Psychopharmacology
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Does mutual compensation of the cognitive effects induced by pain and opioids exist? An experimental study.
Studies have demonstrated that both pain and opioids have actions on the central nervous system that may interfere with cognitive function, but their effects have mainly been analysed separately and not as an integrated process. ⋯ Pain and remifentanil seemed to have additive deleterious cognitive effects. This study represents an initial step to enhance our basic understanding of some of the cognitive effects following a painful stimulus and an opioid infusion separately and combined in a sequence comparable to clinical settings.
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Several studies provide evidence that nicotine alleviates the detrimental effects of distracting sensory stimuli. It is been suggested that nicotine may either act as a stimulus filter that prevents irrelevant stimuli entering awareness or by enhancing the attentional focus to relevant stimuli via a boost in processing capacity. ⋯ The findings suggest that nicotine acts primarily as a stimulus filter that prevents irrelevant stimuli from entering awareness in situations of high distractor interference.
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During pregnancy and postpartum period, 20 % of women are affected by depression, which is a growing health concern. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) medications are popular treatments for maternal depression; however, the effect of maternal depression and perinatal SSRI exposure on offspring's neural development needs further investigation. ⋯ There are long-term effects of developmental SSRI exposure on hippocampal plasticity that is differentially affected by expose to maternal adversity and offspring sex.