Background: Maxillofacial trauma is any physical trauma to the facial region, commonly encountered by maxillofacial surgeons, and is often associated with high morbidity. Maxillofacial injuries can occur as an isolated injury or may be associated with multiple injuries in other parts of the body. Aim: This study aims to assess the patterns, etiology, and management outcomes of maxillofacial trauma in a teaching hospital in Chennai, South India, over an 8-year period. Methods: Patients with maxillofacial injury were identified using the department database and clinical records. Nine hundred and forty-four patients were identified with maxillofacial trauma in the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery between January 2009 and December 2017. Results: The mean age of the patients was 30 ± 12 years. Of the 944 patients with maxillofacial injuries, 64% had isolated lower face (mandibular) fractures, followed by isolated midface fractures (19%). Road traffic accidents were the most common form of etiology for trauma. Conclusion: The etiology and pattern of maxillofacial injuries reflect the trauma patterns within the community and can thus provide a guide to help design programs toward prevention and treatment.

The Diatom Expressed Sequence Tag (EST) Database was constructed to provide integral access to ESTs from these ecologically and evolutionarily interesting microalgae. It has now been updated with 130 000 Phaeodactylum tricornutum ESTs from 16 cDNA libraries and 77 000 Thalassiosira pseudonana ESTs from seven libraries, derived from cells grown in different nutrient and stress regimes. The updated relational database incorporates results from statistical analyses such as log-likelihood ratios and hierarchical clustering, which help to identify differentially expressed genes under different conditions, and allow similarities in gene expression in different libraries to be investigated in a functional context. The database also incorporates links to the recently sequenced genomes of P. tricornutum and T. pseudonana, enabling an easy cross-talk between the expression pattern of diatom orthologs and the genome browsers. These improvements will facilitate exploration of diatom responses to conditions of ecological relevance and will aid gene function identification of diatom-specific genes and in silico gene prediction in this largely unexplored class of eukaryotes. The updated Diatom EST Database is available at http://www.biologie.ens.fr/diatomics/EST3.

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