Evaluated articles

eLife Assessment

The research has the potential to be a valuable addition to the field, and the conclusions are solid, but there is a need for more reproducible data to address existing discrepancies and enhance its impact.

eLife Assessment

This useful study reports that the exogenous expression of the microRNA miR-195 can partially compensate in early B cell development for the loss of EBF1, one of the key transcription factors in B cells. While this finding will be of interest to those studying lymphocyte development, the evidence, particularly with regard to the molecular mechanisms that underpin the effect of miR-195, is currently incomplete.

eLife Assessment

This important study provides new and nuanced insights into the evolution of morphs in a textbook example of Batesian mimicry. The evidence supporting the claims about the origin and dominance relationships among morphs is convincing, but the interpretation of signals needs improvement with complementary analysis and some nuanced interpretation. Pending a revision, this work will be of interest to a broad range of evolutionary biologists.

eLife Assessment

This valuable study combines agent-based modelling and in vivo experiments in medaka embryos to provide new insights into the role of the thymic niche in T cell development. The modelling yields some interesting findings regarding the importance of thymic epithelial cells, for some of which the evidence is incomplete. This study would be of interest to oncologists, immunologists, and mathematical modelers.

eLife Assessment

This important study presents a new method for generating cell-type restricted knockouts in zebrafish and it reports several interesting applications of this method to study pigmentation and melanomagenesis. The evidence supporting the conclusions is convincing, with rigorous characterization of several knock out mutations that provide a proof of principle. The work will be of broad interest to cell, skin, and cancer biologists.

eLife Assessment

This valuable study applies transcranial direct current stimulation (tCDS) to the prefrontal cortex of non-human primates during two states: (1) propofol-induced unconsciousness; and (2) wakeful performance of a fixation task. The analysis offers incomplete evidence to indicate that the effect of tDCS on brain dynamics, as recorded with functional magnetic resonance imaging, is contingent on the state of consciousness during which the stimulation is applied. The findings will be of interest to researchers interested in brain stimulation and consciousness.

eLife Assessment

This valuable study uses an original approach to address the longstanding question of why reaching movements are often biased. The combination of a wide range of experimental conditions and computational models is a strength. However, the modeling assumptions are not well-substantiated, the modeling analysis is insufficient with its focus on fits to average and not individual subject data, and the results are limited to biases in reach direction and do not consider biases in reach extent. Taken together, the evidence supporting the main claims is incomplete.

eLife Assessment

Although others have proposed that OHC electromotility subserves cochlear amplification by acting as a "fluid pump", and evidence for this has been found using electrical stimulation of excised cochleae, this important study substantially advances our understanding of cochlear homeostasis. This is the first report to test the pumping effect in vivo and consider its implications for cochlear homeostasis and drug delivery. The manuscript provides convincing evidence for OHC-based fluid flow within the cochlea.

eLife Assessment

This is an important study, supported by solid data, that suggests a model for diet selection in C. elegans. The significance is that while C. elegans has long been known to be attracted to bacterial volatiles, what specific bacterial volatiles may signify to C. elegans is largely unknown. This study also provides evidence for a possible odorant/GPCR pairing.

eLife Assessment

This valuable study introduces a novel split-belt treadmill learning task to reveal distinct and parallel learning sub-components of gait adaptation: slow and gradual error-based perceptual realignment, and a more deliberate and flexible "stimulus-response" style learning process. While the behavioural results convincingly support the presence of a non-error-based learning process during continuous movements, the computational modelling provides incomplete evidence for establishing the nature of this secondary learning process.

eLife Assessment

This study presents valuable findings to the field interested in inattentional blindness (IB), reporting that participants indicating no awareness of unexpected stimuli through yes/no questions, still show above-chance sensitivity to specific properties of these stimuli through follow-up forced-choice questions (e.g., its color). The results suggest that this is because participants are conservative and biased to report not noticing in IB. The authors conclude that these results provide evidence for residual perceptual awareness of inattentionally blind stimuli and that therefore these findings cast doubt on the claim that awareness requires attention. Although the samples are large and the analysis protocol novel, the evidence supporting this interpretation is still incomplete, because effect sizes are rather small, the experimental design could be improved and alternative explanations have not been ruled out.

eLife Assessment

This observational study from the UK Biobank provides an important investigation into the associations between menopausal hormone therapy and brain health in a large, population-based cohort of females in the UK. A solid model of brain aging using an open source algorithm is used. While some modest adverse brain health characteristics were associated with current mHT use and older age at last use, the findings do not support a general neuroprotective effect of mHT nor severe adverse effects on the female brain. This work addresses a topic that is of grave importance since menopausal hormone therapy and its effect on the brain should be better understood in order to provide individualized effective medical support to women going through menopause.

eLife Assessment

The landmark significance of this manuscript is based on the mechanistic description of purine metabolism by Lactobacillus plantarum, which helps to alleviate hyperuricemia, which is a phenotype that underlies multiple disease symptoms. The evidence provided for L. plantarum's involvement in reducing hyperuricemia was exceptional, combining microbiomics, whole genomics, in vitro bacterial culture, gene knock-outs, and metabolomics. Collectively, the study shows a clear link between the gut microbiota and hyperuricemia, providing a pathway for modification to help alleviate this condition.

eLife Assessment

This study offers valuable information on how titin derived from different nuclei within the syncytium is organized and integrated during skeletal muscle development and remodeling. The authors developed a novel mCherry titin knock-in mice with the fluorophore mCherry inserted into titin's Z-disk region to track the titin during cell fusion. The approach using mcherry adds to understanding of the role and localization of titin in controlling stiffness of striated muscles and fine tuning contraction. The results demonstrate that the integration of titin into the sarcomere is tightly regulated, with its unexpected mobility aiding in the uniform distribution of titin post-cell fusion. Although the experimental approach is convincing, the work is very qualitative in its approaches, and the data needs rigorous statistical analysis. There is a need for some clarification concerning numbers of animals and control groups. Future studies will need more rigorous data analysis and interpretation.

eLife Assessment

This is a potentially interesting study regarding the role of gasdesmin D in experimental psoriasis. The study contains useful data from murine models of skin inflammation, however the main claims (on neutrophil pyroptosis) are incompletely supported in its current form and require additional experimental support to justify the conclusions made.

eLife Assessment

This study presents a valuable conceptual approach that cell lineage can be determined using methylation data. However, the evidence supporting the claims of the author is currently inadequate. If the author could carry out some additional experiments as well as explore alternative explanations for the current data, this approach could be of broad interest to neuroscientists and developmental biologists.

eLife Assessment

This manuscript provides important new insight into the mechanisms underlying seasonal physiology, using medaka fish as a functional genetic model that naturally exhibits photoperiodic responses. The authors provide a range of data that implicate agrp1 in feeding regulation in response to photoperiod and reproductive status. This paper provides solid evidence connecting the effects of long and short photoperiods on the food intake of female medaka fish and egg production. It will be of relevance for biologists interested in understanding the molecular and cellular underpinnings of environmental effects on animal biology.

eLife Assessment

This paper undertakes a valuable theoretical treatment of the potential role of foraging-related concepts in several forms of intertemporal choice. While the computational evidence and methodologies employed are novel, some issues with clarity and generality result in incomplete support for the paper's claims.

eLife Assessment

This important study advances our understanding of maladaptive innate immune training. The experimental evidence supporting the conclusions is convincing with only a few clarifications required. The work will be of high interest to both researchers in the trained immunity field and clinician scientists.

eLife Assessment

This is a useful contribution to our understanding of taste perception. The idea that specific receptors function in the pharynx to mediate responses to carboxylic acids is interesting, although the expression analysis is incomplete. Reviewers also have a number of other suggestions for improvement, including the request that authors provide more details about the methodology used. In general, the claims are supported by solid evidence and add to a growing body of literature on this topic.