Maria Assunta Acquavia

• PhD Student at University of Basilicata

A temporal monitoring of monumental buildings in calcarenite, exposed outdoors in the considered Mediterranean environment of Southern Italy, was performed using XPS the surface-specific technique. The methodology adopted to monitor the surfaces interacting with atmospheric agents and biotic/abiotic pollutants has involved the progressive sampling,...

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in identifying both the macro- and micro-constituents of milk, as their functional and health benefits have been recognized. This review provides a comprehensive overview of all milk constituents, including fats, proteins, oligosaccharides and polysaccharides, vitamins, minerals and polyphenols, al...

Vicia faba L. is a leguminous plant with seeds rich in nutritional compounds, such as polyphenols and L-dopa, a dopamine precursor and first-line treatment for Parkinson’s symptoms. Recently, its by-products have been revalued as a sustainable source of bioactive compounds. In this study, aqueous extracts of Lucan broad bean pod valves (BPs) were c...

Electrophoretic deposition is a powerful tool for depositing materials onto a substrate by using an electric field; its application in biotechnological areas, namely, electrophoretic protein deposition (EPD), is the most promising for, e.g., fabricating novel amperometric biosensors. Unfortunately, EPD suffers from several drawbacks due to coupled...

L-Dopa is an intermediate amino acid in the biosynthesis of endogenous catecholamines, such as dopamine. It is currently considered to be the optimal dopaminergic treatment for Parkinson’s disease, a neurodegenerative disorder affecting around 1% of the population. In an advanced stage of the disease, complications such as dyskinesia and psychosis...

Reinforced films were fabricated by impregnating paper in ethyl cellulose solutions. After solvent evaporation, the infused ethyl cellulose acted as binder of the paper microfibres and occupied the pores and cavities, thus improving the mechanical and barrier properties. To prepare active films, avocado by-products from guacamole industrial product...

L-Dopa, a bioactive compound naturally occurring in some Leguminosae plants, is the most effective symptomatic drug treatment for Parkinson’s disease. During disease progression, fluctuations in L-DOPA plasma levels occur, causing motor complications. Sensing devices capable of rapidly monitoring drug levels would allow adjusting L-Dopa dosing, imp...

An analytical method based on ultrasound assisted extraction (UAE) and liquid chromatography coupled to electrospray tandem mass spectrometry (LC-ESI/MS/MS) was validated and applied for determining L-dopa in four ecotypes of Fagioli di Sarconi beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.), marked with the European label PGI (Protected Geographical Indication). Th...

Cannabis sativa L. has health benefits, principally due to the levels and ratios of two important cannabinoids, Δ⁹-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD). THC:CBD ratio affects their pharmacological interaction for the treatment of different diseases as well as its modulation allows for a custom-made product that utilizes the distinguishi...

For oenological products, most of the intrinsic and extrinsic drivers of perceived quality are associated with specific aromatic profiles. Aromatic diversity has been recognized as a central element in perceived quality as it is able to transmit the complex interactions between grape variety, geographical characteristics, and viticultural and winem...

L-Dopa (LD), a substance used medically in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease, is found in several natural products, such as Vicia faba L., also known as broad beans. Due to its low chemical stability, LD analysis in plant matrices requires an appropriate optimization of the chosen analytical method to obtain reliable results. This work proposes...

The chemical composition of wine samples comprises numerous bioactive compounds responsible for unique flavor and health-promoting properties. Thus, it's important to have a complete overview of the metabolic profile of new wine products in order to obtain peculiar information in terms of their phytochemical composition, quality, and traceability....

L-dopa is a precursor of dopamine used as the most effective symptomatic drug treatment for Parkinson's disease. Most of the L-dopa isolated is either synthesized chemically or from natural sources, but only some plants belonging to the Fabaceae family contain significant amounts of L-dopa. Due to its low stability, the unambiguous determination of...

The peppers of the Capsicum species are exploited in many fields, as flavoring agents in food industry, or as decorative and therapeutic plants. Peppers show a diversified phytochemical content responsible for different biological activities. Synergic activity exerted by high levels of antioxidant compounds is responsible for their important anti-i...

Bell peppers (genus Capsicum) are an excellent source of health-related compounds, such as ascorbic acid (vitamin C), carotenoids (provitamin A), tocopherols (vitamin E), flavonoids and capsaicinoids. These compounds are known for their biological activities, including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anticarcinogenic properties. Over the past de...

Surfactants are surface‐active agents widely used in numerous applications in our daily lives as personal care products, domestic, and industrial detergents. To determine complex mixtures of surfactants and their degradation products, unselective and rather insensitive methods, based on colorimetric and complexometric analyses are no longer employa...

Apples represent a greater proportion of the worldwide fruit supply, due to their availability on the market and to the high number of existing cultivar varieties and apple-based products (fresh fruit, fruit juice, cider and crushed apples). Several studies on apple fruit metabolites are available, with most of them focusing on their healthy proper...

The overproduction of reactive oxygen species and the exposure of the human body to free radicals contribute to the aetiology of many chronic health problems, such as cardiovascular disease and cancer. Supplementation with natural antioxidants could be helpful, preventing free-radical-induced tissue damage through the inhibition of the radicals’ fo...

Chronic wounds result from the failure of the normal wound healing process. Any delay during the tissue repair process could be defined as chronic wound healing, potentially having a highly detrimental impact on human health. To face this problem, in the last years, the use of different technologies alternative to therapeutic agents is gaining more...

Conventional petroleum-derived plastics represent a serious problem for global pollution because, when discarded in the environment, are believed to remain for hundreds of years. In order to reduce dependence on fossil resources, bioplastic materials are being proposed as safer alternatives. Bioplastics are bio-based and/or biodegradable materials,...

Pistacia lentiscus shows a long range of biological activities, and it has been used in traditional medicine for treatment of various kinds of diseases. Moreover, related essential oil keeps important health-promoting properties. However, less is known about P. lentiscus hydrosol, a main by-product of essential oil production, usually used for stea...

Since coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) started as a fast-spreading pandemic, causing a huge number of deaths worldwide, several therapeutic options have been tested to counteract or reduce the clinical symptoms of patients infected with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Currently, no specific drugs for COVID-19 ar...

Rationale The anionic surfactants, among which are alkyl ether sulfates (AESs), are the most used class of surfactants in cleansing applications. The negatively charged head group of AESs is a sulfate moiety linked with a variable number of ethylene oxide units, i.e. a polyethylene glycol chain. The hydrophobic part of an AES is constituted by a li...

Interest in targeted profiling of quercetin glycoconjugates occurring in edible foodstuffs continues to expand because of their recognized beneficial health effects. Quercetin derivatives encompass several thousands of chemically distinguishable compounds, among which there are several compounds with different glycosylations and acylations. Since r...

Soyasaponins are oleanene-type triterpenoid saponins, naturally occurring in many edible plants that have attracted a great deal of attention for their role in preventing chronic diseases. The aim of this study was to establish the distribution and the content of soyasaponins in 21 ecotypes of Fagioli di Sarconi beans (Phaseolus vulgaris, Leguminos...