Relationship between genetic anomalies of different levels and deviations in dermatoglyphic traits. Part 6: Dermatoglyphic peculiarities of males and females with cleft lip (with or without cleft palate) and cleft palate--family study.

The present study was carried out to evaluate the effect of polygenic morbidity with respect to Cleft Palate and Cleft Lip with or without Cleft Palate (CL) in males and females based on dermatoglyphic traits (DT) and indices of intraindividual diversity (Div), fluctuating (FA) and directional (DA) asymmetry. The main objectives of the present study were as follows: a) to find DT and FA indices, which could be "marker" traits and could indicate the degree of developmental instability of the organism; b) to explore the possibility of using DT, FA, Div and DA indices of CL patients and their parents and to predict the likelihood of the disease appearing in the offsprings of apparently healthy individuals. The samples were of 106 CL patients (59 males and 47 females) and 156 of their parents (67 fathers and 89 mothers), all Israeli Jews. The prints were collected in the Beilinson (Petah-Tikva) and Rambam (Haifa) and Hadassah (Mount Scopus, Jerusalem) Hospitals, or in the abodes of the CL patients. The results were compared with the control group of healthy women and men whose data are detailed in our previous publication. Interpretation of the prints were done according to the methods and included identification of patterns, ridge counts and the measurements of distances and angles in the palms, 79 DT for every individual, 28 continuous traits, 9 discrete traits, 11 indices of Div, 15 DA indices and 16 FA indices. In CL groups increased FA indices values were found and a decreased sexual dimorphism in DT of the CL and parental groups as compared to the control--this both in terms of the number of significant differences, as well as in values of the traits (e.g. smaller differences between the male and female values). The above mentioned findings were partly confirmed also by the discriminant analysis. The values of DT parents were generally similar to those of the control. The best discrimination was obtained between the CL and control groups (70.44% between CL males and control males and 83.47% between CL females and control females). Over 50% of the DT variables were found to be suitable for including into the discriminant function.