A Runway Look at the 2010 MeSH

The sleek new 2010 MeSH line is here with new trees and vocabulary changes to keep the librarian database fashionistas busy. 

According to NLM, “In biomedicine and related areas, new concepts are constantly emerging, old concepts are in a state of flux and terminology and usage are modified accordingly. To accommodate these changes, descriptors must be added to, changed or deleted from MeSH with adjustments in the related hierarchies, the Tree Structures.”  To me, NLM  sounds a lot like Heidi Klum on Project Runway, “In fashion, one day you’re in, the next day you’re out.”

So let’s start the show.

What’s In:
Not content with just attending the show through keyword searching, 422 new descriptorsgrace the runway as full fledge MeSH terms.  Welcome Biofuels, Beekeeping, Blogging, Masculinity, Off-label use, and Vital Signs, Karl Lagerfeld NLM has deemed to you worthy to include in the collection.

The hem line of the MeSH world, changed descriptors, strut their stuff with the ever moody term Cyclones evolving to Cyclonic Storms and the stunningly popular Mass Immunization becoming Mass Vaccination.

What’s Out:
Liked crimped hair, neon colors, and bad prom dresses, these deleted descriptors have seen better days and are asked to leave the runway.  Goodbye Fungal Components (2002 MeSH born on date) your time has ended, now you are replaced with the younger model, Fungal Structures (2010 MeSH born on date). The many different styles of Eumycetozea, Mastigophora, Phytomastigophorea, Protozoa, Sarcodina, Sarcomastigophora, and Zoomastogophora are gone and replaced with the singular style, Eukaryota.  Following the same trend the specific term Specialties, Medical has been bumped by the broader more wearable term Medicine.

The 2010 MeSH collection is not yet available to the masses, I do not have a date as to when it will hit the shelves and go live.  But we should take this time and go through our closets of saved searches and take note of which strategies contain outdated terms and which could be better enhanced with the new terms.  That way when the time comes for us to update them and refresh them we can easily like Heidi say “Hallo” to the new and “Auf Wiedersehen” to the out.

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