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January 2007 - present
January 1996 - present
January 1996 - present
Publications
Publications (46)
In recent years, nutrition has attracted attention and interest from the scientific community, as it has emerged as a
fundamental player in improving lifespan and healthspan by preventing non-communicable ageing-related diseases.
Preclinical studies have shown that caloric restriction and periodic fasting extend the lifespan in animal models, preve...
Cerebral cavernous malformations (CCM) are lesions affecting brain capillaries that appear with a mulberry-like morphology. This shape results from the enlarged and tangled microvessels having defective endothelial cell junctions, few surrounding pericytes and dense extracellular collagen-rich matrix. Three genes KRIT1, CCM2 and PDCD10 are linked t...
Background:
The thyroid gland is one of the largest endocrine glands in the body. The vast majority of TCs (> 90%) originate from follicular cells and are defined as differentiated thyroid cancers (DTC) and the two histological subtypes are the papillary TC with its variants and the follicular TC. Curcumin possesses a wide variety of biological fu...
Background
Autosomal recessive forms of retinitis punctata albescens (RPA) have been described. RPA is characterized by progressive retinal degeneration due to alteration in visual cycle and consequent deposit of photopigments in retinal pigment epithelium. Five loci have been linked to RPA onset. Among these, the retinaldehyde-binding protein 1 ge...
Neurofibromas are the hallmark lesions in Neurofibromatosis 1 (NF1); these tumors are classified as cutaneous, subcutaneous and plexiform. In contrast to cutaneous and subcutaneous neurofibromas, plexiform neurofibromas can grow quickly and progress to malignancy. Curcumin, a turmeric-derived polyphenol, has been shown to interact with several mole...
The human gastrointestinal tract (GIT) is inhabited by a wide cluster of microorganisms that play protective, structural, and metabolic functions for the intestinal mucosa. Gut microbiota is involved in the barrier functions and in the maintenance of its homeostasis. It provides nutrients, participates in the signaling network, regulates the epithe...
Objective
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is characterized by phenotypic heterogeneity and has a wide variety of consequences. Approximately half of women with PCOS are overweight or obese, and their obesity may be a contributing factor to PCOS pathogenesis through different mechanisms. The aim of this study was to evaluate if PCOS alone affects t...
Adipose tissue, defined as white adipose tissue (WAT) and brown adipose tissue (BAT), is a biological caloric reservoir; in response to over-nutrition it expands and, in response to energy deficit, it releases lipids. The WAT primarily stores energy as triglycerides, whereas BAT dissipates chemical energy as heat. In mammals, the BAT is a key site...
In the present article, we provide a brief review of current knowledge regarding the effects induced by physical exercise on hippocampus. Research involving animals and humans supports the view that physical exercise, enhancing hippocampal neurogenesis and function, improves cognition, and regulates mood. These beneficial effects depend on the cont...
The basal forebrain (BF) cholinergic system has an important role in attentive functions. The cholinergic system can be activated by different inputs, and in particular, by orexin neurons, whose cell bodies are located within the postero-lateral hypothalamus. Recently the orexin-producing neurons have been proved to promote arousal and attention th...
Osteopontin (OPN) is a multifunctional protein mainly associated with bone metabolism and remodeling. Besides its physiological functions, OPN is implicated in the pathogenesis of a variety of disease states, such as obesity and osteoporosis. Importantly, during the last decades obesity and osteoporosis have become among the main threats to health...
Posture is human fundamental ability that deals with the scientific and clinical study of body position in space, in order of maintaining balance in both static and dynamic conditions, in relation to the psychic functions, biochemical and somatosensory individual for the maintenance or achievement of health status. The aim of the present study was...
The thyroid is one of the metabolism regulating glands. Its function is to determine the amount of calories that the body has to burn to maintain normal weight. Thyroiditides are inflammatory processes that mainly result in autoimmune diseases. We have conducted the present study in order to have a clear picture of both autoimmune status and the co...
Introduction: The high prevalence of childhood obesity is a public health problem across the world, because it is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, hypertension, hyperlipidemia and insulin resistance. The aim of this study was to investigate the lifestyle, body composition, and to detect any possible behavioral effects and potential repercu...
Neurofibromatosis type 1 ( NF 1) is an autosomal dominant genetic condition caused by dominant loss‐of‐function mutations of the tumor suppressor gene NF 1 that encodes neurofibromin, a negative regulator of RAS activity. Mutation analysis of NF 1 located at 17q11.2 has been hampered by the large size of the gene, the high rate of new mutations, th...
Obesity is a public health disease and its incidence is steadily increasing both in adults and in children especially in the Western World. It is important to understand the underlying mechanisms of obesity and possible treatments as the orexin system with its receptors, which are involved in different physiological processes. In fact, the aim of t...
Alarming increase in incidence of cardiovascular disease is result of a nutrition pattern characterized by an increase in consumption of fats, cholesterol, sugar and other refined carbohydrates, concomitant with low consumption of polyunsaturated fatty acids and fibers. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of the monacolin K of re...
Objective: Study the co-relationship between thyroid status, obesity and macular thickness (MT) since from ophthalmic point of view, regulation of the aqueous-lipid balance resulted altered.
Methods: Obese patients (40), 20 males and 20 females, aging between 30-50 years have been enrolled in this study. All patients underwent to both biochemical a...
Abstract Flavin-containing mono-oxygenases (FMOs) are a family of microsomal chemical- and drug-metabolizing enzymes. FMO3 is a major FMO form in adult mouse and human liver. FMO3 mutations have been associated with the incidence and severity of trimethylaminuria (TMAU), a metabolic disorder characterized by the inability of the affected individual...
Introduction
Trimethylaminuria is a rare inherited disorder due to decreased metabolism of dietary-derived trimethylamine by flavin-containing monooxygenase 3. Several single nucleotide polymorphisms of the flavin-containing monooxygenase 3 gene have been described and result in an enzyme with decreased or abolished functional activity for trimethy...
Background and aims: Obesity, a condition born in the rich countries of the West, is rising in the rest of the world. The developing countries are adopting the eating habits and the lifestyle of the rich countries. The purpose of this study was to evaluate, on obese subjects, the effect of a diet therapy with weekly control with respect to the effe...
The N-oxygenation of amines by the human flavin-containing monooxygenase (form 3) (FMO3) represents an important means for the conversion of lipophilic nucleophilic heteroatom-containing compounds into more polar and readily excreted products. In healthy individuals, virtually all Trimethylamine (TMA) are metabolized to Trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO...
Idiopathic scoliosis (IS) is a largely diffused disease in human population although its pathogenesis is still unknown. There is a relationship between IS phenotype and the patient age, since in the early stage the pathology shows a ratio of 50% between male and female childhood. During puberty the sex mainly involved into manifestation of disease...
Benign prostatic hyperplasia is a nonmalignant enlargement of the prostate that commonly occurs in older men. We show that liver X receptor (Lxr)- knockout mice (lxr/) develop ventral pros- tate hypertrophy, correlating with an overaccumulation of secreted proteins in prostatic ducts and an alteration of vesicular trafficking in epithelial cell...
Coffee is a beverage with large range of caffeine concentrations, which depend upon the methodology of beverage preparation and type of coffee. The annual amount of coffee consumed per person is about 4 kg in USA and about 3 kg in United Kingdom. In recent years a number of studies have suggested potential health benefits associated with consumptio...
Aging is associated with a redistribution of both fat and lean tissue within the body. There are distinct sex-dependent differences in the regional fat distribution. Women carry more fat subcutaneously whereas men carry more fat viscerally. During menopause, not only are there hormonal changes, but they also directly affect the distribution of subc...
Idiopathic scoliosis (IS) is a largely diffused disease in human population but its pathogenesis is still unknown. There is a relationship between scoliotic phenotype and the patient age, since in the early stage the pathology shows a ratio of 50% between male and female teenagers. During puberty the sex ratio is 8.4/1 (female/male), suggesting a s...
The HG is a compound tubulo-alveolar gland located in the orbital cavity of the majority of vertebrates. In the golden hamster it shows a clear cut sexual dimorphism in both morphological and biochemical parameters such as cell types, protein pattern, lipid metabolism, porphyrin content, steroid hormone receptor expression. In a previous study we f...
Vitamin A and its principal biologically active derivative, retinoic acid (RA), play a fundamental role in diverse processes, such as proliferation, differentiation, morphogenesis, metabolism and apoptosis of many types of cells. In addition, RA has been shown to be involved in the regulation of testicular function. These effects are mediated by in...
This experiment evaluated the induction of RNA synthesis in neurons of various cerebral areas during hyperthermia induced by an intracerebroventricular injection of orexin A. The firing rates of the sympathetic nerves to interscapular brown adipose tissue, along with interscapular brown adipose tissue and colon temperatures, and heart rate were mon...
In mammals, retinoic acid is involved in the regulation of testicular function by interaction with two families of nuclear receptors, retinoic acid receptor (RAR) and retinoid X receptor (RXR). Among RAR isoforms, the testicular cells of the lizard were found to express only RARα (3.7 kb) and RARβ (3.4 kb) mRNAs, as reported here. In this study, th...
The steroid/thyroid hormone receptors are members of a very large family of nuclear-activated transcription factors. These receptors play a crucial role in most biological function, including regulation of development, metabolism, behaviour and reproduction. Among androgen receptor (AR), we have recently demonstrated that its expression in the Hard...
The androgen receptor (AR) must be considered a transcription factor belonging to the steroid-thyroid hormones receptor superfamily. Previous results gained from the Harderian gland, a tubulo-alveolar gland located in the orbital cavity of the golden hamster, indicate that Harderian gland cells express mRNAs encoding for androgen, glucocorticoid, t...
The hamster Harderian gland (HG), a compound tubuloalveolar gland located in the orbital cavity, displays sex dimorphism. The present study focuses on the sequence analysis of a cDNA clone named MHG07 and on the regulation of its expression by steroid hormones. MHG07 mRNA (5.0 kb) is expressed in male HG only. The MHG07 cDNA (1.74 kb) shows an ORF...
The network of hormonal and non-hormonal signals required for testicular activity during the reproductive cycle of the seasonal breeding lizard, Podarcis sicula, are not yet well understood. Androgens are significantly involved in meiosis and spermiogenesis, and such an effect is mediated through their receptor (AR). Estrogens also affect the testi...