| Medical Subject
Headings (MeSH) are very helpful when searching for
medical concepts and comprehending their relationships.
MeSH is a thesaurus of biomedical terms
developed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to index
materials in the MEDLINE
database. Its controlled vocabulary increases the likelihood
of accurate retrieval of information.
The hierarchical trees (parent/child relationships) in MeSH
group specific terms under more general headings. Selecting
broad and narrow terms from a tree or reversing the order
of terms can help you search more efficiently.
How to use:
Go to PubMedMeSH
Browser
 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/meshbrowser.cgi
- Type the term temporal arteritis into the "Search
for" text box.
- When the definition appears, click on [Detailed display]
next to the term. Scroll down to see
- Subheadings allowed with this term.
- See Also: [link to] polymyalgia rheumatica.
- The location of temporal arteritis in a number of
disease trees.
- The hierarchical displays give you a much better idea
of the complexity of this disease and some additional ideas
for search strategies to retrieve information on it.
Click Help
in the blue navigation bar for:
- Specific information on the MeSH vocabulary,
- Use of the MeSH browser, and
- Navigating the trees.
How to use:
The National Library of Medicine (NLM) also provides a
MeSH Browser.
- Type the term alternative medicine into the box
and press [Enter].
- Notice the different types of information. The NLM browser
includes such details as
- Allowable Qualifiers (if you click on the abbreviations,
a full description of the subheading and its use will
appear).
- Entry Terms.
- MeSH tree number.
- Annotation (can be very interesting).
- The Scope Note defines the term, while Online and
History Notes indicate how this concept has evolved
since 1983 and how it should be searched in MEDLINE
backfiles.
- Scroll down to see the MeSH Tree Structures for your search
term.
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