Someone to Watch Over You: Using Bluetooth Beacons for Alerting Distracted Pedestrians.

In the United States, an estimated 7,005 (crude rate 2.13) pedestrians were killed in traffic crashes in 2020, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This statistic is currently increasing annually and research suggests that distraction by smartphones may be a primary reason for the increasing number of pedestrian injuries and deaths. Timely interruptions may alert inattentive pedestrians and prevent fatalities. To this end, we developed StreetBit, a Bluetooth beacon-based system that warns distracted pedestrians with a visual and/or audible interruption when they approach a potentially dangerous traffic intersection while distracted by their smartphones. We posit that by using StreetBit, we can educate distracted pedestrians and elicit behavioral change to reduce or remove smartphone-based distractions when they enter and cross roadways. To demonstrate the feasibility of StreetBit, we conducted a field study with 385 participants. Results show that the system demonstrates adequate feasibility and behavior change in response to the StreetBit program.

StreetBit: A Bluetooth Beacon-based Personal Safety Application for Distracted Pedestrians.

The safety of distracted pedestrians presents a significant public health challenge in the United States and worldwide. An estimated 6,704 American pedestrians died and over 200,000 pedestrians were injured in traffic crashes in 2018, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) [1]. This number is increasing annually and many researchers posit that distraction by smartphones is a primary reason for the increasing number of pedestrian injuries and deaths. One strategy to prevent pedestrian injuries and death is to use intrusive interruptions that warn distracted pedestrians directly on their smartphones. To this end, we developed StreetBit, a Bluetooth beacon-based mobile application that alerts distracted pedestrians with a visual and/or audio interruption when they are distracted by their smartphones and are approaching a potentially-dangerous traffic intersection. In this paper, we present the background, architecture, and operations of the StreetBit Application.

A case of atypical tardive seizure activity during an initial ECT titration series.

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) has been used in this country for more than 70 years, is still the most effective treatment in all of psychiatry, and is considered a very safe procedure to have under general anesthesia. Although most patients tolerate this procedure very well without complications, prolonged and/or tardive seizures or even status epilepticus can develop, which is a rare but serious complication of ECT. Tardive seizures are typically associated with electroencephalographic evidence of ictal activity and motor manifestations of the tonic-clonic activity. Whereas there are instances of nonconvulsive status epilepticus after ECT, this is the first report of a patient developing autonomic and motor manifestations of a tardive seizure without electroencephalographic evidence of seizure activity during the initial titration series to establish seizure threshold for a course of ECT.

Maintenance electroconvulsive therapy in a patient with multiple system atrophy and bipolar disorder.

Multiple system atrophy is a rapidly progressive neurodegenerative disorder with no known cure. It is a clinical diagnosis with no confirmation available other than brain biopsy after death. We report the successful treatment of multiple system atrophy co-occurring with bipolar disorder in a 62-year-old man using electroconvulsive therapy.