Introducing consultant outpatient clinics to community settings to improve access to paediatrics:an observational impact study

Objectives - In line with a national policy to move care ‘closer to home’, a specialist children's hospital in the National Health Service in England introduced consultant-led ‘satellite’ clinics to two community settings for general paediatric outpatient services. Objectives were to reduce non-attendance at appointments by providing care in more accessible locations and to create new physical clinic capacity. This study evaluated these satellite clinics to inform further development and identify lessons for stakeholders. Methods - Impact of the satellite clinics was assessed by comparing community versus hospital-based clinics across the following measures: (1) non-attendance rates and associated factors (including patient characteristics and travel distance) using a logistic regression model; (2) percentage of appointments booked within local catchment area; (3) contribution to total clinic capacity; (4) time allocated to clinics and appointments; and (5) clinic efficiency, defined as the ratio of income to staff-related costs. Results - Satellite clinics did not increase attendance beyond their contribution to shorter travel distance, which was associated with higher attendance. Children living in the most-deprived areas were 1.8 times more likely to miss appointments compared with those from least-deprived areas. The satellite clinics’ contribution to activity in catchment areas and to total capacity was small. However, one of the two satellite clinics was efficient compared with most hospital-based clinics. Conclusions - Outpatient clinics were relocated in pragmatically chosen community settings using a ‘drag and drop’ service model. Such clinics have potential to improve access to specialist paediatric healthcare, but do not provide a panacea. Work is required to improve attendance as part of wider efforts to support vulnerable families. Satellite clinics highlight how improved management could contribute to better use of existing capacity.

Pre-existent expectancy effects in the relationship between caffeine and performance

The present study investigated the impact of pre-existent expectancy regarding the effects of the caffeine load of a drink and the perception of the caffeine content on subjective mood and vigilance performance. Caffeine deprived participants (N=25) were tested in four conditions (within subjects design), using a 2 × 2 design, with caffeine load and information regarding the caffeine content of the drink. In two sessions, they were given caffeinated coffee and in two were given decaffeinated coffee. Within these two conditions, on one occasion they were given accurate information about the drink and on the other they were given inaccurate information about the drink. Mood and vigilance performance were assessed post ingestion. Caffeine was found to enhance performance, but only when participants were accurately told they were receiving it. When decaffeinated coffee was given, performance was poorer, irrespective of expectancy. However, when caffeine was given, but participants were told it was decaffeinated coffee, performance was as poor as when no caffeine had been administered. There were no easily interpretable effects on mood. The pharmacological effects of caffeine appear to act synergistically with expectancy. © 2010.

Sugar and coffee: A history of settler agriculture in nineteenth-century Liberia

This dissertation is about commercial agriculture in nineteenth-century Liberia. Based primarily on the archives of the American Colonization Society (founder of Liberia), it examines the impact of environmental and demographic constraints on an agrarian settler society from 1822 to the 1890s. Contrary to the standard interpretation, which linked the poor state of commercial agriculture to the settlers' disdain for cultivation, this dissertation argues that the scarcity of labor and capital impeded the growth of commercial agriculture. The causes of the scarcity were high mortality, low immigration and the poverty of the American “Negroes” who began to settle Liberia in 1822. ^ Emigration to Liberia meant almost certain death and affliction for many immigrants because they encountered a new set of diseases. Mortality was particularly high during the early decades of colonization. From 1822 to 1843, about 48 percent of all immigrants died of various causes, usually within their first year. The bulk of the deaths is attributed to malaria. There was no natural increase in the population for this early period and because American “Negroes” were unenthusiastic about relocation to Liberia, immigration remained sparse throughout the century. Low immigration, combined with the high death rate, deprived the fledgling colony of its potential human resource, especially for the cultivation of labor-intensive crops, like sugar cane and coffee. Moreover, even though females constituted approximately half of the settlers, they seldom performed agricultural labor. ^ The problem of labor was compounded by the scarcity of draft animals. Liberia is in the region where trypanosomiasis occurs. The disease is fatal to large livestock. Therefore, animal-drawn plows, common in the United States, were never successfully transplanted in Liberia. Besides, the dearth of livestock obstructed the development of the sugar industry since many planters depended on oxen-powered mills because they could not afford to buy the more expensive steam engine mills. ^ Finally, nearly half of the immigrants were newly emancipated slaves. Usually these former bondsmen arrived in Liberia penniless. Consequently, they lacked the capital to invest in large-scale plantations. The other categories of immigrants (e.g., those who purchased their freedom), were hardly better off than the emancipated slaves. ^

A non-linear discrete stochastic optimization model for Advanced Access patient appointment scheduling

Access to healthcare is a major problem in which patients are deprived of receiving timely admission to healthcare. Poor access has resulted in significant but avoidable healthcare cost, poor quality of healthcare, and deterioration in the general public health. Advanced Access is a simple and direct approach to appointment scheduling in which the majority of a clinic's appointments slots are kept open in order to provide access for immediate or same day healthcare needs and therefore, alleviate the problem of poor access the healthcare. This research formulates a non-linear discrete stochastic mathematical model of the Advanced Access appointment scheduling policy. The model objective is to maximize the expected profit of the clinic subject to constraints on minimum access to healthcare provided. Patient behavior is characterized with probabilities for no-show, balking, and related patient choices. Structural properties of the model are analyzed to determine whether Advanced Access patient scheduling is feasible. To solve the complex combinatorial optimization problem, a heuristic that combines greedy construction algorithm and neighborhood improvement search was developed. The model and the heuristic were used to evaluate the Advanced Access patient appointment policy compared to existing policies. Trade-off between profit and access to healthcare are established, and parameter analysis of input parameters was performed. The trade-off curve is a characteristic curve and was observed to be concave. This implies that there exists an access level at which at which the clinic can be operated at optimal profit that can be realized. The results also show that, in many scenarios by switching from existing scheduling policy to Advanced Access policy clinics can improve access without any decrease in profit. Further, the success of Advanced Access policy in providing improved access and/or profit depends on the expected value of demand, variation in demand, and the ratio of demand for same day and advanced appointments. The contributions of the dissertation are a model of Advanced Access patient scheduling, a heuristic to solve the model, and the use of the model to understand the scheduling policy trade-offs which healthcare clinic managers must make. ^

The new Jamaican migration : implications for theory and practice

While analysis of the effect which education and migration have on development is neither clear cut, nor obvious, regimes such as those of Jamaica have traditionally placed great emphasis on development through education at all levels. The process of human resource development and the accumulation of human capital is intended to unlock the door to modernization. Nevertheless, our findings indicate a considerable loss of professional and skilled personnel -- the same group that embody a disproportionate amount of educational expenditure relative to the population. Insofar as planning is concerned this migration represents a negative factor. The developing country of Jamaica is unintentionally supplying the developed world with an "annual gift" of human capital which its economy cannot afford. The major issue becomes: to what extent can any government "protect" its investments by restricting movements of capital and people. The general assumption of this paper is that the question of human rights cannot be ignored especially in democracies (which Jamaica decidedly is), where movement is seen as an ingrained human right. During the 1970s and 1980s, Jamaica and the Caribbean as a whole has lost much through intellectual capital migrations. Yet brains may also die in their own environment, if deprived the ability to create their own criteria and goals. Forcing people to stay with their money and know-how may only serve to produce and economic environment overgrown with weeds of lethargy, indolence and mediocrity.

Classes sociais e eleições presidenciais no Brasil contemporâneo (2002-2010)

This work aims to analyze, in terms of class, the social composition of the constituency of the presidential candidates of the Workers Party in 2002, 2006 and 2010 elections. Such research object is constructed from a preliminary critical debate with recent Brazilian electoral studies, especially the literature on the infl uence of social programs on voting and Singer’s formulations about the lulismo phenomenon. Incorporating advances and pointing out gaps in such research efforts, is formulated a roadmap for empirical research constituted of three key elements - the measure ment of the dimensions of class structure in Brazilian capitalism; the observation of material interests related to the constituents locations of such structure; the development of measures of association between the insertion in class groupings and indivi dual voting behavior. Based on the neo - Marxist approach of class analysis, especially as formulated by Wright, it is made an adaptation of the typology formulated by such approach (mainly developed by Santos to the Brazilian case) to the data available fro m databases of censuses of 2000 and 2010. This theoretical construct reveals that during the period considered for the analysis, the structure of class - relations in Brazil became more proletarized and consequently had a decrease of the dimensions of the de stitute class locations. In addition, it was found, in relation to the objective class interests, widespread increments of economic welfare that allowed advances in relation to the material conditions of the proletariat, without, however, incurring losses to the privileged class positions. Such changes in the structural sphere focused in various ways on the political arena. Based on an adaptation to electoral analysis of the concept of "class formation", also formulated by Wright, associated with the use of techniques of ecological inference (especially those proposed by King and associates), it was possible to draw up an overview of class voting in period studied. As main results, three general patterns of individual voting behavior, related to each of the three analyzed class groupings were identified - a contraposition against PT candidates, by voters in privileged class locations; the adhesion, recurring throughout the study period, of workers to Lula and Dilma Rousseff; a favorable electoral shift unde rtaken by economically deprived voters in favor of those candidatures in the 2006 election.

Avaliação da suplementação de vitamina E sobre a concentração de alfa-tocoferol no leite materno em mulheres com partos prematuros

The term vitamin E refers to a group of eight molecular compounds which differ in structure and bioavailability, and the RRR-alpha-tocopherol more biologically active form. The composition of vitamin E in breast milk undergoes variations during lactation, colostrum and milk richer in this micronutrient compared to transitional and mature milk. Newborns, especially premature infants are more susceptible to vitamin E deficiency and to prevent the damage caused by this deficiency has been proposed supplementation of neonates with this micronutrient, however, there is no consensus to carry out this intervention. Thus, maternal supplementation with RRRalpha-tocopherol in the postpartum period can be a good alternative to try to raise the alpha-tocopherol levels in breast milk and therefore provide the premature newborn adequate amounts of vitamin E. This study to evaluate the effect of supplementation with 400 UI acetate RRR-alpha-tocopherol in women with premature births, on the concentration of alpha-tocopherol in breast milk colostrum, transitional and mature. The study included 89 healthy adult women were enrolled in the control group (n = 51) and supplemented group (n = 38). Blood samples were collected and milk colostrum soon after birth (0h milk) twenty-four hours, new rate of colostrum milk was collected (24h milk). The transitional and mature milk were collected in seven days (7d milk) and thirty days (30d milk) after delivery, respectively. Supplementation in the supplemented group was held after the collection of blood and 0h milk. The alpha-tocopherol analyzes were performed by high-performance liquid chromatography. Serum levels of alpha-tocopherol less than 516 μg/dL were considered indicative of nutritional deficiency. The average concentration of alphatocopherol in the serum of the control group mothers was 1159.8 ± 292.4 μg/dL and the supplemented group was 1128.3 ± 407.2 μg/dL (p = 0.281). All women had nutritional status in vitamin E suitable. In both groups, it was observed that the concentration of vitamin E in colostrum milk was higher compared to transitional and mature milk. In the supplemented group, the concentration of alpha-tocopherol in the milk increased 60 % after supplementation, from 1339.3 ± 414.2 μg/dL (0h milk) to 2234.7 ± 997.3 μg/dL (24h milk). While the control group values in colostrum 0h and colostrum 24h were similar (p = 0.681). In the control group the follow-on milk alphatocopherol value was 875.3 ± 292.4 μg/dL and in the group supplemented 1352.8 ± 542.3 μg/dL, an increase of 35% in the supplemented group compared to control (p <0.001). In mature milk alpha-tocopherol concentrations between the control group (426.6 ± 187.5 μg/dL) and supplemented (416.4 ± 214.2 μg/dL) were similar (p = 0.853). Only 24h milk supplemented group answered the nutritional requirement of alpha-tocopherol (4 mg/day) of the newborn. These results show that the transport of this micronutrient for milk occurs in a controlled and limited way. Thus, the native vitamin E supplementation increases the concentration of alpha-tocopherol in colostrum and milk and transition does not influence the concentration in mature milk. Only the increase in colostrum milk was sufficient to meet the nutritional requirement of premature newborns.

Avaliação da concentração de vitamina A materna e de neonatos prematuros e a termo

Vitamin A is an essential nutrient for many physiological processes such as growth and development, so that their adequate nutritional state is essential during pregnancy and lactation. Lactating women and children in breastfeeding are considered risk groups for vitamin A deficiency and some factors may increase the risk of vitamin A deficiency, such as prematurity. The aim of this work was to evaluate the vitamin A concentration in preterm and term lactating women and newborns by determination of retinol in maternal serum, umbilical cord serum and breast milk collected until 72 hours postpartum. 182 mothers were recruited and divided into preterm group (GPT; n = 118) and term group (GT, n = 64). In preterm group were also analyzed transition milk (7th-15th day; n = 68) and mature milk (30th-55th day; n = 46) samples. Retinol was analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Maternal retinol concentration in serum was 48.6 ± 12.3 µg/dL in GPT and 42.8 ± 16.3 µg/dL in the GT (p <0.01). Cord serum retinol was 20.4 ± 7.4 µg/dL in GPT and 23.2 ± 7.6 µg/dL in GT (p> 0.05). Among newborns, 43% of premature and 36% of term had low levels of serum retinol in umbilical cord (<20 µg/dL). In colostrum, the retinol in preterm and term groups had an average of 100.8 ± 49.0 µg/dL and 127.5 ± 65.1 µg/dL, respectively (p <0.05). The retinol average in preterm milk increased to 112.5 ± 49.7 µg/dL in transition phase and decreased to 57.2 ± 23.4 µg/dL in mature milk, differing significantly in all stages (p <0.05). When comparing with the recommendation of vitamin A intake (400 µg/day) GT colostrum reached the recommendation for infants, but in GPT the recommendation was not achieved at any stage. Mothers of premature infants had higher serum retinol than mothers at term; however, this was not reflected in serum retinol of umbilical cord, since premature had lower concentration of retinol. Such condition can be explained due to lower maternal physiological hemodilution and placental transfer of retinol to the fetus during preterm gestation. Comparison of retinol in colostrum showed lower concentrations in GPT; however the transition phase there was a significant increase of retinol content released by the mammary gland of preterm mothers. This situation highlights a specific physiological adaptation of prematurity, likely to more contribute to formation of hepatic reserves of retinol in premature infants.

A inserção da família no processo socioeducativo de adolescentes em privação de liberdade

This master thesis has the main goal investigate how families are inserted in the socioeducational process of teenagers who are undergoing social measures of liberty deprivation. The specific objectives are: to characterize the family´s living together of adolescents deprived of their freedom and their families, from the actions and routines of the socio-educational system; to assess the professional working links in the context of socio-education, in order to care and strengthening families of the adolescents; to investigate how families evaluate the operation of socio-educational process in which adolescents are met. Method: to achieve the proposed objectives, data collection occurred in complementary steps: the first phase took place from visits to socioeducational units of liberty deprivation of RN, and dialogues with professionals working in socio-education. Subsequently, action research stage was carried out, from the insertion of the researcher in the extension project Family and the struggle for the effectiveness of the National Socio Service System, that aimed to strengthen monitoring the adolescents socio-education by their families, and had as methodology the conversation circles and thematic workshops. Lastly, were performed reading and analysis of the references to the family in the Individual Care Plans (PIAs) for adolescents. The information gathered was recorded in field diaries and subjected to thematic content analysis. This research was guided by the Marxist theoretical framework, structured on the understanding of the involvement of adolescents with illegal acts as a development and expression of the social question. From this theoretical framework, the prevailing view in the capitalist society of adolescents in conflict with the law as individuals who are treated by means of repression and segregation and the weakness of social policies is questioned, both in the execution of their own socioeducational measures as the articulation of network services for adolescent protection and strengthening your family. Results: in relation to the operation of the socioeducational system in RN in general, it was observed a state of unhealthy physical spaces and institutional practices that violate human rights, idleness and lack of access to social rights, and criminalization and institutionalization of poor young people and their families. With regard to family´s living together, it was noticed great distance between principles and guidelines recommended by the SINASE, about acquaintanceship and family strengthening, and every day practices of socio-education in RN: serious violations were observed that undermine the family´s living together, as the distance between the socio-educational units of deprivation of liberty and the cities where families live; absence, irregularity and poor conditions in carrying out the family visits; lack of conjugal visits; restricted and unarticulated actions for the care and strengthening of the families of adolescents, most of whom live in poverty or extreme poverty. Finally, it was found a number of blamefully and punishments to the family, including practices such as inward inspection (visual inspection while naked and squant), plus a series of violence and omissions care that sick family members and weaken the links between adolescents and their families.

Efeitos da privação do sono em tarefas cognitivas

Learning and memory are important mechanism for species, since its allows to recognize conspecifics, routes and food place. Sleep is one of behaviors known by facilitate learning, it is a widespread phenomenon, present in most of vertebrates lives and highly investigated in many aspects. It is known that sleep deprivation modifies physiologic behavioral processes in animals, however, sleep function in organism is still debatable. Hypothesis range from energy conservation to memory consolidation, with different roles in animal’s evolution. The zebrafish (Danio rerio) emerg e in the last years as vertebrate model in genetics and developmental biology and quickly become popular in behavioral studies, as learning and memory. Despite the fact that zebrafish is a diurnal animal and have well characterized sleep behavior, zebrafish fish still has advantages due to its small size and low cost of maintenance, whichestablishes this species as interesting model for research on sleep. In this study we aimed to analyze the effects of partial and total sleep deprivation on learning acquisition, as well the concomitant administration of alcohol and melatonin. For this, the research was divided in three phases, each one with a different kind of conditioning: (1) object Recognition, (2) avoidance conditioning and (3) appetitive conditioning. The results showed the fish partially sleep deprived and totally sleep deprived + et hanol could perform the tasks just like the control group, however, fish totally sleep deprived and totally sleep deprived + melatonin showed impairments in attention and memory during the tests. Our results suggest that only one night of sleep deprivation is enough to harm the zebrafish performance in cognitive tasks. In addition, ethanol exposure on the night previously the test seems to suppress the negative effects of sleep deprivation, while the melatonin treatment seems not to be enough to promote sleep state, at least on the protocol applied here.

Efeitos da privação do sono em tarefas cognitivas

Learning and memory are important mechanism for species, since its allows to recognize conspecifics, routes and food place. Sleep is one of behaviors known by facilitate learning, it is a widespread phenomenon, present in most of vertebrates lives and highly investigated in many aspects. It is known that sleep deprivation modifies physiologic behavioral processes in animals, however, sleep function in organism is still debatable. Hypothesis range from energy conservation to memory consolidation, with different roles in animal’s evolution. The zebrafish (Danio rerio) emerg e in the last years as vertebrate model in genetics and developmental biology and quickly become popular in behavioral studies, as learning and memory. Despite the fact that zebrafish is a diurnal animal and have well characterized sleep behavior, zebrafish fish still has advantages due to its small size and low cost of maintenance, whichestablishes this species as interesting model for research on sleep. In this study we aimed to analyze the effects of partial and total sleep deprivation on learning acquisition, as well the concomitant administration of alcohol and melatonin. For this, the research was divided in three phases, each one with a different kind of conditioning: (1) object Recognition, (2) avoidance conditioning and (3) appetitive conditioning. The results showed the fish partially sleep deprived and totally sleep deprived + et hanol could perform the tasks just like the control group, however, fish totally sleep deprived and totally sleep deprived + melatonin showed impairments in attention and memory during the tests. Our results suggest that only one night of sleep deprivation is enough to harm the zebrafish performance in cognitive tasks. In addition, ethanol exposure on the night previously the test seems to suppress the negative effects of sleep deprivation, while the melatonin treatment seems not to be enough to promote sleep state, at least on the protocol applied here.

Desempenho reprodutivo de varrões e matrizes suínas de diferentes linhagens durante as estações do ano

The industrial Brazilian pig farming despite of the constant advance in the genetic improvement, nutrition, and in handling, seasonality problems occur in the production of weaned piglet, mainly due to the stations of the year that can impact directly in the profitability. These problems can be deepen due to breed and line of decent used in Brazil are all source from tempered weather countries. To the pig farmer it's difficult to determine the relations between indoor temperature of the barns, relative humidity of the air and top thermal amplitude which can provide good reproductive rates for the boars and arrays lodged in conventional barns. The lack research to production of environmental indices of easy interpretation to pigs, which are not dependent of complicated handling machines and also which are not expensive is considered as a negative factor from the producers. the objective os this experiment is evaluate the effects of the stations of the year over the reproductive performance of the boars Agroceres PIC 425, Agroceres PIC 337 and D.B. Dambred LM 6200, and of arrays Agroceres Canborough 22, Penarlan Naima e DB90 Danbred, in addition develop an environmental index with easy interpretation and use to the pig farmers of the region of Uberlândia - MG, using the maxim temperatures, rainfall monthly accumulated and of the thermal amplitude of the barn. The features rated during the stations of the years 2013 and 2014 were the volume and spermatic quality of the boars and the mainly reproductive indexes of the arrays as the total number of piglets born alive and total number of weaned piglets/ array/ parturition. The station of the year which had the worst results in the reproductive feature of the boars and arrays was the spring. Boars from different line of decent are sensitive to the effects of stress of the heat of spring causing lowest volume, concentration and problems in the spermatic morphology (p<0,05). The spring prejudice the reproductive indexes of arrays from different line of decent (p<0,05) and the pig farmers of Uberlândia are subjected to operating losses and income evasion due to the thermal stress in the reproduction that added can reach $150.000,00 annual for each 1000 arrays lodged/year.

Tabagisme et défavorisation de quartier : étude exploratoire des expériences de stigmatisation chez les jeunes femmes

La prévalence du tabagisme a diminué dans les dernières décennies, mais les inégalités sociales reliées au tabagisme s’accentuent. Les stratégies de dénormalisation du tabagisme ont amené la stigmatisation des fumeurs. Le lien entre celle-ci et la défavorisation de quartier est mal compris. Cette étude qualitative a comparé les expériences de stigmatisation de quinze jeunes femmes fumeuses dont la moitié vivait dans des quartiers très défavorisés de Montréal et l’autre moitié résidait dans les quartiers les moins défavorisés. Dans ces derniers, stigmatiser les fumeurs fait partie de la norme. Le tabagisme est vu comme un symbole de pauvreté, entraînant l’utilisation de stratégies pour se distancer du stigma. Dans les quartiers défavorisés, les participantes rapportaient une stigmatisation basée sur le genre et elles tentaient d’y échapper en se cachant pour fumer. Les résultats mettent en lumière les effets non attendus des politiques anti-tabac et pourraient contribuer au développement de politiques plus équitables.

Ratages tous azimuts en développement international

La question du développement en Afrique a été perçue, dès 1962, par l’agronome René Dumont, comme le fait d’une occasion perdue. Mais peu à peu, ce diagnostic lucide a fait l’objet d’une vulgate colportée jusque dans les salons diplomatiques et enceintes officielles du développement international, de Washington à Paris en passant par Londres et Ottawa. Sujette à toutes les complaisances, la critique du développement international est elle-même devenue une « occasion perdue ». Mais en remontant la piste historique, on constate que les séquelles postcoloniales, tant politiques qu’économiques, ont façonné le contexte dans lequel les Africains se sont vus durablement privés de l’occasion de prendre en main leur destin. C’est ainsi que la structure économique extravertie et le poids d’une dette insolvable ont projeté plus profondément encore les pays africains dans la dépendance et la tutelle au monde industrialisé, en particulier à travers les programmes néolibéraux de la Banque mondiale, quelle que soit la mouture sous laquelle ils s’affichent (ajustement structurel ou lutte à la pauvreté). Dans cette veine, le critère de sélectivité dans l’aide publique au développement, mis en avant par l’institution internationale, et qu’adopte notamment le Canada, ouvre la porte aux abus de toutes sortes que commande le réalisme politique.

Expertise sportive et entraînement perceptivo-cognitif de l’athlète

Pour être performant au plus haut niveau, les athlètes doivent posséder une capacité perceptivo-cognitive supérieure à la moyenne. Cette faculté, reflétée sur le terrain par la vision et l’intelligence de jeu des sportifs, permet d’extraire l’information clé de la scène visuelle. La science du sport a depuis longtemps observé l’expertise perceptivo-cognitive au sein de l’environnement sportif propre aux athlètes. Récemment, des études ont rapporté que l’expertise pouvait également se refléter hors de ce contexte, lors d’activités du quotidien par exemple. De plus, les récentes théories entourant la capacité plastique du cerveau ont amené les chercheurs à développer des outils pour entraîner les capacités perceptivo-cognitives des athlètes afin de les rendre plus performants sur le terrain. Ces méthodes sont la plupart du temps contextuelles à la discipline visée. Cependant, un nouvel outil d’entraînement perceptivo-cognitif, nommé 3-Dimensional Multiple Object Tracking (3D-MOT) et dénué de contexte sportif, a récemment vu le jour et a fait l’objet de nos recherches. Un de nos objectifs visait à mettre en évidence l’expertise perceptivo-cognitive spécifique et non-spécifique chez des athlètes lors d’une même étude. Nous avons évalué la perception du mouvement biologique chez des joueurs de soccer et des non-athlètes dans une salle de réalité virtuelle. Les sportifs étaient systématiquement plus performants en termes d’efficacité et de temps de réaction que les novices pour discriminer la direction du mouvement biologique lors d’un exercice spécifique de soccer (tir) mais également lors d’une action issue du quotidien (marche). Ces résultats signifient que les athlètes possèdent une meilleure capacité à percevoir les mouvements biologiques humains effectués par les autres. La pratique du soccer semble donc conférer un avantage fondamental qui va au-delà des fonctions spécifiques à la pratique d’un sport. Ces découvertes sont à mettre en parallèle avec la performance exceptionnelle des athlètes dans le traitement de scènes visuelles dynamiques et également dénuées de contexte sportif. Des joueurs de soccer ont surpassé des novices dans le test de 3D-MOT qui consiste à suivre des cibles en mouvement et stimule les capacités perceptivo-cognitives. Leur vitesse de suivi visuel ainsi que leur faculté d’apprentissage étaient supérieures. Ces résultats confirmaient des données obtenues précédemment chez des sportifs. Le 3D-MOT est un test de poursuite attentionnelle qui stimule le traitement actif de l’information visuelle dynamique. En particulier, l’attention sélective, dynamique et soutenue ainsi que la mémoire de travail. Cet outil peut être utilisé pour entraîner les fonctions perceptivo-cognitives des athlètes. Des joueurs de soccer entraînés au 3D-MOT durant 30 sessions ont montré une amélioration de la prise de décision dans les passes de 15% sur le terrain comparés à des joueurs de groupes contrôles. Ces données démontrent pour la première fois un transfert perceptivo-cognitif du laboratoire au terrain suivant un entraînement perceptivo-cognitif non-contextuel au sport de l’athlète ciblé. Nos recherches aident à comprendre l’expertise des athlètes par l’approche spécifique et non-spécifique et présentent également les outils d’entraînements perceptivo-cognitifs, en particulier le 3D-MOT, pour améliorer la performance dans le sport de haut-niveau.