No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

A random sample of 2,130 apparently healthy Bulgarians, 1,065 of each sex, was investigated to obtain a detailed picture of finger dermatoglyphic asymmetry and intraindividual diversity in the population examined. Both sexes showed an almost equal pattern of asymmetry and diversity. Relative pattern asymmetry, taking into account the pattern type frequencies, tends to be higher in males, being especially pronounced on fingers which show a low asymmetry in other aspects. Like other populations so far examined, Bulgarians display higher rates in males than in females concerning the total, ulnar, and radial ridge-counts, their asymmetries, and intraindividual diversities. However, the more analysis of the ridge-count asymmetry is worked out in detail, the more it becomes evident that both sexes are asymmetrical not so much to a different degree as in a different manner. As a whole, the ambidirectional, directional, fluctuating, and relative asymmetries are practically consistent in both sexes. Important sex differences are revealed in the structure of the directional and fluctuating asymmetries concerning contrasts between their radial and ulnar levels. The sex differences in directional asymmetry are discussed in the light of possible effects of the sex chromosomes upon the mediolateral developmental gradients. Expressed modulation of the fluctuating asymmetry by finger is interpreted as evidence for considerable differences between separate finger pairs in their sensitivity to stressful factors. Presented results are relevant to anthropology and population genetics and could have implications in medical genetics and teratology, serving as normative data in pathological conditions.

Digital dermatoglyphics were collected from 1,065 male and 1,065 female Bulgarians from northeast Bulgaria. None of the subjects had a diagnosed or suspected genetic or chronic disease of any kind. The fingerprints were classified by the 18-type system of Monique de Lestrange, modified to provide rapid and easy comparison with simpler classification systems. All the standard finger pattern indices were calculated. Certain modifications were introduced into the delta indices, it being borne in mind that each tented arch possesses a triradius and each complex (three-centered, accidental) whorl contains three triradii. A deltadiagram was constructed and its configuration was compared with those of some other populations. In addition, a new radioulnar index was proposed, representing a ratio between all the radial and all the ulnar patterns. The total, absolute, ulnar and radial finger ridge counts were calculated and their sample distributions were investigated. The dermatoglyphic features were evaluated and presented for each sex and each hand separately in order to investigate both the sex and bilateral differences. The set of data presented in this paper is a component of the physical anthropology of the general Bulgarian population. At the same time these data can be used as controls when analyzing the dermatoglyphic findings in Bulgarian patients with genetic diseases or congenital malformations.