Client's understanding of instructions for small animals in a veterinary neurological referral center.

Background: It is not known how much information clients retrieve from discharge instructions.

Objective: To investigate client's understanding of discharge instructions and influencing factors.

Animals: Dogs and cats being hospitalized for neurological diseases.

Antiviral activity of Rhus aromatica (fragrant sumac) extract against two types of herpes simplex viruses in cell culture.

We report on the antiviral potency of an aqueous extract of root/stem bark of Rhus aromatica (fragrant sumac extract) against herpes simplex virus type 1 and type 2 in cell culture (RC-37 cells) using a plaque reduction assay. The extract exhibited a high level of anti-HSV activity with IC50-values of 0.0005% for HSV-1 and 0.

Effect of Australian tea tree oil on the viability of the wall-less bacterium Mycoplasma pneumoniae.

In vitro assays using a variety of essential oils revealed a particularly high antibacterial effect of Australian tea tree oil (TTO) on a great number of gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria of unrelated phylogenetic origin. In the present study, the susceptibility of cell wall-less bacteria such as the human pathogenic bacterium Mycoplasma pneumoniae to Australian tea tree oil was examined. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was determined to be 0.

In vitro effect of essential oils and isolated mono- and sesquiterpenes on Leishmania major and Trypanosoma brucei.

The effect of different essential oils as well as of isolated mono- and sesquiterpenes on the viability of bloodstream forms of Trypanosoma brucei, promastigotes of Leishmania major and human HL-60 cells was evaluated using the Almar Blue assay. Of the 12 essential oils and 8 terpenes investigated, only three essential oils, Melissa officinalis (balmmint) oil, Thymus vulgaris (thyme) oil, and Melaleuca alternifolia (tea tree) oil were about 50-fold and 80-fold more toxic to bloodstream forms of T. brucei than to HL-60 cells, respectively.