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Background: Suicidal ideation is an important mental health issue among homeless people. Despite the fact that spirituality and religiousness (S/R) have been associated with lower levels of suicide behavior, there is little evidence on this relationship among homeless individuals. Thus, this study aims to investigate the association between S/R and suicidal ideation among homeless people living in a large Brazilian city.Methods: This cross-sectional study included 456 homeless individuals living in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Logistic and linear regression models were used to determine the role of religious and spiritual beliefs (Duke Religion Index, FACIT SP-12 and Brief-RCOPE) on suicidal ideation, after adjustements.Results: Most participants were male (75%) with a mean age of 44.53(SD 12.62) years. A total of 49.6% had significant depressive symptoms and the prevalence of suicidal ideation was 29.8%. In the adjusted logistic regression, higher levels of religiousness (organizational, nonorganizational and intrinsic), positive religious/spiritual coping, peace and meaning were associated with a lower suicidal ideation. The same results were found when using linear regression models.Limitations: Long questionnaires can be factors of inhibition and fatigue for the participants. Suicidal ideation was based on a single question.Conclusion: Our results revealed a high prevalence of suicidal ideation and depression in our sample. Religiousness and spirtuality were important factors in the life of homeless individuals, being negatively associated with suicidal ideation. These results could make healthcare professionals aware of the importance of addressing S/R issues in this vulnerable population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Relationship between nitrogen compounds and chemical induction of bud break. • Budburst, flowering and fruit set were correlated with higher nitrogen and spermidine. • The main challenges to evaluate possible replacements to hydrogen cyanamide (HC). • HC and nitrogen fertilizer + calcium nitrate improved crop performance. The growth of peach orchards in subtropical regions depends on the minimal requirements for chilling accumulation, and crop loading requires sprays of chemical compounds to overcome dormancy, induce bud break, and allow adequate flowering and fruiting. The ability of hydrogen cyanamide, nitrogen fertilizer and calcium nitrate to break the dormancy of 'BRS Kampai' peach trees and their effects on nitrogen, tryptophan, and polyamine contents in buds were evaluated. Furthermore, budburst, flowering, fruit set percentage, flowering period, tree performance, and bioactive compound content in the fruits were assessed. The study was undertaken in São Paulo state, a subtropical region of southeast Brazil, and the field experiment was carried out in two crop seasons. Short flowering duration and higher percentages of budburst, flowering, and fruit setting were correlated with higher nitrogen content in vegetative buds and spermidine contents in flower buds. The better performance of hydrogen cynamide, compared with other treatments, was confirmed by the anticipation, patterning, and increase in budburst, flowering, and fruit setting, associated with high levels of spermidine in the flower buds. Hydrogen cyanamide also increases the concentration of antioxidant compounds in fruits. Hydrogen cyanamide and the combination of nitrogen fertilizer and calcium nitrate enhanced yield and production efficiency and are recommended for inducing budburst in subtropical regions. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy production needs to increase in order to meet population and industrial growth in the coming decades, and clean energy that promotes the reduction of polluting gases in the atmosphere is required. Sugarcane is a crop with great potential for bioenergy production due to its high potential for converting solar energy into biomass. In this context, the questions arise: What is the real efficiency of conversion solar energy into biomass by sugarcane? How can the production environment and genetic diversity influence this process? In this sense, the objective of this work was to evaluate the efficiency of the conversion of solar energy into biomass, as well the available energy per hectare, and the productivity of stalks as a function of the production environment in different cultivars. The experiments were carried out in two production environments in Brazil, Prado Ferreira, Paraná State (Production Environment A) and Presidente Bernardes, São Paulo State (Production Environment C) and with three sugarcane cultivars SP80-3280, RB855156 and RB867515 in two cultivation cycles. This study showed: a) the production environment × genotype interaction causes 75.80% variation in stalk productivity; b) biomass productivity is less affected by water deficit than stalk productivity; c) the energy conversion efficiency (ECE) ranged from 2.80 to 4.54% in plant cane and 2.10–3.87% in ratoon cane cycles. The variation of ECE in the production environments was due to four main factors: greater water availability, soil fertility, air temperature and solar radiation. • Stalk yield can vary by 75.8% depending on the production environment. • Biomass yield is less impacted than stalk yield depending on the production environment. • Higher air temperature can reduce sugarcane yield. • Higher solar radiation is not associated to higher yield and energy conversion. • Solar energy conversion can increase by 51.3% with the correct management cultivar x environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]