A qualitative study of male dental hygienists' experiences after graduation.

This report is part of a larger study undertaken in 1996 and 1997 for the author's doctoral dissertation. The study's purpose was to explore the experiences of male dental hygienists--focusing on their experiences before, during, and after graduation. The researcher interviewed 14 practicing male dental hygienists from east of the Mississippi River and one participant from the Midwest. Because of the length of the study, only their experiences following graduation from a dental hygiene program are discussed. Qualitative research methods were used to evaluate the information gained from the interviews, which entails analyzing interview transcripts and developing themes from the data. Four post-graduation themes emerged: participants experienced (1) no job-search difficulties, although some participants experienced minor problems with securing a position, most had little trouble in finding a job; (2) societal gender discrimination, mainly in relation to societal stereotypes about what men and women should do; (3) mixed feelings of acceptance by the profession, although most felt the profession accepting, there were some feelings of not belonging; and (4) career satisfaction, all but one of the participants felt satisfied with his career choice.

The inheritance of digital dermatoglyphic patterns in 54 American Caucasian families.

We searched for single gene effects in determining digital patterns and compared with the evidence for monogenic determination in Israelis (Slatis et al., '76). Our subjects were 108 parents from central Louisiana and 123 of their offspring; there were 127 females and 104 males ranging in age from eight to 66 years. Arches on the thumb--Among 11 subjects, two were bilateral, and three pairs were related, two as parent-child and one as sib-sib; the findings support the concept of an incompletely penetrant dominant gene. Radial loops on the thumb--three occurred unilaterally in unrelated subjects. Ulnar loops (U) and whorls (W) on the thumb--Phenotype frequency was 104 UU, 65 UW, 47 WW, 15 other. The proportion of UU offspring was highest with both UU parents and diminished as the parents had increasingly more W, supporting the single locus hypothesis. Arches (A) on the fingers--71 A, 160 non-A showed a greater A frequency than in the Israelis. The proportion of A offspring was highest with both A parents and diminished as the parents became non-A. Sequence WWUWW--Among nine subjects, one was bilateral, two left, and six right; two pairs related as parent-child and sib-sib. Sequence WUUWW--Among five subjects, one was bilateral, and three were related as parent-offspring. Radial loops on index fingers--Frequency of 32% was greater than in the Israelis. Middle fingers--86% were U, 73% being bilateral. Radial loops on ring and little fingers--Among eight unilateral subjects, none was related. Ulnar loops and whorls on ring fingers--Proportion of UU offspring was greatest with both UU parents and diminished as parents became WW. We conclude that the Louisianians showed evidence for single gene effects similar to that of the Israelis.

The inheritance of palmar and hallucal dermatoglyphic patterns in fifty-four American Caucasian families.

We searched for single gene effects determining certain palmar and plantar patterns - two interdigital and the hypothenar areas, palmar main line sequence, and hallucal pattern. Our subjects were 108 parents from central Louisiana and 123 of their offspring; there were 127 females and 104 males. For the third and fourth interdigital areas, we classified for presence of a pattern (+) or no pattern (-). For the hypothenar area, we classified arch, anteform, and open field as no pattern (-) and other configurations as a pattern (+). Main line sequence we determined by the distal to proximal ordering of the five main lines. We analyzed the hallucal area by combining three loop patterns. Segregational analyses followed. For the third interdigital area, the frequency of + was 51%. For the fourth interdigital area, the frequency of + was 45%. We set out the six mating types by the bilateral occurence of pattern in each area and found similar results. The proportion of ++ offspring was highest with both ++ parents and diminished as the parents became increasingly more --. Evidence for genetic determination of six different main line sequences consisted of the proportion of related/(related + unrelated) which averaged 0.48. Parent-offspring occurrence of an accessory triradius and absence of the c triradius suggested monogenic control. Segregation of the hallucal patterns was less suggestive. We conclude that the results offer evidence for substantial genetic determination of palmar dermatoglyphics, and for some patterns possible monogenic determination.