The study of patterns of fingerprints is important in anthropology and medical genetics, chiefly because of their diagnostic usefulness. In the present work, we studied the frequencies of various types of skin ridges of the first phalanx in patients with sever oligospermia or azospermia. In a double-blind case-control study, we determined the frequencies of fingerprints in 880 first phalanxes belonging to 48 men with sever oligospermia and 40 men with azospermia. We determined the types of fingerprints based on Galton classification. Also their FRC, TFRC and AFRC were calculated. Then the results were compared with each other and general population as control group. The most frequent type of fingerprint in both case groups was "Loop". Frequencies of different types among two groups of cases were statistically different (P<0.005). Also they were statistically different with general population (P<0.005). The largest mean of FRC in men with oligospermia was belonging to the left ring fingers (23.1) and the second to the right thumbs (21.91). The largest mean of FRC in men with azospermia was belonging to the right thumbs (23.6) and the second to the right ring fingers (22.6). The mean of TFRCs in men with oligosoermia and azospermia were 106.8 and 114.39, respectively, and the mean of AFRCs in those two groups were 14 and 11, respectively; their differences were not statistically significant. It can be concluded that qualitative feathers of the fingerprints of men with oligospermia and azospermia were different with each other and with general population. And quantitative feathers of the fingerprints in those two case groups were statistically different as well

Farhud, D.D.

Hashemzadeh-Chaleshtori, Morteza.

Pour-Jafari, Hamid.

The study of patterns of fingerprints is important in anthropology and medical genetics, chiefly because of their diagnostic usefulness. In the present work, we studied the frequencies of various types of skin ridges of the first phalanx in patients with sever oligospermia or azospermia. In a double-blind case-control study, we determined the frequencies of fingerprints in 880 first phalanxes belonging to 48 men with sever oligospermia and 40 men with azospermia. We determined the types of fingerprints based on Galton classification. Also their FRC, TFRC and AFRC were calculated. Then the results were compared with each other and general population as control group. The most frequent type of fingerprint in both case groups was &quot;Loop&quot;. Frequencies of different types among two groups of cases were statistically different (P&lt;0.005). Also they were statistically different with general population (P&lt;0.005). The largest mean of FRC in men with oligospermia was belonging to the left ring fingers (23.1) and the second to the right thumbs (21.91). The largest mean of FRC in men with azospermia was belonging to the right thumbs (23.6) and the second to the right ring fingers (22.6). The mean of TFRCs in men with oligosoermia and azospermia were 106.8 and 114.39, respectively, and the mean of AFRCs in those two groups were 14 and 11, respectively; their differences were not statistically significant. It can be concluded that qualitative feathers of the fingerprints of men with oligospermia and azospermia were different with each other and with general population. And quantitative feathers of the fingerprints in those two case groups were statistically different as well

H Pour-jafari

M Hashemzadeh Chaleshtori

Dd Farhud

CiteSeerX

Dermatoglyphics in Patients with Oligo/Azospermia

shahrekord university of medical scinces

H Pour-Jafari et al: Dermatoglyphics in… 56 Dermatoglyphics in Patients with Oligo/Azospermia   *H Pour-Jafari 1, M Hashemzadeh Chaleshtori 2, DD Farhud 3   1 Dept. of Genetics, Medical School, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Iran 2 Dept. of Biochemistry and Genetics, Shahre Kord University of Medical Sciences, Iran 3 Genetic Clinic, Valie Asr Sq., Tehran, Iran  (Received 20 Apr 2005; revised 1 Aug 2005; accepted 6 Aug 2005)  Abstract The study of patterns of fingerprints is important in anthropology and medical genetics, chiefly because of their diagnostic usefulness. In the present work, we studied the frequencies of various types of skin ridges of the first phalanx in patients with sever oligospermia or azospermia. In a double-blind case-control study, we determined the frequencies of fingerprints in 880 first phalanxes belonging to 48 men with sever oligospermia and 40 men with azospermia. We determined the types of fingerprints based on Galton classification. Also their FRC, TFRC and AFRC were calculated. Then the results were compared with each other and general population as control group. The most frequent type of fingerprint in both case groups was "Loop". Frequencies of different types among two groups of cases were statistically different (P<0.005). Also they were statistically different with general population (P<0.005). The largest mean of FRC in men with oligospermia was belonging to the left ring fingers (23.1) and the second to the right thumbs (21.91). The largest mean of FRC in men with azospermia was belonging to the right thumbs (23.6) and the second to the right ring fingers (22.6). The mean of TFRCs in men with oligosoermia and azospermia were 106.8 and 114.39, respectively, and the mean of AFRCs in those two groups were 14 and 11, respectively; their differences were not statistically significant. It can be concluded that qualitative feathers of the fingerprints of men with oligospermia and azospermia were different with each other and with general population. And quantitative feathers of the fingerprints in those two case groups were statistically different as well.  Keywords: Azospermia, Oligospermia, Dermatoglyphics, Infertility, Iran   Introduction Dermatoglyphics is the study of the patterns of the ridged skin of the digits, palms and soles (1). They are important in medical genetics chiefly because of their diagnostic usefulness in some dysmorphic syndromes (2). Today the diagnostic role of these patterns is bright espe-cially in chromosomal abnormalities (3). Stud-ies on chromosomal constitution of infertile men have shown chromosomal rearrangements and azospermia among a majority of them (4-7). Finger and palmar dermatoglyphic varia-tions have been studied in diagnosed primary infertile males in different populations (8-11). Abeliovich and colleagues (12) concluded that the patients with the chromosome Y aberrations were azoospermic and might have lost the genes necessary for normal spermatogenesis. Diaz-Castanos and colleagues explained an azoospermic male with a 46, X, t (Y; 19) (q12; q13) karyotype (5). Finger and palmar der-matoglyphic variations have been studied in 160 diagnosed primary infertile males (11).  The goal of present work was to study the fre-quencies of different types of fingerprints in in- fertile men with oligo and azospermia referred to IVF centre of Fattemieh hospital, Hamadan. Also the FRC (finger ridge count), TFRC (total finger ridge count), and AFRC (asymmetry of finger ridge count) were determined. Finally the results were statistically compared with the men in general population of Hamadan.  Iranian J Publ Health, 2005, Vol. 34, No. 3, pp.56-61*Corresponding author: Tel.: +98 0811 822 3614, Mobile: 0918 111 3554, Email: h_pourjafari@yahoo.com H Pour-Jafari et al: Dermatoglyphics in…  57 Materials and Methods The present work was a double-blind case-con-trol study. The cases were all men with sever oligospermia or azospermia that refered to IVF centre of Fattemieh hospital, Hamadan who were satisfy to enroll our study; 48 men with sever oligospermia (aged between 24 to 60 yr, mean= 33.6 and 40 men with azospermia, aged between 24 and 67 and mean= 35.2 years). Prints were taken from the first phalanx of both hands of the patients in two groups. Firstly the total number of prints was 880 but some of them were unclear. After omitting the unclear prints, the total of reminder were 816, and for quantitative study we could use 625 prints. The prints were collected by standard ink method after diagnosing of the type of infertility. The diagnosis was based on clinical and laboratory findings. Then the patients were introduced to another member of research team to print pat-tern of their skin ridges of the first phalanxes of both hands and give to each print a special number (the number that introduced the type of disease, type of the hand, right or left, and type of the finger, little, ring, middle, index and thumb). Then another member of the research group classified the prints based on the standard nomenclature (Galton system), loop, whorl, arch and unknown (Fig. 1) (3). We did not em-ploy the subgroups of those three main classes that usually are used when the size of popula-tion is big enough (1, 13-16). We named “un-known” to any prints other that three major classes and their subgroups. Also we calculated the following parameters: a) finger ridge count= FRC, the number of the ridges between triradus and the center of the print of each phalanx; b) total finger ridge count = TFRC, total of the FRCs of 10 phalanxes; c) asymmetry of finger ridge count= AFRC, that was calculated based on the following formula (17): AFRC = 2A =∑=−512)(iii LR while 2A =Asymmetry of finger ridge count, iR =Ridge count of the right hand and iL = Ridge count of the left hand. In the last step the results were statistically compared with the same results of male popu-lation of Hamadan (13).     Fig.1: Three major shapes of fingerprints, based to “Galton system”. From left to right, arch, loop and whorl  Results In men with oligospermia, the most frequent type of fingerprint was "Loop" (51.7%). The frequencies of different types were not signifi-cant between two hands. In men with azosper-mia, the most frequent type of fingerprint was "Loop" (58.6%) too. The frequencies of differ-ent types were not significant between two Iranian J Publ Health, 2005, Vol. 34, No. 3, pp.56-61  58 hands of men with azospermia as well. Com-parison of frequencies of different types of fin-gerprints of these two groups showed a statisti-cally significant difference (P<0.005) (Table 1). Tables 2 and 3 show that frequencies of differ-ent types of fingerprints of oligosermia and azospermia were statistically different in com-parison with the men in general population of Hamadan (P<0.005 and 0.05, respectively). Table 4 shows FRCs in men with oligo and azospermia according to types of hands (left or right) and fingers. The mean of TFRCs in men with oligosoermia and azospermia were 106.8 and 114.39, respectively, and the mean of AFRCs in those two groups were 14 and 11 re-spectively, their differences were not statisti-cally significant. The same data of general population were not available to compare with our cases.  Oligospermia Azospermia Total Chi 2 P-value Tapes of fingerprints No % No % No % Loop 222 51.7 229 58.6 451 55 Whorl  161 37.5 129 33 290 35.4 Arch 17 4 25 6.4 42 5.1 Unknown 29 6.8 8 2 37 4.5 Total 429 100 391 100 820 100    0.002    15.3  Table1: Comparison of frequencies of different types of fingerprints in two groups of cases (men with sever oligospermia and men with azospermia). Chi 2 = 0.002 and P-value = 15.3.  Oligospermia Azospermia Total Tapes of Fingerprints No. % No. % No. % Loop 222 51.7 229 58.6 451 55 Whorl 161 37.5 129 33 290 35.4 Arch 17 4 25 6.4 42 5.1 Unknown 29 6.8 8 2 37 4.5 Total 429 100 391 100 820 100  Table 2: Comparison of frequencies of different types of fingerprints between men with sever oligospermia and men in general population. Chi2 = 14.42 and P-value = 0.002.  Oligospermia Men in GP* Chi2 P-value Tapes of fingerprints No. % No. % Loop 222 51.7 881 50.9 Whorl 161 37.5 666 38.5 Arch 17 4 123 7.1 Unknown 29 6.8 60 3.4 Total 429 100 1730 100    14.42    0.002 * GP = General population.  H Pour-Jafari et al: Dermatoglyphics in…  59 Table 3: Comparison of frequencies of different types of fingerprints between men with azospermia and men in general population. Chi2 = 8.38 and P-value = 0.038.  Azospermia Men in GP* Chi2 P-value Tapes of fingerprints no % no % Loop 229 58.6 881 50.9 Whorl 129 33 666 38.5 Arch 25 6.4 123 7.1 Unknown 8 2 60 3.4 Total 391 100 1730 100   8.38   0.038 * GP = General population.  Table 4:  FRCs in men with oligo/azospermis according to types of hands (left or right) and fingers.  Oligospermia Azospermia Left hand Right hand Left hand Right hand Types of fingers no mean no mean no mean no mean Thumb 37 17.48 36 21.91 33 20.45 31 23.6 Index 40 16.72 40 20.3 33 16.7 3 14.2 Middle 39 17.97 39 19 30 19.2 32 15.93 Ring 37 23.1 36 21.25 30 19.8 33 22.6 Small 35 15.14 33 17.48 28 17.7 32 16.1  Discussion The prime concern of the present work was the analysis of dermatoglyphic patterns in infertile patients presenting with laboratory detectable sever oligospermia and azospermia. Based to the results the frequent type of finger prints in men with sever oligospermia was "Loop". Fre-quencies of different types were different in two hands but they were not statistically differ-ent. In men with azospermia the same results were obtained. Comparison of those two case groups showed a meaningful result. The same comparison between them and the men in gen-eral population (13) showed the same result as well. A majority of works have shown that chromosomal rearrangements, even some trans- locations (4, 5) can lead to spermatogenesis. Usually persons affected with chromosomal aberrations have abnormal embryonic devel-opment (18). During the 10 weeks of embry-onic life, the fetal hands bear conspicuous volar pads, relatively as large as a cherry on adult fingertips. At about the 13th week the pads re-gress; meanwhile, the dermal ridges differenti-ate in the thickening skin. Growth disturbances at or before this stage can produce abnormal dermatoglyphics, but later ones can not (3).  Although we did not examine the chromosomal situations of our cases, but such characteristic dermatoglyphic patterns in infertile men may furnish additional evidence in support of a ge-netic cause for oligo/azospermia and its associ-ated gonadal dysfunction. Furthermore, it may provide a prognostic preoperative screening method for infertile patients. The TRC or TFRC (total ridge count or total finger ridge count) is another index which is important in dermatoglyphic studies. In this study, mean of TRCs in men with oligospermia and azospermia were 106.8 and 114.39, respec-Iranian J Publ Health, 2005, Vol. 34, No. 3, pp.56-61  60 tively. This parameter in some cases such as cutis laxa was 77 (2) in normal population of Swedish around 120 (19) and in German 131.40 (20). We can assume that TFRC in the men with oligo/azospermia was not "very low" or "very high" but "intermediate".  Symmetry is known to be decreased in a variety of disorders of developmental origin, and thus could potentially serve as a risk marker for dis-orders with developmental component (21). AFRC in men with oligospermia and azosper-mia were 14 (SD= 26.4) and 11 (SD= 11), re-spectively. The same parameter in Hamadanian population was not clear but based to the data  on dermatoglyphics of the Iranians of African decent, one can estimate that the AFRC in those men was 8.376 (22), which showed that sym-metry in our cases was lower than that of Ira-nian population. Decreasing of symmetry in genetic disease has been documented once more in congenital cutis laxa (2).    Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank H.Babol-Hava’eji, MD for his useful assistance and comments. Also they have to thank other staffs of IVF division in Fattemieh Hospital for their sincere helps.  References 1. Pour-Jafari H, Farhud DD, Yazdani A, Hashemzadeh M (2003).Dermatoglyph-ics in Patients with Ecxema,Psoriasis and Alopecia Areata. Skin Research and Technology, 9(1): 240-44. 2. Pour-Jafari H, Sarihi AR, Hashemzadeh M, Farhud DD (2003). Dermatoglyphic Observations in an Iranian Girl Affected with Congenital Cutis Laxa (Autosomal Recessive). Iranian J Public Health, 32(2):12-15. 3. Thompson JS, Thompson MW (1989). Ge-netics in Medicine (4th ed). W.B. Saun-ders Co., Toronto, PP 283-86. 4. Stengel-Rutkowski S, Zankl H, Rodewald A, Scharrer S, Chaudhuri JP, Zang KD (1976). Aspermia, associated with a presumably balanced X/autosomal translocation karyotype 46, Y, t (X; 5) (q28; q11). Hum Genet, 31(1): 97-106. 5. Diaz-Castanos LR, Rivera H, Gonzalez-Montes RM, Diaz M (1991). Translo-cation (Y; 19) (q12; q13) and azoo-spermia. Ann Genet, 34(1): 27-9. 6. Sasagawa I, Nakada T, Adachi Y, Kato T, Sawamura T, Ishigooka M, Hashimoto T (1993). Y-autosome translocation as-sociated with azoospermia. Scand J Urol Nephrol, 27(2): 285-88. 7. Micic M, Micic S, Diklic V (1984). Chro- mosomal constitution of infertile men. Clin Genet, 25(1): 33-6. 8. Makol N, Kshatriya G, Basu S (1994). Study of finger and palmar der-matoglyphics in primary infertile males. Anthropol Anz, 52(1): 59-65. 9. Salam EA, Hafiez AR, El Kerdasi Z, Aiad F, Mahmoud KZ (1984). Genetic stud-ies in varicocele infertility. II: Der-matoglyphic pattern. Andrologia, 16(2): 102- 10. 10. Micle S, Fried K (1980). Dermatoglyphic peculiarities in hypospadias. Hum He-red, 30(6): 365-7. 11. Makol N, Kshatriya G, Basu S (1994). Study of finger and palmar der-matoglyphics in primary infertile males. Anthropol Anz, 52(1): 59-65. 12. Abeliovich D, Potashnik G, Dar H, Lugasi N, Rave D (1986). Chromosomal rear-rangements in three infertile men. An-drologia, 18 (2): 147-51. 13. Pour-Jafari H, Farhud DD, Bagher-nejad S (2002). Fingerprint patterns in Hama-dan. J Res Health Sciences, 1(2): 47-52. 14. Kamali MS, Mavalwala J, Khaneqah AA, Bhanu BV (1991). Qualitative der-matoglyphic traits as measures of popu- lation distance. Am J Phys Anthropol, 85(4): 429-50. 15. Kamali MS, Mavalwala J (1990). Diversity of palmar pattern ridge counts in Iranian H Pour-Jafari et al: Dermatoglyphics in…  61 populations. Am J Phys Anthropol, 81(3): 363-73. 16. Kamali MS, Mavalwala J (1990). Diversity of topological palmar patterns in Iranian populations. Anthropol Anz, 48(1): 85-97.  17. Jantz RL (1975). Population variation in asymmetry and diversity from finger to finger for digital ridge counts. Am J Phys Anthrop, 45: 215. 18. Mathur R, Dubey S, Hamilton S, Singh G, Deka D, Kriplani A, Kabra M, Menon PS (2002). Rapid prenatal karyotyping using foetal blood obtained by cordo-centesis. Natl Med J India, 15 (2): 75-7. 19. Book JA (1957). Frequency distributions of total finger ridge counts in the Swedish population, Heretitas, 43: 381-89. 20. Brehme HV, Reidel B (1966). Uber Korre-lation Zwischen den quantitativen-werten aller finger und zehenbeeren muster. Antrop Anz, 28: 285. 21. Naugler CT, Ludman MD (1996). A case-control study of fluctuating der-matoglyphic asymmetry as a risk marker for developmental delay, Am J Med Genet, 66(1): 11-14. 22. Kamali MS (1987). Dermatoglyphics (fin-gerprints). Me'raj, Tehran, Iran, pp. 39-42.     

Dermatoglyphics in patients with oligo/azospermia

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