Male, National, and Religious Collective Narcissism Predict Sexism

Results of three cross-sectional studies indicate that sexism in Poland is associated with collective narcissism—a belief that one’s own group’s (the in-group’s) exaggerated exceptionality is not sufficiently recognized by others—with reference to three social identities: male, religious, and national. In Study 1 (n = 329), male collective narcissism was associated with sexism. This relationship was sequentially mediated by precarious manhood and traditional gender beliefs. In Study 2 (n = 877), Catholic collective narcissism predicted tolerance of violence against women (among men and women) over and above religious fundamentalism and in contrast to intrinsic religiosity. In Study 3 (n = 1070), national collective narcissism was associated with hostile sexism among men and women and with benevolent sexism more strongly among women than among men. In contrast, national in-group satisfaction—a belief that the nation is of a high value—predicted rejection of benevolent and hostile sexism among women but was positively associated with hostile and benevolent sexism among men. Among men and women collective narcissism was associated with tolerance of domestic violence against women, whereas national in-group satisfaction was associated with rejection of violence against women

Modulation of plant HMG-CoA reductase by protein phosphatase 2A: Positive and negative control at a key node of metabolism

The enzyme HMG-CoA reductase (HMGR) has a key regulatory role in the mevalonate pathway for isoprenoid biosynthesis, critical not only for normal plant development, but also for the adaptation to demanding environmental conditions. Consistent with this notion, plant HMGR is modulated by many diverse endogenous signals and external stimuli. Protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) is involved in auxin, abscisic acid, ethylene and brassinosteroid signaling and now emerges as a positive and negative multilevel regulator of plant HMGR, both during normal growth and in response to a variety of stress conditions. The interaction with HMGR is mediated by B" regulatory subunits of PP2A, which are also calcium binding proteins. The new discoveries uncover the potential of PP2A to integrate developmental and calcium-mediated environmental signals in the control of plant HMGR