What’s new in 2016 DeCS

This article highlights the additions and changes in the DeCS vocabulary in 2016.

Totals by type of terminology

English MeSH
2015
2016
variação

Descritores

27,455
27,883
428
1.56%

Sinônimos

25,667

25,585

-82
-0.32%

Descritores + Sinônimos

53,122
53,468
346
1.24%

trilingual DeCS
2015
2016
variation
Descriptors (per language)
32,071
32,482
411*
1.28%
Synonyms (per language, average)
39,835

40,590

755
1.89%
Descriptors (eng + spa + por)
96,213
97,446
1,233
1.28%
Synonyms (eng + spa + por)
119,505
121,769
2,264
1.89%
Descriptors + Synonyms (eng + spa+ por)
215,718
219,215
3,497
1.62%
eng=English; spa=Spanish; por=Portuguese
*The DeCS descriptor variation is smaller than that of MeSH because some of its new descriptors already existed in DeCS.

Overview of vocabulary development and changes

  • 59 DeCS descriptors had their Spanish version updated
  • 69 DeCS descriptors had their Portuguese version updated
  • 9 MeSH descriptors and 7 DeCS descriptors were eliminated
  • 1 MeSH qualifier had been eliminated: /diagnostic use, whose concept was included in /diagostic's concept

  • 1 MeSH synonym was added in an existing concept, and translated to Spanish and Portuguese;
  • 1.437 DeCS synonyms were added (of which 0 in English, 750 in Spanish, and 687 in Portuguese) in existing concepts; read more below about the Harmonization of the Health Thesaurus of the Brazilian Health Ministry and DeCS;
  • 443 definitions and 25 indexing annotations for the new MeSH concepts were translated to Spanish and Portuguese;
  • 399 definitions and 817 indexing annotations had their texts updated in English, Spanish and Portuguese.


The ten subcategories receiving the greatest number of new descriptors:

Subcat Subcategory name Number of descriptors
D12
Amino Acids, Peptides, and Proteins
128
D03
Heterocyclic Compounds
102
D02
Organic Compounds
98
G07
Physiological Phenomena
29
E05
Investigative Techniques
25
I01
Social Sciences
25
B01
Eukaryota
23
F01
Behavior and Behavior Mechanisms
22
E02
Therapeutics
21
N02
Health Care Facilities, Manpower, and Services
20


New Descriptors by Tree Category

DeCS/MeSH Tree Category Number of descriptors
A – Anatomy
75
B – Organisms
37
C – Diseases
51
D – Chemicals and Drugs
209
E – Analytical, Diagnostic and Therapeutic Techniques and Equipment
75
F – Psychiatry and Psychology
60
G – Phenomena and Processes
94
H – Disciplines and Occupations
15
HP – Homeopathy
1
I – Anthropology, Education, Sociology and Social Phenomena
33
J – Technology, Industry, Agriculture
31
K – Humanities
5
L – Information Science
24
M – Named Groups
19
N – Health Care
71
SH – Science and Health
1
SP – Public Health
4
V – Publication Characteristics
7
VS – Health Surveillance
1
Z – Geographicals
3
The total is greater than the number of new descriptors because some of them
occur in more than one category.

he DeCS 2016 edition is available for online searching through the DeCS Search or directly from the VHL Search Portal.


Helpful Links

Please consult the DeCS 2016 edition or the online Introduction to 2016 MeSH for more details. A complete list of new and changed vocabulary is available at these links:

Vocabulary changes

New descriptors

Replaced descriptors

Deleted descriptors

MeSH tree number changes

MeSH and DeCS tree number changes

2016 MeSH highlights

  • MeSH is available in RDF Linked Data format.

  • 2016 MeSH is available for download in XML, ASCII, and MeSH/MARC formats.

  • MeSH on Demand is a new tool that can automatically identify relevant MeSH terms from text such as an abstract or grant summary.

Projects Completed for 2016

In addition to responding to user requests for changes and additions several projects were completed that will improve MeSH vocabulary structure and content.

MeSH qualifier (subheading) deletion: In order to improve indexing consistency and efficiency and to make MEDLINE searching easier and more straightforward, the subheading /diagnostic use was deleted from MeSH.

To cover the concept of /diagnostic use related to diseases, search:

  • diseases with the subheading /diagnosis (or specific subheading treed under it)
  • the specific diagnostic technique
  • specific chemical(s) or physical agent(s) with no subheadings

To cover the concept of /diagnostic use related to clinical/physiological conditions, search:

  • organ or process terms with appropriate subheadings
  • the specific diagnostic technique
  • specific chemical(s) or physical agent(s) with no subheadings

To cover the general concept of the /diagnostic use of substances, search:

  • the MeSH Heading "Diagnostic Uses of Chemicals"

MeSH tree revision: In the past, MeSH headings were more loosely organized into a tree hierarchy. A heading could appear in multiple tree locations depending upon the importance and specificity. In some cases the heading would appear two or more times in the same tree at higher and lower levels. This arrangement led to some headings appearing as a sibling (uncle) next to the parent heading that they were also treed under. In other cases a heading was included at a top level so it could be seen more readily in printed material. These headings were reviewed in MeSH and either the Uncle or Nephew was removed depending upon the judgement of the Internal and External reviewers. There were over 1,000 tree changes resulting from this work, many of which will affect search retrieval in data bases indexed with MeSH/DeCS, so please make it a habit to, once a year, review search strategies that include tree numbers.

People and professions: The M01 tree in MeSH/DeCS is devoted to persons as individuals or members of a group, while the H tree contains the Disciplines and Occupations (professions). Although this premise held true for most cases, there were exceptions where people were listed as an entry term under their profession. In addition the qualifier "/manpower" was used with a profession to indicate the person when a heading for them was not available. This was an inconsistency that required too much effort on the part of searchers to determine where to look and what to do. The trees were simplified by moving all people from the professions tree and new headings were created for them in the Persons tree.

Plants and food categories revision: The J02 tree in MeSH/DeCS includes food items, while the B tree contains plants and animals. For many years the fact that some plants and animals are also treed under food has been source of confusion for searchers. Many requests were received to add and subtract specific plants from food that were based upon conflicting sources of information. In addition, the range of exotic plants being eaten has expanded over the years. To respond to these problems major changes were made to the organization of nutritional phenomena for the 2016 edition.

Nutritionally-related descriptors were brought together under the descriptor "Diet, Food, and Nutrition" that was created in the G07 tree. The descriptors "Diet" and "Nutritional Physiological Phenomena", along with their child descriptors, were moved there. In addition a second tree location for "Food and Beverages" and its child descriptors were added there. Specific plant and chemical headings were removed from underneath "Food and Beverages" because many of the citations indexed with them were not about food or nutritional topics. As a result, searching "Food and Beverages" or "Diet, Food, and Nutrition" now gives a more focused retrieval of citations that are nutritionally related. Articles that discuss a specific plant or chemical in the context of food can still be found through use of coordination of topics rather than using tree inheritance.

For example, a search for "diet, food, and nutrition" and "spinach" to find specific citations about the nutritional value of spinach can be done as follows:

In the VHL Search Portal, whose bibliographic search system does not explode the hierarchical codes descriptors by default, the search is performed through the hierarchical code of the descriptor "Food, Diet and Nutrition" followed by the sign $, because this descriptor is generic and only used for searching:

mh:G07.203$ AND spinach (all documents)
mj:G07.203$ AND spinach (documents with main or primary subjects)

In Pubmed, using the descriptor itself:

"diet, food, and nutrition"[mh] AND spinach (all documents)
"diet, food, and nutrition"[mj] AND spinach (documents with subjects being main or primary)

Modifications of the three headings below relate to the solution of the MeSH-DeCS conceptual duplication or the hierarchical code modifications categories exclusively DeCS. For more detailed changes in hierarchical codes see hierarchical codes changes MeSH codes and hierarchical changes DeCS and MeSH.

1. Terms exclusively DeCS 2015 which became part of MeSH concepts in its 2016 version (first view type of two vocabularies harmonization):

Several concepts and terms that were exclusively DeCS entered the 2016 version of MeSH. For example, see the new hierarchical branch in category G descriptor "Saline Waters", embodied by MeSH.

PHENOMENA AND PROCESSES [G]
   Biological Phenomena [G16]
      Ecological and Environmental Phenomena [G16.500]
         Environment [G16.500.275]
            Ecosystem [G16.500.275.157]
               Saline Waters [G16.500.275.725]

PUBLIC HEALTH [SP]
   Environmental Health[SP4]
      Water Resources [SP4.016]
         Water [SP4.016.132]
            Saline Waters [SP4.016.132.538]

PUBLIC HEALTH [SP]
   Environmental Health[SP4]
      Water Resources [SP4.016]
         Water Characteristics[SP4.016.152]
            Water Chemical Characteristics [SP4.016.152.678]
               Saline Waters [SP4.016.152.678.129]

This example in the DeCS Search System.

 
2015
2016
STATUS
CATEGORIES
STATUS
DESCRIPTOR
CATEGORIES
Adolescent Health descriptor SP descriptor Adolescent Health N and SP
Ambulatory Health Services descriptor SP entry term in Ambulatory Care E, N, SP and VS
Armed Conflicts descriptor SP descriptor Armed Conflicts I and SP
Bactericides descriptor SP and VS entry term in Anti-Bacterial Agents D, SP and VS
Breast Cancer Prevention descriptor SP deleted (coordinate with qualif /prevention & control) Breast Neoplasms C
Bylaws (Health Law) descriptor SP entry term in Constitution and Bylaws N and SP
Cartography descriptor SP entry term in Geographic Mapping E, N and SP
Cervix Neoplasms Prevention descriptor SP deleted (coordinate with qualif /prevention & control) Uterine Cervical Neoplasms C
Child Health DeCS descriptor (inn MeSH was entry term in Child Welfare) SP descriptor Child Health N and SP
Communicable Disease Prevention descriptor SP entry term in Communicable Disease Control N and SP
Constitution descriptor SP entry term in Constitution and Bylaws N and SP
Dietetic Sweeteners descriptor VS entry term in Sweetening Agents D, G, J and VS
Environmental Contamination Control descriptor SP entry term in Environmental Monitoring N, SP and VS
Equity in Health descriptor SP entry term in Health Equity N and SP
Fruit Juices entry term in Juices Juices VS entry term in Fruit and Vegetable Juices G, J and VS
Vegetable Juices entry term in Juices VS entry term in Fruit and Vegetable Juices G, J and VS
Hospitals, Day descriptor SP entry term in Day Care, Medical E, N, SP and VS
Industrial Development entry term in Industrialization (Environmental Health) SP descriptor Industrial Development I, J and SP
Internacional Law descriptor SP descriptor International Law I, N e SP
Natural Resources (Environmental Health) descriptor SP entry term in Natural Resources G, J, N and SP
Population Projections descriptor SP entry term in Population Forecast I, N and SP
Polishes (Health Surveillance) descriptor VS entry term in Industrial Oils J and VS
Radiation Exposure descriptor SP and VS descriptor Radiation Exposure G, N, SP and VS
Saline Waters descriptor SP descriptor Saline Waters G e SP
Maternal-Child Health Services descriptor SP descriptor Maternal-Child Health Services N e SP
Waterborne Diseases descriptor SP descriptor Waterborne Diseases C e SP

2. Terms exclusively MeSH that became MeSH/DeCS in version 2016 (second view type of two vocabularies harmonization):

2015
2016
STATUS
CATEGORIES
STATUS
DESCRIPTOR
CATEGORIES
Child Health DeCS descriptor (in MeSH was entry term in Child Welfare) SP descriptor Child Health N and SP
Day Care descriptor E and N entry term in Day Care, Medical E, N, SP and VS
Infant Health entry term in Infant Welfare I descriptor Infant Health N and SP
Maternal Health entry term in Maternal Welfare I descriptor Maternal Health N and SP
Natural Resources entry term in Conservation of Natural Resources J and N descriptor Natural Resources G, J, N and SP

3. New MeSH 2016 descriptors which [became MeSH/DeCS, when they received] [or included] hierarchic codes from exclusively DeCS categories in version 2016 (third view type of two vocabularies harmonization):

New MeSH 2016 descritor Categories in 2016
Adolescent Health
N e SP
Armed Conflicts
I e SP
Child Health
N e SP
Fruit and Vegetable Juices G, J e VS
Health Equity
N e SP
Industrial Development I, J e SP
Infant Health
N e SP
International Law
I, N e SP
Maternal Health
N e SP
Maternal-Child Health Services N e SP
Natural Resources
G, J, N e SP
Population Forecast
I, N e SP
Radiation Exposure
G, N, SP e VS
Saline Waters
G e SP
Waterborne Diseases
C e SP

Other pertinent articles:

MEDLINE/PubMed Year-End Processing Activities

2015 MeSH Headings Available in the MeSH Browser

2016 MeSH Available for Download

Cataloging News 2016

MEDLINE Data Changes — 2016

What's New for 2016 MeSH

Newly Maintained MEDLINE for 2016 MeSH Now Available in PubMed

Source: Schulman JL. What's New for 2016 MeSH®. NLM Tech Bull. 2015 Nov-Dec;(407):e9.
Available on Internet: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/techbull/nd15/nd15_mesh.html

Adaptation by: Health Terminologies and Classifications Section at BIREME/PAHO/WHO

Date of update: June, 2016