IF YOU SAVE SEARCHES IN OVID OR PUBMED,
including AutoAlert/email updates and Cubby searches
READ THIS!

NLM is using its new 2004 Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) to index journal articles. If you have saved searches of any kind including update searches stored to run automatically on Ovid, you may need to revise the terms you use. Each year some terms are deleted, some are changed to a new wording, and some brand new ones are added. You should especially be concerned if you notice a change in your usual number of retrieved citations.

You should go into the MEDLINE database and try a search on your topic. In Ovid, with the mapping feature turned on (default setting) you can see if your entry terms map to new descriptors. However, the new descriptor will not appear as an option until there are citations indexed with it. It is better to use the ptx command** to look for a word in a heading.

In PubMed, click on MeSH Database on the sidebar. On the next screen you can enter your term and it will map to the closest descriptor/MeSH. It will also show other possibilities.

If you would like help with any of this, please call the Reference Desk (686-6734) or email LibraryReferenceDesk@uams.edu and ask for a search librarian. We also offer classes in both Ovid and PubMed searching.

Here are some examples of changes :

These involve deleted descriptors
--Green Sulfur Bacteria (old) >>> Chlorobi (new). The descriptor Green Sulfur Bacteria is no longer being used. Old citations are now indexed with Chlorobi.
--Diuretics, Mercurial (old) >>> Organomercury Compounds (new)
--Rickettsiales (old) >>> Alphaproteobacteria (new)

A few brand new Headings:
--Cervicoplasty (neck)
--Chromosome Positioning
--Continuous Positive Airway Pressure
--DNA Packaging
--Irritable Bowel Syndrome (previously had to use Colonic Diseases, Functional or textwords)
--Persistent Hyperinsulinemia Hypoglycemia of Infancy
--Reticulocytosis (previously indexed under Reticulocyte Count which still exists as a descriptor)
>> Bradykinin Receptors are now split into B1 and B2 headings Note: many of the Receptor headings have been made more specific

** The ptx command. will search MeSH for any occurrence of one word as part of a heading/descriptor. On the entry line of MEDLINE or CINAHL's main search screen, put ptx before the word you want to find. You can only enter one word. It will not look for myocardial infarction, but you can look for infarction or myocardial or myocardium.

Rena Sheffer
Reference Librarian