Support : Publications : Chronolog Archives : Issue 3, 2005

MEDLINE^® Reload Completed on Dialog and Dialog DataStar

The reload of MEDLINE (Files 154/155; MEDL/MEZZ) on Dialog and Dialog DataStar was completed in February. MEDLINE is reloaded every year because the National Library of Medicine (NLM) re-indexes relevant documents from the whole database with changed medical terms.

Generally, the NLM does not retrospectively index MEDLINE citations with new MeSH® headings. Therefore, searching for a new MeSH term effectively limits retrieval to citations indexed after the term was introduced. However, changed or deleted terms are usually applied to the whole database during the NLM's end-of-year processing. For example, "Acanthoma" is a new MeSH heading introduced in 2005. If you search it as a descriptor, you will only retrieve documents from 2005 onwards; earlier documents on this subject were indexed with the term "Skin Neoplasms" and have not been changed. On the other hand, the MeSH term "Myocardial Diseases" in MEDLINE citations indexed from 1966­2004 has been changed to "Cardiomyopathies" in 2005.

Major changes are described here in the online Chronolog; however, we strongly urge you to read the National Library of Medicine's comprehensive articles: "What's New for 2005 MeSH" and "Medline Data Changes ­ 2005," both at the NLM's Web site.

Following is a summary of the major changes; however, we strongly advise you to read the National Library of Medicine's comprehensive articles: "What's New for 2005 MeSH" and "Medline Data Changes — 2005," both at the NLM's Web site. The page that specifically refers to the MeSH 2005 changes is located here.

Summary of MeSH Changes

• 87 descriptors were added representing topics with no directly corresponding descriptors in 2004 MeSH
  
  
• 129 descriptors were replaced with more up-to-date terminology
  
  
• 60 descriptors were deleted
  
  
• 340 "see references" were added
  
  
• Publication types "Review, Literature" and "Review, Academic" have been replaced by "Review"
  
  
• The HUMAN check tag has been replaced by a new descriptor HUMANS. The taxonomy of Hominidae has been updated for 2005.
  
  
• Carnivora, Birds, Cyanobacteria, Clostridium, and Poriferae — the trees of these organisms were revised and greatly expanded.
  
  
• Kinases — descriptors for the three major subclasses of kinases have been created.
  
  
• Macromolecular Substances were renamed from Macromolecular Systems. These are now in Tree D5, which includes the major subcategory Polymers and a new heading for Multiprotein Complexes.
  
  
• Protein indexing — large numbers of supplemental concept records that represent individual, organism-specific proteins are new in 2005 MeSH.
  
  
• Historical Events — descriptors were added or replaced for consistency for information about major historic events and eras.
  
  
• Support tags — the MeSH Headings reflecting grant support have been changed for 2005.
  
  
• Entry combination revisions — 17 MeSH heading/subheading combinations (such as Labor-Pain/prevention & control) have been retrospectively replaced with a single MeSH heading (in this case, Analgesia-Obstetrical).
  
  
• KIE documents — MeSH terms HUMANS and ANIMALS have now been added to documents supplied by the Kennedy Institute of Ethics.
  
  

Other Changes to MEDLINE for 2005

• Titles of Cyrillic-language articles are no longer transliterated into the Roman alphabet (though an English translation will continue to be provided).
  
  
• Document status — documents previously indicated as "Completed" will now be shown as "Medline."
  
  
• Corrected author names — correction and wrong spelling are now available.
  
  
• Publishing model — the NLM now supplies the publishing model of the journal cited in the source paragraph. There are four types: Print, Electronic, Print-Electronic (where print is available before or is more important than the electronic version), and Electronic-Print (where the electronic version is available ahead of the print version).
  
  

Refer to the Dialog Bluesheet and Dialog DataStar's Database of Databases, BASE (search for BASE-MEDL) for a complete user guide to MEDLINE.

Please do not hesitate to contact the Knowledge Center nearest you if you have any questions about the MEDLINE reload.

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