DeCS 2004 – News

The big news for 2004 DeCS is the inclusion of diacritics for all terms in Spanish, and the conclusion of the conversion of the letters to lowercase from the second letter on for most terms and in a differentiated way for special cases such as diacritics, scientific names of organisms, and chemical terms, among others, facilitating comprehension of the concepts there found. details

 

Overview of Vocabulary Development and Changes

 

·         664 MeSH descriptors were added, of which the ten themes with the largest growth were that of bacteria (173), enzymes and coenzymes (117), amino acids, peptides and proteins (67), vertebrates (28), plants (21), organic compounds (18), cells (16), digestive system diseases (14), heterocyclic compounds (14) and growth substances, pigments and vitamins (12).

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

·         20 MeSH descriptors were deleted;

·         3266 synonyms were added, 484 of which from MeSH descriptors and 710 in qualifiers.

·         Review of the Spanish terminology especially for the Anatomy (A), Diseases (C), and Psychiatry and Psychology (F) categories.

 

Case Report
This heading has been deleted and replaced by a Publication Type, a special kind of descriptor that characterizes the nature of the publication rather than what it is about. The practical meaning of the term has not been altered. The change was made to better reflect the character of the descriptor as used in indexing and DeCS and to place it in context among other Publication Types.

 

/toxicity
The definition for the qualifier /toxicity was revised to cover both experimental use and environmental exposure.

Expansion of Trees
The DeCS trees were expanded from nine to eleven levels to allow a more accurate reflection of the hierarchy in elaborated and complex areas.

Organisms – Category B:
Animals:  the expansion of the DeCS/MeSH tree structure has allowed for a long-awaited revision concerning the heading ANIMALS, the check tag ANIMAL, and related headings. The old descriptor ANIMALS will be changed to ANIMAL POPULATION GROUPS. It will retain all indented terms. The check tag ANIMAL will be changed to a new descriptor ANIMALS. It will function as both a descriptor and a check tag and will be treed at B1. The singular word Animal will map to this new plural heading.

The former descriptors B1 INVERTEBRATES and B2 VERTEBRATES will be treed under ANIMALS. The old B5 ALGAE AND FUNGI will be split into two descriptors. ALGAE will be at the top of B2 and FUNGI will now be at the top of B5. See 2004 MeSH Changes to the Category B Organisms Tree and the Check Tag Animal. NLM Tech Bull. 2003 Sep-Oct;(334):e5.

 

 

2003 Tree

B1 Invertebrates

B2 Vertebrates

B3 Bacteria

B4 Virus

B5 Algae and Fungi

B6 Plants

B7 Archaea

2004 Tree

B1 Animals

Animal Population Groups

Cordata

Cordata, Nonvertebrate

Vertebrates

Invertebrates

B2 Algae

B3 Bacteria

B4 Virus

B5 Fungi

B6 Plants

B7 Archaea

 

Bacteria (B3):   This subcategory was greatly expanded. The changes reflect the revisions in taxonomy presented in: Boone DR, Castenholz RW, Garrity GM, editors. Bergey's manual of systematic bacteriology. 2nd ed. Vol. 1, The Archaea and the deeply branching and phototropic bacteria. New York: Springer; c2001

 

Compostos Químicos e Drogascategoria D:
 Complex Mixtures (D20) is a new subtree.
It contains descriptors for heterogeneous materials such as Manure, Soil, and Venoms. The first tree number of the term Anti-Infective Agents (formerly D20 and D27.505.102) was deleted.

The DeCS/MeSH heading, Antibiotics, has a new preferred heading, Anti-Bacterial Agents. Antibiotics remains an entry term (also called “see cross reference”). The heading was renamed because the
formal meaning of antibiotics is something produced by a living organism that is used to kill other organisms. According to this formal meaning, sulfa drugs, quinolones, and other agents commonly used in this way are not antibiotics. Additionally, semi-synthetic antibiotics that alter what is produced naturally do not fit this description. Anti-Bacterial Agents more aptly describe these substances.

For other revisions made in category D, see
What’s New for 2004 MeSH.

 

Ethnic Groups and Geographic Origins—Categories I and M:
The DeCS/MeSH descriptor Racial Stocks, and its four children (Australoid Race, Caucasoid Race, Mongoloid Race, and Negroid Race) have been deleted in 2004 along with Blacks and Whites. Race and ethnicity have been used as categories in biomedical research and clinical medicine. Recent genetic research indicates that the degree of genetic heterogeneity within groups and homogeneity across groups make race per se a less compelling predictor.

2004 Subtrees

Persons

M1

Population Groups

M1.686

Continental Population Groups

M1.686.508

African Continental Ancestry Group

M1.686.508.100

African Americans

M1.686.508.100.100

American Native Continental Ancestry Group

M1.686.508.150

Indians, Central American

M1.686.508.150.575

Indians, North American

M1.686.508.150.600

Indians, South American

M1.686.508.150.625

Inuits

M1.686.508.150.675

Asian Continental Ancestry Group

M1.686.508.200

Asian Americans

M1.686.508.200.100

European Continental Ancestry Group

M1.686.508.400

Oceanic Ancestry Group

M1.686.508.600

Ethnic Groups

M1.686.754

African Americans

M1.686.754.100

Arabs

M1.686.754.167

Gypsies

M1.686.754.283

Hispanic Americans

M1.686.754.441

Mexican Americans

M1.686.754.441.500

Inuits

M1.686.754.520

Jews

M1.686.754.600

2003 Subtrees

Persons

M1 

Ethnic Groups

M1.194

Aborigines

M1.194.025

Arabs

M1.194.037

Asian Americans

M1.194.050

Blacks

M1.194.100

Eskimos

M1.194.247

Gypsies

M1.194.265

Hispanic Americans

M1.194.285

Mexican Americans

M1.194.285.500

Indians, Central American

M1.194.370

Indians, North American

M1.194.403

Indians, South American

M1.194.486

Jews

M1.194.582

Whites

M1.194.980

 

From:    Schulman, J. What's New for 2004 MeSH®. NLM Tech Bull. 2003 Nov-Dec;(335):e3. Disponível na World Wide Web: <http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/techbull/nd03/nd03_mesh.html>

DeCS Unit/BIREME/PAHO/WHO