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Recently, there has been increasing interest of using nonconventional starch adjuncts, such as buckwheat, not only due to its distinctive taste but also to increase the polyphenol content of the beer, and thus, its antioxidant capacity. The objective of this study was to examine technological profile of sweet wort made with unmalted buckwheat adjunct substitute. Wort was prepared in five variants: 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% and 30% of buckwheat adjunct substitute. The results showed that partial replacement of barley malt with buckwheat adjunct in higher amount of 20% and 30% had a negative effect on the saccharification, filtration time and led to decrease of extract content of wort. The colour of the congress wort with higher addition of buckwheat increased, on the contrary, the turbidity decreased. On the other hand, substitute with buckwheat adjunct positively increased total polyphenols, flavonoids and phenolic acids content of examined wort. The highest content of total polyphenols (197.10 mg/g), flavonoids (71.96 mg/g) phenolic acids (46.97 mg/g) was found in samples with 30% buckwheat adjunct. The results demonstrate that the unmalted buckwheat as starchy adjunct in application up to 15% did not negatively affected wort technological profile and can be recommended in the production of the unhopped worth without adjustment of mashing process.

Formulating basic food to improve its nutritional profile is one potential method for food innovation. One option in formulating basic food such as bread is to supplement flours with specified amounts of non-bakery raw materials with high nutritional benefits. In the research presented here, we studied the influence of the addition of curcumin and quercetin extracts in amounts of 2.5% and 5% to wheat flour (2.5:97.5; 5:95). The analysis of the rheological properties of dough was carried out using a Mixolab 2. A Rheofermentometer F4 was used to assess the dough’s fermentation, and a Volscan was used to evaluate the baking trials. The effect of the extracts on the rheological properties of dough was measured and found to be statistically significant, with curcumin shortening both dough development time and dough stability. Doughs made with greater quantities of extract had a greater tendency to early starch retrogradation, which negatively affects the shelf life of the end products. The addition of extracts did not significantly affect either the ability to form gas during fermentation or its retention, which is important because this gas is prerequisite to forming a final product with the required volume and porosity of crumb. Less favourable results were found on sensory evaluation, wherein the trial bread was significantly worse than the control wheat bread. The panel’s decision-making might have been influenced by the atypical colour of the bread made with additives, and in case of a trial bread made with quercetin, by a bitter taste. From the technological point of view, the results confirmed that the composite flours prepared with the addition of extracts of curcumin and quercetin in amounts of 2.5% and 5% can be processed according to standard procedures. The final product will be bread with improved nutritional profile and specific sensory properties, specifically an unconventional and attractive colour.

We introduce and discuss the concept of n-ary K-increasing fusion functions and n-ary K-increasing aggregation functions, K being a subset of the index set {1,…,n} indicating in which variables a considered function is increasing. It is also assumed that this function is decreasing in all other variables. We show that each n-ary K-increasing aggregation function is generated by some aggregation function which enables us to introduce and study the properties of n-ary K-increasing aggregation functions related to the properties of their generating aggregation functions. In particular, we also discuss binary K-increasing aggregation functions, including fuzzy implication and complication functions, among others.

In this paper, we study relations between fuzzy implicators and some kinds of fuzzy conjunctors, in particular, quasi-copulas and copulas. We show that there is a one-to-one correspondence between the classes of all quasi-copulas and 1-Lipschitz fuzzy implicators. A similar relation holds for copulas and 2-increasing 1-Lipschitz fuzzy implicators. Based on these relations, we introduce, discuss and exemplify several new construction methods for fuzzy implicators, and also discuss several dualities on the class of all 1-Lipschitz fuzzy implicators. In addition, we introduce a construction method for fuzzy implicators based on any two copulas and a Lebesgue integrable fuzzy implicator, and discuss some of its special cases.

Natural substances, such as amygdalin, used in alternative medicine gained high popularity. Common people as well as patients with different diseases have almost unlimited access to various natural supplements. To protect human health, it is very important to study effect of these substances. Amygdalin is a cyanogenic glucoside derived from seeds of rosaceous plants, for example seeds of bitter almonds (Prunus dulcis), or apricot, cherry, apple, peach, plum, etc. It is a natural product that owns antitumor activity, it has also been used for the treatment of asthma, bronchitis, emphysema, leprosy and diabetes and produces a kind of antitussive and antiasthmatic effects. The present in vivo study was designed to reveal whether amygdalin in apricot seeds has got an effect on human urine composition, pH value and urine associated health status after six weeks of oral administration. The study group finally consisted of 34 healthy adult volunteers (21 females and 13 males). All participants were asked to consume 60 mg.kg-1 body weight of bitter apricot seeds daily (approximately 3.0 mg.kg-1 of amygdalin) during 6 weeks. During the experiment, three urine collections were carried out (first collection - at the beginning of the experiment; second collection - after 21 days; third collection - after 42 days). Quantification of urine calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), phosphorus (P), sodium (Na), potassium (K), chlorides (Cl-), urea and pH value after apricot seeds supplementation was performed. Statistical analysis of variance showed, that consumption of bitter apricot seeds during 42 days had a significant (p p p

The distribution of fat in different areas of the body is important since accumulation of fat within the abdominal cavity represents a much more severe cardiovascular risk than accumulation in subcutaneous adipose tissues. Apricot seeds contain a wide variety of bioactive compounds and that consumption can decrease blood pressure and total blood cholesterol levels, fight oxidative stress and maintain body weight. The aim of the study was to analyse body composition: body fat mass (BFM), fat free mass (FFM), skeletal muscle mass (SMM), body fat percentage (%BFM), visceral fat area (VFA), total body water (TBW) - intracellular water (ICW) and extracellular water (ECW) and to evaluate the changes that occur after 6-weeks consumption of bitter apricot seeds. The study group finally consisted of 34 healthy adults volunteers (21 females and 13 males). Volunteers were recruited from the general population of Slovakia. Respondents were 23 - 65 years old, where the average age of women was 40.65 ±11.31 years and the average age of men was 36.91 ±9.98 years. All participants were asked to consume 60 mg.kg-1 of body weight of bitter apricot seeds daily during 6 weeks. Body composition was diagnosed by multi-frequency bioelectrical impedance analysis (MFBIA) by InBody 720 (Biospace Co., Korea), which measures the total impedance at frequencies of 1, 5, 50, 100, 500, 1000 kHz. At baseline mean body weight was 85.78 ±14.66 and 62.84 ±12.19 kg in the male and female participants, respectively. After 6 weeks of consumation we observed non-significant decreasing of mean body weight. The mean BFM was 19.25 ±8.81 kg in the male group and 19.47 ±7.21 kg in the female group. After six weeks, BFM decreased non-significantly (on average 0.5 kg) in both groups. The mean FFM at baseline was 43.37 ±5.98 and 66.54 ±7.98 kg in the female and male participants, respectively. The statistical analysis confirmed that the increase of FFM (43.37 ±5.98 kg to 43.56 ±5.80 kg) in the female were statistically significant (p 2 at baseline and 78.65 ±39.79 cm2 after 6 weeks) comparison to women (79.82 ±29.03 cm2 at baseline and 78.29 ±29.90 cm2 after 6 weeks). The mean of TBW in males before the start of study was 48.78 ±5.77 kg and 47.88 ±5.57 kg after 6 weeks of consumption. The results of study show the small weight loss in the both group. Therefore, the results from this study indicate that daily consumption of bitter apricot seeds produce measurable health benefits, but further studies are also required.

Amygdalin is the major cyanogenic glycoside present in apricot seeds and is degraded to cyanide by chewing or grinding. The animal data available did not provide a suitable basis for acute human health hazard. The apricot seeds are potentially useful in human nutrition and for treatment of several diseases especially cancer. The present study demonstrates the potential effect of short-term oral application of apricot seeds on renal structure of rabbit as a biological model. Meat line P91 Californian rabbits from the experimental farm of the Animal Production Research Centre Nitra (Slovak Republic) were used in the experiments. The animals were randomly divided into the three groups (C-control, P1, P2 - experimental groups) leading to 8 rabbits in each group. The control group received no apricot seeds while the experimental groups P1 and P2 received a daily dose 60 and 300 mg.kg-1 b.w. of crushed apricot seeds mixed with feed during 28 days, respectively. After 28 days all animals were slaughtered and kidney tissue was processed by standard histopathological techniques. Tissue sections were observed under an optical microscope with camera Olympus CX41 (Olympus, Japan) at a magnification of 10 x 0.40. The basic morphometric criteria of the preparations were quantified using image program MeasurIT (Olympus, Japan). From each sample (n = 24) three histological sections with five different fields of view in each section were analysed and followed parameters were analysed: diameter of renal corpuscles (RC), diameter of glomeruli (G), diameter of tubules (T) and the height of epithelial tubules (E). In our study, we observed a slight increase in the most frequent occurrence parenchyma dystrophy experimental animals. These changes were more pronounced in the experimental group (P2) rabbits received a daily dose of 300 mg.kg-1 of body weight of apricot seeds. Most often, we have found enlarged glomeruli filling the entire space of the capsule, and also glomerular basement membrane thickening. The most frequent alterations of tubular organs manifested by thickening and dilatation of proximal tubules and in the lumen of the occurrence fuchsinophilic mass, grains and hyaline cylinders. The occurrence of the vacuole and parenchymal atrophy was mostly balanced groups. Changes in P2 group are also reflected in morphometric evaluation structures. We have found significant decrease (p -1 of body weight of apricot seeds had no significant impact on these parameters. The change displays only the increase of renal tubule diameter. Our data may provide more specific evidence of oral application of apricot seeds on renal structure but further detailed studies are also required.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of consumption of lard processed from crossbreed of the original mangalitsa genotype and the breed of meat type pigs on selected biochemical parameters: total cholesterol (T-C), LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol and triacylglycerols (TAG). Twenty-nine probands participated in the study, of which 14 women and 15 men (aged 21 - 59) who consumed regularly lard four times a week during 5 weeks. By evaluating the lipid profile of probands, we observed elevated hypercholesterolemia at the beginning of the study in 43% women and 27% men. Statistically significant differences were recorded in this group of probands, where we recorded a decrease in TC of 0.55 mmol.L-1 in the whole sample of probands with p nd sample of study after 5 weeks of consumption of lard. Borderline high (up to 3.35 mmol.L-1) was found in 21% of women and 33% of men, and above LDL cholesterol was found in 79% of women and 60% of men. This high level of LDL cholesterol is considered a risk factor for the development of atherosclerosis. We can conclude from the results that regular consumption of lard has significantly reduced the total cholesterol levels, especially in women, this effect has been associated with lowering LDL cholesterol (p