

   This article has 6 authors:

   1. Wei-Sheng Sun
   2. Lena Lassinantti
   3. Michael Järvå
   4. Andreas Schmitt
   5. Josy ter Beek
   6. Ronnie P-A Berntsson

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This study presents valuable structural data for the bacterial adhesin PrgB, an atypical microbial cell surface-anchored polypeptide that binds DNA. There is convincing support for the claims regarding the overall function and importance of individual domains, which integrate a wide range of new and previously published experimental data. The structure-based model of PrgB molecular activity will be impactful in the field of bacterial adhesins, conjugation, and biofilm formation, especially because it focuses on a clinically relevant Gram-positive pathogen, whereas most work in the field has been focused on Gram-negative model systems.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. Inhibition of type I PRMTs reforms muscle stem cell identity enhancing their therapeutic capacity

   This article has 9 authors:

   1. Claudia Dominici
   2. Oscar D Villarreal
   3. Junio Dort
   4. Emilie Heckel
   5. Yu Chang Wang
   6. Ioannis Ragoussis
   7. Jean-Sebastien Joyal
   8. Nicolas Dumont
   9. Stéphane Richard

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This valuable paper informs on the role of type I PRMTs in programming muscle stem cell identification. The evidence presented is mostly solid, with some weaknesses in the evidence regarding the proposed mechanism. The paper will be of particular interest to those who study skeletal muscle satellite cell biology.

   Reviewed by eLife, Arcadia Science

5. Association between bisphosphonate use and COVID-19 related outcomes

   This article has 12 authors:

   1. Jeffrey Thompson
   2. Yidi Wang
   3. Tobias Dreischulte
   4. Olga Barreiro
   5. Rodrigo J Gonzalez
   6. Pavel Hanč
   7. Colette Matysiak
   8. Harold R Neely
   9. Marietta Rottenkolber
   10. Thomas Haskell
   11. Stefan Endres
   12. Ulrich H von Andrian

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     The authors have used an extensive database to study associations between biphosphanate use and COVID-19. Using careful statistical analyses biphosphonate use appeared strongly associated with a lower risk of COVID-19. If these findings are confirmed in well-designed prospective studies biphosphanate use could be an attractive drug to prevent COVID-19.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Quantitative proteomic analysis of skeletal muscles from wild-type and transgenic mice carrying recessive Ryr1 mutations linked to congenital myopathies

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Jan Eckhardt
   2. Alexis Ruiz
   3. Stéphane Koenig
   4. Maud Frieden
   5. Hervé Meier
   6. Alexander Schmidt
   7. Susan Treves
   8. Francesco Zorzato

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This paper provides a valuable systematic analysis of proteomic profiles associated with a particular murine Ryanodine receptor abnormality. Its analysis technique provides a solid and systematic set of data summarising the differences in different muscle types. The work emerges with insights into pathological mechanism of congenital muscle diseases linked to mutations in a range of other genes related to excitation contraction coupling in workers within the skeletal muscle field.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Evidence for embracing normative modeling

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Saige Rutherford
   2. Pieter Barkema
   3. Ivy F Tso
   4. Chandra Sripada
   5. Christian F Beckmann
   6. Henricus G Ruhe
   7. Andre F Marquand

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This is a rigorous and compelling extension of previous normative modeling work that demonstrates that normative models incorporating lifespan trajectories of structural and functional connectivity provide a strong basis for brain imaging studies across a range of tasks including, univariate group difference assessment, classification, and building regression models. The work is important, rigorous and a valuable contribution to the field.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. An herbal drug combination identified by knowledge graph alleviates the clinical symptoms of plasma cell mastitis patients: A nonrandomized controlled trial

   This article has 11 authors:

   1. Caigang Liu
   2. Hong Yu
   3. Guanglei Chen
   4. Qichao Yang
   5. Zichu Wang
   6. Nan Niu
   7. Ling Han
   8. Dongyu Zhao
   9. Manji Wang
   10. Yuanyuan Liu
   11. Yongliang Yang

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This study presents a useful identification of an herbal drug combination for the treatment of plasma cell mastitis (PCM), a breast inflammation with severe and intense clinical symptoms. The data were collected and analyzed using a solid and in clinical trial of 160 patients (NCT05530226) and can be used as a starting point for understanding how herbal drug combinations could be helpful in the management of PCM patients.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Integrating contact tracing and whole-genome sequencing to track the elimination of dog-mediated rabies: An observational and genomic study

   This article has 32 authors:

   1. Kennedy Lushasi
   2. Kirstyn Brunker
   3. Malavika Rajeev
   4. Elaine A Ferguson
   5. Gurdeep Jaswant
   6. Laurie Louise Baker
   7. Roman Biek
   8. Joel Changalucha
   9. Sarah Cleaveland
   10. Anna Czupryna
   11. Anthony R Fooks
   12. Nicodemus J Govella
   13. Daniel T Haydon
   14. Paul CD Johnson
   15. Rudovick Kazwala
   16. Tiziana Lembo
   17. Denise Marston
   18. Msanif Masoud
   19. Matthew Maziku
   20. Eberhard Mbunda
   21. Geofrey Mchau
   22. Ally Z Mohamed
   23. Emmanuel Mpolya
   24. Chanasa Ngeleja
   25. Kija Ng'habi
   26. Hezron Nonga
   27. Kassim Omar
   28. Kristyna Rysava
   29. Maganga Sambo
   30. Lwitiko Sikana
   31. Rachel Steenson
   32. Katie Hampson

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife assessment

     This paper presents an analysis of both contact tracing and whole-genome sequence data to track the elimination of dog-mediated rabies in Pemba Island, Tanzania. The work is a valuable contribution to the literature as it will have practical implications for the elimination of dog-mediated rabies in other regions/contexts. The main claims made are largely supported, but the strength of evidence for the cost-effectiveness is limited.

   Reviewed by eLife

10. ‘Skeletal Age’ for mapping the impact of fracture on mortality

    This article has 8 authors:

    1. Thach Tran
    2. Thao Ho-Le
    3. Dana Bliuc
    4. Bo Abrahamsen
    5. Louise Hansen
    6. Peter Vestergaard
    7. Jacqueline R Center
    8. Tuan V Nguyen

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife assessment

      This important study presents the idea of "Skeletal Age", defined as the age of one's skeleton as a consequence of fragility fracture, as a potential new tool to raise awareness about the increased risk of mortality following a fracture (particularly hip fractures) and thus improve the medical management of osteoporosis. The evidence is convincing and is derived from a very large database from the Danish National Hospital Discharge Registry. The proposed approach might represent a starting point for making doctor-patient communication about the health risks of an osteoporotic fracture more intuitive and possibly more effective.

    Reviewed by eLife