Acupuncture proved to be adequate for migraine prophylaxis. Relative to flunarizine, acupuncture treatment exhibited greater effectiveness in the first months of therapy and superior tolerability.

The effect of boron deficiency on symbiotic nitrogen fixation in pea (Pisum safivum) was examined. l h e absence of boron in the culture medium resulted in a decrease of the number of nodules and an alteration of nodule development leading to an inhibition of nitrogenase activity. Examination of boron-deficient nodules showed dramatic changes in cell walls and in both peribacteroid and infection thread membranes, suggesting a role for boron in the stability of these structures. These results indicate that boron is a requirement for normal nodule development and functionality.

Eighteen patients suffering from true menstrual migraine and 12 control subjects were studied. We evaluated in different phases of the menstrual cycle and during the migraine crisis the peripheral plasma concentrations of 6-keto-PGF1 alpha (the stable metabolite of PGI2), thromboxane B2 (the stable metabolite of thromboxane A2), PGF2 alpha and PGE2. The mean values of 6-keto-PGF1 alpha in menstrual migraine sufferers are lower than in normal women throughout the whole cycle. The difference between the trends observed in the two groups is statistically significant (p less than 0.05). The plasma levels of TXB2 and of PGF2 alpha are similar in the two groups investigated, both in basal conditions and during the attack. The plasma concentrations of PGE2 are slightly lower in migraineurs in basal conditions than in normals. However, during the crisis they increase significantly (p less than 0.05). In conclusion, among all the parameters considered, PGE2 seems to play the most important role during the pain phase of the attack. The results of the present study suggest that a deficit of PGI2, one of the most important protecting agents against ischemia, might be a typical feature of menstrual migraine and might cause in these patients a vascular hypersensitivity to different ischemic stimuli.

Most epidemiological studies demonstrate that women suffering from migraine note a significant improvement in their headaches during pregnancy. Both headache specialists and gynecologists commonly hold that migraine does not involve any risks to either the mother, or the fetus. Despite this, recent studies into the medical complications of pregnancy in migrainous women have cast doubts on this assumption. Indeed, most of these studies have revealed a significant association between migraine and hypertension in pregnancy (i.e. preeclampsia and gestational hypertension). Migraine has also been recently postulated as one of the major risk factors for stroke during pregnancy and the puerperium. Therefore, there is an urgent need for prospective studies on large numbers of pregnant women to determine the real existence and extent of the risks posed by migraine during pregnancy. In the meantime, while awaiting verification of this hypothesis, a pregnant woman with migraine must be subject to a particularly attentive screening by both the obstetrician and the headache specialist.

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