Understanding MeSH for Effective PubMed Searches

1. PubMed/MeSH - Medical Subject Headings(module 4.3)

2. MODULE 4.3PubMed/MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) • Instructions - This part of the: • course is a PowerPoint demonstration intended to introduce you to PubMed/MeSH. • module is off-line and is intended as an information resource for reference use.

3. Table of Contents • Using MeSH in PubMed • The MeSH database • Major Topic Headings and Explode • Using MeSH terms • Geographic regions

4. Logging on to HINARI 1 Before logging into PubMed we can Login to the HINARI website using the URL http://www.who.int/hinari/

5. HINARI Log-In 2 We will need to insert our HINARI User Name and Password in the Login box and click on the Login button.

6. Main HINARI webpage From the main HINARI webpage, we can access PubMed from the Find articles sub-page of the webpage. Click on Search for HINARI journal articles through PubMed (Medline).

7. PubMed homepage Welcome to the PubMed Homepage. Part 3 of the tutorial will look at MeSH or Medical Subject Headings. To access the Mesh Database Click on the link on the left-hand side of the PubMed home page. Welcome to the PubMed Homepage. Part 3 of the tutorial will look at MeSH or Medical Subject Headings. To access the MeSH Database, click on the link on the left-hand side of the PubMed home page.

8. MeSH database MeSH is the controlled vocabulary for indexing articles for MEDLINE. MeSH Terms are assigned as Keywords to each record that is “Indexed for MEDLINE”. NB. Articles in PubMed that are not on MEDLINE have no MeSH Terms assigned to their records

9. Searching in MeSH To find a MeSH term, type your search in the query box and click on Go. In this example we will check for a MeSH Term for Cancer.

10. MeSH search results From these results we see that the MeSH term for Cancer is Neoplasms. Click on the linked term for more information.

11. MeSH Terms The record for a MeSH term contains a definition of the term, associated subheadings, a list of entry terms, and the tree view of MeSH. Highlighted above is the definition provided for the term Neoplasms.

12. MeSH Subheadings All Subheadings associated to a MeSH term are displayed below the definition.

13. Major MeSH and exploding a term Below the subheading are two check boxes. The first box restricts terms to Major Topic Headings only. The second box is to instruct PubMed not to Explode a term.

14. Entry terms and See Also references Entry Terms are listed along with See Also references.

15. MeSH structure diagram Each record also has a tree view of MeSH displaying the term and its position in the MeSH structure.

16. Dengue 1 To search for records with Dengue as a MeSH term enter the term in the Search box.

17. Dengue 2 There are a number of MeSH terms containing the term Dengue.

18. Dengue 3 Here is the main DengueMeSH record and associated subheadings.

19. Dengue 4 To search PubMed check the box next to the MeSH term and select Send to Search box with AND, Click on the Send To button.

20. Dengue 5 The Term is now entered into the search box. From here you can add keywords or more MeSH Terms to the search. To search click on the Search PubMed button.

21. Dengue 6 We can display the results in the Citation display format. Here we can see the MeSH terms in each record.

22. Dengue 7 To search using subheadings, select the appropriate Subheading(s) by checking the selection boxes. To use a MeSH term with Subheadings in a PubMed search, you will need to go to the Send to dropdown menu and click on Search Box AND.

23. Dengue 8 This time we are searching for the MeSH term Denguewith a subheading of prevention and control. To use these terms in PubMed, you must click on PubMed Search.

24. Dengue 9 Here are the results of a PubMed search for Dengue/prevention and control[MeSH]. The results are displayed here in Citation format showing assigned MeSH terms.

25. Dengue Major MeSH topic 1 When we restrict to Major Topic Headings only we are just selecting articles where the primary subject matter was Dengue.

26. Dengue Major MeSH topic 2 In this example we can see that the Dengue Mesh term is limited to Major Topic Headings[MAJR].

27. Dengue Major MeSH topic 3 In Citation display format Major MeSH terms are identified using *

28. MeSH History page The History compares the difference between searching for Dengue as a keyword, Major Mesh Term and MeSH term.

29. Geographical MeSH terms 1 There are MeSH terms assigned for geographical regions and countries. In this example we will look at the MeSH terms for Asia.

30. Geographical MeSH terms 2 Here is the MeSH record for Asia.

31. Geographical MeSH terms 3 In the tree view we can see a breakdown of Asia by region and country

32. Geographical MeSH terms 4 From within the Asia, Southeastern region, we will select Myanmar.

33. Geographical MeSH terms 5 In this example, we can see that “Burma” and “Myanma” are Entry Terms for Myanmar.

34. Geographical MeSH terms 6 In this example, we will search for Myanmar as a MeSH term.

35. Geographical MeSH terms 7 The article highlighted is about prevalence of glaucoma in rural Myanmar – one of 765 with Myanmar as a MeSH term.

36. MeSH – Developing countries 1 There is a MeSH term for Developing Countries.

37. MeSH – Developing countries 2 The Developing Countries MeSH term was introduced in 1971 and is defined by the NLM, and not by the UNDP or World Bank.

38. MeSH – Developing countries 3 In this example, we can see the Entry Terms that will map to the Developing Countries MeSH Term .

39. MeSH – Developing countries 4 In this example, we are going to search for articles tagged with the Developing Countries MeSH term.

40. This is the end of Module 4 Part 3 The results of the Developing Countries[Mesh] search is 47671 articles (07 2007). This is the end of Module 4 Part 3. There is a workbook to accompany this part of the module. The workbook will take you through a live session covering the topics included in this demonstration with working examples. Updated 07 2007