Clavier-Übung III by Johann SebastIan Bach – "German organ mass"

Clavier-Übung III is the third of four movements in the Clavier-Übung cycle by Johann Sebastian Bach. As a result of publishing confusion in the 19th century, the pieces included in the collection were published separately along with the composer’s other organ works. It was not until deeper musicological research and the discovery of the first printed edition of Clavier-Übung III that the composition was shown in a new light. In this article, the author presents Clavier-Übung III from the perspective of a religious message taking into account the formal plan and the symbolism that the composer included in the work by using musical means. The text attempts to explain the term “German Organ Mass” as it has been commonly called. This is done based on the origins of the work, a description of its internal construction, and an analysis of the score material of individual pieces. The main goal of the work is to present Clavier-Übung III as a complementary work that constitutes a certain closed whole as a collection of pieces to be performed in the order proposed by the composer.

Rumen–reticulum organ mass and rumen mucosa surface area of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) consuming two energy diets

Flexibility in gut morphology has fitness consequences in herbivores. To accommodate dietary variation in energy concentration, rumen–reticulum absorptive capacity and organ mass might also covary. We hypothesized that low energy diets result in greater food intake but lower volatile fatty acid concentrations. The consequence would be heavy rumen–reticulum organs and low absorptive capacity. We measured rumen–reticulum organ mass and absorptive capacity in captive white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus (Zimmermann, 1780)) from central Texas, USA. Deer consumed a pelleted ration, ad libitum, of 1.77 kcal/g (low) or 2.67 kcal/g (standard) digestible energy from the time animals were weaned. In December, 4.5- and 5.5-year-old deer were euthanized, the rumen–reticulum was extracted, thoroughly rinsed, wrung out, and weighed. Four 1 cm × 3 cm samples were extracted from four regions of the rumen and mucosal surface area was measured. Our surrogate of food intake and mastication intensity was first molar height. Molar height was lower in animals consuming the low energy diet. Analyses indicated sex-specific responses. Males eating the low energy diet had heavier rumen–reticulum organs, but females did not. Females consuming the low energy diet had a lower surface enlargement factor, but males did not. The processes driving variation in rumen–reticulum morphology from dietary variation require further examination.

Wheat Grain Yield Estimation Based on Image Morphological Properties and Wheat Biomass

The estimation of wheat grain yield based on a composite of morphological features and mass of wheat organs was introduced in this study. The morphological features (length, width, and perimeter for the wheat stem and ear) were extracted by a computer vision system whose performance was evaluated by correlating the measured and estimated perimeter and length of the wheat stem at an R2 of 0.9609 and 0.9779, respectively. Six regression models were developed based on the extracted features. The linear regression based on the wet weight of the stem, the ear, and the leaves outperformed all the other statistical models explored with an R2 of 0.9893 and an RMSE of 0.0684 mm in estimating the dry grain yield with wet wheat organ mass as the predictors. This proposed system can be applied as nondestructive in a field technique for wheat phenotyping. Additionally, it can be applied to other similar crops.

ORGAN ABSORBED DOSE ESTIMATION REFLECTING SPECIFIC ORGAN MASSES WITH SIMPLE SCALING OF REFERENCE DOSES USING THE ORGAN MASSES

Estimating organ absorbed doses in consideration of person-specific parameters is important for radiation protection in diagnostic nuclear medicine. This study proposes a straightforward method for estimating the organ dose that reflects a specific organ mass by scaling the reference organ dose using the inverse ratio of the specific organ mass to the reference organ mass. For the administration of radiopharmaceuticals labelled by 99mTc or 123I, the organ doses for the liver, spleen, red marrow and thyroid obtained by the method were compared with those generated by a Monte Carlo simulation. The discrepancies were less than 14% for the liver, spleen and thyroid. Conversely, in some cases, the red marrow discrepancies were greater than 30% due to the wide distribution of red marrow in the trunk and head regions. This study confirms that the method of scaling organ doses can be effective for estimating mass-specific doses for solid organs.

PSIX-34 Effects of corn protein concentrate level in the diets of the weanling piglet on performance, nitrogen balance, visceral organ mass and blood parameters

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of corn protein concentrate (CPC) levels on performance, nitrogen digestibility, blood parameters, and visceral organ mass by newly weaned piglets. Forty piglets (6. 9 kg ± 1.2 kg of live weight) were allotted to 4 dietary treatments in a completely randomized block design. Piglets were fed individually 1 of 4 experimental diets containing different CPC levels (0%, 5%, 10% or 15%) during 44 d. Performance parameters were measured weekly. Total fecal and urine samples were collected on d 33 of the experiment for 4 consecutive days to determine N balance. At the end of the feeding period, blood samples were collected to measure blood parameters, and animals were slaughter to determine visceral organ mass. Data were analyzed as a randomized complete block designed using PROC MIXED in SAS. Final BW tended to decrease linearly (P = 0.065) as dietary CPC level increased. Overall, ADG tended to decrease linearly (P = 0.065), and ADFI was significantly reduced (P = 0. 038) as dietary CPC level increased. Nevertheless, FCR was not by dietary treatment (P = 0.1872). There were no differences on nitrogen intake, retention and digestibility across dietary treatments (P > 0. 407). However, there was a tendency to decrease linearly N excretion on urine as CPC increased in the diet. Hematocrit and Serum Urea-N were linearly increased and reduced, respectively as CPC increased in the diet (P < 0. 027). Empty BW at d 44 tended to linearly reduce as CPC increased. Pancreas weight was reduced by inclusion of CPC (linearly; P = 0. 005). In summary, it was demonstrated that, when CPC replaced partially traditional protein sources up to 5% of the diet, performance and N status of the animal are not altered. However, caution should be taken with higher levels of inclusion.

STRUCTURAL AND ORGANOMETRIC CHANGES IN RAT THYROID GLAND UNDER EARLY IMMUNOSUPPRESSIVE AND IMMUNOMODULATORY THERAPY

One of the factors affecting the prevalence of thyroid disease is the immunopathological process, in particular immunosuppression. The purpose of the study is to determine the characteristics of thyroid gland morphological structure and organometric parameters under immunosuppressive (methotrexate) and immunomodulatory (imunofan) drugs, and immunomodulatory management of immunosuppressive state during early follow-up period (1st and 7th days). Materials and Methods. The study was carried out on 48 white outbred young male rats of the reproductive period, which were divided into 4 groups. The dynamics of structural and organometric parameters of the thyroid gland was studied during the early stages of observation (1st and 7th day) after administration of immunosuppressive (methotrexate) and immunomodulating (imunofan) drugs. Results. When studying microscopic sections of the thyroid gland in animals exposed to methotrexate (group I), imunofan (group II), and after immunomodulatory management of immunosuppressive state (group III), the dynamics in the structure of the thyroid gland was observed during the whole follow-up period. Experimental animals demonstrated insignificant changes in follicles and thyrocytes on the 1st day after the drug administration when compared with those of the control group. The authors didn’t observe any statistically significant deviations in the dynamics of the organometric indicators. Significant deviations were seen on the 7th day of observation. Changes in the morphostructure were revealed after administration of methotrexate (group I): organ mass and volume as well as lobe linear dimensions decreased, indicating an active response of the organ and its depression, which was associated with the drug inhibitory effect on the synthesis, DNA repair and cell mitosis. After isolated administration of an immunomodulator (group II) and in case of immunosuppresson management with imunofan (group III) changes in thyroid morphostructure and organometric parameters were revealed on the 1st and 7th days of observation. Such changes indicated a favorable effect of imunofan on the organ morphofunctional state: organ mass and volume as well as lobe linear dimensions increased. Conclusion. In the early stages of methotrexate administration, the dynamics of thyroid changes indicated the organ depression. Positive dynamics in the thyroid structure was detected after administration of the immunomodulator, however, it was not clear-cut. Keywords: thyroid gland, methotrexate, imunofan, immunosuppression, immunomodulation, correction, organometry.