Articles: acetaminophen.
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Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci · Sep 2016
Randomized Controlled TrialFrom painkiller to empathy killer: acetaminophen (paracetamol) reduces empathy for pain.
Simulation theories of empathy hypothesize that empathizing with others' pain shares some common psychological computations with the processing of one's own pain. Support for this perspective has largely relied on functional neuroimaging evidence of an overlap between activations during the experience of physical pain and empathy for other people's pain. Here, we extend the functional overlap perspective to the neurochemical level and test whether a common physical painkiller, acetaminophen (paracetamol), can reduce empathy for another's pain. ⋯ Acetaminophen also reduced the unpleasantness of noise blasts delivered to the participant, which mediated acetaminophen's effects on empathy. Together, these findings suggest that the physical painkiller acetaminophen reduces empathy for pain and provide a new perspective on the neurochemical bases of empathy. Because empathy regulates prosocial and antisocial behavior, these drug-induced reductions in empathy raise concerns about the broader social side effects of acetaminophen, which is taken by almost a quarter of adults in the United States each week.
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Acetaminophen (paracetamol) is the most commonly used pain and fever medication during pregnancy. Previously, a positive ecological correlation between acetaminophen use and autism spectrum disorders (ASD) has been reported but evidence from larger studies based on prospective data is lacking. We followed 64,322 children and mothers enrolled in the Danish National Birth Cohort (DNBC; 1996-2002) for average 12.7 years to investigate whether acetaminophen use in pregnancy is associated with increased risk of ASD in the offspring. ⋯ Longer duration of use (i.e., use for >20 weeks in gestation) increased the risk of ASD or infantile autism with hyperkinetic symptoms almost twofold. Maternal use of acetaminophen in pregnancy was associated with ASD with hyperkinetic symptoms only, suggesting acetaminophen exposure early in fetal life may specifically impact this hyperactive behavioral phenotype. Autism Res 2016, 9: 951-958. © 2015 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Sep 2016
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative StudyComparative Plasma and Cerebrospinal Fluid Pharmacokinetics of Paracetamol After Intravenous and Oral Administration.
We compared plasma and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) pharmacokinetics of paracetamol after intravenous (IV) and oral administration to determine dosing regimens that optimize CSF concentrations. ⋯ Peak plasma concentrations were greater and reached earlier after IV than oral dosing. Evidence for differences in CSF Cmax and Tmax was lacking because of the small size of this study.
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To characterize the safety of immediate-release (IR)/extended-release (ER) oxycodone (OC)/acetaminophen (APAP). ⋯ Safety and tolerability of IR/ER OC/APAP are similar to other low-dose opioid/APAP analgesics.
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Pain from skin penetrating procedures (procedural pain) during infancy in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) may result in changes of nociceptive sensitivity in later life. This supports the need for pain management during such vulnerable periods in life. This study, therefore, analyses the short- and long-term consequences of neonatal paracetamol (acetaminophen) treatment on pain behaviour in an experimental rat model of neonatal procedural pain. ⋯ Paracetamol can be used safely in neonatal rats. Neonatal paracetamol treatment had no effect upon short-term mechanical hypersensitivity during the first postnatal week, nor upon long-term baseline sensitivity from 3 to 8 weeks. Paracetamol treatment during the first postnatal week significantly reduced the postoperative mechanical hypersensitivity in young adult rats.