title: Parent-of-origin Effect in Schizophrenia and Non-affective Psychoses: Evidence from Dermatoglyphics.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study aims at examining "parent-of-origin effect" (POE) in dermatoglyphic patterns among patients with schizophrenia and non-affective psychoses.
  
  
  METHODS
  Dermatoglyphic comparison was carried out for schizophrenia patients (n=200) and healthy controls (HC) (n=100). In addition, the effect of family history and POE was examined in the dermatoglyphic pattern.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Schizophrenia patients compared to HC had significantly lower left total finger ridge count (LTFRC) (t=3.63, P<0.001), right total finger ridge count (RTFRC) (t=4.86, P<0.001), and absolute finger ridge count (ATFRC) (t=4.80, P<0.001) compared to HC. It was also noted that patient group had significantly higher average number of arches (t=2.20, P=0.03). The comparison between the same sex POE group and the opposite sex POE group revealed that significant differences exist in LTFRC (t=2.91, P<0.01) and ATFRC (t=2.30, P=0.02). The same sex group also had lesser number of whorls compared to opposite sex group (t=2.04, P=0.04).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The same sex parental inheritance group seem to be more developmentally compromised than the opposite sex parental inheritance group indicating a significant POE. Complex epigenetic mechanisms along with hormonal modulation could explain the sex specific disease phenotype expression, which is a plausible explanation as in the present study.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Translational Psychiatry Laboratory, Cognitive Neurobiology Division, Neurobiology Research Centre, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Anjith
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Divakaran
authors.forename: Janardhanan C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Narayanaswamy
authors.forename: Sunil V
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Kalmadi
authors.forename: Vidya
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Narayan
authors.forename: Naren P
authors.initials: NP
authors.lastname: Rao
authors.forename: Ganesan
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Venkatasubramanian
keywords: Dermatoglyphics; epigenetic; neurodevelopmental; parent-of-origin effect; schizophrenia