In recent decades, there have been three worrying phenomena that need to be addressed: 1. the increase in conditions of sterility and infertility; 2. the general lack of interest in fatherhood and motherhood on a personal and social level; 3. the growing fall in the birth rate. The conditions and causes from which these three phenomena originate and develop are many and, often, correlated with each other, even if not in an obvious way. Lifestyles, cultural approaches, early onset of sexual activity, presence of contaminants in living and working environments, nutritional deficits, lack of vaccination coverage, diseases of the male or female reproductive system, increasingly postponed search for first pregnancy, lack of housing and work policies, are significantly undermining procreative health. And, just as good "health" is built day after day, in the same way also good "procreative health" and - in particular - "preconceptional health" are the result of actions aimed at promoting and protecting them. Health professionals play a key role in health promotion: it is, therefore, essential that they are prepared - during their university career - to face this challenge.

Starting from this state of affairs, it is hypothesized that the students of the degree courses examined (Master's Degree Course in Medicine and Surgery, Three-year Degree Course in Nursing, Three-year Degree Course in Obstetrics) do not have sufficient knowledge in the field of preconception health.

The study, which has the general objective of improving - through training/information interventions - the knowledge of health degree students regarding preconception health, plans to recruit a minimum of 98 students. In the two pre- and post-intervention phases of the study , the basic knowledge and acquired after academic courses with 12 hours of lectures will be assessed. The assessment of knowledge is carried out by administering the same questionnaire in digital format at the entrance (before the start of the course) and at the exit (after the end of the course).

The Natural Fertility Regulation Methods (RNF) are knowledge tools that allow you to identify the fertile and infertile periods of the ovarian cycle, offering valuable support both in the search for pregnancy and in postponing or avoiding conception. Mucus, produced at the level of the uterine cervix, is a fundamental factor of human reproductive capacity: it takes on different chemical-physical and structural characteristics in response to different serum concentrations of ovarian hormones. It has the function of modulating the passage of spermatozoa from the vagina to the uterus, in relation to the different phases of the ovarian cycle, and allows them to survive during the fertile phase. Among the Methods of Natural Fertility Regulation, the Billings® Ovulation Method uses exclusively, as the only indicator of fertility, the "mucus symptom", which precisely reflects the changes in cervical secretion induced by ovarian hormones. Since its conception in the 50s by John and Evelyn Billings, the Billings® Ovulation Method has spread to more than 100 countries, widely supported by the publication of scientific works that have demonstrated its effectiveness of use for the purpose of avoiding or seeking pregnancy. The study, which involves the enrollment of 100 women (for a total of 300 ovarian cycles) has as its primary  objective the evaluation of the accuracy of the Billings® ovulation method in identifying the three phases of the ovarian cycle (preovulatory; ovulatory; postovulatory) in comparison with ultrasound monitoring, and as a secondary objective the evaluation of the accuracy of the Billings® ovulation method in identifying the three phases of the ovarian cycle (preovulatory; ovulatory; stratified by: BMI, age of menarche, previous use of the estrogen-progestin pill, parity, breastfeeding, lifestyles (smoking), occupation.

Cervical mucus is a hydrogel secreted by the endocervical glandular epithelium whose secretion varies in quantitative and qualitative characteristics in response to the woman's ovarian activity and/or conditions that can indirectly modify it (stress, infectious/microbiological, immunological factors, intake of hormone-based drugs, reproductive system diseases of endocrine origin). The secretion of cervical mucus is closely related to the hormonal events that occur during the woman's menstrual cycle and is functionally linked to the promotion of the transport, nourishment, defense, selection and capacitation of spermatozoa in correspondence with her fertile period (ovulatory phase). Its characteristics lend themselves to preventing these biological functions in the so-called infertile periods of the woman, whether physiological (e.g. luteal phase, menopause, pregnancy), pharmacologically induced (e.g. taking the contraceptive pill) or pathological (e.g. endocrinological disorders or dysfunctions in the female reproductive system). If mucus is physiologically a fertility factor, alterations in its biological characteristics, related to its composition or to the cells that secrete it, could become revealers/indicators of conditions that negatively impact the procreative health of the woman.  Data on the biochemical and biophysical variations of cervical mucus and all the factors secreted in it by the cells that secrete it, and the immune cells that reside there, are still incomplete and often inhomogeneous. Another field of research that is still almost completely unexplored concerns the regulation of mucus secretion, i.e. the regulation of the activity of the endocervical epithelium that presides over the physiological or pathological production of cervical mucus. It is therefore worth highlighting the potential offered by the knowledge of cervical secretion for the treatment and prevention of a) infertility, b) infections of the female reproductive tract, c) disorders concerning, directly or indirectly, the regulation of mucus secretion, whether they are triggered by exogenous causes (insults of a chemical, physical or biological nature) or by endogenous pathological causes (due to hormonal disorders or cancerous transformations). The aim of this research is  to deepen the knowledge of the biological characteristics of cervical mucus (biochemical, biophysical, morphological and ultrastructural) as well as of the epithelium that secretes it (morphological, cellular and molecular characteristics) for the identification of diagnostic, prognostic and predictive biomarkers for disorders of the female reproductive system.

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) represents a set of conditions that have a negative impact on human health in general. Its prevalence has grown rapidly worldwide and has coincided with a global decrease in birth rates and fertility potential. The objective of this systematic review will be to explore whether metabolic syndrome has an effect on female fertility.

The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to evaluate the association between single nucleotide genetic polymorphisms (SNPs) and idiopathic male infertility. Several SNPs have been studied to explore their role in the pathophysiology of male idiopathic infertility and have been associated with altered spermatogenesis in infertile men, but their studies report inconsistent results.