Dashbell: A Low-cost Smart Doorbell System for Home Use

Smart doorbells allow home owners to receive alerts when a visitor is at the door, see who the guest is, and communicate with the visitor from a smart device. They greatly improve people's life quality and contribute to the evolution of smart homes. However, the commercial smart doorbells are quite expensive, usually cost more than 190 US dollars, which is a substantial impediment on the pervasiveness of smart doorbells. To solve this problem, we introduce the Dashbell-a budget smart doorbell system for home use. It connects a WiFi-enabled device, the Amazon Dash Button, to a network and enables the home owner to answer the bell triggered by the dash button using a smartphone. The Dashbell system also enables fast fault detection and diagnosis due to its distributed framework.Comment: Accepted by IEEE PerCom 201

Rational use of rubella vaccine for prevention of congenital rubella syndrome in the Americas

Rubella is a viral disease with minor morbidity and few complications unless it is contracted by a pregnant woman. Rubella infection during the first trimester of pregnancy often leads to fetal death or severe congenital defects (congenital rubella syndrome, CRS). Rubella remains endemic in many countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. It has been estimated that 20000 or more infants are perhaps born with CRS each year in Latin American and Caribbean countries. While the inclusion of rubella vaccination into routine childhood immunization will decrease rubella virus circulation among young children, it will not have immediate impact on the transmission of rubella among adults or the occurrence of CRS. A one-time mass campaign targeting both males and females 5 to 39 years of age with measles-mumps-rubella or measles-rubella vaccine followed by the use of measles-mumps-rubella vaccine in routine early childhood vaccination will prevent and control both rubella and CRS promptly. In April 1988, the Ministers of Health of the English-speaking Caribbean targeted rubella for elimination by the end of the year 2000 using the vaccination strategy outlined above. The rubella elimination experience of these countries will provide useful information for the eventual elimination of rubella virus from the Americas.<br>La rubéola es una enfermedad vírica que produce poca morbilidad y pocas complicaciones, a no ser que la contraiga una mujer embarazada. La infección con rubéola durante el primer trimestre del embarazo a menudo termina en muerte fetal o en deformidades congénitas graves (síndrome de anomalías congénitas por rubéola, o SCR). La rubéola sigue siendo endémica en muchos países de América Latina y el Caribe. Se estima que quizá 20 000 niños o más nacen cada año con SCR en países latinoamericanos y caribeños. Si bien la adición de la vacuna contra la rubéola a los programas de inmunización infantil de rutina disminuirá la circulación del virus entre los niños pequeños, no tendrá un impacto inmediato sobre la transmisión de la rubéola entre los adultos o sobre la frecuencia de SCR. Una campaña única dirigida a toda la población de hombres y mujeres de 5 a 39 años de edad en que se aplique la vacuna triple contra el sarampión, la parotiditis y la rubéola, o la vacuna doble contra el sarampión y la rubéola seguida de la vacuna triple como parte de la inmunización rutinaria de niños pequeños servirá para controlar y prevenir de manera inmediata tanto la rubéola como el SCR. En abril de 1988, los Ministros de Salud de países del Caribe angloparlante establecieron la meta de eliminar la rubéola para fines del año 2000 mediante la aplicación de la estrategia de vacunación aquí descrita. La experiencia que han tenido estos países en sus actividades de eliminación de la rubéola será fuente de información provechosa para la eliminación futura del virus de la rubéola de todo el territorio americano

Dashbell: A Low-cost Smart Doorbell System for Home Use

Smart doorbells allow home owners to receive alerts when a visitor is at the door, see who the guest is, and communicate with the visitor from a smart device. They greatly improve people's life quality and contribute to the evolution of smart homes. However, the commercial smart doorbells are quite expensive, usually cost more than 190 US dollars, which is a substantial impediment on the pervasiveness of smart doorbells. To solve this problem, we introduce the Dashbell-a budget smart doorbell system for home use. It connects a WiFi-enabled device, the Amazon Dash Button, to a network and enables the home owner to answer the bell triggered by the dash button using a smartphone. The Dashbell system also enables fast fault detection and diagnosis due to its distributed framework

Delivery of priority health services: searching for synergies within the vertical versus horizontal debate

A key issue in the expansion of access to priority health services is how best to implement scaling up efforts. In this paper, we explore the relative merits of vertical and horizontal delivery modes; review the literature on the impact of vertical programmes on health systems and on experiences of integrating these programmes; and analyse health interventions in terms of their different modes of delivery within the health system infrastructure. We conclude that expanding access to priority health services requires the concerted use of both modes of delivery, according to the capacity of health systems as it changes over time. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Anthrax toxins regulate pain signaling and can deliver molecular cargoes into ANTXR2(+) DRG sensory neurons

Discovering that nociceptive sensory neurons express the receptor for anthrax toxin, Yang et al. show that anthrax toxin can induce potent analgesia in mice and facilitate the delivery of potentially analgesic cargo proteins into nociceptive neurons. Bacterial products can act on neurons to alter signaling and function. In the present study, we found that dorsal root ganglion (DRG) sensory neurons are enriched for ANTXR2, the high-affinity receptor for anthrax toxins. Anthrax toxins are composed of protective antigen (PA), which binds to ANTXR2, and the protein cargoes edema factor (EF) and lethal factor (LF). Intrathecal administration of edema toxin (ET (PA + EF)) targeted DRG neurons and induced analgesia in mice. ET inhibited mechanical and thermal sensation, and pain caused by formalin, carrageenan or nerve injury. Analgesia depended on ANTXR2 expressed by Na(v)1.8(+) or Advillin(+) neurons. ET modulated protein kinase A signaling in mouse sensory and human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived sensory neurons, and attenuated spinal cord neurotransmission. We further engineered anthrax toxins to introduce exogenous protein cargoes, including botulinum toxin, into DRG neurons to silence pain. Our study highlights interactions between a bacterial toxin and nociceptors, which may lead to the development of new pain therapeutics