Page 333 www.ijiras.com | Email: contact@ijiras.com International Journal of Innovative Research and Advanced Studies (IJIRAS) Volume 4 Issue 4, April 2017 ISSN: 2394-4404 Finger Dermatoglyphics Of The Asante Population Of Ghana Daniel Awuah Victoria P. Dzogbefia Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana Prasanta Kumar Chattopadhyay South Delhi, India, Visiting Professor to the Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, KNUST, Ghana I. INTRODUCTION The volar surfaces of the palms, fingers, soles and toes are characterized by raised lines and depressions. The raised lines called ridges and the depressions, called the furrows facilitate friction (Chattopadhyay & Sharma, 1969). These arrangements of the ridges and furrows form different patterns (Chattopadhyay, 1966). These patterns are called prints (Yount, 2007). Fingerprints may be found at all places where people interact including crime scenes. Most often, they are not visible to the unaided eye (hence referred to as latent prints) and so methods of making prints visible are used. Several methods can be employed to develop these prints; powder and tape, Magna Brush, the cyanoacrylate fuming method, Ninhydrin, Iodine Fuming, Silver Nitrate, Amido Black etc. (Sodhi & Kaur, 2001). Since no two fingers, even if they are from the same individual, are exactly alike, finger prints are used for identification purposes throughout the world. Fingerprints offer an infallible means of personal identification. That is the essential explanation for fingerprints having replaced other methods of establishing the identities of criminals reluctant to admit previous arrests. Forensic investigations have become very relevant since crime rate as well as family and corporate disputes have been on the increase in recent times. Fingerprint analysis is one of the early aspects of forensic investigations and has been utilized in diverse case resolutions (Eboh, 2013). Its history can be linked to a number of nations and even kingdoms before the appearance of modern civilization. The Asante people are located in the middle sector of Ghana. The current day urbanization has taken several other ethnic groups to these locations while some Asantes have also relocated to other places within and out of the country. II. METHODOLOGY Rolled ink prints of each digit was obtained according to the inking procedure described by Antonuk (1975), then studied with the aid of a magnifying lens and analyzed according to standard techniques as described by Cummins Abstract: The epidermis of fingers, palms and soles of the feet are all stuffed with ridges and furrows which are organized into unique prints. These prints are greatly influenced by genes and partially, the amniotic environment. These details provide information which help in singling out an individual or narrowing down the number of suspects in forensic investigations. The aim of this research was to study the variations of dermal patterns of the Asante population of Ghana. Two hundred (100 males and 100 females,) sample units were collected from the Asante population. For each individual, the fingerprint of all ten fingers were collected and studied. The fingerprint type and type characteristics; finger ridge count, total finger ridge count (TFRC) and Pattern Intensity Index (PII) were determined and compared within the population. The population statistics were also compared with other study populations. In the Asante population, 68.45% of all pattern types were loops, 22.55% were whorls while 9.0% were arches. Males also vary significantly from females on the basis of finger pattern type frequency (p- 0.000). The mean TFRC for the Asante population was 122.97 for males and 118.65 for females. The Asantes showed similarities with the populations of Nigeria. In conclusion, TFRC and pattern type frequencies can be used as tools for identifying a person’s ethnicity and gender.