Ridge Count Research Articles

Comparative Study of Fingerprint Patterns of Two Ethnic Groups: A Nigerian Study

Background: The uniqueness of fingerprints have made it possible for anthropologist to carry out studies on ethnic differences, heritability and linguistic relationships among individuals. The study aimed at investigating and comparing fingerprint patterns of the Itsekiri and Urhobo ethnic groups in Warri, South Southern Nigeria. Methods: A total of 30 males and 30 females each from the Itsekiri and Urhobo tribe were investigated. Fingerprints of participants were obtained with a Hewlett placard G4010 fingerprint scanner. Chi-square and Mann Whitney U test were used to test for an association between non parametric variables, significance was accepted at P<0.05. Results: Finding showed that the ulnar loop was the most predominant pattern in the studied population. Fingerprint patterns and total finger ridge count showed dimorphism among the Itsekiris’ as compared to the atd angle of the left fingers seen in the Urhobos’ (p = 0.021; 0.010; 0.038). Significant differences were observed in fingerprint patterns of the right and left thumb alongside the right middle finger among the respective tribes (P=0.047; 0.007; 0.024). Findings also showed a significant difference in TFRC and atd angle between the Itsekiris’ and Urhobos’ (P= 0.010; 0.002; 0.027) . Conclusions: The ulnar loop was dominant among the Itsekiri females and Urhobo males while the whorl and arch patterns were frequent in the Itsekiri males and the Urhobo females.
 Keywords: Delta State; fingerprint; Itsekiri; Urhobo; Warri.

A cross - sectional study of palmar dermatoglyphic pattern in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus at a hospital in South India

Aim: To study dermatoglyphics of fingers and palms and to use it as a tool to screen the population for the pre-disposition to diabetes mellitus, for risk reduction and early therapy. Materials and methods - The study was conducted on 100 diabetic patients and 100 controls, age, sex matched. Quantitative parameters like finger ridge count, a-b ridge count, total finger ridge count, absolute finger ridge count, atd, adt and dat angles were studied. Qualitative parameters like finger ridge patterns were studied. Dankmeijer’s, Furuhata’s and Pattern intensity index were calculated. Results: Difference of a-b ridge counts, Absolute Finger Ridge Counts and Total Finger Ridge Counts between cases and controls was statistically not significant. Adt angle was significantly more in cases in right hand as compared to controls. Tad angle was less in cases in right hand as compared to controls. Fingertip patterns in all digits combined and in both hands combined in cases and controls showed there was a statistically significant increase in the number of loops in controls as compared to cases. Dankmeijer’s index was significantly more in male and female controls. Furuhata’s index was significantly more in male and female cases. Pattern intensity index was significantly more in female cases and controls as compared to males. Conclusion: Findings of the present study highlight on the possible dermatoglyphicmarkers. There were many supporting and contradictory findings to studies conducted by other researchers, hence there is lot of scope for further studies. Keywords: Dermatoglyphics, Type 2 diabetes mellitus, Finger prints, Dermatoglyphics, Type 2 diabetes mellitus, Finger prints.

The Link between Fingerprints, Genetics & Chronic Periodontitis: A Dermatoglyphic Study

Background: Several methods have been employed for diagnosing inflammatory conditions including biomarkers, enzymes and various other clinical parameters. Dermatoglyphics is one such field which has gained entry in Forensic Medicine, Forensic Odontology and in General Medicine for diagnosing chronic inflammatory conditions. Periodontitis is a chronic inflammatory condition associated with destruction of periodontal tissues. This study aimed to assess the relationship between the fingerprint patterns and chronic periodontitis Methods: A total of 60 patients, belonging to both healthy and chronic periodontitis subjects were assessed by a commercially available fingerprint scanner. All the fingerprint images were assessed for the fingerprint pattern and the ridge count manually. The results were tabulated as percentage frequency distribution for the type of fingerprint pattern. The ridge count is shown as mean ± SD. Unpaired t test was applied to test for statistical significance. Results: The frequency distribution showed equal percentage of Radial Loop type of fingerprint pattern in subjects of both Health and Chronic Periodontitis. Statistical analysis showed Plain Whorl type of fingerprint pattern more significant in subjects having Chronic Periodontitis Conclusion: It was concluded that there might be a relationship between type of fingerprint pattern to the chances of a person having Chronic Periodontitis.

Sex variations in thumbprint ridge count of a Nigerian population in Calabar Municipality

The present study aimed at determining the association between thumbprint ridge count and sex variation among Nigerians in Calabar Municipality. A total number of 300 subjects (150 males and 150 females) aged between 12-35 years participated in the study. Conventional method of using ink pad was used to collect thumbprint of both hands and analysed using magnifying lens. The study confirmed the results of some earlier works done by other researchers on fingerprints. It further established the distribution proportions of thumbprint for both hands in both sexes for the population. The uniqueness of fingerprint to individuals was reaffirmed as no two thumbprints were identical among the 300 subjects under study. These results show that the order of prevalence are as follows; among males, in whatever combination of thumbprint pattern, whorl is the most occurring, followed by loop and arch. Among females, in whatever combination of thumbprint pattern, loop is the most occurring followed by whorl and arch. The result equally showed the mean thumbprint ridge count of females to be lower than that of males (20.91 as against 27.85 respectively). The difference in pattern between left and right hands in females was significant. In conclusion the thumbprint ridge count shows gender dysmorphism in the Nigerian population.Keywords: Fingers, epidermal ridges, thumbprint ridge count

Contactless Fingerprint Recognition Based on Global Minutia Topology and Loose Genetic Algorithm

Contactless fingerprint recognition is highly promising and an essential component in the automatic fingerprint identification system. However, due to the inherent characteristic of perspective distortions of contactless fingerprints, achieving a highly accurate contactless fingerprint recognition system is very challenging. In this paper, we propose a robust contactless fingerprint recognition method based on global minutia topology and loose genetic algorithm. In order to avoid the inaccurate minutiae alignment problem suffered in conventional transformation-based methods, the minutiae correspondence is established by optimizing an energy function of the similarity matrix. We define an innovative similarity matrix based on both minutiae and minutia-pairs, which takes the global minutia topology into account. By adopting a distortion-free feature of ridge count to define the similarity, the problem of perspective distortions is effectively overcome. To solve the optimization, we propose a new genetic algorithm (GA) named loose GA with new mutation and crossover operators. We also propose a strict minutia-pair expanding algorithm to enhance the reliability of the minutiae correspondence. For recognition, a metric for measuring comparison scores which takes advantage of both the global topological similarity and the number of corresponding minutiae is proposed. We evaluate our method using two contactless fingerprint benchmark databases and achieve competitive performances in comparison with the state-of-the-art methods.

Dermatoglyphics as a possible morphological biomarker in myopia: analysis of finger ridge counts and fluctuating asymmetry

The aim of this study is to provide the first analysis of finger ridge counts and fluctuating asymmetry in myopia, in order to evaluate dermatoglyphic role as a morphological biomarker. Study sample consisted of 102 participants recruited from freshman students' population of the University of Priština-Kosovska Mitro- vica. Prints were taken by standard ink and paper method. Differences in mean ridge counts between examined groups were analysed by ANOVA analysis of variance. Fluctuating asymmetry assessment was performed by using correlation method (p < 0.05). Analysis has identified myopic males as the group with the most pro- minent differences of examined dermatoglyphic parameters. Myopic males, compared to controls, have significantly higher ridge counts for left and right ring and little finger, as well as total ridge count. Also, this group has recorded significant difference in fluctuating asymmetry correlation score for middle finger, and borderline significance for thumb and ring finger. Overall findings of this study have indicated that dermatoglyphics might serve as a morphological biomarker, especially in myopic males, selecting them as the group with dermatoglyphic differences that might be suggestive of higher developmental instability. Although promising, the present results should be considered as preliminary until future investigations replicate them in a larger sample.

Digital and Palmar Dermatoglyphic Patterns of Medical Students of Bingham University, Karu, Nasarawa State Nigeria

Dermatoglyphic traits are genetically determined and most importantly remain constant before birth until death. These traits reflect prenatal developmental stability. Dermatoglyphic features of medical students of Bingham University, Nigeria who are to proceed into clinical classes were studied to know the patterns of dermatoglyphic distributions among the male and female medical students. A total number of Sixty Two (62) medical students comprising twenty seven (27) male and thirty five (35) female students were employed for this study. Finger and palm prints were obtained according to the methods of Cummins using ink. The printink was uniformly smeared on the palmer and finger surfaces to obtain complete print of the finger tips and the palmer surfaces. Dermatoglyphic parameters were analysed with the aid of magnifying lens (X 20), the finger ridge counts (FRC), total finger ridge counts (TFRC), absolute finger ridge counts (AFRC) in male students were significantly higher than in female medical students. However, insignificant differences were noticed in palmer tri-radial angles measured (&lt;ATD, &lt;DAT, &lt;ADT) and other palmer parameters such as a-b ridge counts, a-b distances and the degrees of transversality of the palmer ridges were relatively the same as shown by the main line index. Ulnar loop patterns followed by whorl patterns were found to be dominantly distributed in both male and female medical students, however, ulnar loops and spiral whorls were more prevalent (P&lt;0.05) in male compared with female medical students. Arches were noticed to be distributed more in percentage among the female students. Therefore, in this cross-sectional descriptive study, dermatoglyphic features of presumably normal male and female individuals were found to be of great importance in basic data documentation especially in this part of the Nigeria.

Gender classification from fingerprint ridge count and fingertip size using optimal score assignment

Information on the gender of a person plays a vital role in crime investigation, authentication and statistical report on the visitors. In this work, fingerprint ridge count and fingertip size are used as the parameters for automatic gender classification. As a novel method, the optimal score assignment (OSA) method is proposed to classify gender. An optimal score is calculated for male and female from the internally collected fingerprint database. Fingerprints are collected under four age groups and all the fingers are scanned. For the fingerprint image ‘I’ for which gender is to be identified, scores are assigned for ridge count and fingertip assuming that the given image is male. A similar calculation is made assuming that the given image is female. Comparing both values, gender is declared. The maximum success rate attained is 88.41% for the age group 18–25 years and a good success rate of 90.11% is achieved for the right hand ring finger. Performance evaluation is made with the earlier findings of the author and other methods.

Gender identification from thumbprint ridge thickness among &lt;i&gt;Hausa&lt;/i&gt; population of &lt;i&gt;Nigeria&lt;/i&gt; using likelihood ratio and posterior probability density

The objectives of the present study were to identify gender from thumbprints ridge thickness using likelihood ratio and posterior probability density as well as to determine which of the three areas of thumb has more potential in sex determination. Ridge thickness for 97 male and 97 female subjects within the age range of 18-25 years were examined within the 25 mm2 areas of the ulnar, radial and proximal parts of the thumb making up 1164 areas of the thumbprints. Female subjects exhibited finer ridge count compared to males in ulnar area of both sides of the thumbs. In the radial area, females were found to have finer ridge counts as in ulnar side, but with some coarse ridge. For the right proximal ridge thickness, a similar trend to that in the radial area was noticed, however, in the left thumbprint, males tend to have finer ridge counts compared to females. It was noticed that chance of sex inference from likelihood ratio decreased in the following order: proximal ridge thickness &lt; radial ridge thickness &lt; ulnar ridge thickness as ridge thickness decreases in favor of females but left proximal ridge thickness showed increased in likelihood ratio as ridge thickness decreased in favor of males. Ridge thickness in ulnar area showed more discrimination power compared to the other two areas studied. Considering equal probability for each sex, likelihood ratio reveals the applicability of ridge thickness in sex inference among Hausa population.Keywords: Forensic sciences, likelihood ratio, Hausa population, ridge thickness, sex inference.

A study of palmar dermatoglyphics in type 2 diabetes mellitus in a Bangalore based population

Introduction: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) is represented by somatic traits of genetic factors like dermatoglyphic patterns. There is a rising incidence of DM2, requiring simple means to identify predisposition to DM2. Materials and Methods: The study comprised 75 male and 75 female patients of DM2, with positive family history of diabetes, 75 male and 75 female nondiabetics as controls, with no family history of diabetes. The prints were recorded by the Ink Method and analyzed for qualitative and quantitative parameters. Results: Diabetics of both sexes showed a significantly higher incidence of spiral whorls in both hands except L2, R1 and R4 of male cases and L1 and R5 of females, and nondiabetics of both sexes showed a higher incidence of loops in both hands. Fingertip ridge counts were significantly higher in diabetics of both sexes, except L2 and R1 in males and R5 in females. In males, pattern intensity, TFRC, AFRC and MFRC of both hands were significantly higher in diabetics. In females, the pattern intensity, AFRC, MFRC of both hands and TFRC of the right hand were significantly higher in diabetics. The left hypothenar area showed a significantly higher incidence of open fields in female nondiabetics .The right fourth interdigital area showed significantly higher incidence of open fields in female diabetics. The scores for a-b ridge count, atd angle, distal deviation of t, breadth ratio and main-line index were not statistically significant. Conclusion: Dermatoglyphics can be used for early and inexpensive screening of individuals at risk for DM2. Keywords: Dermatoglyphics, Diabetes mellitus, Type 2, Non insulin dependent, Family history, South Indian population, Bangalore.

Correlations of indices of personality traits with indexes of finger and palmar dermatoglyphics of practically healthy Ukrainian men

The search for new psychodermatoglyphic correlations will greatly increase the possibilities of this method and will accelerate the introduction of scientific developments into the daily practice of clinicians, criminologists, police and other specialties. The purpose of the work is to establish the peculiarities of the relationship between the indexes of the finger and palmar dermatoglyphics and the characteristics of the personality traits of practically healthy Ukrainian men. From the data bank of the materials of the research center of National Pirogov Memorial Medical University, Vinnytsya were taken the primary questionnaires of indicators of personality characteristics and dermatoglyphic indicators of 92 practically healthy men residents of Podillia region of Ukraine in the third generation. Processing of indicators of finger and palmar dermatoglyphics was performed according to the method of Cummins H. and Midlo Ch. (1961) in the statement by Gladkova T. D. (1966). To assess the characteristics of personality characteristics we determined properties of temperament (according to Eysenck), anxiety (according to Spielberger), accentuated personality traits (according to Shmishek), motivational orientation of the personality (according to Rotter), as well as features of the emotional organization of personality, aggressiveness, level of personality manifestations (according to Luscher). Correlation analysis was performed in the “Statistica 6.1” license package using Pearson statistics. It has been established that in the majority of cases, indicators of personality traits and dermatoglyphic indices of almost healthy men show single direct and inverse, mostly weak forces (r=0.21 – 0.29 and r=-0.21 – -0.28, respectively) correlations. The multiple nature of such correlations is established only between the Luscher gray color index and the left hand I, III and IV fingers and the left hand I and II fingers ridge count, the total ridge count of both hands, the total ridge count and the left hand delta index (r=-0.23 – -0.28) and between most indicators by Rotter subjective scale and the presence of a pattern on the thenar of the corresponding palm (on the right hand – r=0.31 - 0.37 and on the left hand – r=0.22 - 0.29). The results of quantitative analysis of significant correlations showed that between the indexes of the finger dermatoglyphics and the indicators of personality traits according to Eysenck and Luscher, most relationships are inverse, and with Spielberger, Shmishek and Rotter – direct; between the indexes of the palmar dermatoglyphics and the indicators of personality traits according to Spielberger and Luscher, most reliable relationships are inverse, and with the indicators according to Eysenck, Shmishek and Rotter - direct. The results of the correlation analysis allowed us to determine the most significant relationships between the indexes of the finger and palmar dermatoglyphics and the characteristics of the personality traits of practically healthy Ukrainian men.

Predictive assessment of the association of dermatoglyphic indicators with indicators of personality traits, established by factor analysis

According to modern scientific literature, specific dermatoglyphic signs can be diagnostic markers of a person’s mental state. The purpose of the work is to identify the association of dermatoglyphic indicators with personality characteristics of practically healthy men of Ukraine. From the data bank of the materials of the research center of National Pirogov Memorial Medical University, Vinnytsya were taken the primary dermatoglyphic and questionnaires indicators of personality characteristics of 92 practically healthy men in the third generation residents of Vinnitsya, Khmelnytsky, part of Ternopil and Zhytomyr regions. Processing of dermatoglyphs was performed according to the method of Cummins H. and Midlo Ch. (1961) in the statement by Gladkova T.D. (1966). For objective evaluation of personality traits of practically healthy men, a number of leading indicators were determined, which included a number of properties of temperament (according to Eysenck), anxiety (according to Spielberger), accentuated personality traits (according to Shmishek), motivational orientation of personality (by Rotter), as well as the peculiarities of psycho-emotional organization of personality, aggressiveness, the level of distribution of asthenic and depressive personality manifestations (by the color test of Luscher), which were determined on the basis of personal use personality questionnaires and test methods. Factor analysis was performed in the “Statistica 6.1” license package. The main factors that indicate the association of personality traits of practically healthy men with some dermatoglyphic indicators are identified: “ridge count of fingers” (dispersion ratio – 13.22%) and “the magnitude of the angle atd” (dispersion ratio – 10.66%). Analysis of the obtained relationships of the interdependence of indicators of personality characteristics with dermatoglyphic indicators showed that with increasing indicators of ridge counts of the fingers and the delta index the degree of probability of growth of indicators of neuroticism according to Eysenck, situational and personal anxiety according to Spielberger, the accentuation of the character of the emotional and arousing types by Shmishek, subjective control in the field of health and illness according to Rotter, black and gray color by Luscher decreases, and the indicators of the accentuation of the character of the anxious and demonstrative types by Shmishek, the overall internality of the level of subjective control in the field of educational (professional) relations according to Rotter, blue and blue-green color by Luscher – is increasing. As the magnitude of the angle atd increases on both hands, the degree of likelihood of growth of neuroticism according to Eysenck, situational and personal anxiety according to Spielberger, accentuation of the character of the emotional, anxious and arousing types by Shmishek, blue color by Luscher increase, and indicators of accentuation of the character of the demonstrative type according to Shmishek, the general internality of the level of subjective control, in the field of educational (professional) relations and in the field of health and illness according to Rotter, blue-green, black and gray color according to Luscher – decrease. The use of factor analysis has allowed to determine the most significant correlation of indicators of personality characteristics with dermatoglyphic indicators.

Parmak İzinden Cinsiyet Tahmini İçin Yeni Bir Zeki Sistem

This paper proposes a new method for predicting genders from only fingerprints based on Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model. The modelling tasks are achieved by capturing fingerprints, analyzing an obtained fingerprint part (for example cropping 5x5mm part from a fingerprint image), determining ridges crossed by the diagonal of the obtained fingerprint part automatically, finding the ridge counts, ridge thicknesses, average fingerprint ridge counts of individuals, combining these features in a model, preparing and setting the structure of it and finally testing the model. The results of proposed model have shown that the best model achieves the task within 72% accuracy.

A case-control study of fingerprint patterns of both hands in persons with and without schizophrenia

Background: Schizophrenia is a complex disorder. Abnormal brain functions and aberrant fingerprint patterns are under study to aid in diagnosing schizophrenia. Objectives: The objectives of the study were to study the finger and palm print patterns in patients with schizophrenia, to compare the patterns with those of healthy controls, to find if specific patterns exist in patients with schizophrenia, a cross-sectional comparative case–control study of finger and palm patterns in patients with schizophrenia and age-matched healthy controls was done in a tertiary care teaching hospital in the district of Kancheepuram, Tamil Nadu. Materials and Methods: Finger and palm print pattern of 100 patients with schizophrenia and 100 age-matched controls was taken using the standard technique with India ink and studied. Demographic details of both the case and control groups were also collected. Patterns of both the hands of the two groups were analyzed. Descriptive analysis was done. Chi-square test and independent t-test were used for analyzing the mean difference between the variables of the two groups. Results: The frequency of arches was more in cases than controls. The frequency of radial loops was twice in cases than controls. The ulnar loops were less in cases. The mean total finger ridge count and total A-B ridge count were significantly lower in schizophrenia patients than in controls. The mean atd angle was significantly higher in cases than in controls. Conclusion: In our study, the finger and palm print patterns show a statistically significant difference in certain parameters between patients with schizophrenia when compared with controls.

Sexual dimorphism of palmar dermatoglyphic parameters of an adult student population in Nigeria

Context: Dermatoglyphics is the scientific study of the epidermal ridges and their configurations on the surfaces of the palms, fingers, soles of the feet and the toes. Aims: The aim of the study was to determine whether there exists any sexual dimorphism in A-B ridge count (ABRC) and ATD angle. Settings and Design: This was a cross-sectional study. Materials and Methods: Four hundred individuals (200 males and 200 females) were studied. Age range was 18–30 years. Palm prints were captured using a Deskjet scanner. Dermatoglyphic parameters were measured manually. Statistical Analysis Used: Statistical analysis was done using descriptive statistics and Student's t-test. Results: The mean values of ABRC in males were 42.08 ± 3.84 (right palm) and 41.94 ± 4.39 (left palm), while the ABRCs in females were 42.46 ± 4.40 (right palm) and 41.97 ± 3.46 (left palm). The mean ATD angles in males were 43.07 ± 4.99 (right palm) and 43.99 ± 4.77 (left palm), while the mean ATD angles in females were 43.91 ± 5.11 (right palms) and 44.05 ± 5.12 (left palms). There was no statistically significant difference between the mean values of both parameters in both sexes and in both palms. Conclusion: There was no sexual dimorphism in the values of ABRC and ATD angles, and therefore, these parameters cannot be used to infer gender in our environment.

Применение триангуляции Делоне для формирования шаблона дактилоскопического изображения

Today, fingerprint identification is the most common method of biometric identification. Existing fingerprint identification models have some defects that reduce the speed and quality of identification. So most of the models do not take into account the topological characteristics of images, for example, the classical method of measuring the ridge count value may produce incorrect results in areas of significant curvature of the ridge lines. This paper presents a new mathematical model for fingerprint identification, taking into account their topological characteristics. Identification is performed on the basis of templates. The templates contain a list of minutiae detected on the image and a list of ridge lines. For the ridge lines and minutiae, sets of topological vectors are constructed. The result of building topological vectors does not depend on the location of minutiae and takes into account their possible mutations, which increases the stability of the proposed mathematical model. Additionally, the stability of the model is ensured by combining the base topological vectors constructed for all minutiae and ridge lines into an expanded topological vector. This view allows you to significantly reduce the size of the template and optimize the use of memory. To compare the fingerprints the Delaunay triangulation is used based on the list of constructed topological vectors. 112 possible classes for topological vectors are defined. This approach allows you to increase the speed of identification up to 10 times while maintaining its accuracy. The proposed classification is resistant to rotation and displacement of images.

Dermatoglyphic Pattern Differences in Females with Reproductive System Cancers and It’s Scope in Preventive Care

Introduction: Female reproductive system cancers shorten lifespan in women because of high mortality and morbidity. The detection of pre-invasive and micro-invasive stages makes near 100% survival of cancer patients. Dermatoglyphics is the scientific study of fingerprints. Many genes which take part in the control of finger and palm dermatoglyphic development distinguished cancer patients from the general population. It is possible that these genes also predispose to the development of malignancy. Since many investigations are needed to confirm the diagnosis of cancers, dermatoglyphics can be used as a screening procedure for planning preventive care if a specific pattern is known for a cancer. Aims and Objectives: To analyze the prints of different cancers, to analyze the results, compare with controls and observe the differences in main parameters of dermatoglyphic patterns and to determine a specific pattern for specific cancers. Subjects and Methods: This is a prospective, observational and an analytical study started after the approval by Institutional Ethical Committee of S.V. Medical College, Tirupati. The material for the study consisted of finger and palm prints of outpatients and inpatients of the Department of OBG, Tirupati, Cancer Hospital in and around Tirupati, Nellore and Kadapa. The ink prints of each finger and palm were collected and analyzed. Results: Ridge counts, digital patterns and main line formulae observed in different cancers in the present study were analyzed and presented. Mean TFRC was higher in normal group. Greater AFRC was observed in cancer cervix patients when compared to controls. In the present study, there is no difference (p> 0.05) in a-b ridge count among carcinoma of cervix and control group in both hands. Differences of mean atd, tad and tda angles among the groups are not statistically significant (P>0.05).The most common C-main line termination pattern of cancers are U followed by R and then Ab. IV interdigital area of both hands presented less incidence of loop pattern in cancer cases when compared to normal group. Special findings in respective cancers are discussed separately and they are not found in any other literature. Conclusion: There are very limited studies in literature on dermatoglyphic pattern in female reproductive cancers. Though the cost of prints is less, more time and skilled human resources are required for their analysis. Study sample size of controls and cases to be increased. Public should be enlightened about dermatoglyphics. If large number of studies are done and a specific pattern is established for specific cancers, then it becomes cost-effective to people so that a risk is predicted beforehand in any disease and preventive methods can be employed at an early age as the dermatoglyphic patterns do not change in a life time.

Dermatoglyphics in children prenatally exposed to alcohol: Fluctuating asymmetry (FA) as a biomarker of alcohol exposure

BackgroundDermatoglyphics alterations have been demonstrated to be an effective complement in the diagnosis of developmental disorders and a marker of prenatal stress. Several genetic and environmental factors can modify their morphology. Once defined, dermatoglyphics remain constant throughout life, being considered fossilized markers of the intrauterine development. Variations in bilateral morphological traits within an individual reflect developmental disturbances and can be measured by fluctuating asymmetry.The aim of this study was to evaluate if dermatoglyphic variations can be used as a surrogate marker prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) during foetal development. Dermatoglyphics from 58 individuals who were either exposed or non-exposed to alcohol during pregnancy (according to the levels of Fatty Acid Ethyl Ethers (FAEE) found in meconium at birth) were analyzed. MethodsTotal a-b ridge count (TABRC) and levels of fluctuating asymmetry from the a-b ridge count (FAABRC) were obtained. ResultsA significant correlation between FA and FAEE levels was found in prenatally alcohol exposed individuals (r = 0.64, p = 0.0032). Remarkably, samples with highest values of FAEEs showed greater FAABRC (6.33 ± 4.18) levels than the values of non-exposed to alcohol (2.87 ± 1.74) as well as the exposed at low concentrations (2.6 ± 1.43) (U = 61, p = 0.05 and U = 14.5, p = 0.05, respectively). ConclusionHeavy prenatal ethanol exposure (demonstrated by high levels of FAEEs) alters the neuroectoderm developmental program during pregnancy: PAE correlates with FAABRC, which behaves as a dermatoglyphic variable sensitive to FASD and deserves to be studied as a surrogate marker of neurodevelopmental damage during foetal development.

The asymmetry of dermatoglyphic finger ridge counts and the geographic altitude of the Jujenean population in northwest Argentina

Asymmetry is omnipresent in the living world and therefore is a measure of developmental noise and instability. The main stressing agent in high-altitude ecosystems is hypobaric hypoxia. The variation in bilateral dermatoglyphic symmetry in populations from the Province of Jujuy in northwest Argentina is analyzed, and these results are compared to those for other populations with different ethnic and environmental backgrounds. Fingerprints were collected from 310 healthy students (140 males and 170 females) aged 18–20 years from three localities in Jujuy Province—Abra Pampa (3484 m above sea level), Humahuaca (2939 m above sea level), and San Salvador de Jujuy (1260 m above sea level). Asymmetry by sex was assessed based on radial and ulnar ridge counts to determine its pattern of variability (directional asymmetry [DA], fluctuating asymmetry [FA] and antisymmetry), and asymmetry and diversity indices were calculated. A bivariate plot and principal component analysis (PCA) were used to compare these indices with those for other populations. Homogeneity was found between populations and sexes when radial and ulnar ridges were counted. FA values did not show significant differences by locality or side (ulnar and radial), but significant differences were found by finger and sex, with males showing significantly greater FA values. The asymmetry and diversity indices clearly group the Andean populations and separate them from populations of different ethnic and geographic origin. Only the diversity index showed significant differences by locality in males, which suggests a substantially different genetic component in Abra Pampa male samples.

Relation between Dermatoglyphicsand Early Childhood caries in a group of Egyptian children

Dental caries is a multifactorial disease with genetic base. Early prediction for high caries risk children can help in postulating an effective caries preventive measure. Dermatoglyphics is a promising valuable tool for preliminary examination in conditions with a speculated hereditary base. The aim of the investigation was to decide whether fingerprints as a genetic marker could be involved in the occurrence of dental caries. Sixty children aged between 36 to 71 months, divided into two groups of 30 children each. They were chosen from the outpatient clinic of the pediatric dentistry department at Pharos University. They were divided into two groups according to dental caries incidence: caries-free children and children with ECC and dmfs score > 5.The handprints of every child were taken and the type of dermatoglyphic pattern on fingertip of every digit was noted. The dmfs scores were recorded. SPSS software and test of proportions were used for the analysis. It was found that fingerprints of caries-free children demonstrated mostly loops pattern while whorls pattern was prevailing in the caries group.The difference in atd angle (angle is a part of the palm denoting the relative position of three triradii) revealed a significant difference between the two groups where caries group had the most minimal mean atd angle and the least total ridge count (TRC). This could be a cost-effective tool, that could be used in many field studies.