New Resource: MEDLINE®/PubMed® Baseline Repository (MBR)

A freely accessible Web site, the MEDLINE/PubMed Baseline Repository (MBR), developed by staff in NLM's Lister Hill Center is now available. The MBR, at //mbr.nlm.nih.gov/, contains various resources derived from or pertaining to the MEDLINE/PubMed baseline files which are produced after the records have undergone annual maintenance. One MBR resource, the MBR Query Tool, is restricted to use by NLM's registered MEDLINE/PubMed licensees. MEDLINE/PubMed licensees may prefer to search the baseline files via this Web-based Query Tool rather than, or in addition to, locally mounting all the baseline files obtained from NLM's ftp server.

Background:

Researchers have expressed interest in having access to MEDLINE citations in the state they were at a given moment in time. The MBR was set up to provide this capability. NLM has stored the end of year baseline MEDLINE/PubMed database for each year maintained with MeSH vocabulary for the upcoming year starting in 2002 along with a selection of the associated MeSH Vocabulary data files. The 2006 baseline files will be available in December 2005.

Resources available via the MBR:

1. MBR Query Tool Database - Baseline databases 2002 and forward are available for searching by MeSH Headings, Subheadings, MeSH Heading/Subheading combinations, Names of Substances (MeSH Supplementary Concept Records), and PMID. Users can limit or filter by Date Created, Date Completed, Date Last Revised, Publication Year, and Status. Citations retrieved are available in both XML format and PubMed's MEDLINE ASCII display format. The Query Tool is open only to NLM's registered licensees. Access to the Query Tool is controlled by IP address, as is access to the leased MEDLINE/PubMed files from NLM's ftp server.
2. Frequency counts - Basic frequency counts are sorted into alphabetical and numerical order for MeSH Headings, Subheadings, for MeSH Heading/Subheading combinations, and Names of Substances (MeSH Supplementary Concept Records).
3. Raw Data Files - Files contain the raw data similar to what was used to create the MBR Query Tool Database for the specific baseline year.
4. Histogram/Summary Files - Files show the number of MeSH Heading (MH) terms assigned to each of the MeSH Tree top-level and top-level + 1 categories and to each of the UMLS Semantic Type Groupings categories during the latest year to see how assignment of terms might vary from year to year.
5. Related MeSH Files - Selected MeSH Vocabulary data files and a copy of their associated DTD files for working with the Baseline XML files.
6. UMLS Semantic Groups File - A coarse-grained set of semantic type groupings designed to reduce the complexity in the UMLS Metathesaurus.

The MBR resources may be of particular interest to researchers. Please explore the resources including documentation available from the main MBR site at //mbr.nlm.nih.gov/. Only NLM's registered MEDLINE/PubMed licensees may use the Query Tool which is available from a link on the main page. Comments about use of the MBR site are welcome and may be directed to NLMdatadistrib@nlm.nih.gov.

top of page