Departamento de Zoología y Antropología Física, Facultad de Biología, Universidad de Alcalá, Alcalá de Henares, Spain.
Forensic Sci Int. 2013 Jun 10;229(1-3):159.e1-10. doi: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2013.03.014. Epub 2013 Apr 17.
Despite the fact that variation in ridge breadth is of biological, medical, and genetic interest, it has not received as much attention as other dermatoglyphic characteristics. Recently, sex differences in mean epidermal ridge breadth have been proposed in the field of forensic identification in order to infer gender from fingerprints found at the scene of a crime left by an unknown donor. The aim of this research was to analyze sexual, bimanual, and topological variations in epidermal ridge breadth on palmprints taken from a Spanish population sample for subsequent application in inferring gender from the palm marks. The material used in the present study was obtained from the palmprints of 200 individuals (100 males and 100 females) from the Caucasian Spanish. Since ridge breadth varies according to age, subjects of similar ages were recruited to ensure that growth had finished. Therefore, in order to assess topological variation in ridge density or number of ridges in a given space, the count was carried out for the five palmar areas: hypothenar, thenar/first interdigital, second interdigital, third interdigital, and fourth interdigital. This allowed the segmentation of 2000 ridge count areas for analysis. For this, two methods were used, one described by Cummins et al. (the ridge count was carried out along a 1cm line) and the other by Acree (the number of ridges per 25 mm(2) of surface area). The results obtained by the second method can be compared with those obtained for the ten fingers from this same sample and evaluated in a previous study. The results have demonstrated the existence of topological differences in ridge thickness on the epidermal palm surface; also females present a significantly higher ridge density than men and, therefore, have narrower ridges over the entire palmar surface. Those sexual differences found in the sample population can be used for inferring the gender from palm marks left by an unknown donor. The hypotheses that could explain the variability in ridge breadth are evaluated according to the obtained results.
尽管脊宽的变化具有生物学、医学和遗传学意义，但它并没有像其他皮纹特征那样受到关注。最近，在法医鉴定领域，有人提出了平均表皮脊宽的性别差异，以便根据犯罪现场未知供体留下的指纹推断性别。本研究的目的是分析来自西班牙人群样本的掌纹中的性别、双手和拓扑脊宽变化，以便从掌纹推断性别。本研究使用的材料来自 200 名个体（100 名男性和 100 名女性）的掌纹，这些个体来自白种西班牙人。由于脊宽会随年龄而变化，因此招募了年龄相近的受试者以确保生长已经完成。因此，为了评估特定空间内脊密度或脊数的拓扑变化，对五个掌区进行了计数：小鱼际、大鱼际/第一指间、第二指间、第三指间和第四指间。这允许对 2000 个脊计数区域进行分析。为此，使用了两种方法，一种是 Cummins 等人描述的方法（沿 1cm 线进行脊计数），另一种是 Acree 方法（每 25mm²表面积的脊数）。第二种方法获得的结果可以与来自同一样本的十个手指的结果进行比较，并在前一项研究中进行评估。结果表明，表皮掌面上的脊厚度存在拓扑差异；此外，女性的脊密度明显高于男性，因此整个掌面的脊更窄。这些在样本人群中发现的性别差异可用于推断未知供体留下的掌纹的性别。根据获得的结果评估了可以解释脊宽变化的假设。
