MeSH on Demand is a computerized indexing tool handy for quickly identifying
MeSH Terms in a set of inputted text. It is freely available to use from the
National Library of Medicine (NLM) - Access the site online here: http://ii.nlm.nih.gov/Interactive/MeSHonDemand.shtml
MeSH on Demand identifies the NLM's controlled medical subject headings, called MeSH Terms for short, in your set of inputted text, using the
NLM Medical Text Indexer (MTI)
program. After processing,
MeSH on Demand returns a simple computer generated list of MeSH Terms identified as
relevant to your chunk of text (can be up to 10,000 characters). Each of the
identified MeSH Terms has a link to the corresponding
MeSH Browser Web page for that MeSH Term. For more information about
MeSH on Demand read the announcement in the
NLM Technical Bulletin article.
As the output is computer generated you may well question how well the results mirror what a human indexer would have done. An excellent comparison was done by
Mahria LeBow (March 2014) and posted on the
Dragonfly blog from the
NN/LM National Network of Libraries of Medicine, Pacific Northwest Region. The author concluded that
"These terms would be able to give me a starting place for searching for
related literature, and they happen to have a fair amount of overlap
with the terms generated by a human indexer on a similar, older article." Another potential use Mahria identified for this tool was
"to identify possible MeSH terms for
recently published articles of interest that are still listed as “in
process” in PubMed."
Try it out and let me know how well the tool performs for you by leaving your comments.
Labels: indexing, medical subject headings, MeSH, MeSH Browser, MeSH on Demand, NLM, NLM/PNR
The History of Medicine Division at the
National Library of Medicine (NLM) has launched a new blog entitled
Circulating Now. The goal is to
"encourage exploration and discovery of one of the world’s largest and most treasured history of medicine collections".
Circulating Now
will being with a series of posts about NLM’s and others’ medical history collections by focusing on a particular historical event of significance to the history of medicine and the history of the United States. The series topic is all about "the assassination of, and attempts to save, the twentieth president of the United States, James A. Garfield, which occurred 132 years ago this summer".
All you history of medicine buffs ~
explore and enjoy!
Labels: history of medicine, history of the United States, medical blog, medical history, National Library of Medicine, NLM
An important new partnership initiative was announced yesterday in Ottawa, Canada. The
National Research Council's Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information (NRC-CISTI), the
Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), and the US
National Library of Medicine (NLM) will be working together to establish
PubMed Central Canada (PMC Canada). This will be a searchable, web-based, national digital repository of peer-reviewed health and life sciences literature providing free and open access to Canadian health research.
Click on the title to read the press release.Labels: Canada, CIHR, CISTI, health research, medical research, NLM, NRC, open source, PubMed Central Canada
Understanding Medical Words:
A Tutorial from the National Library of Medicine"This tutorial teaches you about medical words. You'll learn about how to put together parts of medical words. You'll also find quizzes to see what you've learned." You will need Flash Player to view the programs.
But for those interested in a more serious online tutorial for learning medical terminology check out this excelence offering from
Des Moines University.Labels: consumer health information, medical terminology, MedlinePlus, NLM, tutorials
NLM announces the release of the NLM Drug Information Portal, designed to provide the public, healthcare professionals, and researchers a gateway to current, accurate and understandable drug information from the National Library of Medicine and other key government agencies.
Included are more than 12,000 drug records and links to the following resources: MedlinePlus®, AIDSinfo®, Medline/PubMed®, LactMed, HSDB®, Dietary Supplements Labels Database, TOXLINE®, DailyMed®, ClinicalTrials.gov, PubChem, NIAID Anti-HIV/OI Database, ChemIDplus®, Drugs@FDA, DEA, and USA.gov .
[The permanent link has also been added to the sidebar.]Labels: drug database, drug information, drug reference, NLM
