Valeria Polzonetti

• Università di Camerino

The study of the impact of polyQ expansion driven proteotoxicity on cell metabolism has evi-denced NAD molecule as a central player in regulating metabolic response and cell repair in neurodegeneration. The decline in NAD intracellular levels represents a hallmark of ageing aris-ing from a dysregulation between NAD-consuming and biosynthetic enzyma...

Background. Adequate nutritional intake is crucial for preserving the balance between load and recovery, which is essential for optimizing athletes’ health and performance. This is particularly true for high-level young athletes, where it is uncertain whether they meet the necessary nutritional requirements throughout a competitive season. The pres...

The self-assembling behavior, secondary structure, and surface hydrophobicity of purified donkey β-casein in terms of pH, temperature, and buffer concentration were investigated in comparison with commercial bovine β-casein. Critical micelle concentration of both β-caseins decreased with the lowering of pH (pH 8.0-6.0) and the increasing temperatur...

The quality parameters of cappuccinos prepared with pasteurized milk or ultra-high-temperature milk steam-injected at different temperatures by a professional coffee machine have been assessed. In particular, the protein profile, the content of vitamins and lactose, the lipid peroxidation process, and the involvement of milk proteins in the foam fo...

Academic students’ skills and learning styles are key factors that can affect the academic permanence and/or contribute to dropping out. This paper presents a preliminary study conducted to investigate about the relationship between specific learning styles and socio-cultural conditions by machine learning techniques. The analyses were performed on...

This study focuses on the evaluation of microfoam, produced from processed dairy milk using a steamer of the espresso machine, as a function of temperature (30–80 °C), milk type (pasteurised or UHT), and whey protein content. Foam characteristics, i.e., foam stability, viscosity, bubble size distribution noticeably varied depending on milk processi...

Gluten-free diets are often characterized by an inadequate intake of nutrients and are generally monotonous for the limited number of products celiac patients can use. As rice is the most used cereal by celiac consumers, studying rice varieties nutritional characteristics is of interest to manage diet quality and variety. Proteins, total carbohydra...

Background: Whole milk is a good source of all the nutrients, and it also contains a sufficient number of vitamins to permit regular the growth of the neonate. Dairy cow milk can create allergy in infants less than 12 months old because of the high caseins and β-lactoglobulin content. In these circumstances, donkey milk can represent a good replac...

Background: In the scientific literature, there are only a few manuscripts available on small animal faecal proteomics. Methods: In the present pilot study, this evaluation was performed using pooled faecal samples from 10 clinically healthy dogs and, for the first time, in 10 clinically healthy cats by mean of two-dimensional electrophoresis fo...

Los servicios de orientación y tutoría de la Universidad de Camerino en Italia suportan desde el 2015 el trabajo de investigación, empezado durante un programa de doctorado, que tiene el objetivo de mejorar el rendimiento académico de los estudiantes de los cursos STEM (Ciencia, Tecnología, Ingeniería y Matemáticas) y disminuir el abandono. Las con...

Resumen Las universidades deben comprometerse a promover actividades que nutran la orientación personal y de tutoría para la finalización exitosa de los estudios. Esto en Italia se hace también gracias a fondos como el Plan Nacional de Orientación y Tutoría (POT). La Universidad Italiana de Camerino (Unicam) ha enfrentado durante mucho tiempo el de...

Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) is a nontransfusional hemocomponent, considered as a powerful concentrate of growth factors (GFs) therapeutically used to stimulate tissue regeneration. The use of autologous PRP, as the patient's own biological material, for therapeutic purposes represents a safe and effective alternative to conventional treatments in bo...

The aim of this study was to compare the carcass characteristics and the chemical and physical parameters of the meat produced by 10 male crossbred donkeys and 10 male mules slaughtered at 16 ± 1 years of age. The carcass weight and dressing percentage were significantly (p < 0.05) higher in mules. Samples of the muscle Longissimus thoracis (LT) we...

Background: Donkey milk is used in infant nutrition for the treatment of children affected by cow’s milk protein allergy, thanks to its hypo-allergenicity, mainly due to its protein profile, which is very close to that of human milk. Furthermore, donkey milk is characterized by the presence of a fair amount of bioactive proteins, that may have a po...

The pungent aroma of garlic is associated to the formation of organosulfur compounds (OSCs) through alliinase activation. Therefore, to alleviate garlic pungency, food treatment preventing the formation of thiosulfinates (allicin) are needed. This study aims thus, to study the effect of marination on garlic OSCs to assess the efficiency of this pro...

Kefir is a type of fermented milk obtained thanks to the introduction of “kefir grains” in mammalian milk. Kefir grains consist of lactic and acetic acid bacteria and yeasts in alternative proportions that are held together by a matrix of complex sugars known as “kefiran”. Thanks to the fermentative process the kefir milk is rich in nutraceutical s...

Background: Vitamin D and calcium are important dietary compounds that affect bone mass, even if other minerals (potassium, zinc, etc.) and vitamins (A, C and K) are also involved. Vitamin D and certain minerals, in fact, play an important role in calcium homeostasis and calcium absorption. Hip fracture incidence is higher in Europe and the United...

Withania somnifera (WS) is a traditional Ayurvedic herb. In addition to Ayurveda texts, the modern medical literature reports many potential health benefits of WS, including its possible use as a supplement as an er-gogenic aid. Only recently, the efficacy of WS as an adjuvant to resistance training programmes was assessed. Most of the studies inve...

Background: Vitamin D and calcium are important dietary compounds that affect bone mass, even if other minerals (potassium, zinc, etc.) and other vitamins (A, C and K) are also involved. Vitamin D and other minerals, in fact, play an important role in calcium homeostasis and calcium absorption. Hip fractures incidence is higher in western countries...

Beside skeletal system maintenance and protection, possible extra-calcium roles of vitamin D have been recently described. In particular, studies have investigated possible roles of vitamin D as a key modulator of inflammation and immune mechanisms and of the intestinal mucosa barrier. In this regard, vitamin D has been considered as a factor that...

Background: Vitamin D and calcium are the most important dietary compounds that affect bone mass, even if other minerals (potassium, zinc, etc.) and other vitamins (A, C and K) are also involved. Vitamin D, in fact, plays an important role in calcium homeostasis and calcium absorption. Talking about calcium, it is well known the “calcium paradox”:...

In the last decade, many authors have reported low viability for probiotic products. Investigators commonly find they are not meeting claimed active counts and/or incorrect species and/or strains have been identified. We have therefore decided to verify viability, the real dose and species correspondence in nine probiotic products (seven nutritiona...

Despite reports are still equivocal, in recent years different studies reported how strength training can impact positively on long-term endurance performance. Strength training can both induce positive adaption related to neuro-muscular-mechanical aspects (e.g. increased proportion of type IIA muscle fibres, increased maximal muscle strength and r...

The Everesting bike attempt (repeat any hill, anywhere in the world until you climb the altitude of 8848 m, the equivalent height of M. Everest) is becoming an increasingly popular challenge. Physical and metabolic stress to which the body will be exposed during an effort like this are unusual. Parallelly athlete's performance optimization represen...

Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) (WS) is an herb utilized in Ayurvedic traditional Indian medicine [1]. In addition to Ayurveda writings, modern medical literature reports many potential health benefits of WS including its possible supplementation as an ergogenic aid. Traditional Ayurveda explicitly describes utilization of ashwagandha toward “bala...

Introduction: Eating behaviours and nutritional status are key factors related to individuals’ health. In athletes, diet optimisation has a key role in training adaptation achievement, injury prevention and good health status maintenance. However, nowadays it is still common to find diet behaviours not optimised with an increased risk of energy/nut...

Background: Nutritional status assessment of the individual is a key aspect in the monitoring of health status. In this context, body composition evaluation results are of fundamental importance. Several body composition techniques can be used depending on the information needed and the examined categories, and all the techniques are characterized...

How, then, can we make a change to widen the learning prospects of younger generations? The answer is in finding ways to improve awareness in students, to help them find the intrinsic motivation that can spark off a revolution in the way an individual conceives of their learning. Every intelligence can improve its performance when immersed in an ex...

Neuropathic pain is caused by a lesion or disease of the somatosensory nervous system and has a considerable impact on the quality of life. Neuropathic pain has a dynamic and complex aetiology and gives heterogeneous symptoms across patients; therefore, it represents an important clinical challenge. Current pharmacological treatment includes tricyc...

Pre-exercise meal is fundamental to support athletes to achieve training adaptation and maximize performance. Different strategies have been studied to improve performance or to cope with athlete’s special needs or training conditions. Parallelly, it has been reported how food consumption may have a profound effect on body’s metabolic rate and oxyg...

Caseins are a family of proteins constituted by α-caseins (αs-1 and αs-2 caseins), β-caseins and κ-caseins. β-caseins, in particular, show a temperature and concentration-dependent self-assembling behaviour. Recently, β-casein micelles have been proposed as natural nanocarriers for the delivery of hydrophobic compounds, promoting their bioavailabil...

This article originates from a PhD research project in Development of new approaches to teaching and learning Natural and Environmental Sciences dealing with the analysis of the causes of low academic yield and the dropout of students enrolled in scientific faculties. Research has led us to study theories of learning styles, useful to understand th...

Nicotinamide, nicotinic acid, nicotinamide mononucleotide, nicotinamide riboside and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide represent key metabolites through which a variety of cellular processes is regulated. Here, we report a quantitative, simultaneous determination of nicotinamide mononucleotide, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide and their pyridine p...

Academic didactics has started implementing pedagogic strategies that overcome the traditional frontal lecture to reach a new aim: supporting the learning process. According to the leading connectivism principles, which are revolutionizing education, learning processes are a complex and dynamic concept. On one side, new technologies are promoted to...

Academic didactics has started implementing pedagogic strategies that overcome the traditional frontal lecture to reach a new aim: supporting the learning process. According to the leading connectivism principles, which are revolutionizing education, learning processes are a complex and dynamic concept. On one side, new technologies are promoted to...

Nicotinamide, nicotinic acid, nicotinamide mononucleotide, nicotinamide riboside and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide represent key metabolites through which a variety of cellular processes is regulated. Here, we report a quantitative, simultaneous determination of nicotinamide mononucleotide, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide and their pyridine p...

Obesity in now defined as “epidemic” due to the presence of a high prevalence with a steady increase of cases. The aim of this study was to investigate alimentary habits and anthropometric measurements referring to children aged 8 years attending public (state) schools in 2004 and 2015 in Fabriano (AN) located in Le Marche region in Italy and their...

In this work, the profile of the volatile compounds has been determined for the first time in fresh donkey milk and in donkey milk subjected to accelerated shelf-life test, freeze-drying and spray-drying processes. The effects of freeze-drying and spray-drying processes in donkey milk have been analyzed also on three representative whey proteins, β...

Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) is a group of polyunsaturated fatty acids that exist as positional and stereo-isomers of octadecadienoate (18:2). Among these isomers, the most studied two isomers are cis 9, trans 11-CLA and trans 10, cis 12-CLA due to their biological effects. CLA can be naturally synthesized in the rumen of ruminant animals by bact...

The effects of two different slaughter age (2 vs 5 months) on carcass traits and on meat quality obtained from muscle longissimus thoracis taken from 28 Fabrianese lambs were studied. Carcass weight and dressing percentage were significantly higher (P < 0.05) in older animals. Slaughter age affected average daily gain, that was reduced in older lam...

Donkey milk could be considered a good and safer alternative, compared to other types of milk, for infants affected by cow’s milk protein allergy, when breastfeeding is not possible. Interestingly, donkey milk has low allergenicity, mainly due to the low total casein amount, and the content of some whey proteins that act as bioactive peptides. The...

A partire dall'A.A. 2016/17, il test d'ingresso obbligatorio sulle conoscenze minime (D.M. 270/04, art. 6, comma 1) per il corso di studio in Biologia della Nutrizione (LBN) dell'Università di Camerino (UNICAM) verte oltre che sulla Matematica anche sulla Biologia e Chimica. Una adeguata preparazione in queste discipline è utile per intraprendere i...

Clams have long been a fisheries and aquaculture sector of great importance in Italy, the main resource of fisheries is the Chamelea gallina of indigenous origin, whereas clams breeding is supported almost entirely by the Tapes philippinarum, a species of Indo-Pacific origin. Bivalve molluscs quality depends mainly on the water quality, and then by...

Background & aims: The only available treatment for celiac disease (CD) is lifelong adherence to gluten free (GF)-diet. However, GF-diet may lead to possible nutrient unbalance resulting in improper nutritional quality of diet. The aim of this study is to evaluate the nutritional quality of GF-diet. Methods: MEDLINE(®)/PubMed and Cochrane Librar...

It is well known that disorders of pyrimidine pathways may lead to neurological, hematological, immunological diseases, renal impairments, and association with malignancies. Nucleotides homeostasis depends on the three portion of pyrimidine metabolism: de novo synthesis, catabolism and recycling of these metabolites. Cytidine and uridine, in additi...

The reduction of the dropout represents, at the moment, a big point of attention for all the institutions. In Italy, the percentage of population with a high level of education is dramatically lower with respect to other UE countries. The Europe 2020 strategy for growth includes strategies to improve the educational levels. University of Camerino s...

Nucleotides play a crucial role to cellular functions; they can be obtained from the diet or through the nucleotide salvage pathway, however, in particular situations (occurring mainly in newborns) the metabolic demand of nucleotides exceeds the capacity of their synthesis. These molecules, are receiving attention from a nutraceutical point of view...

Purpose: This work investigated the influence of a model protein, bovine serum albumin (BSA), on the properties of a thermogelling formulation intended for administration inside body compartments where there is high albumin content, as in the case of inflamed joints; it also explored the relation between the variation of these properties and relea...

Cow’s milk protein allergy (CMPA) is an abnormal immunological response to cow milk proteins, which results in IgE-mediated reactions. The therapeutic strategy to respond to CMPA envisages the total elimination of milk or the administration of cow’s milk substitutes. For this reason the use of milk from other mammalian species was tested. Among the...

In this work, was evaluated the stability of Bevacizumab (Avastin®) repackaged in individual 1 mL single-use syringes stored at different conditions. Bevacizumab repackaging in single-use syringes results from the off-label use of the drug as an intravitreal agent in the treatment of retinal diseases. Bevacizumab stability was assessed by assaying...

Human cytidine deaminase is an enzyme of the pyrimidine salvage pathways that metabolizes several cytosine nucleoside analogs used as prodrugs in chemotherapy. We carried out a characterization of the cytidine deaminase 79A>C and 208G>A Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms, in order to highlight their functional role and provide data that could help fin...

Aim: To assess the distribution of CDA activity from whole blood of 142 healthy subjects, determining its main predictors among genetic (six CDA SNPs) and physiological factors (age and gender). Moreover, we performed a kinetic study of the two CDA protein variants (Q27 and K27) determined by the rs2072671 SNP. Materials & methods: CDA activity...

Cytidine deaminase (CDA), is one of the enzymes involved in the pyrimidine salvage pathways, which catalyzes the formation of uridine and deoxyuridine by the hydrolytic deamination of cytidine and deoxycytidine, respectively. Human CDA is a tetrameric enzyme of identical 15 kDa subunits, each containing an essential zinc atom in the active site. Th...

Polyamines (putrescine, spermidine and spermine) are a family of molecules deriving from ornithine, through a decarboxylation process. They are essential for cell growth and proliferation, stabilization of negative charges of DNA, RNA transcription, translation and apoptosis. Recently, it has been demonstrated that exogenously administered spermidi...

Cow Milk Protein Allergy (CMPA) represents the most frequent food allergy in infancy, ranging between 2 and 7.5% of the infant population. Patients with CMPA often show allergy to other foods including powdered milk containing soy or hydrolyzed proteins [1]. The milk proteins mainly responsible for the allergy are α- and β-caseins, followed by β...

CD38 (EC 3.2.2.6, NAD(+)-glycohydrolase) is a multifunctional enzyme catalyzing the synthesis and hydrolysis of cyclic ADP-ribose from NAD(+) to ADP-ribose. The loss of CD38 function is associated with impaired immune responses, metabolic disturbances, and behavioral modifications. Notably, it has been linked to HIV infection, leukemias, myelomas,...

An association between favism (a hemolytic reaction to consumption of fava beans), glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency (G6PD(-)) and acid phosphatase locus 1 (ACP(1)) phenotypes has been reported; the frequency of carriers of the p(a) and p(c) ACP(1) alleles was found to be significantly higher in G6PD(-) individuals showing favism than in...

Since antiquity, oil obtained from the fruit of the olive (. Olea europaea) has been valued for its many medical properties. Peoples as ancient as the Egyptians have recognized the medical benefits and food-preservation properties of olives, olive oil, and olive leaf extracts. Since the 1800s, the bitter component in olives has been used in humans...

In the present work the effect of a mutation on tyrosine 33 residue (Y33G) of human cytidine deaminase (CDA) was investigated with regard to protein solubility and specific activity. Osmolytes and CDA ligands were used to increase the yield and the specific activity of the protein. The mutant enzyme was purified and subjected to a kinetic character...

We report the kinetics and molecular properties of CD38 purified from bovine lung microsomal membranes after its solubilization with Triton X-100. The enzyme was found to be a novel member of a multicatalytic NAD+-glycohydrolase (NADase, EC 3.2.2.6). It was able to utilize NAD+ in different ways, producing nicotinamide (Nam) and either adenosine di...

An investigation was made of the role exerted by some residues supposed to be involved in the intersubunit interaction and also in the catalytic site of homotetrameric human cytidine deaminase (T-CDA). Attention was focused on Y33, Y60, R68, and F137 residues that are a part of a conserved region in most T-CDAs. Hence, a series of site-directed mut...

The thermal stability of human cytidine deaminase (CDA), an enzyme involved in pyrimidine metabolism was investigated. With this in view, the residues R68 and Y60, supposed to be involved in the intersubunit interactions and in the catalytic site of CDA, were mutated to glutamine and glycine, respectively. Thermal stability experiments were perform...

Cytidine deaminase (CDA) purified from human placenta revealed the presence of five isoenzymatic forms that differ only in their isoelectric point. Since human cytidine deaminase exists in two variants (CDA 1 and CDA 2) with a non-conservative amino acid substitution at codon 27, in this work we demonstrate that these two variants may combine toget...

Anthropogenic chemicals in the aquatic environment are known to cause reproductive disturbances in vertebrate and invertebrate organisms by interfering with the endocrine systems. Large efforts have recently been devoted to dissect the mechanisms of action of xenobiotics in aquatic species, with the ultimate aim of detecting and controlling the eff...

Olive oil is the principal source of fats in the Mediterranean diet and it has been postulated that the components in olive oil can contribute to a lower incidence of coronary heart disease and cancers (prostate, colon, breast, and skin). The positive effects on human health can be attributed to the high level of phenolic compounds present in olive...

In the present work we have quantified some enzymatic activities, related to NAD+ metabolism, in lymphocytes of healthy donors and of patients affected by B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL): NADase activity for NAD+ degradation and NMN adenylyltransferase (NMNAT) activity for NAD+ biosynthesis. Most of the samples under investigation (12 B...

In the present study, the sea-bream Sparus aurata, a pelagic egg spawner, was used as experimental model, in order to establish the occurrence of apoptosis in vertebrates with external reproduction. The same female ovulates floating and nonfloating eggs, but only the former, after fertilization, proceed to embryo development. The eggs were divided...

The catabolic pathway of nicotinamide adenin dinucleotide (NAD) in cultured pheochromocytoma rat cells (PC12) was investigated. The first evidence obtained in these studies was that, despite inducing cell differentiation, NGF treatment did not modify NAD catabolism. Following incubation of PC12 homogenate with NAD, ADP-ribose, AMP, IMP, and HYP was...

The cell egg is in a state of quiescence and only after its fusion with the sperm, a series of pre‐programmed metabolic processes will be activated, culminating with embryonic development. The egg/sperm fusion induces a transitory increase of Ca ²⁺ in the cytoplasm, which is responsible for the activation of both precocious and late reactions. The...

NAD(P)(+)-glycohydrolase (NADase, EC 3.2.2.6) was partially purified from microsomal membranes of human spleen after solubilization with Triton X-100. In addition to NAD+ and NADP+, the enzyme catalyzed the hydrolysis of several NAD+ analogues and the pyridine base exchange reaction with conversion of NAD+ into 3-acetylpyridine adenine dinucleotide...

The purification procedure of NMN adenylyltransferase from bull testis presented here consists of a heat step and an acidic precipitation followed by four chromatographic steps, including dye ligand, adsorption and hydrophobic chromatography. The final enzyme preparation subjected to non-denaturing and denaturating PAGE with silver nitrate staining...

NMN adenylyltransferase (NMNAT) reversibly catalyzes the synthesis of NAD+ or NaAD+ from ATP and NMN or NaMN. In this work, we describe a continuous coupled spectrophotometric assay that can be rapidly and routinely used in place of the previous cumbersome two-step assay. The reaction rates measured with the coupled assay display a linear dependenc...

Ring cleavage of 2-Nitrocycloalkanones with methanol/Amberlyst A 21 gave methyl ω-nitroalkanoates, O2NCH2(CH2)(n)CO2Me where n = 3-6, 8-10,13, in high yield. Subsequent Nef reaction gave the corresponding ω-oxo compounds which were isolated, in the case of methyl 7-oxoheptanoate and methyl 8-oxooctanoate only, or reduced directly with sodium borohy...