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OJHAS 2018;17(4):2 Singh V et al. Distribution and Sexual Dimorphism of the a-b Ridge Count among the Bhil Tribal Community of Mount Abu, Western India
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Original Article:
Distribution and Sexual Dimorphism of the a-b Ridge Count among the Bhil Tribal
Community of Mount Abu, Western India
Authors:
Vivek Singh, Former M.Sc. Student,
Sayani Das, Former M.Sc. Student,
Prakash Ranjan Mondal, Associate Professor,
Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi, Delhi, India.
Address for Correspondence
Sayani Das,
Department of Anthropology,
University of Delhi,
Delhi,
India.
E-mail: das.sayani6@gmail.com.
Citation
Singh V, Das S, Mondal PR. Distribution and Sexual Dimorphism of the a-b Ridge Count among the Bhil Tribal Community of
Mount Abu, Western India. Online J Health Allied Scs. 2018;17(4):2. Available at URL: https://www.ojhas.org/issue68/2018-4-2.html
Submitted: Oct 22, 2018; Accepted: Jan 10, 2019; Published: Jan 30, 2019
Abstract: This study aims to understand the distribution and
sexual dimorphism of the a-b ridge count. A cross-sectional
data was collected on 241 individuals from the ‘Bhil’ tribal
community aged 10-60 years from the block Mount Abu,
Rajasthan state of western India. A modified Cumins and
Midlo (1961) ink printing method was used to obtain the
dermatoglyphic configuration. The a-b ridge count has been
evaluated following standard technique of Schaumann and
Alter (1976), and the total a-b ridge count (TABC) is classified
according to Fang (1950) definition. The result shows that the
mean TABC is higher in male (80.7) than female (78.5), but
statistically insignificant. The a-b ridge count (ABRC) of the
right hand in males is significantly higher than female. This
study emphasized that the distribution of palmar ridge
quantitatively varies between two sex groups. Unfortunately,
there is dearth of information on the sexual variation of a-b
ridge count. Notably, most of the studies in India on a-b ridge
count was in hospital setting or among the patients. In this
article, we studied community dwelling healthy population,
which offers a complimentary research perspective for
forensic anthropologists and to understand the application of
a-b ridge pattern for personal identification.
Key Words: a-b ridge count, India, Tribe, Sexual variation,
Dermatoglyphics
Introduction:
Dermatoglyphics or epidermal ridge configuration is the study
of dermal ridges on palms, fingertips, and soles (1). These
epidermal ridges are formed in early embryonic life, around
10 weeks of post fertilization and remain unaltered throughout
the life, except for an increase in size in parallel with the
general growth of the individual (2). The palmar friction ridges
are the corrugated wavy skin patterns with sweat glands but no
oil glands or hair. Discontinuities in the palmar ridge patterns
are called the flexion creases. Flexion creases appear before
the formation of palmar friction ridges during the embryonic
skin development stage, and both of these features are claimed
to be immutable, permanent, and unique to an individual (3).
The structure of the epidermal ridges and their arrangement on
the hand was first described by Nehemiah Grew, in 1684 (4).
Herschel for the first time (1858) captured the systematic
images of hand, finger and palm, and used it in identification
purposes (5). Later, Sir Francis Galton highlighted the use of
fingerprint patterns, palmar ridges and creases in personal
identification (1). Cummins and Midlo observed that the width
of a palmar ridge is 18 % larger compared to a finger. So, they
explained the importance of the ‘palmar flexion crease based
identification’ (6). Presently, the palmar creases are very
helpful in revealing anthropologic characteristics and
diagnosing chromosomal aberrations (7).
Palmar pattern configuration:
Palmar flexion creases were distinguished into several
anatomically designed creases. The configurations are
associated with the tri-radii (Galton's deltas); which consists
of three ridge systems converging with each other at an angle
of roughly 120º (Y -shaped group of ridges) (8). The palm of
each hand contains five tri-radii and four of them are found at
the base of the second to fifth fingers (digital areas) and are
called a, b, c & d tri-radii, respectively (see Figure 1). The fifth
tri-radius is located near the base of the fourth metacarpal and
it is called axial tri-radius or ‘t’ tri-radius (9). Dermal ridges of
the digital areas of the palms are often counted between two
triradius. The most frequently used ridge count is obtained in-
between ‘a’ and ‘b’ tri-radii, which is referred to as the a-b
ridge count (10).
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-
No Derivative Works 2.5 India License
Online Journal of Health and Allied Sciences
Peer Reviewed, Open Access, Free Online Journal
Published Quarterly : Mangalore, South India : ISSN 0972-5997
Volume 17, Issue 4; Oct-Dec 2018
2
OJHAS 2018;17(4):2 Singh V et al. Distribution and Sexual Dimorphism of the a-b Ridge Count among the Bhil Tribal Community of Mount Abu, Western India
Figure 1: Left Hand Showing A-B Ridge Count
a-b ridge count:
Fang TC for the first time (1950) studied the distribution and
inheritance of the a-b ridge count on palmar ridge (11). Later,
several researchers (11-19) have analyzed the genetic
determinants of a-b ridge count. a-b ridge counts also had been
used to study the population variability (19-21) and to
diagnosis and confirm certain diseases (19,22-25).
In India, some publications on the a-b ridge count in different
groups of population are available (9,26-33). But, on those
studies, the attention was mostly on the inheritance patter,
fluctuation asymmetry and the association with disease state.
There is a dearth of information in the sexual dimorphism of
a-b ridge count. David TJ (1984), for the first-time focused
exclusively on the distribution and sexual variation of a-b
ridge count in the United Kingdom (34). This study found that
the a-b ridge count distribution in males was significantly
different, while in females the variation did not reach
statistical significant. But we need more prospective research
studies to obtain detail knowledge about the unique
distribution pattern of a-b ridge count. Till now, several
methodologies are used in forensic science for personal
identification to solve the criminal cases in legal processing.
In India, law enforcement highly used the finger print pattern
for identification (35). The palmar dermatoglyphics,
particularly a-b ridge count can also be used as a tool for
personal, because it is accessible and easy to measure. The
present study aims to understand the distribution and sexual
dimorphism of the a-b ridge count between males and females
among the ‘Bhil’ tribal community of Mount Abu, Rajasthan
state, western India.
Materials and Methods:
The present study was a cross sectional study on community
dwelling ‘Bhil’ tribal population aged 10 years to 60 years.
Study area and people:
Mount Abu is a hill satiation in the Aravalli hill range in Sirohi
district of Rajasthan state, western India (see Figure 2).
Rajasthan is India’s largest state by area. The present study
was carried out in the home setting of the rural villages of
Dilwada, Gora-Chapra, Kala-Chapra, Bande, Filter-house,
Pokhran-house in the block Mount Abu. A major portion of
this block is dominated by the tribal communities and the
majority of tribal population is dominated by ‘Bhil’.
Figure 2: Study Area
Study design:
A total 241 (122 males and 119 females) individuals were
selected by random sampling. Inclusion criteria for this study
are: i) age group 10-60 years, ii) both male and female, iii)
without any chromosomal deformities, infections and burn in
the palm. The ‘Bhil’ tribal community have been chosen
purposively due to numeric dominance in Mount Abu.
The exclusion criteria for the participants included: i) any
deformities of palm and infected hand, ii) chromosomal
abnormalities like Klinefelter’s syndrome, Turner’s syndrome
etc. and iii) deep burns of palms leading to scars.
The participants were explained about the objectives of the
study and were asked to sign a consent form only when they
had fully understood the purpose to study and the procedures
to be undertaken for the study before data collection. General
information for the identification viz. name, age, sex, caste,
address was also collected.
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OJHAS 2018;17(4):2 Singh V et al. Distribution and Sexual Dimorphism of the a-b Ridge Count among the Bhil Tribal Community of Mount Abu, Western India
Dermatoglyphics- Ink printing procedure:
The standard procedure (6) of ink printing method was used to
obtain the dermatoglyphics configuration. Each individual
was asked to clean and dry their hands, leaving some moisture.
Then, using the cotton pad, the required amount of ink was
placed on the glass slab and uniformly smeared it with the help
of ink rubber until a thin film was obtained. After that, this thin
film of ink was applied uniformly on the palm of the subject
by placing inked cotton pad. The zone of the flexion crease at
the wrist, the ulnar margin, the metacarpal phalangeal crease
and the central hollow portion of palm were uniformly inked
with special attention. Each hand of the subject was then
placed on a sheet of paper from proximal to distal end, and
then gently pressed between inter-metacarpal grooves at the
root of fingers and on the dorsal side corresponding to thenar
and hypothenar regions. The palm was then lifted from the
paper in the reverse order from distal to proximal end. The
print was subsequently visualised with the use of a magnifying
lens.
a-b ridge count:
The a-b ridge count (ABRC) has been evaluated following
standard technique (36). It refers to the number of ridges
between tri-radii ‘a’ and ‘b’ (see Figure 1). The total a-b ridge
count (TABC) was calculated by adding both the left and right
ridge counts. Thereafter, it is also classified as ‘low value’ and
‘high value’ as per the definition of Fang (1950) (37). The a-b
count is termed as ‘low’ if it is ≤78 and ‘high’ if the count >78.
Data analysis:
The data obtained was subjected to statistical analysis using
SPSS version 22. The parameters taken were analysed through
descriptive statistics to find out the frequency, mean and
standard deviation. For inferential statistics, the student t-test
was used to test significant differences between male and
female variables. The level of significance was taken at p<0.05
Results:
The distribution and sexual variation of total a-b ridge count
(TABC):
The study comprises 241 individuals, and the major studied
individuals are belonged to the TABC group 70-79 and 80-89.
The TABC group 0-39, 110-119 and 120+ do not possess any
individuals. It is seen that only 1.7% participants belonged to
the 40-49 group and they all were female. Among the male,
maximum (36.9%) individuals belonged to the TABC group
70-79. On the other hand, for females, it was highest (41.2%)
in the 80-89 group. The mean TABC of the studies individuals
was higher in males (80.7) than females (78.5), but it does not
possess any statistical significant. According to Fang TABC
classification, total a-b ridge count was ‘high’ for both the sex
(see Table 1 and Figure 3).
Figure 3: Distribution of Total a-b Ridge Count (TABC)
Table 1: The Distribution of Total A-B Ridge Count (TABC)
TABC
Males (N=122)
Females (N=119)
t-test
p-value
Number
Percent
Number
Percent
1.795
0.074
0-39
-
-
-
-
40-49
-
-
2
1.7
50-59
2
1.6
2
1.7
60-69
12
9.8
11
9.2
70-79
45
36.9
47
39.5
80-89
41
33.6
49
41.2
90-99
17
13.9
6
5.0
100-109
5
4.1
2
1.7
110-119
-
-
-
-
120+
-
-
-
-
Mean
80.7
78.5
SD
9.8
9.3
SE
1.0
0.9
Note: SD; Standard Deviation. SE; Standard Error. p-value;
significant value
Sexual dimorphism of a-b ridge count (ABRC):
Table 2 displays the comparison of a-b ridge count among the
male and female. The mean ABRC value was higher for male
than female on both the hands. t-test found that the mean
difference of right hand ABRC was significantly higher in
male than female (t=2.40, p=0.017). But in left hand, the
difference between male (40.5) and female (39.9) was not
statistically significant.
Table 2: Comparison of A-B Ridge Count (ABRC)
among Male and Female
ABRC
Right Hand
Left Hand
Mean
SD
Mean
SD
Male (n=122)
40.1
5.0
40.5
5.6
Female (n=119)
38.5
5.4
39.9
4.7
t-test
2.40
0.91
p- value
0.017**
0.364
Note: SD; Standard Deviation. p-value; significant value
**. Significant at <0.05 level
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OJHAS 2018;17(4):2 Singh V et al. Distribution and Sexual Dimorphism of the a-b Ridge Count among the Bhil Tribal Community of Mount Abu, Western India
Discussion:
The variation among males and females in the total a-b ridge
count (TABC) is very small, and thus are statistically
insignificant. David TJ in his study also analysed the
distribution of summed (right plus left) a-b ridge count in
1,000 healthy subjects which showed a similar distribution
pattern with no significant sex difference. The reason behind
that the smaller influence of sex chromosome complements on
the a-b ridge count than the effect of same on finger ridge
count. The total a-b ridge count is probably also less
genetically determined than the total finger ridge count (34).
Several past studies have hypothesised that the fingerprints of
women have ‘fine’ epidermal ridge details while the men have
‘course’ ridge details, which possess the utmost of ridge count
in male than female (38). In our study, we also observed the
quantitative variation of palmar epidermal ridge count
between two sex groups. Male have the higher palmar ridge
count than the female, and in right hand the variation is also
statistically significant. Igbigdi and Msamati (1999)
conducted a study to establish palmar and digital
dermatoglyphics pattern of Malawians and they also
concluded that males have significantly higher a-b ridge
counts than females (39). Arrieta et al. (1992) tried to find out
the reason behind the sexual variation and concluded that the
‘a-b ridge count’ in males seems to be more influenced by
environmental factors than the other palmar ridge counts; but
in case of females, it was found that a-b ridge count was
influenced by genetic component (40).
In India, Joshi et al. (1992) studied fifty persons, who had
nasobronchial allergy and compared it with age and sex-
matched normal individuals for dermatoglyphics palmar
patterns, where he also found that the a-b ridge count (ABRC)
was higher in males (41). In a very recent study, Das et al.
(2014) studied palmar a-b ridge count in E-β thalassemia
patients on the Bengalee Hindu caste populations of West
Bengal, India. They also found that the distribution of TABC
was highest in males compared to females in both E-β-
thalassemia patients and other populations (33). Moreover, the
a-b ridge count varies between two sex groups, but we need
more population specific studies and particularly on healthy
population to improve our understanding regarding the
distribution and sexual variation of a-b palmar ridge count and
its applications.
Palmar ridge configurations include much more information
than finger, and therefore we can use it to compensate the
finger print deficiency. Presently, palmar prints are
extensively used in research studies to find its association with
geographical distribution, temperament, health, intelligence
and heredity, etc (10). Despite increasing use of the a-b ridge
count in research studies over the past few decades, there is a
lack of consensus in the literature regarding its distribution and
pattern of sexual variation. Most of the studies were conducted
in disease population or in hospital setting. Thus, this paper
offers new research perspectives and highlighted the need to
understand the application of a-b ridge count for personal
identification in forensic science.
This study has number of strengths. This is an original study
conducted in a particular tribal community in Indian
population and it includes the most important ridge count,
which is broadly used as indicators for several human’s
biological and anatomical aspects. The limitations of our study
is that we had limited sample size, as it was focusing on a
particular community and healthy population; the adults of the
community were usually unavailable as they use to leave very
early in the morning for agricultural work and we had to
exclude many adults form both the sex groups due to the
deformities on their palmar ridges. Moreover, there are very
few studies available on a-b ridge count for Indian populations
and especially those are community based, which makes this
present study an important contribution in forensic
anthropological research.
The present study concluded that a-b ridge count was
maximum for male than female. The mean value of a-b ridge
count on the right hand was significantly higher in male than
female. This can provide a basic understanding of unique and
important characteristics of a-b ridge count. The current study
highlighted the need of more multidisciplinary studies to
obtain knowledge about distribution pattern and sexual
variation as well as to find out the reason behind it. There after
we can use it as an identification tool in forensic science.
Unfortunately, in India, there is a scarcity of data in terms of
a-b ridge count, so these findings offer complementary
research perspectives for further research.
Acknowledgements:
We acknowledge to all the participants who contributed to the
study for their cooperation and help during fieldwork.
Moreover, acknowledgement is also owed to the Department
of Anthropology, the University of Delhi for providing all the
necessity for the present study.
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