HOW TO RECOGNIZE THE HAND IN FRAGILE X SYNDROME? (GENETIC VARIANT OF AUTISM) – 28 Characteristics!

How to recognize the hand in Fragile X syndrome? Alexander Rodewald presented in 1986 the very first ‘phantom picture’ describing the typical hand characteristics in Fragile X syndrome (e.g. including the simian crease or Sydney line). But more detailed ‘phantom pictures’ were never presented after the A. Rodewald et al. (1986) publication. However, this month (february 2010) an updated ‘phantom picture’ has become available – featuring 28 characteristics of the hand in Fragile X syndrome (+ a couple of other hand related characteristics). What are typical hand characteristics in Fragile X syndrome? HAND LINES: A common characteristic is the presence of the famous ‘simian line‘; an alternative is the presence of a Sydney line. DERMATOGLYPHICS: Here one should especially notice the fingerprints of the 3rd finger (and the 2nd + 4th finger); often these demonstrate the presence of ‘radial loop’ patterns and/or arch patterns (the normal ‘ulnar loop’ patterns are less common in Fragile X syndrome) – combined with a ‘transverse’ pattern in the palmar ridge lines in the distal palmar zone. HAND SHAPE: The palm width (hand breadth) is relatively broad, and the palm length is usually a bit short. Finger length is relatively long compared to the palm length, but slightly short compared to the palm breadth. NOTICE: The author of the new ‘phantom picture’ for Fragile X syndrome described a specific guideline which states that in most cases of Fragile X syndrome certain combinations of the 28 characteristics are found in both the fingers AND the palm of the hand! More details available at: How to use the ‘simian crease’ for recognizing Fragile X syndrome? Photo: the hand of a baby hand with hyperextensible finger joints – often seen in Fragile X syndrome.

THE ‘MOON WHORL’ – A common characteristic in schizophrenia, Down’s syndrome… and autism?

The ‘Moon whorl’ a common characteristic in Down syndrome & schizophrenia The ‘whorl on the mount of Moon’ (a.k.a. the ‘hypothenar whorl’) is known as one of the mysterious characteristics that can only sometimes be found in the human hand. In 1943 Cummins & Midlo reported in their famous ‘Finger Prints, Palms & Soles’ statistics for a sample of 1281 German males. They found the ‘true whorl’ on the hypothenar in only 0.7% of right hands and 0.5% of left hands! What do we know about the ‘Moon whorl’? A few quote from the original article: “While the classic palmistry literature describes that the ‘hypothenar whorl’ (a.k.a. ‘whorl on mount of Moon’) can be recognized as a sign for finding a ‘highly imaginative person’, various scientific studies have indicated that dermatoglyphic whorls on the mount of moon are linked with Down’s syndrome + a few other medical problems.” NEW RESEARCH FINDING ON AUTISM! Another quote from the article: “A study on the hands of 30 people with autism (25 men, 5 women) revealed a surprizing high percentage of a specific (very rare) variant of the ‘hypothenar whorl’ – the ‘hypothenar composite whorl’.” Some examples of the ‘hypothenar composite whorl’ are presented below. In the perspective of the fact that in the science of fingerprints the ‘composite whorl’ is related to the ‘double loop’, it is interesting to notice here that the new finding appears to confirm an earlier reported finding which pointed out that the hands of people with autism are often featured with a ‘double loop’ in the fingerprint of the pinky finger and the presence of 2 palmar loops below that 5th finger. In cases you’re interested to learn more about the basics of fingerprint classification – the illustration below describes the 8 most common types of fingerprints (including: 2 ‘arch’ variants, 2 ‘loop’ variants, and 4 ‘whorl’ variants). SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING: • How fingerprinting works! • Forensic experts say: ‘fingerprints reveal more’! • A historical review of research on dermatoglyphics! PICTURE: In the science of fingerprints ‘whorls’ is known a one of the 3 basic patterns (next to ‘loops’ and ‘arches’) – about 75% of people have at least 1 fingerprint whorl!

Famous palm readings: what do the hands of celebrities reveal?

Famous palm readings: what do the hands of celebrities reveal? It’s always fun to take a look at the hands of celebrities! Quite a few sources on the internet present fascinating hand analyses often based on hig quality materials of the famous hands of famous people, including: high quality photos, hand prints & sometimes the fingerprints! The following 2 resources have collected a long list of articles (+20) focussed on some interesting hand characteristics of some well-known celebrities: • 1 – Famous hands: the hand of celebrities • 2 – The hands of famous people PalmistryReport presented earlier ‘celebrity hand-reports’ about: • Barack Obama – the 7th left handed US president! • Albert Einstein – did he have autism? • Leonid Stadnyk – the largest hand on earth! • Cheiro – the most famous palmist in the history of palmistry!

The ‘hand-foot syndrome’: what if a person has no fingerprints?

Missing fingerprints can have various causes: the hand-foot syndrome + genetic disorders.

No fingerprints: about the ‘hand-foot syndrome’ and genetic disorders’ What if a person has no fingerprints? Likely there are 2 options: (1) the person was born without fingerprints (due to a genetic disorders), or (2) the person has ‘lost’ his/her fingerprints during a chemotherapy (in a cancer treatment) – a missing fingerprint is often featured with the ‘hand-foot syndrome’.

By the way, having no fingerprints used to be no big deal. But the situation is changing rapidly due to the evolving applications of biometric fingerprint readers. In many countries fingerprints are required to: pass the nation’s border, and to get a drivers licence and/or passport! TWO ANECDOTES FROM THE PAST FEW YEARS: “Last month (april, 2009) a Singapore-based medical oncologist reported a letter that was presented online in the journal ‘Annals of Oncology’, titled: Travel warning with capecitabine. The trade name fot the cancer medicine capecitabine is ‘Xeloda’ – a medicine that is often prescribed in patients with breast cancer and colorectal cancer. But the oncologist’s patient had been using the drug to treat his nasopharyngeal cancer. Two years ago, Spanish cancer doctors reported a likewise story about the 39-year-old flight attendant Cheryl Maynard detained for several hours at a U.S. airport until her doctor faxed an explanation that the capecitabine she’d been taking for breast cancer had erased her fingerprints.” Source: Why a cancer patient may have no fingerprints: THE HAND-FOOT SYNDROME! MORE FASCINATING ‘FINGER’ STORIES: • Fingerprints in the news! • Can palm reading pick up ovarian cancer? • Raynaud’s syndrome – another painful hand disorder • Paraesthesia: feels like having pins and needles in the fingers

Fingerprints in Iran: personal power & the history of fingerprinting!

In Iran fingerprints are associated with one of the personal powers of an individual.

The history of fingerprinting: a perspective from Iran About the first fingerprint in the old Persia (= Iran); the uniqueness of a fingerprint; and why the Iranian gouvernement plays ‘tit for tar’ on fingerprints. “Each one of you has something no one else has, or has ever had: your fingerprints, your brain, your heart. Be an individual. Be unique. Stand out. Make noise. Make someone notice. That is the power of individuals”! Quote from: John Bon Jovi.

Fingerprint-based identification is the oldest biometric techniques which has been successfully used in numerous applications: the full article presents an Iranian perspective on the history of fingerprinting. The article includes a detailed description about the methods of identification used in early civilizations, the early history of fingerprinting, and the first Iranian record on fingerprinting. MORE ABOUT FINGERPRINTS: • The history of fingerprinting – a perspective from Iran • Iran: ‘Sir, we need your fingerprints please!’ • An overview of the latest fingerprints news • LIFEPRINTS: A treatise on fingerprints by Hand Analyst Richard Unger • César Baldaccini’s stature ‘The Thumb’ has a fingerprint!

LIFEPRINTS: by hand analysis & fingerprints expert Richard Unger!

Richard Unger presents: LIFEPRINTS.

Richard Unger’s “LIFEPRINTS” – a successfull Hand Analysis book: In 2007 US Hand Analyst Richard Unger (from Tiburon, California) presented his first book: “LifePrints – Deciphering Your Life Purpose from Your Fingerprints”. Only 2 years later the book is available in English, German, Russian & now also available in Korean language!

Richard Unger spent more than 25 years of research & experience in the fields of Hand Analysis – resulting in: ‘LifePrints’. Richard Unger is a world’s leading authority on Hand Analysis. LifePrints consists of a booklet that specifically addresses your strengths, challenges and life goals. It offers you inspiring information about your best life. In ‘LifePrints’, hand analyst Richard Unger presents a groundbreaking combination of fingerprints & self-discovery based on research and fingerprint statistics for more than fifty thousand hands. Richard Unger showing his book: MORE PALM READING & PALMISTRY: • Richard Unger presents: ‘LifePrints’ • A career in palmistry • Hand Analysis: find a hand analyst or palm reader in Nort-America • The International Institute of Hand Analysis • What your finger length can tell you • Palmistry experts at WordPress

Palm reading basics: 20 facts about skin, fingerprints & dermatoglyphics!

Dermatoglyphic skin ridges: a whorl fingerprint.

Discover 20 facts about: skin, fingerprints & dermatoglyphics: Discover Magazine has recently presented a list of 20 remarkable features of the skin of your hand & fingerprints. Palm reading basics about the body’s largest organ, dermatoglyphics, skin features and technology. Including facts about: sweat, dermatoglyphic patterns, skin cells, skin receptors, skin pigment & skin technology.

MORE ABOUT SKIN & FINGERPRINTS: • Two basic functions of your fingerprints: ‘finger grip’ & ‘touch filter’ • Skin facts about the human hand: fingerprints & dermatoglyphics • Understanding our past: the human hand vs. the primate hand • Fingerprints reveal identity, drugs & lifestyle • The fingerprints of Elvis Presley

The 2 basic functions of your fingerprints: ‘finger grip’ + ‘touch filter’!

Fingerprints provide finger-grip + a touch-filter.

The function of fingerprints: ‘finger grip’ + ‘touch filter’: Many palmists & hand analysts including the fingerprints in a hand reading. But what is the basic function of our fingerprints really? Researchers from Paris (France) have recently presented new evidence that your fingerprints not only provide ‘finger-grip’, but the ridges also function as a filter for the human touch!

The word ‘fingerprints’ refers to the impressions made by the skin ridges on the fingers & thumbs – by the way: palms can leave the same impressions: ‘palmprints‘. The major function of these skin ridges is to provide ‘friction’, or ‘traction’, when we grasp objects in daily life. And as a consequence because of the presence of skin ridges on our fingers & palms, objects held in our hands do not slip through our fingers. For many years scientists believed that the fingerprints (skin ridges) have a second function: the enhancement of our sense of touch. But untill recentely there was hardly any hard evidence for this assumption. But times have changed since january 2009: French physicists at the ‘École Normale Supérieure‘ in Paris have presented new research. They found that the skin ridges (fingerprints) also amplify / filter vibrations triggered when our fingertips brush across an uneven surface. These processes help transmiting the signals of ‘touch’ to deeply embedded nerves involved in fine texture perception. Some facts reported by the French fingerprint research: • The researchers report that certain vibrations from the patterned fingertip are 100 times stronger than those from the smooth fingertip. • The distinctiveness of fingerprint patterns from one person to the next does NOT(!) seem to have an effect on filtering capabilities – so regarding the sensitivity for ‘finger-touch’ it hardly makes any difference what type of fingerprints you have! • The research was done with an ‘artificial fingertip’ – the first ever presented in the world! READ FURTHER ABOUT RELATED FINGERPRINT TOPICS: Fingerprints provide ‘finger-grip’ + a ‘touch-filter’ News about fingers & fingerprints The history of fingerprints & dermatoglyphics How the pinky finger relates to autism Articles about What your finger length may reveal

Hand reader Janet Savage reads hands in the New England Area!

Stowe Janet Savage

Hand analyst Janet Savage reads hands in the New England Area (Stowe, Vermont) Expertises: Fingerprints & life-purpose discovery with hand analysis. FULL PROFILE: Hand analyst Janet Savage

Janet Savage presents her work at HandTales:

“Imagine… having a map that can guide you on your path toward a more purposeful, fulfilling life. And imagine someone there with you to help navigate what may seem like a confusing maze as you discover your hidden treasures.”

“Where is this map? It’s all in your hands!!”

Books about fingerprints & hand analysis:
* Richard Unger presents: ‘Life Prints’
* Ronelle Coburn presents: ‘Destiny at your fingertips’
* Hand analysis & Palm reading books

The simian line: Down syndrome & asian populations!

The simian line is often found in Down syndrome, but also frequently seen in Asian populations.

The simian line The simian line is a ‘notorious’ hand crease and well-known for it’s significance in Down’s syndrome – more than half of these people have a simian line in 1 or both hands, while only about 1% of healthy populations have a simian line. Nevertheless, this line is also frequently observed in the hands of certain ethnic population – especially in Asians! In 1866, R.L. Down discovered in 1906 the relationship between the simian crease and Down’s syndrome. The simian line is also know as: the ‘simian crease’ or ‘single palmar transverse crease’.

‘Healthy hands’ with the simian line usually do not have the other stereotypical hand features related related to Down syndrome are missing (examples of other Down syndrome-related hand features are: a short thumb, curved little finger, certain dermatoglyphic patterns in the palm and fingerprints). In some (Asian) populations is extraordinary frequently seen, such as: Pygmies: 34.7 %; Gypsies: 14.3 %; Chinese: 13.0 %; Koreans: 11.2 % – more percentages are presented in the full article. READ FURTHER ABOUT THE SIMIAN LINE: The simian line: a notorious hand crease The simian line: merging of mind and heart The simian crease, down syndrome & other disorders Do you have a simian line?