Don't bank on it: Delineating the relationship between corporate social responsibility and retail banking affinity

This research examines the extent to which the moderating variable of awareness influences the relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility beliefs and consumers’ attitudes towards their banks, and whether this significantly affects their willingness to recommend the company. The research was limited to the four major South African retail banks. The study finds that consumers’ attitudes do not, in fact, mediate the relationship between CSR beliefs and willingness to recommend. However, a direct positive relationship appears to exist between attitude and willingness to recommend. The authors find that a superficial awareness of CSR initiatives has minimal impact on their behaviour. Whilst an increased intimate knowledge of their CSR activities may thus lead to business rewards, banks should focus on their core offerings as consumers see CSR as an added benefit

A novel keratin 12 mutation in a German kindred with Meesmann's corneal dystrophy

AIM—To study a kindred with Meesmann's corneal dystrophy (MCD) to determine if a mutation within the cornea specific K3 or K12 genes is responsible for the disease phenotype.
METHODS—Slit lamp examination of the cornea in four members of the kindred was carried out to confirm the diagnosis of MCD. The region encoding the helix initiation motif (HIM) of the K12 polypeptide was polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplified from genomic DNA derived from affected individuals in the kindred. PCR products generated were subjected to direct automated sequencing. Restriction enzyme analysis employing Ban I was used to confirm the presence of the mutation in affected individuals of the family.
RESULTS—Sequencing of the K12 gene in an affected individual from the family revealed a novel heterozygous missense mutation (413A→C), predicting the substitution of a proline for a glutamine at codon 130 (Q130P) in the HIM of the K12 protein. The mutation was excluded from 50 normal, unaffected individuals by restriction enyzme analysis and was therefore unlikely to be a common polymorphism.
CONCLUSION—A novel missense mutation in the K12 gene leads to MCD in a German kindred. Missense mutations have now been identified within the region encoding the helix initiation motif of the K12 protein in eight of 11 MCD kindreds analysed at the molecular level.