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Medical Subject Headings

Thu, 2009-10-15 08:23 — drupalAdmin

 "The Medical Subject Headings (MeSH®) thesaurus is a controlled vocabulary produced by the National Library of Medicine and used for indexing, cataloging, and searching for biomedical and health-related information and documents.” 
 

General information
Vocabulary alternative name or acronym: 

MeSH

Vocabulary type: 
subjh
Current version/edition : 
2010 edition
Current version date: 
Tue, 2009-09-01
Update frequency: 
“The Medical Subject Headings Section staff continually revise and update the MeSH vocabulary.” New versions are published on an annual basis."
Available formats: 
Downloads available in XML; ASCII; MeSH Trees in ASCII; MARC. PDF file available with vocabulary in ELHILL Unit Record Format (EURF)
Vocabulary URL: 

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/ Also 2007 edition in hierarchy display at http://thesview.accessinn.com/meshThes

Vocabulary Sample URL: 

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/presentations/EAHIL_krakow_2007_sep/mesh_ove...

Was vocabulary created as a course project: 
0
Scope and Usage
Languages: 

English

Purpose: 

“The MeSH thesaurus is used by NLM for indexing articles
from 5,200 of the world's leading biomedical journals for the MEDLINE/PubMED®
database. It is also used for the NLM-produced database that includes
cataloging of books, documents, and audiovisuals acquired by the Library. Each
bibliographic reference is associated with a set of MeSH terms that describe
the content of the item. Similarly, search queries use MeSH vocabulary to find
items on a desired topic."

Used By: 

 “The MeSH thesaurus is used by NLM for indexing
articles from 5,200 of the world's leading biomedical journals for the
MEDLINE/PubMED® database. It is also used for the NLM-produced database that
includes cataloging of books, documents, and audiovisuals acquired by the
Library. Each bibliographic reference is associated with a set of MeSH terms
that describe the content of the item. Similarly, search queries use MeSH
vocabulary to find items on a desired topic.”

Overlap with related vocabularies: 

The UMLS Metathesaurus contains the entire MeSH thesaurus.

Vocabulary characteristics
Type of display : 
hier
alph
html
Type of terms: 

Concepts in the domain of medicine and related domains, exressed in professional medical and scientific terminology.

Relationship types: 
eq_pri_eq
hier_bn
rel_t
othr
Number of classes: 

16 top terms in hierarchical display; 109 hierarchies of descriptors

Number of terms: 
Approximately 165,000
Number of preferred terms: 
The 2010 edition of MeSH contains 25,588 descriptors
Number of Non-Preferred terms: 
Approximately 139,000 Supplementary Concept Records
Depth of Hierarchy: 
11 levels
Characteristics Comments: 

Other term relationships: pharmacologic action; entry combination (for indicating
overlaps)

 

Terms and Conditions
Availability: 
free
Availability Comments: 

 
MeSH, in machine-readable form, is provided at no charge via
electronic means. Download of any of the full data files requires the
completion of an online Memorandum of Understanding. Searchable online at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/2010/mesh_browser/MBrowser.html
. Browseable online from a button at the preceding URL. 
 

Licensing Options: 

Not applicable

Import/download instructions : 

At http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/filelist.html
 

Provider
Vocabulary provider name: 
United States National Library of Medicine
Provider URL: 

http://www.nlm.nih.gov

Provider contact details: 

For
questions concerning distribution, format, etc., contact: Jacque-Lynne Schulman,
Medical Subject Headings. Telephone: 301-496-1495; FAX: 301-402-2002; email:
schulman@nlm.nih.gov 
 
 

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