Sperm-carried IGF2: towards the discovery of a spark contributing to embryo growth and development.

Spermatozoa have been shown to carry key RNAs which, according to animal evidence, seem to play a role in early embryo development. In this context, a potential key growth regulator is insulin-like growth factor 2 (IGF2), a highly conserved paternally expressed imprinted gene involved in cell growth and proliferation which, recent observations indicate, is expressed in human spermatozoa. We herein hypothesized that sperm IGF2 gene expression and transmission at fertilization is required to support early embryo development.

Phase angle at bioelectric impedance analysis is associated with detrimental sperm quality in idiopathic male infertility: a preliminary clinical study.

Background: In 2020, 38% of adults were affected by obesity, while infertility globally affected 1 in 6 people at some stage of their lives.Body mass index (BMI) provides an easy but occasionally inaccurate estimation of body composition. To achieve a more precise assessment, bioelectric impedance analysis serves as a validated tool that administers electrical energy through surface electrodes.

Diagnosis and management of infertility: NICE-adapted guidelines from the Italian Society of Human Reproduction.

In Italy the fertility rate is very low, and an increasing number of patients are infertile and require treatments. The Italian Law concerning the safety of patient care, and the professional liability of health professionals, indicates that health professionals must comply with the recommendations set out in the guidelines developed by public and private bodies and institutions, as well as scientific societies and technical-scientific associations of the health professions, except for specific cases. Unfortunately, no guideline for the diagnosis and the management of infertility is currently available in Italy.

Fertility specialists' views, behavior, and attitudes towards the use of endometrial scratching in Italy.

Background: Endometrial scratching (ES) or injury is intentional damage to the endometrium performed to improve reproductive outcomes for infertile women desiring pregnancy. Moreover, recent systematic reviews with meta-analyses and randomized controlled trials demonstrated that ES is not effective, data on the safety are limited, and it should not be recommended in clinical practice. The aim of the current study was to assess the view and behavior towards ES among fertility specialists throughout infertility centers in Italy, and the relationship between these views and the attitudes towards the use of ES as an add-on in their commercial setting.

What Does Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection Change in Embryonic Development? The Spermatozoon Contribution.

The intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) technique was invented to solve severe male infertility due to altered sperm parameters. Nowadays, it is applied worldwide for the treatment of couple infertility. ICSI is performed with any available spermatozoon from surgery or ejaculated samples, whatever are the sperm motility, morphology or quantity.

Couples undergoing Assisted Reproductive Techniques: An Actor-Partner Interdependence Model of dyadic adjustment, attachment, and body-image avoidance.

The aim is to assess the commonalities and interdependence referred to body-image avoidance among 118 couples newly introduced to first-level assisted reproductive techniques. Results showed non-clinical functioning levels, and partners showed a correlated, yet low, dyadic adjustment. The couple-effect was modeled through an Actor Partner Interdependence Model.

More blastocysts are produced from fewer oocytes in ICSI compared to IVF - results from a sibling oocytes study and definition of a new key performance indicator.

Background: Which fertilization method, between ICSI and IVF in split insemination treatments, has the highest clinical efficiency in producing clinically usable blastocyst?

Methods: 211 infertile couples underwent split insemination treatments for a non-severe male factor. 1300 metaphase II (MII) oocytes were inseminated by conventional IVF and 1302 MII oocytes were micro-injected with the same partner's semen. Embryo development until blastocyst stage on day V and clinical outcomes were valuated trough conventional key performance indicators (KPI), and new KPIs such as blastocyst rate per used MII oocytes and the number of MII oocytes to produce one clinically usable blastocyst from ICSI and IVF procedures.

Air Pollution and COVID-19: A Possible Dangerous Synergy for Male Fertility.

Several studies indicate that semen quality has strongly declined in the last decades worldwide. Air pollution represents a significant co-factor with the COVID-19 impact and has negative effects on the male reproductive system, through pro-oxidant, inflammatory and immune-dysregulating mechanisms. It has recently been reported that chronic exposure to PM2.

Semen quality as a potential susceptibility indicator to SARS-CoV-2 insults in polluted areas.

The epidemic of the new severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has impacted worldwide with its infectious spread and mortality rate. Thousands of articles have been published to tackle this crisis and many of these have indicated that high air pollution levels may be a contributing factor to high outbreak rates of COVID-19. Atmospheric pollutants, indeed, producing oxidative stress, inflammation, immuno-unbalance, and systemic coagulation, may be a possible significant co-factor of further damage, rendering the body prone to infections by a variety of pathogens, including viruses.

The true panel of cystic fibrosis mutations in the Sicilian population.

Background: The aim was to establish the true risk of having an affected child with Cystic Fibrosis (CF) in the Sicilian infertile population.

Methods: A longitudinal CFTR screening of 1279 Sicilian infertile patients for all CFTR mutations sequencing the entire gene by Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) was performed from patient's blood.

Results: One patient out of 16 was a carrier of a CFTR mutation.

Universal strategy for preimplantation genetic testing for cystic fibrosis based on next-generation sequencing.

Purpose: We developed and applied a universal strategy for preimplantation genetic testing for all cystic fibrosis gene mutations (PGT-CF) based on next-generation sequencing (NGS).

Methods: A molecular protocol was designed to diagnose all CF mutations at preimplantation stage. The detection of CF mutations was performed by direct gene sequencing and linkage strategy testing 38 specific SNPs located upstream and inside the gene for PGT-CF.

Universal strategy for preimplantation genetic testing for cystic fibrosis based on next generation sequencing.

Purpose: We developed and applied a universal strategy for preimplantation genetic testing for all cystic fibrosis gene mutations (PGT-CF) based on next-generation sequencing (NGS).

Methods: A molecular protocol was designed to diagnose all CF mutations at preimplantation stage. The detection of CF mutations was performed by direct gene sequencing and linkage strategy testing 38 specific SNPs located upstream and inside the gene for PGT-CF.

Hypnosis and learning: Pilot study on a group of students.

Background Milton Erickson was the first to introduce hypnosis as a form of therapy during the post-war period. Numerous studies have evaluated the effects of hypnosis on memory, focusing principally on post-hypnotic amnesia, post-hypnotic hypermnesia, faux memories and learning growth. The aim of the present study was to determine if hypnosis can influence visual-spatial memory by increasing its performance and learning; to do this, we chose to utilise the Corsi Test (backward and forward).

The decision on the embryo to transfer after Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis for X-autosome reciprocal translocation in male carrier.

Background: The aim of Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) on embryos produced is to identify the embryos without genetic or chromosomal defect from those embryos that will develop the genetic disease or are chromosomally abnormal. In case of PGD for structural chromosome indication (PGR-SR), the normal/balanced embryos are transferred in the maternal uterus. This protocol is valid and widely applied for autosomal chromosome translocation.

Sperm DNA fragmentation: An early and reliable marker of air pollution.

Environmental factors could have a key role in the continuous and remarkable decline of sperm quality observed in the last decades. This study compared the seminal parameters and sperm DFI in men living in areas with different levels of air pollution. Results demonstrate that both steel plants workers and patients living in a high polluted area show a mean percentage of sperm DNA fragmentation above 30%, highlighting a clear sperm damage.

Effects of Highly Polluted Environment on Sperm Telomere Length: A Pilot Study.

High environmental pressure may impair male fertility by affecting sperm quality, but the real effect remains controversial. Herein, we assessed the influence of environmental exposure on telomere length (TL) in both leukocytes (LTL) and sperm cells (STL). A pilot biomonitoring study was conducted in 112 clinically healthy, normospermic men living in various areas of Campania region (South of Italy) with high ( = 57, High Group) or low ( = 55, Low Group) environmental pressure.

The accumulation of vitrified oocytes is a strategy to increase the number of euploid available blastocysts for transfer after preimplantation genetic testing.

Purpose: In a preimplantation genetic diagnosis for aneuploidy (PGD-A) program, the more embryos available for biopsy, consequently increases the chances of obtaining euploid embryos to transfer. The aim was to increase the number of viable euploid blastocysts in patients undergoing PGD-A using fresh oocytes together with previously accumulated vitrified oocytes.

Methods: Sixty-nine patients with normal ovarian reserve underwent PGD-A for repeated implantation failure or recurrent pregnancy loss indication.

Different Tissue-Derived Stem Cells: A Comparison of Neural Differentiation Capability.

Background: Stem cells are capable of self-renewal and differentiation into a wide range of cell types with multiple clinical and therapeutic applications. Stem cells are providing hope for many diseases that currently lack effective therapeutic methods, including strokes, Huntington's disease, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. However, the paucity of suitable cell types for cell replacement therapy in patients suffering from neurological disorders has hampered the development of this promising therapeutic approach.

The use of morphokinetic parameters to select all embryos with full capacity to implant.

Purpose: Embryo kinetics analysis is an emerging tool for selecting embryo(s) for transfer. The aim of the present study was to determine morphokinetic parameters easily usable in the laboratory and predictive of embryo development and, most importantly, of embryo competence in producing a clinical pregnancy after day 5 transfer.

Methods: A retrospective time-lapse monitoring analysis of morphokinetic parameters for 72 fully implanted embryos (group A) were compared to 106 non-implanted embryos (group B), and to 66 embryos with arrested development from the same pool of group A.