瑞士一女士因沒有指紋無法入境

Notorious 1930s gangster John Dillinger was willing to suffer excruciating pain to burn his fingerprints off with acid so they could not be used to link him to crime scenes.
　　1930年代，臭名昭著的惡棍約翰·迪林格願意忍受極度的痛苦用酸液將指紋腐蝕掉，這樣將無法在犯罪現場找到他的痕跡。

But for most of us, having no fingerprints would be a nightmare, causing problems at border control and when proving our identity.

但對於我們大多數人來說，沒有指紋將會是一場噩夢。會給邊境管制帶來麻煩，會很難證明身份。

Called adermatoglyphia or Immigration Delay Disease, the condition means sufferers are born without any grooves or patterns on their fingers.

“皮紋病”或“入境延期病”的患者，生來手指肚上就沒有任何凹槽紋路。

The condition first came to the attention of the medical community when a Swiss woman tried to cross the border into the United States, which requires non-citizens to be fingerprinted upon entry. Border control personnel were mystified when the woman told them she could not comply because she did not have fingerprints.

這一情況第一次引起醫學界的重視是一位瑞士的女士試圖入境美國的時候。入境是需要採集非本國公民的指紋的。而令邊境管制人員感到迷惑的是，這位女士告訴他們，她沒法遵守這項規定，因爲她沒有指紋。

New findings by Professor Eli Sprecher of Tel Aviv University's Faculty of Medicine and the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center show that a genetic mutation is responsible for this unusual condition.

特拉維夫大學Sackler醫學院的Eli Sprecher教授和特拉維夫Sourasky醫療中心表示，造成這一不尋常現象的原因是基因突變。

She and nine members of her family who also have no fingerprints underwent a genetic analysis. Scientists at Tel Aviv University compared the genes of those with the condition to those without, to identify where the genetic alteration lies.

她和她同樣沒有指紋的9個家庭成員進行了一次遺傳分析。特拉維夫大學的科學家們對比了成員中有指紋和無指紋的人們的基因，從而找出基因突變的地方。

They discovered a skin-specific version of the gene SMARCAD1 influences fingerprint development. The people without fingerprints were found to have lower levels of the gene related to skin development.

他們發現了SMARCAD1基因的皮膚特異版，這是影響指紋發展的基因。據發現，指紋缺失的人們擁有較少的和皮膚髮展相關的基因。

In addition to an absence of fingerprints, the condition also leads to a reduction in the number of sweat glands. Abnormal fingerprints can also be a warning sign of more severe disorders.

除了沒有指紋，這種情況還會導致汗腺數量的減少。異常的指紋也是一個對更嚴重疾病的警告。

Like DNA, fingerprints are unique to each person or set of identical twins and that makes them a valuable identification tool. They are used for identification because they are fully formed 24 weeks after fertilisation and do not change throughout our lives. Having no fingerprints would really be a nightmare for most of us.

像DNA一樣，每一個人、每一對同卵雙胞胎的指紋都是獨一無二的，這使得指紋成爲一項非常重要的身份證明工具。之所以指紋被用來識別身份，是因爲在受精完成24周後指紋就會完全形成，並且在人此後的一生都不會改變。對大多數人來說，沒有指紋真的會是一場噩夢。