Maureen Lafranchi’s research while affiliated with La Trobe University and other places

Sexual dimorphism with respect to body size and shape has been analysed by means of discriminant function. An anthropometric score has been derived from 111 adult normal males and 108 females, based on 11 anthropometric and three dermatoglyphic variables. The score represents the range of quantified physical phenotypes of 'maleness' and 'femaleness'. Complete separation between the distributions of this score in either sex has been achieved. Predominantly, application of the anthropometric score can be in assessing a relationship between the anthropometric status of 'maleness' or 'femaleness', and cytogenetic or submicroscopic anomalies of sex chromosomes, and in studies of normal inter- and intra-population variation in sexual dimorphism.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether any relationships exist between hand locomotor functions and dermatoglyphic characteristics and body structure. The pilot sample consisted of 71 adult normal individuals (30 males and 41 females). The locomotor function tests included a power grip and two precision grips; dermatoglyphic features were represented by finger and palmar pattern intensities and ridge counts, and body structure by 35 head, face, trunk, and limb anthropometric measurements. Univariate and multivariate correlation analyses reveal that on average half of the variance in the locomotor hand-function tests can be accounted for by a set of body and/or dermatoglyphic variables in males; this contribution is appreciably lower in females. Body longitudinal measurements and some facial measures, such as jaw length, were found to be the main correlates of either a power grip or a simple thumb-index squeeze, especially in males; head and face measurements and the size and intensity of patterns on fingers 1 and 2 were the main correlates of more complex precision tests involving complicated manipulation of objects using the thumb and index finger. These preliminary results identify some previously unknown sources of variation in dermatoglyphic patterns and contribute to a better understanding of the evolutionary aspects of the relationships between specific functional and morphologic traits in humans.

It is commonly believed that in humans epidermal ridge patterns are in regression relative to nonhuman primates, and they play no role in adaptive processes. In contrast with this we have found relationships between anthropometric and dermatoglyphic measurements in a sample of 61 normal males. Anthropometric variables included limb, trunk, head, and face measures. Dermatoglyphic variables included finger ridge counts and pattern intensities and ridge breadth in the palmar interdigital area II. The strongest relationship is between the type and size of pattern on the thumb and the breadth of ridges, and wrist width, which accounts for nearly 30% of the total variance in these traits. These findings identify previously unknown sources of variation in dermatoglyphic patterns and indicate that the dermatoglyphic-anthropometric relationships might have resulted from selection pressures in evolution of modern man.

This study analysed all marriages (N = 4258) registered in the island State of Tasmania during the period 1896-1899 for mating structure, using marital isonymy. We found that irrespective of the geographic size of the subdivisions the random component (Fr) values were similar. This is because there was a high proportion of unique names despite the large population size. Fn values were sensitive to geographic distance only with respect to the 'unrealistically' larger units of analysis. Isonymy is valid over very large distances in Tasmania. Inbreeding values in the study were typical of other mainstream populations, but the nonrandom component was unusually high. Farmer marriages were the major contributors to the high Fn values. One particular region, the Midlands, displayed both a high F (0.0081) and Fn (0.0074) component. The explanation of these values lies in the effects of a rigid socio-economic structure established during colonization.

Thirty anthropometric measurements were analyzed in 147 adults with Martin-Bell syndrome (MBS) (56 men and 91 women) and in a random sample of 108 normal women and 111 men. Results of the univariate comparison of the age, height, or weight-adjusted variables between MBS and normal individuals of either sex indicated that a decrease in stature, in upper limb length, and in upper face height, and an increase in jaw length, chest circumference, and waist width occurred in both affected men and in heterozygous women. While the increase in ear height and breadth and in hypermobility of finger joints and decrease in palm width and bigonial diameter occurred only in affected men, increased bispinal and bitrochanteric diameters, upper arm circumference, and palm and wrist widths were characteristic deviations in heterozygous women. Multivariate analysis in the form of principal components showed some differences in the pattern of interrelationships in individual measures between MBS and normal individuals. In particular, and in contrast with both normal groups, height and weight tended to load on separate components (as did head and midfacial measures) in MBS individuals. A discriminant function based on all body measurements included in this study resulted in almost complete separation of discriminant scores of normal from those of MBS men and in good separation of the scores from normal and heterozygous women. Classification rates based on these functions were from 95% in men to 85% in women. These already high classification rates may be further improved mainly by enlarging the samples and including some other category of traits such as dermatoglyphic measurements.