ASL-MRI is reported as an option to assess potentially heterogeneous physiological processes important for tumour treatment. Therefore, we explored the heterogeneity in normalised CBF as an imaging biomarker for assessment of treatment effect in pLGG. There is a noticeable effect of chemotherapy observed as a change in texture of healthy appearing brain tissue. A high difference in texture between treated and non-treated patients for non-enhancing tumour part is observed, suggesting that texture, based on co-occurrence matrices, is suitable as an imaging biomarker for assessment of treatment effect in pLGG.

After sentinel lymph nodes are detected using SPIONs and excised, their characterization is important to detect possible metastases. In this research a low-field (0.5T) tabletop MRI scanner was tested for this purpose using 4x accelerated high resolution 3D acquisition. Both simulations and experiments on excised pig lymph nodes showed promising results, with the accelerated scans showing similar image quality with respect to fully sampled datasets. This protocol shows lymph nodes can be imaged at 0.25 mm isotropic resolution within reasonable scan times. Clinical usage should be proven by scanning true metastatic lymph nodes.

APTw imaging is a potential imaging biomarker to assess treatment effects in brain tumours, especially at high field MRI (7T) due to improved signal-to-noise-ratio enabling the assessment of APTw values in heterogenous tumours. Embedding of APTw imaging in clinical decision making requires insight in the repeatability of APTw imaging. Therefore, we evaluated the repeatability of APTw imaging at 7T by using a phantom and in vivo in the human brain subjects. Repeatable and specific APTw maps were obtained at 7T, which facilitate the potential of detecting metabolic changes in brain tumours due to treatment.

: As the population grows, more food is needed to keep the food supply chain running smoothly. For many years, intensive farming systems have been used to meet this need. Currently, due to intense climate change and other global natural problems, there is a shift towards sustainable use of natural resources and simplified methods of tillage. Soil tillage intensity influences the distribution of nutrients, and soil’s physical and mechanical properties, as well as gas flows. The impact of reduced tillage on these indices in spring barley cultivation is still insufficient and requires more analysis on a global scale. This study was carried out at Vytautas Magnus University, Agriculture Academy (Lithuania) in 2022–2023. The aim of the investigation was to determine the effect of the tillage systems on the soil temperature, moisture content, CO 2 respiration and concentration in spring barley cultivation. Based on a long-term tillage experiment, five tillage systems were tested: deep and shallow moldboard ploughing, deep cultivation-chiseling, shallow cultivation-chiseling, and no tillage Shallow plowing technology has been found to better conserve soil moisture and maintain higher temperatures in most cases. During almost the entire study period, the spring barley crop with deep cultivation had lower moisture content and lower soil temperature. Shallow cultivation fields in most cases increased CO 2 emissions and CO 2 concentration. When applying direct sowing to the uncultivated soil (10–20 cm), the concentration of CO 2 decreased from 0.01 to 0.148 percent. pcs. The results show that in direct sowing fields, most cases had a positive effect on crop density. Direct sowing fields resulted in significantly lower, from 7.9 to 26.5%, grain yields of spring barley in the years studied.

: Enhancing soil fertility and maize productivity is crucial for sustainable agriculture. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of tillage practices, nitrogen management strategies, and acidified hydrochar on soil fertility and maize productivity. The experiment used a randomized complete block design with split-split plot arrangement and four replications. Main plots received shallow tillage and deep tillage. Subplots were treated with nitrogen (120 kg ha − 1 ) from farmyard manure (FYM) and urea, including control, 33% FYM + 67% urea (M U ), and 80% FYM + 20% urea (M F ). Acidified hydrochar treatments H 0 (no hydrochar) and H 1 (with hydrochar, 2 t ha − 1 ) were applied to sub-sub plots. Deep tillage significantly increased plant height, biological yield, grain yield, ear length, grains ear − 1 , thousand-grain weight, and nitrogen content compared to shallow tillage. M U and M F improved growth parameters and yield over the control. Hydrochar effects varied; H 1 enhanced yield components and soil properties such as soil organic matter and nitrogen availability compared to H 0 . Canonical discriminant analysis linked deep tillage and M U /M F nitrogen management with improved yield and soil characteristics. In conclusion, deep tillage combined with integrated nitrogen management enhances maize productivity and soil properties. These findings highlight the importance of selecting appropriate tillage and nitrogen strategies for sustainable maize production along with hydrochar addition. These insights guide policymakers, agronomists, and agricultural extension services in adopting evidence-based strategies for sustainable agriculture, enhancing food production, and mitigating environmental impacts. The implication of this study suggests to undertake long-term application of hydrochar for further clarification and validation.

• Wood heat treatment is an environmentally friendly method, and the heat-treated wood properties are closely related to thermal modification intensity. This study focuses on the 0-3 mm surface layer (SL) of poplar wood heat treated at 160~220 °C. The modification intensity, including surface color, hardness, chemical component and morphological changes of the SL, was evaluated. The findings of this research showed that the color difference of the poplar wood before and after heat treatment (ΔE *1 ) increased; the color difference between up-surface and down-surface of the SL (ΔE *2 ) also increased with the treatment temperature. Consequently, the surface hardness (H R ) decreased with the increase of treatment intensity. When the treatment temperature was higher than 160 °C, the up-surface and down-surface of the SL were statistically different in color. Chemical component analysis revealed that the heat treatment degrades wood components, especially the hemicellulose, and correlation analysis showed a significant correlation between the change rate of hemicellulose and the ΔE * 1 or H R value; the prediction functions have been established at a high confidence level of 0.99. Overall, the thermal modification intensity of the heat-treated surface layer (SL) of poplar wood varies, and the H R and ΔE *1 value could be used to characterize and predict the modification intensity and degree of thermal degradation of the surface layer of heat-treated poplar wood.