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Steroids function as signaling molecules in both animals and plants. While animal steroid hormones are perceived by nuclear receptor family of transcription factors, brassinosteroids (BR) in plants are perceived by a cell surface receptor kinase, BRI1. Recent studies have demonstrated that BR binding to the extracellular domain of BRI1 induces kinase activation and dimerization with another receptor kinase, BAK1. Activated BRI1 or BAK1 then regulate, possibly indirectly, the activities of BIN2 kinase and/or BSU1 phosphatase, which directly regulate the phosphorylation status and nuclear accumulation of two homologous transcription factors, BZR1 and BES1. BZR1 and BES1 directly bind to promoters of BR responsive genes to regulate their expression. The BR signaling pathway has become a paradigm for both receptor kinase signaling in plants and steroid signaling by cell surface receptors in general.Cell Research (2006) 16: 427–434. doi:10.1038/sj.cr.7310054; published online 15 May 2006 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Glucosinolates are a class of secondary metabolites with important roles in plant defense and human nutrition. To uncover regulatory mechanisms of glucosinolate production, we screened Arabidopsis thaliana T-DNA activation-tagged lines and identified a high-glucosinolate mutant caused by overexpression of IQD1 ( ). A series of gain- and loss-of-function IQD1 alleles in different accessions correlates with increased and decreased glucosinolate levels, respectively. IQD1 encodes a novel protein that contains putative nuclear localization signals and several motifs known to mediate calmodulin binding, which are arranged in a plant-specific segment of 67 amino acids, called the IQ67 domain. We demonstrate that an IQD1-GFP fusion protein is targeted to the cell nucleus and that recombinant IQD1 binds to calmodulin in a Ca2+-dependent fashion. Analysis of steady-state messenger RNA levels of glucosinolate pathway genes indicates that IQD1 affects expression of multiple genes with roles in glucosinolate metabolism. Histochemical analysis of tissue-specific IQD1:: GUS expression reveals IQD1 promoter activity mainly in vascular tissues of all organs, consistent with the expression patterns of several glucosinolate-related genes. Interestingly, overexpression of IQD1 reduces insect herbivory, which we demonstrated in dual-choice assays with the generalist phloem-feeding green peach aphid ( Myzus persicae), and in weight-gain assays with the cabbage looper ( Trichoplusia ni), a generalist-chewing lepidopteran. As IQD1 is induced by mechanical stimuli, we propose IQD1 to be novel nuclear factor that integrates intracellular Ca2+ signals to fine-tune glucosinolate accumulation in response to biotic challenge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BackgroundAs one of the disabling pains, low back pain seriously affects the quality of life of patients and causes a huge economic burden to them. Studies have shown that poor sleep quality has a certain effect on the occurrence of low back pain, but the dose-response relationship between sleep time and the risk of low back pain has been currently unclear, and there is a lack of relevant research in this area in China.ObjectiveTo explore the effect of sleep time and sleep quality on the risk of low back pain among the middle-aged and elderly people in China.MethodsUsing the longitudinal data of China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) between 2011 to 2015, all middle-aged and elderly people with a baseline age >45 year sat baseline from the three surveys in 2011, 2013, and 2015 were selected as the research subjects. The cut-off time of follow-up was 2015-12-31, and the self-reported low back and back pain was used as the outcome event, and follow-up was terminated upon the occurrence of the outcome event. Multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was used to assess the effect of sleep time and sleep quality on the risk of low back pain and the combined effect of them. Restricted cubic spline model was used to analyze the dose-response relationship between sleep time and the risk of low back pain.ResultsA total of 4 459 subjects were included, with an average follow-up of (3.6±0.8) years; sleep duration: 0.05) , sleep time

Objectives: To provide prevalence and trends of underweight, overweight, and obesity among reproductive-age women and adolescent girls in rural China., Methods: We measured weight and height in 16 742 344 women aged 20 to 49 years and 178 556 girls aged 15 to 19 years from the National Free Preconception Health Examination Project between 2010 and 2014., Results: Among women, the prevalence of underweight was 7.8% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 7.7%, 7.9%), and overweight or obesity was 16.5% (95% CI = 16.4%, 16.6%; World Health Organization criteria). Among adolescents, prevalence of underweight was 6.0% (95% CI = 5.7%, 6.2%; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention criteria) and overweight or obesity was 8.3% (95% CI = 7.9% to 8.8%; International Obesity Task Force criteria). According to Chinese criteria, overweight and obesity prevalence was 24.8% (95% CI = 24.7%, 24.9%) for women and 17.2% (95% CI = 16.6%, 17.8%) for adolescents, and underweight prevalence was 2.9% (95% CI = 2.8%, 3.1%) for adolescents. Considerable disparities existed in prevalence and trends within subpopulations (age groups, parity, region, education levels, and socioeconomic status)., Conclusions: Our results reveal coexisting underweight and overweight or obesity among rural women and adolescents of reproductive age, which requires public health attention.