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.

The putative roles of FSH and AMH in the regulation of oocyte developmental competence: from fertility prognosis to mechanisms underlying age-related subfertility.

Background: Fertility loss during female ageing is associated with increasing basal FSH and decreasing anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) concentrations, together with compromised oocyte quality, presumably due to increased oxidative stress (OS) and DNA damage, as well as reduced metabolic and meiotic competences. Basal FSH and AMH circulatory concentrations have been broadly utilized as IVF success predictors, regardless of fluctuations in prognostic accuracy; basal FSH and AMH perform better in pre-advanced maternal age (AMA: >35 years) and AMA patients, respectively. The relationships between FSH and AMH intrafollicular levels and IVF outcomes suggest, nevertheless, that both hormones regulate oocyte competence, supporting the hypothesis that changes in FSH/AMH levels cause, at least in part, oocyte quality degradation during ageing.

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.

Microlithiasis of Seminal Vesicles and Severe Oligoasthenospermia in Pulmonary Alveolar Microlithiasis (PAM): Report of An Unusual Sporadic Case.

Pulmonary alveolar microlithiasis (PAM) is classified as an elective dysmetabolic thesaurotic pneumoalveolitis and characterized by the presence within the alveoli of the lungs of myriad of tiny calculi. The classic presentation of the chest radiography is unmistakable with multiple small "sand-like" opacities diffusely involving both lung fields. We present a case of male infertility for hypoposia and severe oligoasthenospermia in a young patient with recurrent haematuria and small calcifications in the seminal vesicles similar to pulmonary microliths.

Analysis of cystic fibrosis gene mutations in children with cystic fibrosis and in 964 infertile couples within the region of Basilicata, Italy: a research study.

Introduction: Cystic fibrosis is the most common autosomal recessive genetic disease in the Caucasian population. Extending knowledge about the molecular pathology on the one hand allows better delineation of the mutations in the CFTR gene and the other to dramatically increase the predictive power of molecular testing.

Methods: This study reports the results of a molecular screening of cystic fibrosis using DNA samples of patients enrolled from January 2009 to December 2013.

Effect of multivitamins on plasma homocysteine in patients with the 5,10 methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase C677T homozygous state.

The role of hyperhomocysteinemia (HHcy) as a cardiovascular risk factor remains a matter of debate, while it correlates with folates, it demonstrates inverse correlation with plasma homocysteine (Hcy) levels and vitamin B12 levels and reduces plasma Hcy levels following supplementation with multivitamins. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate that administering multivitamins at specific doses for 90 days restores normal plasma Hcy levels in women who are homozygous for the thermolabile variant of 5,10 methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR C677T). We enrolled 106 healthy females aged between 30 and 42 years, who were non-smokers, non-vegetarian, normotensive and who had no history of food abuse in the previous months.

Pituitary desensitization for eight weeks after the administration of two distinct gonadotrophin-releasing hormone agonists.

Objective(s): The objective was to evaluate the duration of pituitary desensitization after the administration of 3.5 mg of triptorelin (T) and leuprolin (L) depot preparations in patients with endometriosis.

Study Design: Two groups of 30 patients received, on 21st day of the cycle, 3.

A novel protocol of ovulation induction with delayed gonadotropin-releasing hormone antagonist administration combined with high-dose recombinant follicle-stimulating hormone and clomiphene citrate for poor responders and women over 35 years.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of a novel protocol of ovulation induction for poor responders.

Design: Prospective, controlled, clinical study.

Setting: Research institute's reproductive unit.