treatment strategies for menstrually related migraine

Approximately 50% of migrainous women suffer from menstrually related migraine (MRM), a type of migraine in which the attacks occur at the same time as or near the menstrual flow. Attacks of MRM tend to be longer, more intense and disabling and sometimes less responsive to treatment than non-menstrual migraines. Similar to the management of non-menstrual migraine, the use of triptans and NSAIDs is the gold standard for MRM treatment. In this paper, the most important studies in the literature that report the effectiveness of triptans, of certain associated drugs and other analgesic agents are summarized. Preventive strategies that can be used if a prophylactic treatment is needed is also analyzed, with particular attention paid to the use of perimenstrual prophylaxis with triptans and/or NSAIDs. Moreover, considering the peculiar interaction between menstrual migraine and female sex hormones, brief mention is made to possible hormonal manipulations

Joint Metabonomic and Instrumental Analysis for the Classification of Migraine Patients with 677-MTHFR Mutations

Migraine is a neurological disorder that correlates with an increased risk of cerebrovascular lesions. Genetic mutations of the MTHFR gene are correlated to migraine and to the increased risk of artery pathologies. Also, migraine patients show altered hematochemical parameters, linked to an impaired platelet aggregation mechanism. Hence, the vascular assessment of migraineurs is of primary importance

Can multimodal interaction support older adults in using mobile devices? The ECOMODE study.

Several studies investigated the potentialities of multimodal interfaces for improving accessibility for older people. This paper presents a study that evaluated the user experience of sixty people who worked with a tablet PC running the ECOMODE technology. This technology consists of an event-driven compressive vision algorithm, that allows the realization of a new generation of low-power cameras, able to elaborate real-time vocal- and video-inputs. The users interact with the applications on the tablet PC using mid-air hand gestures and vocal commands. Even if the ECOMODE technology suffers from some technical limitations, older people appreciated the proposed multimodal interaction mode. The results pointed out that the ECOMODE technology was considered to be particularly promising for daily tasks involving communication, such as placing calls, sending and listening to audio and messages, and taking and sharing pictures. It also seems effective in navigating archives, such as pictures, audio, or music databases

Mobile for Older Adults: Towards Designing Multimodal Interaction.

The paper presents the preliminary studies carried out in ECOMODE (Event-Driven Compressive Vision for Multimodal Interaction with Mobile Devices), an EU project aiming to design a multimodal interaction suitable for elderly people using mobile technology. The project exploits EDC (Event Driven Compressive) paradigm to realize a new generation of low-power multimodal human-computer interfaces for mobile devices. In our studies we investigated (1) how older adults interact with mobile devices and (2) how they use applications based on mid-air gesture interaction. Our studies basically confirm the findings of previous works about usability and accessibility issues, specifically characterizing elderly users’ interaction with mobile technology

How to increase older adults’ accessibility tomobile technology? The new ECOMODE camera.

Designing and developing mobile technology that is able to meet the needs of older adults is fundamental to improve their independent living and expand their social inclusion. However, although mobile technology is nowadays widely present in our every-day activities, older adults continue to lag in its adoption. While exploring what hinders older adults in adopting mobile technology and questioning about how to increase their accessibility to it, the paper presents the ECOMODE project, whose technology based on the Event-Driven Compressive (EDC) paradigm is a possible answer. First, to contextualize our study, the paper describes the ECOMODE technology based on multimodal interaction, i.e. mid-air gestures combined with voice commands. Then, it details the design of the interaction with the ECOMODE device, which aims to increase accessibility and usability of mobile devices for older adults

Mobile multimodal interaction for older and younger users

Since they can integrate a wide range of interactive modalities, multimodal interfaces are considered to improve accessibility for a variety of users, including older adults. However, only few works have actually explored how older adults approach multimodal interaction outside specific contexts and have done so mainly in comparison to much younger users. This study explores how older (65+ years old), middle-aged (55-65 years old) and younger adults (25-35 years old) use mobile multimodal interaction in an everyday activity (i.e. taking photos with a tablet) by using midair gestures and voice commands, and investigates the differences and similarities between the considered age groups. Preliminary findings from a video-analysis show that all groups easily combine the proposed modalities when interacting with a tablet device. Furthermore, compared to younger adults, older and middle-aged adults show similarities in the way they perform gesture and voice commands

Design of multimodal interaction with mobile devices. Challenges for visually impaired and elderly users

This paper presents two early studies aimed at investigating issues concerning the design of multimodal interaction - based on voice commands and mid-air gestures - with mobile technology specifically designed for visually impaired and elderly users. These studies have been carried out on a new device allowing enhanced speech recognition (interpreting lip movements) and mid-air gesture interaction on Android devices (smartphone and tablet PC). The initial findings and challenges raised by these novel interaction modalities are discussed. These mainly centre on issues of feedback and feedforward, the avoidance of false positives and point of reference or orientation issues regarding the device and the mid-air gestures

Wizard of Oz Studies with Older Adults: A Methodological Note

Wizard of Oz (WoZ) is a prototyping technique in which users basically interact with what they believe is a fully functioning technology, while, in reality, the system is operated by a researcher, usually concealed from the participants. WoZ technique allows the exploration of user requirements and design concepts at an early stage in the design process and it can provide information about the interaction of different group of users, including older adults. In this paper, we provide a brief overview of WoZ method in HCI and, based on related literature and our experience, we present the methodological value and the potential drawbacks of WoZ approach in User-Centered Design when involving older people. We discuss indications on rganizational and ethical aspects of conducting WoZ studies with older participants and highlight the positive impact and possible pitfalls of this approach in sharing vision of future technology and communicating ideas for design