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Heterotrophic protists are vital in Earth's ecosystems, influencing carbon and nutrient cycles and occupying key positions in food webs as microbial predators. Fossils and molecular data suggest the emergence of predatory microeukaryotes and the transition to a eukaryote-rich marine environment by 800 million years ago (Ma). Neoproterozoic vase-shaped microfossils (VSMs) linked to Arcellinida testate amoebae represent the oldest evidence of heterotrophic microeukaryotes. This study explores the phylogenetic relationship and divergence times of modern Arcellinida and related taxa using a relaxed molecular clock approach. We estimate the origin of nodes leading to extant members of the Arcellinida Order to have happened during the latest Mesoproterozoic and Neoproterozoic (1054 to 661 Ma), while the divergence of extant infraorders postdates the Silurian. Our results demonstrate that at least one major heterotrophic eukaryote lineage originated during the Neoproterozoic. A putative radiation of eukaryotic groups (e.g., Arcellinida) during the early-Neoproterozoic sustained by favorable ecological and environmental conditions may have contributed to eukaryotic life endurance during the Cryogenian severe ice ages. Moreover, we infer that Arcellinida most likely already inhabited terrestrial habitats during the Neoproterozoic, coexisting with terrestrial Fungi and green algae, before land plant radiation. The most recent extant Arcellinida groups diverged during the Silurian Period, alongside other taxa within Fungi and flowering plants. These findings shed light on heterotrophic microeukaryotes' evolutionary history and ecological significance in Earth's ecosystems, using testate amoebae as a proxy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paramedics working in a traditional ambulance service role infrequently see patients who are critically ill or injured; in addition, pressures on hospitals have caused long waiting times, further lowering exposure to all patient groups and reducing how often paramedics use their clinical skills, potentially negatively impacting performance in practice. This study sought to establish the competence of paramedics in a set of skills that included frequent and infrequent as well as simple and complex procedures. They took part in a scored clinical scenario in which they used these skills. The study also sought to explore paramedics' perception of how difficult these skills were. Participants generally scored well; however, in some instances, elements of skills were missed or performed out of sequence. The pressure created by the scenario appeared to negatively impact performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various factors have widened the variety of incidents that UK paramedics, practising in a non-specialist role, may be required to attend. This study set out to identify the type and frequency of incidents attended by paramedics, as well as establishing whether geographical location and time of year bear any influence. The study involved a quantitative retrospective review of paramedic-completed patient clinical records, across two locations and the span of 1 year. Results demonstrated the infrequent exposure of paramedics to serious illness/trauma, as well as limited associations of significance in relation to location and time of year. The infrequent nature of certain incidents raises potential issues of skill decay for paramedics; closely aligned to this is their ongoing education, and how learning is best balanced between the infrequent, serious presentations, and those that are frequent but less serious. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background A well-known problem in cluster analysis is finding an optimal number of clusters reflecting the inherent structure of the data. PFClust is a partitioning-based clustering algorithm capable, unlike many widely-used clustering algorithms, of automatically proposing an optimal number of clusters for the data. Results The results of tests on various types of data showed that PFClust can discover clusters of arbitrary shapes, sizes and densities. The previous implementation of the algorithm had already been successfully used to cluster large macromolecular structures and small druglike compounds. We have greatly improved the algorithm by a more efficient implementation, which enables PFClust to process large data sets acceptably fast. Conclusions In this paper we present a new optimized implementation of the PFClust algorithm that runs considerably faster than the original. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a study performed to determine people's willingness to share information about their location. Twenty-five college undergraduates agreed to receive pages randomly throughout the day during a one-week period. Each page contained a questionnaire about the participants' activities and location. Some study subjects refused to disclose any location information, some freely disclosed all, and the willingness of some to disclose depended upon location, activity, and social context. INSETS: The Experience Sampling Method;Technology for ESM.

This article deals with the launch of the new Community Resource for Archiving Wireless Data at Dartmouth in Hanover, New Hampshire in October 2005. Researchers who work with wireless networks on mobile computing are seriously starved for data. Data captured from live wireless networks would help people understand how real users, applications and devices use real networks under real conditions, and how mobile users actually move about. This data helps users to identify and understand the real problems, to evaluate possible solutions and to evaluate new applications and services.

Objectives: It is important that allied health professionals (AHPs) are prepared for clinical practice from the very start of their working lives to provide quality care for patients, for their personal well-being and for retention of the workforce. The aim of this study was to understand how well newly qualified AHPs were prepared for practice in the UK., Design: Systematic review., Data Sources: Embase, MEDLINE, CINAHL, ERIC and BEI were searched from 2012 to 2024. Grey literature searching and citation chasing were also conducted., Eligibility Criteria: We included primary studies reporting the preparedness for practice of UK graduates across 15 professions; all study types; participants included graduates who were up to 2 years postgraduation, their supervisors, trainers, practice educators and employers; and all outcome measures., Data Extraction and Synthesis: A standardised data extraction form was used. Studies were quality assessed using the Quality Appraisal for Diverse Studies tool. 10% of articles were independently double-screened, extracted and quality assessed; 90% was completed by one researcher., Results: 14 reports were included (9 qualitative, 3 mixed-method and 2 quantitative). Six papers focused on radiographers, three on a mixture of professions, two on paramedics, and one each on physiotherapists, clinical psychologists and orthotists. An important finding of the review is the paucity and low-medium quality of research on the topic. The narrative synthesis tentatively suggests that graduates are adequately prepared for practice with different professions having different strengths and weaknesses. Common areas of underpreparedness across the professions were responsibility and decision-making, leadership and research. Graduates were generally well prepared in terms of their knowledge base., Conclusion: High-quality in-depth research is urgently needed across AHPs to elucidate the specific roles, their nuances and the areas of underpreparedness. Further work is also needed to understand the transition into early clinical practice, ongoing learning opportunities through work, and the supervision and support structures in place., Prospero Registration Number: CRD42022382065., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2024. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)