Pedicled Flap vs. Free Flap Reconstruction in Head and Neck Cancers: Clinical Outcome Analysis from a Single Surgical Team.

Head and neck cancers are one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in Indian population. Reconstruction and restoration of function are also of paramount importance in these patients. The aim of this study was to report outcomes for free flaps and pedicle flaps in patients with oral cavity cancers. A retrospective analysis of 628 patients with oral cavity cancers who underwent reconstruction with either free flaps or pedicle flaps during 2014-2020 was done. The median age of the cohort was 49 years. The free flap reconstruction was performed in 481 (76%) and pedicle flap in 147 (24%) patients. Among free and pedicle flaps, 27 (5.6%) and 3 (2.1%) respectively had major flap complications and 25 (5.1%) and 14 (9.9%) respectively had minor complications. CCI score > 4 was associated with higher events (p = 0.02) in free flap group. The outcomes of free flaps are similar in comparison to pedicle flaps in patients with oral cavity cancers. The higher CCI score is significantly associated with increased flap-related complications for the free flap group.

Events of alternative splicing in head and neck cancer via RNA sequencing - an update.

BACKGROUND: Alternative splicing (AS) is a regulatory mechanism used to create many forms of mature messengers RNAs (mRNAs) from the same gene. Sequencing of RNA (RNA-Seq) is an advanced technology, which has been utilized by different studies to find AS mechanisms in head and neck cancer (HNC). Hitherto, there is no available review that could inform us of the major findings from these studies. Hence, we aim to perform a systematic literature search following PRISMA guidelines to study AS events in HNC identified through RNA-Seq studies. RESULTS: A total of five records were identified that utilized RNA-Seq data for identifying AS events in HNC. Five software was used in these records to identify AS events. Two genes influenced by AS i.e. MLL3 and RPS9 were found to be common in 4 out of 5 records. Likewise, 38 genes were identified to be similar in at least 3 records. CONCLUSIONS: Alternative splicing in HNC is a multifaceted regulatory mechanism of gene expression. It can be studied via RNA-Seq using different bioinformatics tools. Genes MLL3, as well as RPS9, were repeatedly found to be associated with HNC, however needs further functional validation.

In Silico Mining of Conserved miRNAs of Indian Catfish Clarias batrachus (Linnaeus, 1758) from the Contigs, ESTs, and BAC End Sequences.

MicroRNAs are small non-coding RNAs which play significant role in RNA interference. The present work deals with mining of the conserved miRNA and their target genes from the contigs, ESTs, and BAC end sequences of commercially important catfish, Clarias batrachus, from India. A total of 138, 1 and 1 conserved pre-miRNA sequences, were mined from the contigs, ESTs, and BAC end sequences, respectively. The analysis of families of the conserved pre-miRNA revealed conservation of the fish-specific family mir-430 and other important families, such as mir-455, let-7, mir-133, and mir-137. The mir-455 is involved in hypoxia signaling, let-7 family represents potential anti-tumor molecules involved in human cancer therapy, whereas mir-133 and mir-137 have high therapeutic potentials. Using an alternate computational in silico approach, mining of mature miRNAs resulted in identification of 210 mature miRNAs from contigs, 1 from EST, and 2 each from forward as well as reverse BAC end sequences. Target prediction of these putative miRNAs resulted in the identification of 66,758 and 18,747 target genes in C. batrachus and Danio rerio, respectively. Functional annotation of these miRNAs indicated their involvement in diverse biological functions. The findings of the present study can serve as a valuable resource for further functional genomics studies in C. batrachus.