Sexual dimorphism in two types of dermatoglyphic traits in the Turkmenian population of Russia: principal component analysis.

Biological Anthropology Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, India.
Anthropologischer Anzeiger (Impact Factor: 0.54). 09/2009; 67(3):253-68. DOI: 10.1127/0003-5548/2009/0024
Source: PubMed

ABSTRACT Summary: Objective of this study is to explore the nature of sex differences between two different sets of dermatoglyphic traits based on principal components in the Turkmenian population. Two categories of dermatoglyphic traits--22 usually studied quantitative traits and 42 variables of diversity and asymmetry were analysed among 745 individuals (309 males and 436 females). The three principal components are very prominent in both sexes--"digital pattern size factor" indicates the degree of universality, as found in earlier studies among different ethnic populations; "intra individual diversity factor" and "bilateral asymmetry factor" are also similar with the earlier studies, which suggest the genetic factor has more influence on these variables than environmental factors. These results strongly indicate that there is a common biological validity exists of the underlying principal component structures between two different sets of dermatoglyphic characters and thus dermatoglyphic factors between two groups of variables can be used for sex-discrimination in different populations.

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