eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. Quantifying dynamic facial expressions under naturalistic conditions

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Jayson Jeganathan
   2. Megan Campbell
   3. Matthew Hyett
   4. Gordon Parker
   5. Michael Breakspear

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary

     This paper describes the development and validation of an automatic approach that leverages machine vision and learning techniques to quantify dynamic facial expressions of emotion. The potential clinical and translational significance of this automated approach is then examined in a "proof-of-concept" follow-on study, which leveraged video recordings of depressed individuals watching humorous and sad video clips.

     (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. Reviewer #1 and Reviewer #2 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Maternal H3K36 and H3K27 HMTs protect germline development via regulation of the transcription factor LIN-15B

   This article has 2 authors:

   1. Chad Steven Cockrum
   2. Susan Strome

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This study provides a compelling and significant advance on the understanding of how gene regulation by the histone methyltransferase MES-4 underlies germ cell survival in C. elegans, with the major claims being nicely substantiated. The critical and surprising finding is that the degeneration of mes-4 mutant primordial germ cells is due to inappropriate upregulation of genes on the silenced X chromosome, and not failure to activate germline-expressed genes, though reduced levels of germline gene expression were observed. An X-linked target of mes-4, lin-15b, is necessary for the degeneration phenotype. The work could be improved by clarification of the relationship between X and autosomal gene expression, especially in consideration with the action of the other histone methyltransferase MET-1, but otherwise it is excellent.

     (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. Reviewer #1 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife

3. We couldn't get details of this article at this time:
   10.1101/2021.12.16.472640

4. IL-37 expression reduces acute and chronic neuroinflammation and rescues cognitive impairment in an Alzheimer’s disease mouse model

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Niklas Lonnemann
   2. Shirin Hosseini
   3. Melanie Ohm
   4. Robert Geffers
   5. Karsten Hiller
   6. Charles A Dinarello
   7. Martin Korte

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     This study will be of interest to scientists studying neuroinflammation and searching for potential therapeutic targets. The findings here have revealed the effects of an anti-inflammatory cytokine, human IL-37 (hIL-37), in the central nervous system of mice. The data support the conclusions within the current mouse models. Since hIL-37 is not naturally expressed in mice, more evidence related to human cells or tissues would strengthen the physiological significance.

     This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. The reviewers remained anonymous to the authors.

   Reviewed by eLife

5. Fast, high-throughput production of improved rabies viral vectors for specific, efficient and versatile transsynaptic retrograde labeling

   This article has 4 authors:

   1. Anton Sumser
   2. Maximilian Joesch
   3. Peter Jonas
   4. Yoav Ben-Simon

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     Rabies-mediated monosynaptic retrograde tracing is a powerful method to characterize the connectivity of neural circuits. The CVS-N2c strain of rabies virus shows significantly higher efficiency of transsynaptic spread and less toxicity than the more commonly used SAD B19 strain but has been limited in use by an arduous and lengthy packaging process and low resultant titers. Here, Sumser et al. present a method that significantly speeds up the production process while reducing off-target expression. They also introduce a suite of novel reagents (34 novel plasmids) for monosynaptic tracing with the CVS-N2c strain that they commendably, have already deposited with Addgene. The work is an important advance that will reinvigorate rabies-mediated circuit tracing.

     (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. Reviewer #2 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Depletion or cleavage of cohesin during anaphase differentially affects chromatin structure and segregation

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Jonay Garcia-Luis
   2. Hélène Bordelet
   3. Agnès Thierry
   4. Romain Koszul
   5. Luis Aragon

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     Cohesin is an evolutionarily conserved protein complex that plays essential roles in mitotic chromosome structure and function. Previous studies suggest that multiple activities of cohesin are required only prior to the onset of chromosome segregation. Using a Mcd1-AID and a Mcd1-TEV to either degrade or cleave cohesin's kleisin subunit Mcd1 of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, this study shows that cohesion plays also a role in anaphase organizing the centromeric regions, providing new evidence that cohesin function is critical for chromosome structure and segregation during and after the onset of chromosome segregation. The work is of relevance for students of chromosome biology and cell division.

     (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. The reviewers remained anonymous to the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Use of antihypertensive drugs and breast cancer risk: a two-sample Mendelian randomization study

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Guoqiao Zheng
   2. Subhayan Chattopadhyay
   3. Jan Sundquist
   4. Kristina Sundquist
   5. Jianguang Ji

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     Results from observational studies examining an association between the antihypertensive drugs and the risk of breast cancer reported inconsistent findings. This study uses a two-sample Mendelian randomization approach (MR), which overcomes the limitation of observational studies by using genetic variants as a proxy for modifiable exposures, to investigate the relationship between the use of antihypertensive medication and breast cancer risk. Using publicly available data and including a comprehensive assessment of antihypertensive drugs, the authors identified two SNPs that were associated with breast cancer risk. While the findings suggest that antihypertensive medication use may be associated with breast cancer risk, there are some methodological issues that need to be addressed.

     (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. The reviewers remained anonymous to the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Therapeutic resistance in acute myeloid leukemia cells is mediated by a novel ATM/mTOR pathway regulating oxidative phosphorylation

   This article has 7 authors:

   1. Hae J Park
   2. Mark A Gregory
   3. Vadym Zaberezhnyy
   4. Andrew Goodspeed
   5. Craig T Jordan
   6. Jeffrey S Kieft
   7. James DeGregori

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     FLT3 (Fms Related Receptor Tyrosine Kinase 3) activation occurs in a subset of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cases and is associated with poor prognosis. This work is focused on the mechanisms of resistance to FLT3 inhibitors in AML. The authors show that the combination of the FLT3 inhibitor and an mTORC1 inhibitor reduces tumor burden and prevents relapse in FLT3 mutant AML. This paper is of interest in scientists and physicians investigating AML as well as scientists studying signaling pathways.

     (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. The reviewers remained anonymous to the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Development of visual cortex in human neonates is selectively modified by postnatal experience

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Mingyang Li
   2. Tingting Liu
   3. Xinyi Xu
   4. Qingqing Wen
   5. Zhiyong Zhao
   6. Xixi Dang
   7. Yi Zhang
   8. Dan Wu

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     Evaluation Summary:

     Overall, this study will make significant contributions to developmental neuroscience and vision science as they attempt to study how prenatal and postnatal maturation influence structural-functional measurements in the early and high-level visual cortex. These results will be of broad interest as it is a novel attempt to study processes that might be innate or genetically wired and those that emerge due to worldly experiences within the sensory systems. The authors are addressing an important and timely question based on a large and impressive infant database.

     (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. Reviewer #2 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

   Reviewed by eLife

10. Ultrafast simulation of large-scale neocortical microcircuitry with biophysically realistic neurons

    This article has 3 authors:

    1. Viktor J Oláh
    2. Nigel P Pedersen
    3. Matthew JM Rowan

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      Evaluation Summary:

      This paper demonstrates that artificial neural networks can be used to accurately predict the responses of biologically-detailed neuron models to synaptic inputs, and hence to approximate the behaviour of networks of such neurons. This study potentially opens the door to massively reduced simulation times for biologically-detailed neuronal network simulations without recourse to supercomputers and hence will be of broad interest to computational neuroscientists.

      (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. Reviewer #3 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

    Reviewed by eLife