Digital and Palmer Dermatoglyphic; A Bio-Indicator for Intelligence Quotient

Dermatoglyphic attributes once formed in the womb remains unique and persists throughout life for individuals until decomposition after death in the tombs. This research work aimed at finding the relative associations that exists between the dermatoglyphic parameters and intelligence level among the medical students of Bingham University, Karu Nigeria with ultimate purpose of using dermatoglyphic characteristics as bio-indicators for selection of categories of students into good, average and weak academic performances.  A total number of 65 medical students (30 male and 35 female students) who were in 3rd year were selected for this study, students were categorised according to their academic performances in the Anatomy courses into the good, average and weak at the end of the academic session. Dermatoglyphic printings including the finger and palm prints were taken using Indian ink method.  Ulnar loop pattern was prevalence in all categories of students (Right hand: good 72%, average 58%, weak 40%, Left hand: good 72%, average 50%, weak 51% ) and higher symmetrical arrangement was observed in both hands (right and left hands) among the good student, however, no incidence of arch pattern was recorded among the good set of students.  More than two different sets of patterns were observed to be distributed in each hand among the weak category of student and also asymmetrical arrangements were significant (P<0.05) on both hands among the weak.   Reduction in the ridge counts, total ridge counts, absolute ridge counts and palmer tri-radial angles measured (<ATD, <DAT, <ADT) were significant (P<0.05) among the weak and less significant (P<0.05) in the average group of students. Transversality of the palmer ridges was the same in all the categories of students (good, average and weak students) as revealed by the main line index. This observed dermatoglyphic parameters may be used in the selection of students according to categories for education counselling and close monitoring especially in private institutions of learning

Characterization of Somatosensory Processing in Relation to Schizotypal Traits in a Sample of Nonclinical Young Adults

A core feature of schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSDs) is a basic sensory (e.g., visual, auditory) processing disruption, yet few studies have examined somatosensation. The current dissertation project examined somatosensory processes among individuals at varying degrees of psychometric risk for psychosis using tactile texture and spatial discrimination and letter recognition tasks. Differential patterns of associations of somatosensory abilities with schizotypal trait dimensions (positive, negative, disorganized), independent of anxiety and depressive symptoms, and the relative contributions of bottom-up (peripheral and morphologic features) versus top-down (error types) processing were examined. It was hypothesized that: 1) performance on somatosensory tasks would account for significant variability in total schizotypal traits; 2) somatosensory performances would be differentially associated with schizotypal trait dimensions, and somatosensory performances would account for variability in schizotypal traits beyond mood symptoms; and, 3) central and peripheral mechanisms may contribute to somatosensory performance, but they were not expected to fully account for the associations between basic somatosensory processing and schizotypal traits. Participants were 125 (37 Male/88 Female) young adults (Mage = 20.55, SD = 3.27) recruited from the City University of New York human subjects pool. Participants were asked to complete somatosensory tasks and mood and personality self-report measures. Fingerprints were obtained to assess morphologic features. Anxiety and depressive symptoms were included as covariates, as they accounted for a significant proportion of variability schizotypal traits. Contrary to hypotheses, after accounting for the relative contributions of mood symptoms, better spatial discrimination and rough texture discrimination abilities were associated with more disorganized and negative schizotypal traits, respectively, at the trend level. Exploratory analyses demonstrated some differential contributions of dermatoglyphic features and letter recognition confusion errors in accounting for variability in schizotypal traits. Specifically, more isomorphic errors were significantly associated with fewer negative (and total) schizotypal traits, and, at trend level, more minutiae were associated with more positive schizotypal traits. Findings are discussed in the context of theories regarding neural substrates of somatosensory processing disruptions in SSDs. Implications for understanding SSD etiology and using somatosensory measures as possible indicators of risk for psychosis are posited

POLA DERMATOGLIFI TANGAN PADA PASIEN SKIZOFRENIA DI RUMAH SAKIT JIWA DAERAH SURAKARTA

LINDA JANA SINTANINGTYAS. G0006109/ VII. 2009. Pola Dermatoglifi Tangan pada Pasien Skizofrenia di Rumah Sakit Jiwa Daerah Surakarta. Fakultas Kedokteran, Universitas Sebelas Maret, Surakarta. Tujuan Penelitian : Menunjukkan adanya gambaran pola dermatoglifi tangan pada pasien skizofrenia di Rumah Sakit Jiwa Daerah Surakarta dan menganalisis dan membandingkan pola dermataglifi tangan antara pasien skizofrenia di Rumah Sakit Jiwa Daerah Surakarta dengan responden normal. Metode Penelitian : Penelitian ini bersifat deskriptif dan analitik dengan pendekatan cross sectional. Responden antara lain terdiri atas 30 orang pasien skizofrenia yang telah didiagnosis psikiater sesuai dengan Pedoman Diagnostik dari PPDGJ III, di semua umur, dengan riwayat keluarga (genetik) skizofrenia yang dirawat di Rumah Sakit Jiwa Daerah Surakarta dan responden normal terdiri dari 30 orang yang tidak memiliki riwayat keturunan skizofrenia dan tidak sedang menderita skizofrenia. Yang diperiksa antara lain pola sidik jari, jumlah ridge (TRC / Total Ridge Count), dan frekuensi triradius total (PII/ Pattern Intensity Index). Hasilnya dianalisa secara deskriptif dan analitik dengan menggunakan Chi Square SPSS 16 untuk mengetahui perbedaan antara pola dermatoglifi pasien skizofrenia di RSJD Surakarta dan responden normal. Hasil Penelitian : Hasil penilaian secara deskriptif antara lain frekuensi sidik jari pada pasien skizofrenia sebanyak 61,1% berpola ulnar loop, kemudian 24,6% berpola whorl, 8% berpola radial loop, dan 6,3% berpola archus. Sedangkan pada responden normal yang berpola ulnar loop sebanyak 54,7%, whorl sebanyak 20,7%, archus 13,7% dan radial loop 11%. Jumlah sulur total pasien skizofrenia rata-rata 109 sulur, sedangkan pada responden normal 106 sulur. Jumlah sulur total berdasarkan jenis kelamin pada pasien skizofrenia laki-laki 123 sulur dan perempuan 93 sulur. Sedangkan pada responden normal, jumlah sulur total pada laki-laki 101 sulur dan perempuan 111 sulur. Jumlah rata-rata total triradius (PII) pada pasien skizofrenia adalah 12, sedangkan pada responden normal rata-ratanya 11 triradius. Perhitungan secara analitik menunjukkan adanya perbedaan yang signifikan pola sidik jari pada jari II dextra (p=0,035). Tidak terdapat pebedaan yang signifikan antara pola sidik jari pada jari I,III,IV,V kanan dan jari I,II,III,IV kiri serta jumlah sulur total (TRC/ Total Ridge Count) dan jumlah triradius total (PII/ Pattern Intensity Index) pada seluruh jari baik jari kanan maupun kiri yang mengarah pada kejadian skizofrenia di Rumah Sakit Jiwa Daerah Surakarta. Simpulan Penelitian : Berdasarkan hipotesa penelitian, didapatkan perbedaan gambaran pola dermatoglifi tangan pasien skizofrenia di Rumah Sakit Jiwa Daerah Surakarta yaitu pada jari II dextra yang berpola ulnar loop. Kata Kunci : Dermatoglifi – Skizofrenia – Jumlah sulur tota

DERMATOGLYPHIC ANALYSIS OF NON-SYNDROMIC ORAL CLEFTS CASES, UNAFFECTED FAMILY MEMBERS AND CONTROLS

Non-syndromic oral clefts are a complex craniofacial anomaly with a multifactorial etiology involving both genetic and environmental effects. The risk of developing clefts is influenced by generalized embryological instabilities. Our hypothesis is that, due to a shared embryological chronology between the formation of the lip/palate and fingerprints in the first trimester, individuals with oral clefts may also show abnormal dermatoglyphics. Our subjects are from 5 sites, Hungary, Pittsburgh, Madrid, Texas and Patagonia. Our study follows a case-control design: 1) Cases: Individuals with CL, CLP or CP; 2) Unaffected family members from the case families; 3) True controls, genetically unrelated individuals with no family history of clefting. Our analyses were performed on three data sets: Data set 1—All cleft types, unaffected family members, and true controls (n=1502); Data set 2—Cleft lip with or without cleft palate: CL/P individuals, unaffected family members, and true controls (n=1228): and Data set 3—Cleft palate only: CP individuals, unaffected family members, the true controls (n=570). We obtained fingerprints from all individuals in our study. Three raters designated the patterns as arch, loop and whorl. Chi-square analysis was done to evaluate the pattern frequency differences across sites, sex, and cleft types. Dissimilarity scores were calculated and tested for significance using Student’s t-test, ANOVA and regression analysis. Ridge counts were also analyzed. We set the level of significance to 0.05. We found that pattern frequency differences exist across different sites and by sex, based on the cleft status. We further observed pattern differences between the types of non-syndromic CL/P. Arches were higher in cases and unaffected family members compared to the true controls. This difference was more pronounced among females compared to males. Cases had more pattern asymmetry than unaffected family members, who had a higher asymmetry compared to true controls when all cleft types were combined. No significant ridge count differences were observed among these groups. These results support our hypothesis that individuals with oral clefts differ in their pattern frequencies and dermatoglyphic asymmetry, compared to controls

Dermatoglyphic patterns and Its variations in South Indian Adults

BACKGROUND; Dermatoglyphics encompasses the science related to the study of all the integumentary features such as skin configurations on the fingers, palms, toes and soles. Fingerprints are the most authentic form of evidence which is distinctive and perpetual. This is an Observational descriptive study involving the • Fingerprint and palmar prints of 200 medical students. • Fingerprint and palmar prints of 50 patients with diabetes mellitus. RESULTS: In the medical students, the percentage of loops was 60.5%, whorls were 30.35%, arches were 5.5%, and composite was 3.65%. Dermatoglyphics in male medical students: In the male medical students, the percentage of loops was 60.50%, whorls were 30.80%, arches were 5.30% and composite was 3.40% in both right and left hands. The total ridge count of males was 13077 ridges of which 6512 ridges were present in right hand (49.79%) and 6565 ridges were present in the left hand (50.20%). The a-b ridge count in males was 6801 ridges (49.25%). Among the 6801 ridges, 3428 ridges (50.40%) were present in the right hand and 3373 ridges (49.59%) were present in the left hand. The range of the atd angle was between 30° to 50°. Dermatoglyphics in female medical students: In the female medical students, the most frequently distributed fingertip pattern was loops (60.5%) followed by the whorls (29.9%), arches (5.7%) and composites (3.9%). The female subjects had a total of 11184 ridges. Among those ridges 5588 ridges were present in the right hand (49.96%) and 5596 ridges were present in the left hand (50.03%). The number of a-b ridges present in females was 7007 ridges with 50.74%. Of the 7007 ridges, 3480 ridges (49.66%) were present in the right hand and 3527 ridges (50.33%) were present in the left hand. The range of the atd angle was found to be between 30° and 50°. Sub types of dermal patterns: The total number of loops present was 1210 (60.5%). Of this ulnar loops were 1177 (58.85%) and radial loops were 33 (1.65%). 110 digital prints had arches. They constituted 5.5% of the total fingerprint pattern. The number of simple arch was 75 and tented arch was 35. The total number of composites was in 73 digital prints. The percentage of double loop was 1.5%, central pocket loop was 1%, lateral pocket loop was 0.16% and accidental loop was 0.06%. Dermatoglyphics of diabetes subjects: The percentage of whorls was 44.6%, loops 39.4%, arch 11.6% and composites 4.4%. Dermatoglyphics of male diabetics: In the male diabetics, the total number of whorls observed in the fingertips was 108, loops in 104 digital prints, arch in 24 digital prints and composites in 14 fingertips and their percentages were 43.2%, 41.6%, 9.6% and 5.6% respectively. Among the 2870 total finger ridges, (51.25%) of the male diabetes subjects, 1387 ridges (48.32%) were present in the right hand and 1493 ridges (52.02%) were present in the left hand. The number of a-b ridges was 1563 in number (50.61%). Dermatoglyphics of female diabetics: In the female diabetics, the whorl configuration was the predominant pattern in female diabetes subjects (46%). The next common pattern was the loop (37.2%) followed by arch (13.6) and composite (3.2%). The total finger ridge count of female diabetes patients was 2790 ridges (49.82%). There were 1470 ridges (52.68%) in the right hand and 1320 ridges (47.31%) in the left hand. The a- b ridge count in female diabetes patients was 1525 ridges (49.38%). The range of the atd angle in diabetes patients existed between 34° and 52°. In case of medical students, the total finger ridge counts in males, the a-b ridge count in females and the atd angle of females were statistically significant. In case of diabetics, atd angle in females was statistically significant and the total finger ridge counts and a-b ridge count were statistically insignificant. CONCLUSION: The observations of the present study were compared with the studies done previously. Many differences were encountered and they were attributed to the geographical and genetic factors

A Study on Dermatoglyphic Pattern in Women with Breast Cancer.

Breast cancer is the second most common malignant condition after cervical carcinoma in India. The first sign is usually a palpable lump in the breast, which is diagnosed further with other investigative procedures like mammography and final diagnosis is confirmed by histological techniques through biopsy of the specimen. The genetic basis of breast cancer has been studied excessively77. BRCA 1 has been excessively implicated in breast cancer. Dermatoglyphics is a scientific method of study of patterns in finger tips, palms and soles. This pattern is unique to every individual and permanently fixed, with no changes after a set formation. In various studies, the dermatoglyphic pattern variations in patients with genetic diseases like Down’s syndrome, schizophrenia, and certain cancer types, like, breast cancer, ovarian cancer has been studied extensively. Therefore, this method of non- invasive technique can be used as a predictor in persons prone for certain diseases when there is significant variations in dermatoglyphic patterns. This study is aimed at studying the variations in dermatoglyphic patterns in patients with breast cancer in comparison to normal subjects. This study is conducted with the following objectives and aims: 1. To record and study the palmar and finger print patterns in patients with breast cancer and age matched normal subjects taken as controls 2. To compare the dermatoglyphic patterns of cases and controls 3. To assess the variations in patterns of dermatoglyphic features between breast cancer patients and controls and to find out the resultant significance. 4. To assess the usefulness of this technique in acting as a predictor of breast cancer ; the efficacy of this technique as a non-invasive diagnostic tool in identification of breast cancer patients and also to identify persons at risk of breast cancer

Fluctuating asymmetry in patients with schizophrenia is related to hallucinations and thought disorganisation

Fluctuating asymmetry represents the degree to which the right and left side of the body are asymmetrical, and is a sign of developmental instability. Higher levels of fluctuating asymmetry have been observed in individuals within the schizophrenia spectrum. We aimed to explore the associations of fluctuating asymmetry with psychotic and affective symptoms in schizophrenia patients, as well as with propensity to these symptoms in non-clinical individuals. A measure of morphological fluctuating asymmetry was calculated for 39 patients with schizophrenia and 60 healthy individuals, and a range of clinical and subclinical psychiatric symptoms was assessed. Regression analyses of the fluctuating asymmetry measure were conducted within each group. In the patient cohort, fluctuating asymmetry was significantly associated with the hallucination and thought disorganisation scores. T-test comparisons revealed that the patients presenting either hallucinations or thought disorganisation were significantly more asymmetrical than were the healthy individuals, while the patients without these key symptoms were equivalent to the healthy individuals. A positive association with the anxiety score emerged in a subsample of 36 healthy participants who were rated on affective symptoms. These findings suggest that fluctuating asymmetry may be an indicator of clinical hallucinations and thought disorganisation rather than an indicator of schizophrenia disease

Prenatal stress and brain development.

Prenatal stress (PS) has been linked to abnormal cognitive, behavioral and psychosocial outcomes in both animals and humans. Animal studies have clearly demonstrated PS effects on the offspring's brain, however, while it has been speculated that PS most likely affects the brains of exposed human fetuses as well, no study has to date examined this possibility prospectively using an independent stressor (i.e., a stressful event that the pregnant woman has no control over, such as a natural disaster). The aim of this review is to summarize the existing animal literature by focusing on specific brain regions that have been shown to be affected by PS both macroscopically and microscopically. These regions include the hippocampus, amygdala, corpus callosum, anterior commissure, cerebral cortex, cerebellum and hypothalamus. We first discuss the mechanisms by which the effects of PS might occur. In particular, we show that maternal and fetal hypothalamicpituitary-adrenal (HPA) axes, and the placenta, are the most likely candidates for these mechanisms. We see that, although animal studies have obvious advantages over human studies, the integration of findings in animals and the transfer of these findings to human populations remains a complex issue. Finally, we show how it is possible to circumvent these challenges by studying the effects of PS on brain development directly in humans, by taking advantage of natural or man-made disasters and assessing the impact and consequences of such stressful events on pregnant women and their offspring prospectively