Splice Junction Identification using Long Short-Term Memory Neural Networks.

Background: Splice junctions are the key to move from pre-messenger RNA to mature messenger RNA in many multi-exon genes due to alternative splicing. Since the percentage of multi-exon genes that undergo alternative splicing is very high, identifying splice junctions is an attractive research topic with important implications. Objective: The aim of this paper is to develop a deep learning model capable of identifying splice junctions in RNA sequences using 13,666 unique sequences of primate RNA. Methods: A Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) Neural Network model is developed that classifies a given sequence as EI (Exon-Intron splice), IE (Intron-Exon splice), or N (No splice). The model is trained with groups of trinucleotides and its performance is tested using validation and test data to prevent bias. Results: Model performance was measured using accuracy and f-score in test data. The finalized model achieved an average accuracy of 91.34% with an average f-score of 91.36% over 50 runs. Conclusion: Comparisons show a highly competitive model to recent Convolutional Neural Network structures. The proposed LSTM model achieves the highest accuracy and f-score among published alternative LSTM structures.

Optimizing the Treatment of CRPS With Ketamine.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to develop a method that objectively measures the clinical benefits of ketamine infusions to treat complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), thus making it possible, for the first time, to determine the optimal dosing of ketamine and duration of treatment to treat CRPS. MATERIALS AND METHODS: All patients were diagnosed with hyperalgesia associated with CRPS. Patients underwent an outpatient, 4-day, escalating dose ketamine infusion. Hyperalgesia was measured using pain thresholds. Clinical outcome was determined without knowledge of the patient's pain thresholds throughout treatment. RESULTS: We found a correlation between pain thresholds and the intensity of pain reported by the patient at various sites of the body. We found that clinical outcomes correlated with improvement in pain thresholds. There was a plateau in pain thresholds between days 3 and 4 for the lower extremities. There was no plateau in pain thresholds observed for the upper extremities. DISCUSSION: Our findings suggest that 4 days of treatment are sufficient for the treatment of CRPS of the lower extremities. For the upper extremities, >4 days may be required. Our study is the first to utilize quantitative sensory testing to direct the treatment of a chronic pain disorder.

Psychosocial profile of Iranian adolescents' Internet addiction.

In the present study, factors that could play an important role in Internet addiction (IA) in 4,177 Iranian high school and secondary school adolescents (age range: 14-19 years) were examined. Data for the present study were gathered through Young's IA test, the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), and family relationship questionnaires distributed between high school and secondary school students in different demographic regions, carefully selected using multistage sampling techniques. Among the study participants, 21.1% of the students were in some way victims of IA, among whom 1.1% had significant problematic symptoms. Familial relationships was the most important factor related to IA; religious beliefs, moreover, was the second most important factor. The father's level of education was more important than that of the mother's by nearly twice as much. Other factors had important roles in the kind of Internet use, but not as much as the above mentioned factors. The findings of this study could help parents, school counselors, and teachers to pay more attention to excessive Internet use in adolescents and propose possible solutions.