Anxious attachment and perceived social support predicted different domains of psychological adjustment to cancer. Perceived support from friends may predict the patient's tendency to consider cancer as a challenge and to take an active role in therapy and recovery, whereas social support from family was not predictive of various states of adjustment to cancer.

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This research was supported by funds provided by Centro Andros S.r.l., Palermo, Italy. The authors declare no financial or commercial conflicts of interest in this study.

In this article, the authors study the factorial structure of the Italian translation of the Outcome Questionnaire 45 (OQ-45) in a sample of college students (n = 522) and psychiatric outpatients (n = 301). The relative goodness of fit of six competing models of the OQ-45 was examined using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Specifically, the study examined the relative fit of the most frequently presented models in the literature and three alternative models. Results of the CFA provided support for the four factor bi-level solution, suggesting that the OQ-45 is a multidimensional instrument that contains one general factor and multiple unique subscale factors.

Purpose The aim of this study was to investigate the most suitable sperm preparation technique to apply in order to obtain a spermatozoon population with minimal DNA damage during in vitro fertilization procedures. We compared four preparation techniques: direct swim-up (DSU), pellet swimup (PSU), density gradient (DG), and density gradient followed by swim-up (DG-SU), evaluating the effects of each technique on the DNA damage rate, evaluated by DNA fragmentation index of the spermatozoa obtained. Methods In this observational study, 98 semen samples from couples undergoing IVF/ICSI cycles were included. Data were collected between April and November 2014 at the ANDROS Day Surgery Clinic, Palermo, Italy. Result(s) The percentages of DNA fragmentation were 18.30 ± 10.8 in raw samples, 6.6 ± 5.7 after DSU, 4.2 ± 3.8 after PSU, 12.9 ± 9.9 after DG, and 3.7 ± 4.0 after DG-SU respectively. Compared to the raw evaluation, all the preparation techniques significantly decreased the total rate of the DNA fragmentation (DSU Z = −8.60, P < 0.008; PSU Z = −8.54, P < 0.008; DG Z = −6.42, P < 0.008, and DG-SU Z = −8.60, P < 0.008, respectively). Comparing them, spermatozoa with intact DNA after PSU and DG-SU were significantly higher than after DSU (Z = −7.12, P < 0.008; Z = −6.59, P < 0.008, respectively) and after DG (Z = −8.41, P < 0.008; Z = −8.60, P < 0.008, respectively). The difference between PSU and DG-SU was not significant (Z = −2.21, P = 0.03). Conclusion(s) There are, above all, two techniques of sperm preparation which allow for the recovery of spermatozoa with the lowest DNA fragmentation rate. Furthermore, given low costs and reduced time, we believe that PSU is the best option in the treatment of semen samples during IVF/ICSI.