Hospitalization for Congenital Heart Disease in Beijing:Patient Characteristics and Temporal Trends

Background:The hospitalization burden of congenital heart disease(CHD)at the national or regional level in China remains unknown.We aimed to evaluate the recent patient characteristics and temporal trends of hospitalizations for CHD in Beijing.Methods:Patients hospitalized for CHD in Beijing from 2007 to 2011 were identified from the Hospital Discharge Information System.Patient characteristics were recorded,and trends in hospitalization rates were analyzed by Poisson regression after adjustment for age and sex.Results:A total of 53,064 patients were admitted for CHD in Beijing during the study period,among whom 50.5% were children younger than 5 years,30.0% were adults,18.5% had severe CHD,86.9% were nonpermanent Beijing residents,and 81.3% were admitted to cardiac-specific tertiary hospitals.The hospitalization rate increased from 10.2 per 100,000 population in 2007 to 12.4 per 100,000 population in 2011,representing a signifi cant increase after adjustment for age and sex(P=0.009).However,the trends varied in different groups.The rates halved in 2011 for both nonsevere CHD and severe CHD compared with the rates in 2010,whereas increasing trends were noticed in children aged 1–4 years and adults for nonsevere CHD across the study period.Conclusions:The overall rate of CHD hospitalization has been increasing in Beijing,whereas not all patient groups have the same trend.The hospitalization rate decreased among infants,while the rate for nonsevere CHD increased signifi cantly among adults.These findings will be of importance for future allocation of health resources.

Construction and Identification of Mammary Gland-specific Expression Vector of Bovine Tracheal Antimicrobial Peptide (TAP)

[ Objective] This study aimed to construct nmnmm_ry gland-specific expression vector of bovine tracheal antimicrobial peptide （TAP） gene. [ Method] TAP gene of dairy cattle was amplified from the mammary gland tissue by RT-PCR using a pair of primers which were designed according to bovine TAP cDNA se- quence （NM_174776） in GenBank, and then cloned into pMD19-T Simple vector for sequencing. The recombinant plasmid was digested using EcoRI and KpnI, the target gene fragment was recovered and inserted into general mammary gland-specific expression vector pBLG-EGFP harboring enhanced green fluorescent protein （ EGFP）, and transfected into bovine mammary epithelial cells （bMEC）, COS-7 cells and lactating rabbit mmmnary gland tissue by lipofectin transfection. The ex- pression of green fluorescent protein in transfected cells was detected under fluorescence microscopy, and the expression of TAP mRNA in rabbit mammary gland tis- sue was detected by semi-quantity RT-PCR. [ Result] The constructed mammary gland-specific expression vector pBLG-EGFP-TAP specifically expressed EGFP in transfected bMECs. In addition, semi-quantitative RT-PCR result showed that the expression level of TAP mRNA in rabbit mammary gland tissue was significantly enhanced after transfeeted with pBLG-EGFP-TAP. [ Conclusion] The mammary gland-specific expression vector pBLG-EGFP-TAP was successfully constructed, which provided important materials for further investigation of expression characteristics of TAP gene and prevention of bovine mastitis by using genetic engineering technology.

Preparation of Polyclonal Antisera of Dairy Cow S100A12 Protein

[Objective] This study aimed to prepare dairy cow anti-S100A12 antisem and develop a highly effective and sensitive immunological detection reagent for further investigation of the functions of dairy cow S100A12. [Method] Purified S100A12 protein was respectively emulsified with Freund＇s complete adjuvant and Freund＇s incomplete adjuvant as the antigen for immunizing New Zealand white rabbits to prepare the polyclonal antisera. The titer was detected using agar double diffusion assay and indirect enzyme-linked immunoserbent assay （ELISA） and the specificity was determined with Western Blot. [ Result ] The titer of anti- S100A12 antisera was 1： 8 as determined by agar double diffusion assay and over 1：409 600 by ELISA. Western Blot result showed that the polyclonal antisera could be specifically combined with S100A12 protein. [ Conclusion] The results indicated that anti-S100A12 polyclonal antibody with high fiter and high specificity was successfully obtained, which provided a novel tool for further investigation of the functions of S100A12 gene.