Pattern of correlations in the skeleton of the growing hand

Abstract

SUMMARY From radiographs of the hand taken at the age of 2 years the lengths of nineteen bones were determined for each member of ninety‐nine sib pairs. An attempt was made to account for the variation of these lengths in terms of additive contributions from a general factor, group factors (one for each finger and one for each row) and special factors (one for each bone). The analytic model proved to be inadequate because of relatively high correlation between bones in the same neighbourhood, whether or not they belong to the same finger or row. Terminal phalanges were estimated to have a relatively low degree of integration with the hand as a whole and with stature, but a high degree of sib resemblance. A special study was made of the medial phalanx of the fifth finger, leading to the suggestion that this bone is involved in a common finger deformity because it is hyper‐responsive to general growth factors. The Oxford Child Health Survey is supported by a grant from the Medical Research Council.

Oxidized low‐density lipoprotein (oxLDL)‐induced cell death in dorsal root gangion cell cultures depends not on the lectin‐like oxLDL receptor‐1 but on the toll‐like receptor‐4

“…Therefore, they may be more susceptible to biological insult given their extended period of vulnerability (Greulich,1970; Scheur and Black,2004). In this regard it is important to note that far greater variation has been observed in the length of the middle phalanx of the 5th digit than in that of the other bones of the hand (Hewitt,1963). On a practical note, in large study samples qualitative assessment of radiographs is often the preferred approach because it is comparatively quick and can be readily employed after some basic training.…”

Contributions of twin research to psychology.

“…An interesting step in the direction of a hypothesis-oriented approach to a multivariate analysis of the bones of the hand was attempted by Hewitt (1963). He used radiographs of the hand and wrist of 27 male sib pairs, 29 female sib pairs, and 43 sib pairs of mixed sex, taken near their second birthday, to measure the length of the 19 bones.…”

The origin of clinodactyly and brachymesophalangy of the fifth finger

“…Strictly this is abnormal shortness of the middle phalanx, although as Garn (1967) has pointed out, there is usually increased breadth of the bone as well. The best definition relates the length of the fifth middle phalanx to that of the fourth (Hewitt, 1963;Herzog, 1967).…”