Private demand for cholera vaccines in Beira, Mozambique.

In the summer of 2005, we interviewed 996 randomly selected respondents in Beira, Mozambique concerning their willingness and ability to pay for cholera vaccine for themselves and for other household members. Respondents were told that two doses of the vaccine would be required 2 weeks apart, and that the cholera vaccine would offer excellent protection against infection for the first year following vaccination, and some protection during the second and third year after a person is vaccinated. This research was carried out in order to learn more about private demand for vaccines in a cholera-endemic area. We asked two types of valuation questions: (1) a discrete-price offer for a vaccine that could be purchased for household members and (2) a payment card designed to assess uncertainty in the respondent's demand for a vaccine for self-protection. We estimate average household willingness to pay (WTP) for cholera vaccines in Beira to be 2005 US$ 8.45. This estimate of household WTP represents the perceived private economic benefits to a household--six persons on average--of giving all members free cholera vaccines

Is practice the only determinant of sporting expertise? Revisiting Starkes (2000)

In this paper thw Authors revisit Starkes (2000), reflecting on how knowledge of the relationship between practice and performance has been advanced, and re-addressing the question, ‘is practice the only determinant of sport expertise?’. To answer this, 209 athletes completed the Developmental History of Athletes Questionnaire, providing details of involvement in a variety of practice activities. Practice history profiles were compared between Elite, Pre-Elite, and Non-Elite athletes. Although Elite athletes reported greater involvement in sport-specific physical practice and physical preparation activities, large variability in practice investments was observed. Results support previous findings that practice may be necessary, yet not sufficient for the development of sport expertise, and highlight that nearly 15 years after Starkes’ discussion, our understanding of the contribution of practice to expert performance is far from complete

Sibling dynamics and sport expertise

Family members are known to be highly influential in the development of sport expertise. To date, much of the research in this area has focused on parents, with less known about sibling influences on expertise. This investigation explored associations between sport expertise, sibling characteristics, and sibling participation in sport and physical activity. Athletes representing three skill levels provided details of sibling characteristics and participation in sport and physical activity via the Developmental History of Athletes Questionnaire. Elite athletes were more likely to be later-born children, while pre-elite and non-elite athletes were more likely to be first-born. Compared with siblings of non-elite athletes, siblings of elite athletes were more likely to have participated in regular physical activity and were more likely to have participated in sport at the pre-elite and elite levels. These results suggest siblings may play a key role in sport expertise development

The developmental history of athletes questionnaire (DHAQ): considerations when collecting athlete training histories

Investigations of training histories of elite athletes provide valuable information about the practice requirements and psychosocial conditions associated with expert sport performance. Past research in this area has involved either interviews with small samples of elite athletes, parents, and/or coaches, or the administration of basic questionnaires requiring retrospective recall of time spent in practice during each year of sport involvement. The Developmental History of Athletes Questionnaire (DHAQ) extends the current literature by allowing for the collection of detailed developmental histories from a larger sample of participants than has been investigated in the past. Validation procedures for the DHAQ have revealed some notable observations pertaining to athlete training histories. Fifteen Australian national level athletes completed the DHAQ on two occasions, and participated in a semi-structured interview. Thirteen parents and nine coaches participated in a similar interview to substantiate athlete data. Intraclass correlations and percent agreement statistics were calculated for total hours of sport involvement between the two occasions of the DHAQ (ICC = .90, p < .01; percent agreement = 84.18%), between the initial completion of the DHAQ and the athlete interview (ICC = .86, p < .01; percent agreement = 81.71%), and between the initial completion of the DHAQ and the parent interview (ICC = .72, p < .01; percent agreement = 75.26%). These results suggest the DHAQ is a reasonably reliable instrument for the collection of historical athlete training data. Furthermore, several issues were identified that have implications for both the validity and interpretation of previous research in this area, as well as how such information should be collected in the future. These issues include: a) accurately determining time spent in competition and supplementary practice activities such as physical conditioning, b) acknowledging that training commitments vary throughout the year, and c) verifying the accuracy of information recalled across the career-span

Following in their footsteps? Sport expertise and parental participation in sport and physical activity

The family has been identified as a critical influence on sport expertise development, with much of the research in this area focusing on the provision of resources and the changing roles of the family throughout athletes' careers. Although associations between parent's and children's participation in physical activity have been explored, little is known about the associations between parent participation in sport and physical activity and the development of sport expertise. As part of a larger investigation of sport expertise development, patterns of participation in sport and physical activity were examined for the parents of 229 athletes from Australia and Canada (mean age = 23.28 &#0177; 4.79) via completion of the Developmental History of Athletes Questionnaire. Athletes represented 36 different sports and three skill levels - non elite, pre elite, and elite. Pearson chi-square tests for independence revealed significant associations between skill level and parental involvement in general fitness activities, recreational sport, and competitive sport, with parents of elite athletes participating in these activities more regularly than parents of non elite athletes. Specifically, involvement of the mother in general fitness activities and recreational sport, and involvement of the father in competitive sport were most strongly associated with athlete skill level. Additionally, parents of elite athletes were also more likely to have competed at the elite levels of competition themselves (&#0207; &#8225; 2(6) = 17.04, p < .01), but not necessarily in the same sport as their child. These results support previous research highlighting the importance of the family for the development of sport expertise, and extend current knowledge in this area by suggesting that parent modelling of physical activity behaviours and parent participation in high performance sport may influence athlete development

Designing the DHAQ: construction and validation of the developmental history of athletes questionnaire

Knowledge of the training requirements and environmental factors associated with expert sports performance is essential for the design of effective sport programs and the creation of nurturing practice environments. Current research in this area is dominated by a) the use of qualitative analysis techniques characterized by small samples of homogenous participants, and b) the use of basic training history questionnaires that do not account for the contribution of contextual factors to the development of expertise. The Developmental History of Athletes Questionnaire (DHAQ) was designed for collection of detailed developmental histories from larger samples of athletes than have previously been investigated. To establish the validity and reliability of the questionnaire, fifteen Australian national level athletes completed the DHAQ on two occasions and participated in a semi-structured interview. Information from parents and coaches was also collected to substantiate athlete data. Preliminary analyses support the DHAQ as a reliable measurement tool

Baseline immunoreactivity before pregnancy and poly(I:C) dose combine to dictate susceptibility and resilience of offspring to maternal immune activation

Despite the potential of rodent models of maternal immune activation (MIA) to identify new biomarkers and therapeutic interventions for a range of psychiatric disorders, current approaches using these models ignore two of the most important aspects of this risk factor for human disease: (i) most pregnancies are resilient to maternal viral infection and (ii) susceptible pregnancies can lead to different combinations of phenotypes in offspring. Here, we report two new sources of variability-the baseline immunoreactivity (BIR) of isogenic females prior to pregnancy and differences in immune responses in C57BL/6 dams across vendors-that contribute to resilience and susceptibility to distinct combinations of behavioral and biological outcomes in offspring. Similar to the variable effects of human maternal infection, MIA in mice does not cause disease-related phenotypes in all pregnancies and a combination of poly(I:C) dose and BIR predicts susceptibility and resilience of pregnancies to aberrant repetitive behaviors and alterations in striatal protein levels in offspring. Even more surprising is that the intermediate levels of BIR and poly(I:C) dose are most detrimental to offspring, with higher BIR and poly(I:C) doses conferring resilience to measured phenotypes in offspring. Importantly, we identify the BIR of female mice as a biomarker before pregnancy that predicts which dams will be most at risk as well as biomarkers in the brains of newborn offspring that correlate with changes in repetitive behaviors. Together, our results highlight considerations for optimizing MIA protocols to enhance rigor and reproducibility and reveal new factors that drive susceptibility of some pregnancies and resilience of others to MIA-induced abnormalities in offspring