What's new in 2005 DeCS

This document highlights the additions and changes in 2005 Health Science Descriptors (DeCS). In addition to the annual changes related to the 2005 Medical Science Headings (MeSH), the main novelties in 2005 DeCS are the creation of the Science and Health category by PAHO IKM/RC Unit (Information Knowledge Management/Research Promotion and Development), date of update February 2005, and the creation of the Health Surveillance category, in partnership with the National Health Surveillance System of the Scientific and Technical Knowledge Management Office - GETEC, General Management for Knowledge and Documentation ANVISA (the Health Surveillance Agency of the Brazilian Department of Health), date of update April 2005.

 

Overview of Vocabulary Development and Changes

 

·         487 MeSH descriptors were added. The ten subcategories which received the greatest additions were animals (100), bacteria (50), enzymes and coenzymes (47), amino acids, peptides and proteins (46), humanities (23), investigative techniques (15), digestive system diseases (13), organic compounds (11), heterocyclic compounds (10), diagnosis (10), biological phenomena, cell phenomena and immunity (10).

·         129 MeSH descriptors replaced with more up-to-date terminology;

·         60 MeSH descriptors deleted;

·         1482 see references (entry terms) were added, of which 340 in MeSH descriptors.

·         the new hierarchical category Science and Health (SH) totaling 218 descriptors and 277 entry terms (cross references); of these totals, 137 descriptors and 56 entry terms are new;

·         the new hierarchical category Health Surveillance (VS) totaling 833 descriptors and 773 entry terms (cross references); of these totals, 271 descriptors and 227 entry terms are new;

·         Beginning of the review of the terminology in Spanish especially of the Organisms (B) category.

Totals by type of terminology




totals by type
of terminology (per language)

totals by type
of terminology
(in 3 languages)

MeSH Descriptors with tree numbers

22860

68580

MeSH Check tags without tree numbers

8

24

MeSH Publication Types

127

381

MeSH subheadings (Qualifiers)

83

249

DeCS subheadings (Qualifiers)

1

3

DeCS Descriptors with tree numbers

4603

13809

Total

27682

83046

Publication Types
Review Literature [Publication Type] and Review, Academic [Publication Type] have been deleted as Publication Types. These concepts are now see Review [Publication Type].

Organisms -- B Category:
The taxonomy of Hominidae, the family comprising bipedal primate mammals, which includes humans, has been updated for 2005. Also, similarly to what occurred in 2004 to the check tag Animal (see DeCS 2004 edition overview and the link below), the check tag Human will be changed to a new descriptor Humans. It will function as both a descriptor and a check tag when human is only a secondary theme in the article and will be indented under HOMINIDAE in the MeSH hierarchy, which, in turn, is indented under Animals. Both the plural and the singular forms may be used for searching literature. The word Human, in the singular, will refer to the new descriptor in the plural.

 

Organisms

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Animals

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chordata

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vertebrates

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mammals

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Primates

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Haplorhini

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cebidae

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cercopithecidae

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hominidae

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gorilla gorilla

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Humans

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pan paniscus

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pan troglodytes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pongo pygmaeus

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hylobatidae

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tarsiidae

 

 

For further information see the article 2005 MeSH Changes to Hominidae and the Check Tag Human; Resulting PubMed and NLM Catalog Change to Search for Animals. NLM Tech Bull. 2004 Nov-Dec;(341):e6.

 

The trees of the following organisms were revised and greatly expanded: Carnivora, Birds, Cyanobacteria, Clostridium, and Porifera. In the cases of Carnivora and Birds, there are now specific headings for many of the genera and species, with their scientific names. There are now headings for 20 species of Clostridium (previously 4) and for 7 specific subtypes of Clostridium botulinum. The sponges (Porifera) now have headings for several of the genera. For more details see What’s New for 2005

 

Chemicals and Drogas -- D category:
The subcategory Macromolecular Substances (D05) was added with 132 descriptors.
For other changes in the D category, see What’s New for 2005 MeSH.

 

Historical Events - Category K
In Category K, descriptors were added or replaced for consistency for information about major historic events and eras:

Eras

Events

History, 15th Century

American Civil War

History, 16th Century

American Revolution

History, 17th Century

Chernobyl Nuclear Accident

History, 18th Century

Crimean War

History, 19th Century

French Revolution

History, 20th Century

Gulf War

History, 21th Century

Korean War

History, Ancient

Russian-Japanese War

History, Early Modern 1451-1600

September 11 Terrorist Attacks

History, Medieval

Spanish-American War, 1898

History, Modern 1601-

Vietnam Conflict

 

World War I

 

World War II

Support Tags
The MeSH Heading check tags reflecting grant support have been changed for 2005. Changes were made because the former name of the descriptor was a less accurate label for the concept. The concept is support of research, not support in a general sense. The changes are as follows:

2004: Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
2005: Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

2004: Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.
2005: Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

2004: Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
2005: Research Support, U.S. Gov't. Non-P.H.S.

 

Source:    Pash J, Schulman J. What's New for 2005 MeSH®. NLM Tech Bull. 2004 Nov-Dec;(341):e8. Available on the World Wide Web: <http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/techbull/nd04/nd04_mesh.html>

DeCS Unit/BIREME/PAHO/WHO