Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)

1. Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) The NLM Controlled Vocabulary PubMed for Trainers, Spring 2014U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM) and NLM Training Center

2. Objectives • By the end of this session, you should be able to: • Define MeSH • Explain why we use MeSH • Explain the hierarchical structure of MeSH • Explore MeSH further

3. Medical Subject Headings Defined • Represent concepts found in the biomedical literature • Like keywords on other systems • Used to describe the subject of journal articles for MEDLINE • Used for cataloging books and audiovisuals • Used by searchers • Revised annually • Gives uniformity and consistency to the indexing of the biomedical literature

4. Medical Subject Headings (MeSH® Vocabulary)

5. MeSH Headings (Examples) • Lung Neoplasms • Erythrocytes • Quality of Life • Diabetes Mellitus • Ascorbic Acid • Birth Order • Glycolysis • Patient Dropouts

6. MeSH Entry Terms (Example) Entry Terms: • Neoplasms, Pulmonary • Neoplasm, Pulmonary • Pulmonary Neoplasm • Neoplasms, Lung • Lung Neoplasm • Neoplasm, Lung • Pulmonary Neoplasms • Lung Cancer • Cancer, Lung • Cancers, Lung • Lung Cancers • Cancer of Lung • Pulmonary Cancer • Cancer, Pulmonary • Cancers, Pulmonary • Pulmonary Cancers • Cancer of the Lung Lung Neoplasms Tumors or cancer of the LUNG.

7. MeSH Tree Structure • Anatomy • Organisms • Diseases • Chemicals and Drugs • Analytical, Diagnostic and Therapeutic Techniques and Equipment • Psychiatry and Psychology • Phenomena and Processes • Disciplines and Occupations • Anthropology, Education, Sociology and Social Phenomena • Technology, Industry, Agriculture • Humanities • Information Science • Named Groups • Health Care V. Publication Characteristics Z. Geographicals

8. MeSH Tree in Use

9. MeSH Tree in Use

10. Pop Quiz (take a guess)

11. Subheadings (Examples) • Lung Neoplasms/diagnosis • Erythrocytes/classification • Quality of Life/legislation and jurisprudence • Diabetes Mellitus/rehabilitation • Ascorbic Acid/secretion • Birth Order/physiology • Glycolysis/genetics • Patient Dropouts/psychology

13. Subheading Groupings (Examples) adverse effects poisoning toxicity physiology genetics growth & development immunology metabolism biosynthesis blood cerebrospinal fluid deficiency enzymology pharmacokinetics urine physiopathology secretion therapy diet therapy drug therapy nursing prevention & control radiotherapy rehabilitation surgery transplantation

14. Publication Types (Examples) • Review • Editorial • Letter • Interactive Tutorial • Clinical Trial, Phase III • Twin Study

15. Publication Types in Hierarchy

17. Supplementary Concepts • Part of MeSH Database • NOT full Headings • Used to quickly add vocabulary • Substances • Protocols • Rare Diseases

19. The MeSH Database

20. The MeSH Database (cont.)

24. Exercise In the MeSH database, search for the wordFragaria.

25. Useful My NCBI features to use when searching with MeSH Click here

26. Open Abstract Supplemental Data in My NCBI

27. Use of My NCBI /highlighting when searching with MeSH

28. Highlighting and open supplemental data

29. Summary • MeSH is NLM's controlled vocabulary for subject indexing and searching MEDLINE/PubMed • There are four types of MeSH: • Headings • Subheadings • Publication Types • Supplementary Concept Records • MeSH uses synonyms known as Entry terms • MeSH is organized in a hierarchy or tree • Indexers designate the major points of articles as MeSH Major Topics • Use the MeSH Database to find MeSH terms • Use My NCBI Site Preferences to customize PubMed displays

30. Questions?