In South Africa dogs are frequently presented to veterinarians following snakebite. The offending snakes are usually puff adders (Bitis arietans), cobras (Naja spp.) and mambas (Dendroaspis spp.). Night adder (Causus rhombeatus) bites in dogs have not yet been reported in South Africa. This article deals with three cases of dogs bitten by night adders in which extensive tissue damage was no...

Recently, increasing attention has been directed toward better understanding the physiological role and clinical importance of a wide range of endogenously released vasoactive peptides. The most well known of these are B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) and atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) (1–4). However, others have also attracted attention, including C-type natriuretic peptide, vasoactive intes...

Background Heart failure (HF) remains a therapeutic challenge with high morbidity and mortality and frequent hospitalizations. Activators of guanylyl cyclase (GC) A and/or GCB such as naturally occurring or designer natriuretic peptides (NPs) are promising candidates for chronic drug therapy; however, parenteral administration is required. Pumps or subcutaneous administration similar to those u...

Background TGF-beta 1 (TGF), is one of the potent profibrotic factors which plays a fundamental role in myocardial remodeling. Cardiac fibrosis results from excessive deposition of extracellular matrix including collagen type I (Col I) which is mainly produced by cardiac fibroblasts. CD-NP is a novel engineered designer natriuretic peptide (NP) which consists of the ring structure of human C-ty...