Role of social power relations in gift giving on Valentine's day

This study investigates motives for gift giving by young males on Valentine's Day and advances previous research on this ritual by controlling for the giving context (occasion and relationship). The study is consistent with previous work by Goodwin et al. (1990) which found that motivations based on obligation, self-interest and altruism do indeed exist. More significantly, however, this study points to the finding that individual motivations for the gift-giving ritual on Valentine's Day may be more intricately intertwined and have deeper manifestations in the perceived social power relationship between the genders. The study recommends that marketers delve beyond the immediate horizon of individual motivations and become even more acutely aware of the 'intrinsic social power messages' that arise from the conjoint influences of motivations. This would have great potential for marketing even more meaningful gift products to both givers and receivers.

Genome - wide association study identifies novel breast cancer susceptibility loci

Breast cancer exhibits familial aggregation, consistent with variation in genetic susceptibility to the disease. Known susceptibility genes account for less than 25% of the familial risk of breast cancer, and the residual genetic variance is likely to be due to variants conferring more moderate risks. To identify further susceptibility alleles, we conducted a two-stage genome-wide association study in 4,398 breast cancer cases and 4,316 controls, followed by a third stage in which 30 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were tested for confirmation in 21,860 cases and 22,578 controls from 22 studies. We used 227,876 SNPs that were estimated to correlate with 77% of known common SNPs in Europeans at r² > 0.5. SNPs in five novel independent loci exhibited strong and consistent evidence of association with breast cancer (P < 10^-7). Four of these contain plausible causative genes (FGFR2, TNRC9, MAP3K1 and LSP1). At the second stage, 1,792 SNPs were significant at the P < 0.05 level compared with an estimated 1,343 that would be expected by chance, indicating that many additional common susceptibility alleles may be identifiable by this approach.

Robert Boyle's theory of nature, with reference to his understanding of natural laws

Argues that the theory of nature-cum-theology and the view of of natural laws of the 17th century natural philosopher, Robert Boyle, were more complex and eclectic than is usually believed. Support is given for construing Boyle as a more complex thinker than previous scholars have suggested.

Association between magnesium intake and depression and anxiety in community-dwelling adults : The Hordaland Health Study

Objective: Systemic inflammation is associated with both the dietary intake of magnesium, and depression. Limited experimental and clinical data suggest an association between magnesium and depression. Thus, there are reasons to consider dietary magnesium as a variable of interest in depressive disorders. The aim of the present study was to examine the association between magnesium intake and depression and anxiety in a large sample of community-dwelling men and women. This sample consisted of 5708 individuals aged 46–49 or 70–74 years who participated in the Hordaland Health Study in Western Norway.

Methods: Symptoms of depression and anxiety were self-reported using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and magnesium intake was assessed using a comprehensive food frequency questionnaire.

Results: There was an inverse association between standardized energy-adjusted magnesium intake and standardized depression scores that was not confounded by age, gender, body habitus or blood pressure (β=−0.16, 95% confidence interval (CI)=−0.22 to −0.11). The association was attenuated after adjustment for socioeconomic and lifestyle variables, but remained statistically significant (β=−0.11, 95%CI=−0.16 to −0.05). Standardized magnesium intake was also related to case-level depression (odds ratio (OR)=0.70, 95%CI=0.56–0.88), although the association was attenuated when adjusted for socioeconomic and lifestyle factors (OR=0.86, 95%CI=0.69–1.08). The inverse relationship between magnesium intake and score and case-level anxiety was weaker and not statistically significant in the fully adjusted models.

Conclusion: The hypothesis that magnesium intake is related to depression in the community is supported by the present findings. These findings may have public health and treatment implications.

“The hope – the one hope – is that your generation will prove wiser and more responsible than mine.” Constructions of guilt in a selection of disaster texts for young adults

This paper explores a range of definitions of guilt, and argues that fiction for young adults which is set after a major disaster that has been caused by humans has surprisingly little emphasis on guilt. Focusing on Brother in the Land by Robert Swindells, Nuclear War Diary by James E. Sanford (Jr), The Last Children by Gudrun Pausewang, The Carbon Diaries 2015 by Saci Lloyd and its sequel, The Carbon Diaries 2017, and Days Like This by Alison Stewart, the paper argues that in post-nuclear texts for young adults the emphasis tends to be on the perceived responsibility of the young adult reader&apos;s generation to work towards preventing the disaster from becoming reality, rather than on the guilt of the adult generation that caused the disaster. However, in texts dealing with environmental disaster, the young adult reader&apos;s generation can be seen to have some measure of culpability, and so the issues of guilt and responsibility become more complex