Evaluated articles

eLife Assessment

This valuable work introduces HSSM, a flexible and modular Python toolbox for hierarchical Bayesian estimation of sequential sampling models. By combining model simulation, neural likelihood approximation, established inference backends, formula-based regression, and support for trial-level covariates, HSSM could become a widely used resource in cognitive and computational neuroscience. Evidence for the framework's scope and core functionality is convincing, but support for its usability, computational performance, and reliability is incomplete. The contribution would be substantially strengthened by an executable end-to-end analysis, clearer exposition for non-specialists, parameter and model recovery demonstrations, guidance on diagnostics and model comparison, quantitative benchmarks, and a clearer delineation of HSSM's scope relative to broader claims about neurocognitive modelling.

eLife Assessment

The authors investigate the activation mechanism of a gasdermin pore-forming effector of Callorhinchus milii, which is a shark that is one of the most basal members of the cartilaginous fishes. The valuable findings show that GSDMA/B can be cleaved by a lipopolysaccharide-activated caspase here termed CmiCASP1, analogous to the cytosolic LPS detection pathway already established in mammals. The strength of evidence supporting these conclusions is solid; however, the data indicating the functional consequences of these proteins remain incomplete.

eLife Assessment

This useful study builds on the previously identified terminal Schwann cell (tSC) marker Col20a1 to generate a novel Col20a1-CreERT2 knock-in mouse line that enables the selective genetic labelling and ablation of tSCs at the neuromuscular junction. This model represents a new tool for distinguishing tSCs from myelinating Schwann cells. The authors conclude that loss of tSCs does not cause major alterations in the overall structure of the neuromuscular junction, but that tSC ablation intrinsically compromises the presynaptic reserve pool. However, the study remains incomplete because the evidence provided does not adequately support these conclusions.

eLife assessment

The findings documented here are interesting and valuable with respect to revealing genetic players that may underlie AD. However, there are concerns related to the analysis pipeline and the basic assumptions underlying the modelling. There is an overarching lack of controls in terms of comparator diseases and/or positive and negative control findings; hence, the main claims are only partially supported, and the study is incomplete.

eLife Assessment

This important study presents a new approach to individualised functional brain mapping using multi-task batteries, and introduces a toolbox to support its implementation. Convincing evidence from simulations and empirical analyses across multiple datasets demonstrates clear advantages over traditional single-task approaches and provides practical guidance on task selection. The extent to which these improvements translate into more accurate recovery of individual-specific functional boundaries beyond well-characterised systems remains to be established.

eLife Assessment

This paper introduces a valuable optical method for simultaneous in vivo multiphoton imaging of the mouse brain combined with DMD-based one-photon patterned photostimulation in different axial planes. The evidence for effective optical separation of excitation and imaging is convincing, although the in vivo data in the olfactory bulb suggest potential confounding factors arising if stimulation not only affects cell bodies but also neuronal processes. The work will be of broad interest to neurobiologists working in circuit and systems neuroscience, as well as to specialists in optical microscopy.

eLife Assessment

This study presents a valuable finding on the spatio-temporal neural dynamics of language processing modulated by story context and presentation speed. The presentation of evidence in the version of the original submission is solid, as providing further clarifications on methodological details and addressing potential confounds would strengthen the study. The work will be of interest to cognitive neuroscientists working on reading and language comprehension.

eLife Assessment

Chen and colleagues use in vivo electrophysiology in rats to characterize distance-encoding neurons in the retrosplenial cortex during both random foraging and goal-oriented navigation. This valuable work identifies a subset of retrosplenial neurons that encode distance to a hidden goal, and it reports that head-direction coding is enhanced during goal-directed navigation relative to foraging. Although the analytical framework aims to isolate the unique contribution of goal distance to retrosplenial firing patterns, strongly covarying self-motion and spatial signals leave the main claims about distance coding incompletely supported.

eLife Assessment

This valuable study is a rigorous and comprehensive anatomical description of populations of spinal-projecting neurons in the brain of the larval zebrafish. The compelling data reveal a far more complete and robust visualization of these populations than past work. The scholarship is also notable, featuring thoughtful contextualization of the findings with respect to both non-mammalian and mammalian literature.

eLife Assessment

This important study introduces EvoDiff, an order-agnostic diffusion foundation model for protein sequence generation, and demonstrates its potential across unconditional generation, motif scaffolding, MSA-conditioned design, and IDR inpainting. The evidence supporting the principal claims is solid, combining computational evaluation with experimental validation, although the comparative advantages and generality of some applications would benefit from further clarification and calibration.

eLife Assessment

This study examines how adolescent adversity influences maternal caregiving and social development across generations. The findings are potentially valuable, but several conclusions currently extend beyond what is directly supported by the data, rendering the strength of the evidence incomplete. Key mechanistic claims are limited by the communal reassuring design, and by several unresolved questions regarding causality and interpretation.

eLife Assessment

This important study investigates how viral macrodomains in dual-host viruses functionally contribute to their infection in the vector, which was previously understudied. The findings that chikungunya virus (CHIKV) macrodomain mutants have unique impacts on virus replication in mammalian cells and in live mosquitoes are convincing and significant; however, the study can be strengthened by further investigating the role of ADP-ribose binding and potential other compensatory mutations. The work will be of interest to virologists and biologists who study macrodomains and ADP-ribosylation.

eLife Assessment

This important study investigated whether the adoption of different explicit strategies influences implicit recalibration during visuomotor adaptation. Through a series of increasingly controlled experiments, the authors demonstrated that implicit recalibration is relatively insensitive to the specific type of explicit strategy employed but is influenced by the variability of strategic motor plans. However, the evidence supporting these conclusions is currently incomplete. The findings will be of interest to cognitive scientists studying motor control and its relationship to higher-level cognitive processes, provided that the key claims are supported by more rigorous analyses and experimental approaches.

eLife Assessment

This study presents a useful combined analysis of human behavior, pupillometry and EEG measures to probe differences in ambiguity assessment between individuals during value-based decision-making. Using computational models, the authors aim to test for distinct groups of participants that differ in the relationship between evidence accumulation, arousal, and neural decision-making computations. However, at present, the evidence for group differences in the physiological, neural, and behavioral profile of decision-making under uncertainty is incomplete, lacking an appropriate statistical test for group differences, and a more complete assessment of the modeling results on evidence accumulation in decision-making in this study is required to robustly characterize and interpret the results.

eLife Assessment

This study presents valuable evidence that activating a lysosomal signaling pathway lowers blood glucose in diabetic mice, pointing to a potential new strategy for treating metabolic disease. However, the evidence for the proposed mechanism is inadequate: the glucose transporter's movement and glucose uptake were not measured in the physiologically relevant tissue, and the measurement that was performed used an unconventional technique. As a result, whether this transporter-dependent pathway explains the glucose-lowering effect has not yet been established.

eLife Assessment

This valuable study advances our understanding of the physiological conditions that promote the formation of mitochondrial-derived compartments (MDCs). The genetically amenable yeast system allowed the authors to generate convincing data showing the rapid formation of MDCs under physiologically relevant conditions where the mitochondrial proteome needs to be expanded during metabolic remodeling. The identification of a key role for a yeast AMPK-related protein called Snf1 will be of interest for cell biologists and biochemists.

eLife Assessment

This important study uses dual-color super-resolution microscopy, quantitative clustering analyses and simulations, as well as biochemical approaches to investigate the nanoscale organization of mucins and trans-sialidases on the surface of Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas disease. The evidence supporting a non-uniform distribution of these molecules into segregated nanoclusters and a more ordered non-clustered population is solid. Overall, this work provides a generalizable analytical framework that can help understand how parasite surface proteins are spatially organized. The main remaining limitations concern the mechanistic basis of the proposed organization and the need to exclude possible effects of sample preparation before fixation.

eLife Assessment

A regulated cell death pathway that intentionally causes ferroptosis has not been previously described. The authors describe a useful finding that the ferroptosis inducers ML162 and erastin induce caspase-5-mediated cleavage of GSDME in mesenchymal-like ovarian cancer cells, resulting in pore formation. The data supporting the main claims are incomplete. This work will be of interest to researchers who study regulated cell death.

eLife Assessment

This study presents an important empirical analysis of the acoustic space of vocal repertoires across primates and humans, providing new data that challenge the widely held hypothesis that the expansion of the human vocal space, driven by modifications of the vocal tract, was a key prerequisite for the evolution of spoken language. The evidence is convincing in its technical implementation and acoustic measurements, offering helpful comparative insights into voiced vocalizations. However, the theoretical framing and interpretation would benefit from further discussion.

eLife Assessment

This important study identifies and characterizes a set of amino acid states that can rescue protein function in the presence of substantially deleterious mutations. Some of these super-compensatory substitutions also confer substantial mutational robustness, with broader implications for understanding epistasis, protein evolution, and protein engineering. The evidence is compelling, supported by a creative reanalysis of a large deep-mutational-scanning dataset, experimental validation, an in-depth investigation of the evolutionary implications, and structural mechanistic analysis.