What’s new in 2010 DeCS

This article highlights the additions and changes in the DeCS vocabulary in 2010.

 

Overview of Vocabulary Development and Changes

 

·         422 MeSH descriptors were added; the ten subcategories receiving the greatest additions were the amino acids, peptides, and proteins (69), enzymes and coenzymes (37), congenital, hereditary, and neonatal diseases and abnormalities (27), investigative techniques (25), Eukaryota (23), nervous system diseases (18), cardiovascular diseases (16), pathological conditions, signs and symptoms (14), diagnosis (14), and therapeutics (14);

·         52 MeSH descriptors and 9 DeCS descriptors were replaced with more up-to-date terminology in English

·         249 DeCS descriptors had their Spanish version updated

·           83 DeCS descriptors had their Portuguese version updated

·           20 MeSH descriptors and 4 DeCS descriptors were eliminated

·         117 MeSH synonyms were translated to Spanish and Portuguese and 1372 DeCS synonyms were added (of which 970 in Spanish and 402 in Portuguese)

·         559 definitions and 1551 indexing annotations were updated

 

Totals by Type of Terminology

 

Annual Growth

2009

2010

difference

variation

Total MeSH descriptors (MH+PT)

25.186

25588

402

1,6%

Total MeSH subheadings (MQ)

83

83

0

0,0%

Total DeCS descriptors (DH+DQ)

4711

4698

-13

-0,3%

Total DeCS synonyms per language average

31378

33556

2178

6,9%

Total Concepts

29980

30369

389

1,3%

MH= MeSH Headings; PT=Publication Types; MQ=MeSH Subheadings; DH=DeCS Headings; DQ=DeCS Subheadings

 

 

New Descriptors by Tree Category

 

Tree Category

Number of descriptors

A – Anatomy

23

B – Organisms

45

C – Diseases

90

D – Chemicals and Drugs

101

E – Analytical, Diagnostic and Therapeutic Techniques and Equipment

67

F – Psychiatry and Psychology

20

G – Phenomena and Processes

35

H – Disciplines and Occupations

12

HP – Homeopathy

0

I – Anthropology, Education, Sociology and Social Phenomena

10

J – Technology, Industry, Agriculture

12

K – Humanities

2

L – Information Science

10

M – Named Groups

3

N – Health Care

29

SH – Science and Health

0

SP – Public Health

1

V – Publication Characteristics

4

VS – Health Surveillance

0

Z – Geographicals

4

 

 

The total is greater than 422 because some descriptors occur in more than one category.

DeCS 2010 edition is available for online searching through the DeCS Search or directly from the Virtual Health Library homepage.

 

Helpful Links

 

Please consult the DeCS 2010 edition or the 2010 online Introduction to MeSH 2010 for more details. A complete list of new and changed vocabulary is available at these links:

Vocabulary Changes

New Descriptors with Scope Notes (in preparation)

New Descriptors by category

Replaced Descriptors

Deleted Descriptors

DeCS tree number changes

MeSH tree number changes

Major Tree Revisions

For 2010 DeCS/MeSH, the Category B (Organisms Tree) was reorganized to include specific taxonomic descriptors for the third domain of life (Eukaryota). The descriptor Protozoa, formerly under Invertebrates, was deleted because it has become an outmoded phylogenetic concept. The vast majority of new descriptors treed under Eukaryota comprise most of the organisms that were previously treed under the old Protozoa.

The 20th century classification of Protozoa emphasized modes of nutrition and locomotion; 21st century classification is based on ultrastructure, biochemistry, and genetics. Most of the organism descriptors that were treed under Protozoa are now treed under Eukaryota, some under different taxonomic names. Note these organisms are no longer treed under Animals and will not get the check tag Animals; they are simply eukaryotes. Common usage of the word "protozoan" still exists in the literature, though it is diminishing; for now we are going to retain the other DeCS/MeSH descriptors with the word "Protozoan." Thus the headings Protozoan Infections, Protozoan Genes, and Protozoan Proteins, etc. have not changed.

For more detailed information on these changes see 2010 MeSH® Category B Restructuring and MEDLINE® Data Changes — 2010.

H1N1 Virus

Influenza A Virus, H1N1 Subtype for the causative agent of what is colloquially called "swine flu." It has entry terms H1N1 Virus and Swine-Origin Influenza A H1N1 Virus. The disease coordinate for H1N1 in humans is Influenza, Human. There are no references to "swine flu" in DeCS/MeSH due to its ambiguous meaning (analogous to "bird flu"). For more indexing details, see 2009 H1N1 Flu ("Swine Flu") Terminology.

Rare Diseases

Under an agreement with the NIH Office of Rare Diseases and Research (ORDR), the list of rare disease terms maintained by that office is being merged into the MeSH vocabulary. During the initial review process of 10,379 ORDR terms, 1,332 ORDR terms were deleted because they were abbreviations of fewer than five letters and therefore would have created ambiguity if included in MeSH. A total of 274 ORDR terms were merged with existing descriptors in DeCS/MeSH 2010. This increase is in addition to the 440 ORDR terms that were identified as being already in DeCS/MeSH 2010 descriptors. An additional 372 ORDR terms were identified during this review process to be merged with MeSH 2011 descriptors. The remainder are targeted to be Supplementary Concept Records (Class 3) in MeSH 2011. Each of these rare disease SCR records will be mapped to (Heading Mapped to) at least one current MeSH disease term to help future searches and indexing.

For example, ORDR disease term Myotonia Congenita matches the existing DeCS/MeSH descriptor Myotonia Congenita (D009224). The ORDR related term Thomsen Disease is an alternative (or entry) term for Myotonia Congenita. See Figure 1; note the ORDR terms are identified by the label Thesaurus with a value of ORD (2010). This particular concept will have additional edits targeted for the 2011 MeSH.

Other pertinent articles:

MEDLINE/PubMed Year-End Processing Activities

2010 MeSH Now Available

2010 MeSH Files Available for Download

Cataloging News 2010

MEDLINE Data Changes — 2010

PubMed Notes — 2010

Newly Maintained MEDLINE for 2010 MeSH Now Available in PubMed

What's New for 2010 MeSH

2010 MeSH Category B Restructuring


From:

Schulman JL. What's New for 2010 MeSH®. NLM Tech Bull. 2009 Nov-Dec;(371):e15. Available on the Internet: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/techbull/nd09/nd09_mesh.html

 


Adaptation by:
the DeCS Unit at BIREME/PAHO/WHO

 

Date of update: February, 2010