Evaluated articles

eLife Assessment

Using a large animal model, this study demonstrated valuable findings that R25CPTH(1-34), based on a mutation associated with isolated familial hypoparathyroidism, generated an anabolic osteointegration effect comparable to that of native PTH1-34. The translational aspect of this human-to-animal work, aimed at animal-to-human translation for therapeutic purposes, should be highlighted. The study design is simple and straightforward, and the methods used are solid. The authors have addressed all the questions in their revision.

eLife assessment

This valuable work explores death coding data to understand the impact of COVID-19 on cancer mortality. The work provides solid evidence that deaths with cancer as a contributing cause were not above what would be expected during pandemic waves, suggesting that cancer did not strongly increase the risk of dying of COVID-19. These results are an interesting exploration into the coding of causes of death that can be used to make sense of how deaths are coded during a pandemic in the presence of other underlying diseases, such as cancer.

eLife assessment

This fundamental study addresses discrepancies in determining bacterial burden in osteomyelitis as determined by culture and enumeration using DNA. The authors present compelling data demonstrating the emergence of discrepancies between CFU counts and genome copy numbers detected by PCR in Staphylococcus aureus strains infecting osteocyte-like cells. The observations represent a substantial addition to the field of musculoskeletal infection, with possible broad applicability and clinical benefit to other infectious diseases.

eLife Assessment

This study reports an approach for restoring sperm motility in mice. The strength lies in in the novelty of the methodology being developed, but the evidence for the success of the method or its mechanism is inadequate. Additional experimental support would be required to support the conclusions of the authors.

eLife Assessment

This study presents a valuable finding that synthetically lethal kinase genes FYN and KDM4 may play a role in drug resistance to kinase inhibitors in TNBC. The evidence supporting the claims of the authors is solid, although the exploration of the upstream mechanisms regulating KDM4A or the downstream pathways through which FYN upregulation confers drug resistance would have strengthened the study. The work will be of interest to medical biologists working in the field of breast cancer.

eLife assessment

This important study reports that glutamate signaling in LepRb PMv neurons is necessary for leptin-dependent fertility. The data supporting the conclusion is solid. This work will be of interest to researchers in the fields of both reproductive and metabolic biology.

eLife assessment

This important study links the activity of polymerase III to the regulation of virulence gene expression in the deadliest malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum. It identifies Maf1 as a Pol III inhibitor that enables the parasite to respond to external stimuli such as magnesium chloride plasma levels by downregulating Pol III-transcribed ruf6 genes and subsequently regulated var genes. While the evidence presented is generally convincing, some of the results are incomplete, and the mechanistic link between external signals and Maf1 activation remains unknown.

eLife assessment

Maestri et al report the absence of phylogenetic evidence supporting codiversification of mammalian coronaviruses and their hosts, leading to the important conclusion that the evolutionary history of the virus and its hosts are decoupled through frequent host switches. The evidence for frequent host switching, derived from state-of-the-art probabilistic modeling of co-evolution, is convincing. The study adds a new perspective to the ongoing debate over the timescale of coronavirus evolution.

eLife assessment

Duan et al analyzed brain imaging data in UKBK and divided structural brain aging into two groups, revealing that one group is more vulnerable to aging and brain-related diseases compared to the other group. Such subtyping could be valuable and utilized in predicting and diagnosing cognitive decline and neurodegenerative brain disorders in the future. This discovery, supported by solid evidence, harbors a substantial impacts in aging and brain structure and function.

eLife Assessment

This important and unique study proposes a framework to understand and predict generalization in visual perceptual learning in humans based on form invariants. Using behavioral experiments in humans and by training deep networks, the authors offer evidence that the presence of stable invariants in a task leads to faster learning. However, this interpretation is promising but counter-intuitive and incomplete, since there could be possible other confounds such as differing attentional demands that lead to differing patterns of generalization. It can be strengthened through additional experiments and by rejecting alternate explanations.

eLife Assessment

The important study established a large-scale objective and integrated multiple optical microscopy systems to demonstrate their potential for long-term imaging of the developmental process. The convincing imaging data cover a wide range of biological applications, such as organoids, mouse brains, and quail embryos, but enhancing image quality can further enhance the method's effectiveness. This work will appeal to biologists and imaging technologists focused on long-term imaging of large fields.

eLife assessment

This paper presents valuable findings that gustation and nutrition might independently influence the preferred environmental temperature in flies. The evidence supporting the main claims is solid and well presented. The finding that flies might thus exhibit a cephalic phase response similar to mammals will be of value for future investigations.

eLife assessment

This valuable study advances our understanding of the below-ground resource acquisition strategies of diverse tree species, integrating the roles of both roots and their associated microbes. The support for the conclusions is incomplete owing to the uncertainties or shortcomings associated with the design and statistical analyses. Regardless of these technical issues, this study can be of broad interest for plant and microbial ecologists.

eLife assessment

This valuable study advances our understanding of how the viral protease in a D-type retrovirus is activated and in particular how the exposure of the myristoyl group is required for processing of the Gag matrix precursor. The supporting evidence is convincing, but the work would benefit from additional data in support of the claims. This manuscript is of interest to retrovirologists and structural biologists.

eLife assessment

This important study used a novel method to relate gastric acidity to subjective ratings of emotions induced by video clips. The findings are solid but could be strengthened by additional analyses and/or visualization. The findings have broad implications for the field of emotion research and opens new avenues of research for understanding psychosomatic disorders.

eLife assessment

This manuscript presents the lack of effect of closed-loop SWR disruption in guiding behavior and remembering the recent past in short-term memory tasks in rats. These negative results may have important theoretical and practical implications in the field of memory and learning. However, while SWR detection methods are carefully validated, the strength of evidence is incomplete and some additional controls are required.

eLife assessment

The fMRI study is important because it investigates fundamental questions about the neural basis of multimodal binding using an innovative multi-day learning approach. The results provide solid evidence for learning-related changes in the anterior temporal lobe, however, the interpretation of these changes is not straightforward, and the study does not (yet) provide direct evidence for an integrative code. This paper is of potential interest to a broad audience of neuroscientists.

eLife assessment

This study presents a useful assessment of the possible role of type I interferons in inhibiting Adam17 protease/sheddase activity and their correlation with decreased Langerhans Cells signature in lesional and nonlesional CLE and murine models as cause of photosensitive lupus. The data were collected and analyzed using a solid methodology. This work will be of interest to scientists interested in photosensitivity in the setting of lupus.

eLife Assessment

This study presents a valuable examination of the prevalence of interactions between amino acids from different periods of Earth's history and coenzymes. While the premise of this work is well founded and the analysis is solid, with more data, the interpretation could change. This manuscript would be of interest to evolutionary biologists and biophysicists.

eLife assessment

Amacrine cells are a heterogeneous and understudied set of retinal interneurons. This study presents valuable new insights into the structure, function, and circuit connectivity of a particular subset of wide field amacrine cells (WACs). The authors use an impressive set of techniques to study structural and functional properties of these cells and to establish their postsynaptic circuit partners. Evidence for the central conclusions is solid, although some of the most interesting results could be pursued more completely.