In This Issue:
"Breath
of Life" Exhibition Opens
LOCATORplus
on the Web
Reading
Room, Rotunda Update
NGC
Web Site Goes Live
African-American
Health Issues, Voting Rights
Elizabeth
Blackwell, M.D.
Worthy
of Note
Louise
Darling Dies at 87
Lederberg's
Papers on "Profiles" Site
The
"Difficult Woman"
MLA
Time Capsule
HBCU
Explores Internet
Older
Adults and the Web
In Every Issue:
Names
in the News
Products
and Publications
NLM
in Print
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PRODUCTS AND PUBLICATIONS
New MeSH Browser Available on the Web
NLM's MeSH Section has produced a new MeSH browser to provide
free Web access to the same detailed information available in the
ELHILL MeSH file. The browser also encompasses useful features from
the Annotated MeSH and the Tree Structures. It is designed to help
quickly locate descriptors of possible interest and to show the
hierarchies (trees) in which descriptors appear. Virtually complete
MeSH records are available, including the scope notes, annotations,
entry vocabulary, history notes, and allowable qualifiers. The link
for the MeSH Browser is on the MeSH Homepage (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/)
or you can go directly to the MeSH Browser at: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/99MBrowser.html
.
The Browser was created to provide an easy look-up for those
primarily interested in the MeSH vocabulary itself. In the past,
questions had come from the information community asking for a way
to scan or browse MeSH. There was voiced a need for access to MeSH
as a controlled vocabulary, or as an endpoint and not as a
preliminary look-up before MEDLINE searching. It was found that some
organizations use MeSH in ways not originally expected, such as for
grant application file organization and other information
activities. These users' needs were different from those of the
MEDLINE database user. In response, a web-based browser was created
to allow flexible access to the vocabulary.
The MeSH Browser provides the newest version of MeSH. New
Supplementary Concepts (drug and chemical names) are added and
updated quarterly. The initial screen of the MeSH Browser displays
the date of the latest update so you will know the currency of the
vocabulary data being browsed. The new MeSH Browser tool does not
link directly to PubMed or Internet Grateful Med and is not a
substitute for the vocabulary assistance offered in these search
engines. If you want to use the MeSH Browser at the same time you
are using PubMed or IGM, you should open it in a separate window.
(This would be comparable to having the printed Annotated MeSH open
at your desk, while you construct a search strategy in PubMed or
IGM.) The browser is part of the MeSH Web Pages. It finds
descriptors of interest without assuming knowledge of the
often-complex vocabulary structure and rules. For example, if you
enter male neoplasms as a search, the Browser will display a list of
related descriptors including:
- Breast Neoplasms, Male (a MeSH descriptor)
- Genital Neoplasms, Male (a MeSH descriptor)
- Male Breast Neoplasms (an entry term to MeSH)
- Male Genital Neoplasms (an entry term to MeSH)
The look-up can be restricted or limited with any of the
following:
- Main Headings
- Qualifiers
- Supplementary Concepts
- All of the Above
Searching for names of chemicals and other Supplementary Concepts
(non-descriptors and non- qualifiers) can be limited to any of the
following fields:
- Heading Mapped To (HM) (Supplementary List)
- Indexing Information (II) (Supplementary List)
- Pharmacological Action (PA)
- CAS Registry/EC Number (RN)
- Related CAS Registry Number (RR)
When a single descriptor has been selected, the complete record
can then be displayed. Fields or elements within the descriptor are
linked directly to additional sources such as related Indexing
Manual sections, definitions and other similar information. The MeSH
hierarchy or Tree Structure can also be displayed online as in this
example and each descriptor is a direct link to the complete MeSH
record for that term. For example, the following shows the hierarchy
for Breast Neoplasms, Male:
- Neoplasms by Site [C04.588]
- Abdominal Neoplasms [C04.588.033]
- Anal Gland Neoplasms [C04.588.083]
- Bone Neoplasms [C04.588.149]
- Breast Neoplasms [C04.588.180]
- Breast Neoplasms, Male [C04.588.180.260]
- Etc.
Your comments regarding the MeSH Browser are welcome, as are your
suggestions for other ways to enhance the usefulness of the MeSH
vocabulary.
Contact: Stuart Nelson, M.D., Head Medical Subject
Headings (301) 496-1495 (voice) (301) 402-2002 (fax)
Comments may also be sent to meshsugg@nlm.nih.gov
Thanks to Jacque-Lynne Schulman, Technical Information
Specialist, Medical Subject Headings, for submitting this
article.
1998 Cumulated Index Medicus AvailableThe Cumulated Index
Medicus, Vol. 39, 1998: A cumulation of the citations appearing in
Index Medicus for 1998, is now available. Included are Author and
Subject sections, Medical Subject Headings, a List of Journals
Indexed, and Bibliography of Medical Reviews. Price: $463
(domestic), $578.75 (foreign). Serial number: 617-052- 00313-9.
Information on ordering is available from the NLM web site, http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/pubcat.html
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