Publications by authors named "Giulia Casu"

Introduction: Infertility often brings profound emotional challenges, intertwining the desire for parenthood with the complexities of communication within and beyond the couple. Existing scales fall short of fully capturing these nuances, prompting the development of the Infertility Concern Questionnaire (ICQ), which uniquely addresses both the parental desire and communication dimensions.

Methods: The ICQ was completed by 350 opposite-sex infertile couples from Brazil, aged 22-58 years, who were undergoing fertility treatment.

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Fibromyalgia is a debilitating syndrome characterized by persistent pain. Emerging evidence highlights the role of emotional and cognitive processes in modulating pain experience. Anger, for example, can influence pain and patients' adjustment to the disease.

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This study aimed to quantitatively assess trunk and cervical non-neutral postures assumed by surgeons during the performance of routine open procedures. Indeed, musculoskeletal disorders are frequently reported by surgeons, especially at the head and neck level, due to the prolonged time spent in ergonomically challenging postures. Therefore, the posture of fourteen surgeons was monitored using wearable inertial sensors (and processed according to the ISO 11226 standard) by considering the effect of different surgical specialties (thyroid vs.

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This study mainly intended to examine whether the objective motor and visuospatial measures assessed in school-aged children predicted the evaluations expressed by their teachers. Moreover, it was investigated whether the pupils identified by their teachers as those with the poorest visuospatial skills also exhibited the worst performance in an instrumentally administered functional mobility task using wearable inertial sensors. Non-verbal fluid reasoning, visuospatial fluency, spatial understanding, and mobility (i.

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Construction is considered amongst the highest risk sectors for the development of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) considering the large number of unfavourable environmental and task-specific factors typical in this sector. Thus, it is important to have quantitative tools to support the assessment of the exposure to physical MSD risk factors. We employed wearable inertial sensors (ISs) to perform a real-world characterisation of static postures and repetitive movements involving the trunk and upper arms (UA), among 15 workers during 2 hours of their regular shifts.

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Order picking tasks require repetitive trunk and upper arms movements that may increase the risk of developing musculoskeletal disorders, particularly among older workers due to the decline of their physical capabilities with aging. We proposed an approach based on a limited number of wearable inertial sensors to assessed exposures to non-neutral trunk and upper arms postures among both older and young workers during their regular work-shifts. The obtained data were processed accordingly to international standards (ISO 11226 and EN 1005-4) to detect the existence of possible differences associated with age-specific working strategies.

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Introduction: Urgent calls for research on the relationship between climate change concerns and eating disorder risk have been made. This study aimed to validate an Italian version of the Eating-Related Eco-Concern Questionnaire (EREC), a brief unidimensional measure of eating behaviors related to eco-concern.

Methods: Six hundred and sixty-three adults (85% females, mean age 37 ± 12 years) completed the EREC, Climate Change Worry Scale (CCWS), Eating Disorder Examination-Questionnaire (EDE-Q), Eating Habits Questionnaire for orthorexia nervosa symptoms (EHQ-21), and questions on dietary habits and motivations, and past experiences of extreme climate events.

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: Women undergoing genetic counseling for hereditary breast cancer often experience a high emotional burden. Distress and stress in the initial phases of genetic counseling can be significant predictors of long-term psychological health, influencing quality of life and well-being. : This study aimed to evaluate the mediating role of psychophysical stress in the relationship of anxiety and depression with quality of life and well-being in women undergoing genetic counseling for BRCA1/2 mutations.

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Background/objectives: This cross-national study focuses on adolescents who provide care and support to family members or significant others. Current evidence regarding their mental health and solutions to strengthen it is limited and mostly available in a few countries. The aim of this study is to evaluate the results of a primary prevention intervention for improving the mental health and well-being of adolescent young carers (AYCs) aged 15-17 years in six European countries.

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Adolescence and emerging adulthood are two life stages marked by notable cognitive and socioemotional changes. During both periods, friendships play an increasingly significant role and can significantly impact individuals positively or negatively. Despite the evolving nature of these relationships, parents remain crucial to the development of both adolescents and emerging adults, playing a key role in their well-being.

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Introduction: We investigated whether structured maternal lifestyle interventions based on Mediterranean diet or stress reduction influence fetal-infant neurodevelopment detected by detailed fetal neurosonography and Ages and Stages Questionnaires 3rd edition (ASQ) at 12 months old.

Methods: This was a secondary analysis of a randomized clinical trial (2017-2020), including 1,221 singleton pregnancies at high risk for small-for-gestational age. Participants were randomized into three groups at 19-23 weeks' gestation: Mediterranean diet intervention, stress reduction program, or usual care.

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Purpose: We investigated the influence of passive arm-support exoskeleton (ASE) with different levels of torque (50, 75, and 100%) on upper arm osteokinematics.

Methods: Twenty participants completed a cyclic overhead drilling task with and without ASE. Task duration, joint angles, and angular acceleration peaks were analyzed during ascent and descent phases of the dominant upper arm.

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Introduction: Positive sexuality, defined as the happiness and fulfillment individuals derive from their sexual experiences, expressions, and behaviors, has been linked to relationship satisfaction and health. However, the intricate associations between positive sexuality and relationship functioning and health indicators have rarely been explored from a network perspective. This approach, by analyzing the interconnections among these factors within a broader system, can offer insights into complex dynamics and identify key variables for targeted interventions.

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Together with the wide range of possible benefits for the rehabilitation/training of people with multiple sclerosis (pwMS) and other neurologic conditions, exposure to immersive virtual reality (VR) has often been associated with unpleasant symptoms, such as transient dizziness, headache, nausea, disorientation and impaired postural control (i.e., cybersickness).

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Article Synopsis
  • Limited research has focused on how family cancer history and emotional factors like depression and anxiety impact individuals' perceptions of cancer risk and worries, prompting this study to investigate these relationships in women undergoing genetic counseling for breast/ovarian cancer.
  • The study surveyed 178 women, 52% of whom had existing cancer diagnoses, assessing their emotional distress, cancer-related worries, risk perception, and fears related to healthcare.
  • Results indicated that higher levels of depression and anxiety correlated with increased cancer-related worries and risk perception, with healthcare-related fears acting as a mediator; it was also found that a prior cancer diagnosis raised cancer worries but not risk perception, while having more family members with cancer influenced both outcomes.
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Spinocerebellar ataxia 38 (SCA 38) is a very rare autosomal dominant inherited disorder caused by a mutation in ELOV5 gene, specifically expressed in cerebellar Purkinje cells, encoding an enzyme involved in the synthesis of fatty acids. Seven symptomatic SCA 38 patients of a Sardinian family were administered 15 sessions of cerebellar anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in a cross-over study, employing deltoid cerebellar-only (C-tDCS) and cerebello-spinal (CS-tDCS) cathodal montage. Clinical evaluation was performed at baseline (T0), after 15 sessions of tDCS (T1) and after 1 month of follow-up (T2).

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Despite the high prevalence of upper limb (UL) work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMSD) among health care workers (HCWs), little is known about their relationship with exposure to biomechanical risk factors. This study aimed to assess UL activity features under actual working conditions using two wrist-worn accelerometers. Accelerometric data were processed to obtain duration, intensity, and asymmetry of UL use in 32 HCWs during the execution of commonly performed tasks (e.

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This study was designed to determine the relationship between an observational measure of motor skills for teachers (i.e., MOQ-T), age, and some objectively assessed cognitive and motor indices.

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Stress and anxiety are frequent occurrences among pregnant women. We aimed to evaluate the effects of a Mediterranean diet intervention during pregnancy on maternal stress, well-being, and sleep quality throughout gestation. In a randomized clinical trial, 1221 high-risk pregnant women were randomly allocated into three groups at 19-23 weeks' gestation: a Mediterranean diet intervention, a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program, or usual care.

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Rehabilitation via virtual reality (VR) training tools allows repetitive, intensive, and task-specific practice in a controlled and safe environment. Our goal was to develop and validate a novel immersive VR system based on the practice of real-life activities in a kitchen environment in people with multiple sclerosis (pwMS) with upper-limb dysfunction. The novel immersive VR kitchen application includes several tasks, i.

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Introduction: The present study aimed to examine dyadic associations between attachment insecurity and emotional intimacy in same-sex male couples, and to investigate whether and how each partner's internalized homonegativity (IH) moderated these associations.

Methods: The sample included 138 same-sex male couples. Both dyad members completed self-report measures of attachment insecurity, emotional intimacy, and IH.

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Young carers provide a substantial amount of care to family members and support to friends, yet their situation has not been actively addressed in research and policy in many European countries or indeed globally. Awareness of their situation by professionals and among children and young carers themselves remains low overall. Thus, young carers remain a largely hidden group within society.

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Recently, empirical evidence from perinatal studies has led researchers to pay more attention to fathers. The need to evaluate male suffering led at first to using the same screening tools developed for mothers. However, these instruments present validity concerns with fathers, and today the need to assume a gender-based perspective is clear.

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Excessive body mass represents a serious threat to the optimal psychophysical development of children, and it is known to be able to significantly affect their locomotor capabilities, making them more prone to the development of musculoskeletal disorders. However, despite the relevant number of existing studies, a clear gait pattern of overweight children has not been defined yet, particularly in the case of a mass excess that is relatively small (i.e.

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