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Acetaminophen Is A Common Pain Reliever And Fever Reducer Essay

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Acetaminophen is a common pain reliever and fever reducer used to treat conditions such as head, muscle or toothache, as well as colds, fevers, and even arthritis. It is available in a many tablet form to be ingested. These tablets are manufactured by a large variety of pharmaceutical manufactures including a great deal of generic brand companies. These tablets all have the same active ingredient in acetaminophen, yet each hold different inactive ingredients that can impact the overall performance of the drug. These inactive ingredients affect the overall chemical stability of the tablets and can lead to a faster decrease in potency of the acetaminophen tablet over time making the tablet less viable of an option to treat common aches and pains. Storage outside the range of the recommended temperature could greatly increase this rate of degradation.
This is an important experiment for what it means to NASA and the International Space Station, as it will allow them to more accurately understand whether acetaminophen is a viable drug that should be taken onto the International Space Station and on other missions, possibly missions related to Mars, where conditions are not ideal. Additionally, this research would allow NASA to determine if it would be safe for their astronauts to take acetaminophen past the expiration date or if the expiration date even matters, given the conditions that they were stored, and for how long. Also, it would help NASA determine which brand they

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