Morphology and Palm Prints in Koreans

Abstract

Palm prints have been used for personal identification because they are unique to each individual. Palm prints have also been used for diagnosing genetic disorders and for revealing physical anthropological characteristics, due to their specific appearance characteristic of genetic factors and nationality. Therefore, several analytical methods of palm prints have been developed and applied for the purpose described. However, in the previous reports, the analytical methods of palm prints and the numbers of subjects were insufficient to find Standard values for Korean palm prints. In this study, in order to determine the Standard value for Korean palm prints, we examined palm prints of 3216 Korean adults (2095 males and 1121 females), analyzed the data according to sex and side of hand, and compared with those of foreigners. The results are s follows: 1) The incidence of 7, 9, and 11 of D was 41.8%, 33.5%, and 20.4%, respectively. Comparing the incidences 017, 9, and 11 of D in Koreans with those of foreigners, the Korean belong to the Asians including the Japanese, the Chinese, and the Philippine, however, the Korean was doser to the Blacks and distant from the Whites than the other Asians. 2) The palm prints were classified into the open type in which B terminates at the ulnar border of hand, and the dosed type in which B does not. Open type, 7-5-5 (male 37.6%, female 39.5%) and 9-7-5 (male 23.9%, female 25.5%), was more frequent in female than in male, while dosed type, 11-9-7 (male 9.8%, female 9.1%), was more frequent in male than in female. Also, open type, 7-5-5 (right 28.9%, left 47.6%), was more frequent in left hand than in right hand, while dosed type, 11-9-7 (right 17.1%, left 2.1%), was more frequent in right hand than in left hand. Consequently, open type was more frequent in the weak hand, whereas dosed type was more frequent in strong hand. 3) Because a-b (39.2) and c-d (35.0) were more numerous than b-c (27.8), distance between a and b and between c and d were longer than that between c and d. The long distance of a, b and c, d could be resulted by wide moving range of second finger and fifth finger, respectively. Also, there was a tendency that the palmar ridge counts of right hand was more numerous than those of left hand, which could be resulted by wide moving range of right fingers in the right-handed persons who were more frequent than the left-handed persons. 4) O, in which there was no triradius, and X, in which dermal ridge from a triradius was blocked and terminated at the other dermal ridge, were frequent in C (O 7.8%, × 7.2%) than in D (O 0.1%, × 0.1%) or in B (O 0.4%, X 1.2%). The frequency of 0 and X in C was thought to be related with the location of ein the narrow space between d and b. The narrow space between d and b was known because c-d and b-c was less numerous than a-b. 5) The distances between adjacent triradii were longer in male than in female, however, the palmar ridge counts for a-b, b-c, and c-d were less numerous in male than in female. Consequently, dermal ridges were thought to be thicker in male than in female. The Standard values of Korean palm prints obtained from this study are expected to be used for both diagnosing genetic disorders and for revealing physical anthropological characteristics in Korea. Further studies to clarify the relationship between the palm prints and the power of hand as well as the moving range of fingers are in need.