MeSH RDF Technical Documentation

Descriptors

A Descriptor is a class in MeSH RDF with the name meshv:Descriptor. Also known as Main Headings or MeSH Headings, Descriptors are used to index citations in the NLM MEDLINE database and to describe the subjects for NLM Catalog records. Descriptors are searchable in PubMed and NLM Catalog with the search tag [MH]. Most Descriptors indicate the subject of a resource (including geographic terms). Some indicate publication types (what a resource is rather than what it is about; for example: Randomized Controlled Trial or Letter). For more information about Descriptors, visit the NLM MeSH Record Types page.

[ jump to descriptor properties or descriptor relations ]

Class Information

In MeSH RDF, the subclasses of meshv:Descriptor are:

• meshv:TopicalDescriptor
• meshv:PublicationType
• meshv:CheckTag
• meshv:GeographicalDescriptor

The chart below displays the properties of the meshv:TopicalDescriptor D015242, ‘Ofloxacin’.

RDF Graph Diagram - Descriptor Properties

The following RDF graph diagram shows a fairly typical Topical Descriptor (D015242, Ofloxacin) and its literals. For reference, see Ofloxacin in the MeSH browser. The data elements featured here have literal strings as objects, not identifiers.

SPARQL - Descriptor Properties

The following SPARQL query will produce the predicates and objects of Ofloxacin.

PREFIX mesh: <http://id.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/>
CONSTRUCT { mesh:D015242 ?p ?o . }
FROM <http://id.nlm.nih.gov/mesh>
WHERE {
  mesh:D015242 ?p ?o .
}

meshv:Descriptor - Relations and Properties

This table includes all the sub-classes of the meshv:Descriptor class as either the subject or object of an RDF triple, as well properties of the class.

RDF Graph Diagram - Descriptor Relations

The graph below depicts the relations of Ofloxacin to other classes.

SPARQL - Descriptor Relations

The RDF output shown in the diagram above can be generated with the following SPARQL query.

PREFIX mesh: <http://id.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/>
PREFIX meshv: <http://id.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/vocab#>

construct {
    mesh:D009369 meshv:annotation ?a .
    mesh:D009369 meshv:seeAlso ?sa .
    mesh:D009369 meshv:considerAlso ?ca .
    mesh:D015242 meshv:pharmacologicalAction ?pa .
}
from <http://id.nlm.nih.gov/mesh>
where {
    mesh:D009369 meshv:annotation ?a .
    mesh:D009369 meshv:seeAlso ?sa .
    mesh:D009369 meshv:considerAlso ?ca .
    mesh:D015242 meshv:pharmacologicalAction ?pa .
}