Medical Subject Headings (MeSH), a medical thesaurus created by the National Library of Medicine (NLM), is a useful resource for natural language processing (NLP). In this article, the current status of the Japanese version of Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) is reviewed. Online investigation found that Japanese-English dictionaries, which assign MeSH information to applicable terms, but use them for NLP, were found to be difficult to access, due to license restrictions. Here, we investigate an open-source Japanese-English glossary as an alternative method for assigning MeSH IDs to Japanese terms, to obtain preliminary data for NLP proof-of-concept.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Humans ; Licensure ; Medical Subject Headings ; Methods ; National Library of Medicine (U.S.) ; Natural Language Processing ; Vocabulary, Controlled

OBJECTIVE: Physical or mental imbalance caused by harmful stimuli can induce stress to maintain homeostasis. During chronic stress, the sympathetic nervous system is hyperactivated, causing physical, psychological, and behavioral abnormalities. At present, there is no accepted standard for stress evaluation. This review aimed to survey studies providing a rationale for selecting heart rate variability (HRV) as a psychological stress indicator. METHODS: Term searches in the Web of Science®, National Library of Medicine (PubMed), and Google Scholar databases yielded 37 publications meeting our criteria. The inclusion criteria were involvement of human participants, HRV as an objective psychological stress measure, and measured HRV reactivity. RESULTS: In most studies, HRV variables changed in response to stress induced by various methods. The most frequently reported factor associated with variation in HRV variables was low parasympathetic activity, which is characterized by a decrease in the high-frequency band and an increase in the low-frequency band. Neuroimaging studies suggested that HRV may be linked to cortical regions (e.g., the ventromedial prefrontal cortex) that are involved in stressful situation appraisal. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, the current neurobiological evidence suggests that HRV is impacted by stress and supports its use for the objective assessment of psychological health and stress.
Autonomic Nervous System ; Heart Rate* ; Heart* ; Homeostasis ; Humans ; National Library of Medicine (U.S.) ; Neuroimaging ; Stress, Psychological ; Sympathetic Nervous System

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive brain stimulation method that delivers 1–2 mA of current to the scalp. Several clinical studies have been conducted to confirm the therapeutic effect of major depressive disorder (MDD) patients with tDCS. Some studies have shown tDCS's antidepressant effect, while the others showed conflicting results in antidepressant effects. Our aim of this review is to understand the biological bases of tDCS's antidepressant effect and review the results of studies on tDCS's antidepressant effect. For the review and search process of MDD treatment using tDCS, the US National Library of Medicine search engine PubMed was used. In this review, we discuss the biological mechanism of tDCS's antidepressant effect and the existing published literature including meta-analysis, systematic review, control trial, open studies, and case reports of antidepressant effects and cognitive function improvement in patients with MDD are reviewed. We also discuss the appropriate tDCS protocol for MDD patients, factors predictive of response to tDCS treatment, the disadvantages of tDCS in MDD treatment, and side effects.
Brain ; Cognition ; Depressive Disorder, Major* ; Humans ; Methods ; National Library of Medicine (U.S.) ; Scalp ; Search Engine ; Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation*

OBJECTIVES: The calcemic and parathyroid hormone (PTH) responses to severe burn injury appear to differ between children and adults. In our limited studies children exhibited hypocalcemic hypoparathyroidism consistent with up-regulation of the parathyroid calcium-sensing receptor (CaSR) while adults did not, suggesting a developmental cutoff in cytokine-mediated up-regulation of the CaSR. This difference may be clinically important as published studies indicate that extracellular calcium (Ca) may stimulate the inflammatory response. The aim of this study was to examine the existing literature on burns to see if the differences between pediatric and adult calcemic and PTH responses to burn supported our findings providing stronger evidence to support this developmental difference. METHODS: We reviewed the National Library of Medicine database using the terms burns, PTH and ionized calcium and found 9 articles from 8 different medical centers; one was eliminated due to mixing of adults and children. RESULTS: There were 245 burn patients reported from the literature, 178 pediatric and 67 adults. The data are mostly consistent with our reported findings. Of the 10 pediatric patients with severe burns that we studied, mean ionized Ca concentration was below the lower limit of normal of 1.10 mM. The 67 adult burn patients reported in the literature had a mean blood ionized Ca concentration that was within the adult normal range or was lower than normal but with secondary hyperparathyroidism. Moreover, serum PTH concentrations were uniformly low in the 178 children in the burn literature but normal or mildly elevated in the 67 adults. CONCLUSIONS: These results support the hypothesis that the difference between pediatric and adult victims is consistent with an age-related CaSR response to cytokine stimulation and may be consistent with a lower level of inflammation in children. Ionized Ca and PTH might serve as possible therapeutic targets to lower the inflammatory response in burn victims.
Adult* ; Burns* ; Calcium ; Child* ; Humans ; Hyperparathyroidism, Secondary ; Hypoparathyroidism ; Inflammation ; National Library of Medicine (U.S.) ; Parathyroid Hormone ; Receptors, Calcium-Sensing ; Reference Values ; Up-Regulation

BACKGROUND: We reviewed the biological and mechanical properties of porous hydroxyapatite (HA) compared to other synthetic materials. Computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) was also evaluated to estimate its efficacy with clinical and radiological assessments. METHOD: A systematic search of the electronic literature database of the National Library of Medicine (PubMed-MEDLINE) was performed for articles published in English between January 1985 and September 2013. The inclusion criteria were (1) histological evaluation of the biocompatibility and osteoconductivity of porous HA in vivo and in vitro, (2) evaluation of the mechanical properties of HA in relation to its porosity, (3) comparison of the biological and mechanical properties between several biomaterials, and (4) clinical and radiological evaluation of the precision of CAD/CAM techniques. RESULTS: HA had excellent osteoconductivity and biocompatibility in vitro and in vivo compared to other biomaterials. HA grafts are suitable for milling and finishing, depending on the design. In computed tomography, porous HA is a more resorbable and more osteoconductive material than dense HA; however, its strength decreases exponentially with an increase in porosity. CONCLUSIONS: Mechanical tests showed that HA scaffolds with pore diameters ranging from 400 to 1200 mum had compressive moduli and strength within the range of the human craniofacial trabecular bone. In conclusion, using CAD/CAM techniques for preparing HA scaffolds may increase graft stability and reduce surgical operating time.
Atrophy* ; Biocompatible Materials ; Durapatite* ; Humans ; In Vitro Techniques ; Methods ; National Library of Medicine (U.S.) ; Porosity ; Transplants

OBJECTIVES: Utilizing social network analysis, this study aimed to analyze the main keywords in the literature regarding the health literacy of and the use of online health information by aged persons over 65. METHODS: Medical Subject Heading keywords were extracted from articles on the PubMed database of the National Library of Medicine. For health literacy, 110 articles out of 361 were initially extracted. Seventy-one keywords out of 1,021 were finally selected after removing repeated keywords and applying pruning. Regarding the use of online health information, 19 articles out of 26 were selected. One hundred forty-four keywords were initially extracted. After removing the repeated keywords, 74 keywords were finally selected. RESULTS: Health literacy was found to be strongly connected with 'Health knowledge, attitudes, practices' and 'Patient education as topic.' 'Computer literacy' had strong connections with 'Internet' and 'Attitude towards computers.' 'Computer literacy' was connected to 'Health literacy,' and was studied according to the parameters 'Attitude towards health' and 'Patient education as topic.' The use of online health information was strongly connected with 'Health knowledge, attitudes, practices,' 'Consumer health information,' 'Patient education as topic,' etc. In the network, 'Computer literacy' was connected with 'Health education,' 'Patient satisfaction,' 'Self-efficacy,' 'Attitude to computer,' etc. CONCLUSIONS: Research on older citizens' health literacy and their use of online health information was conducted together with study of computer literacy, patient education, attitude towards health, health education, patient satisfaction, etc. In particular, self-efficacy was noted as an important keyword. Further research should be conducted to identify the effective outcomes of self-efficacy in the area of interest.
Computer Literacy ; Consumer Health Information ; Education ; Health Education ; Health Literacy* ; Humans ; Internet ; Medical Subject Headings ; National Library of Medicine (U.S.) ; Patient Education as Topic ; Patient Satisfaction

OBJECTIVES: Efficient identification of subject experts or expert communities is vital for the growth of any organization. Most of the available expert finding systems are based on self-nomination, which can be biased, and are unable to rank experts. Thus, the objective of this work was to develop a robust and unbiased expert finding system which can quantitatively measure expertise. METHODS: Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) is a controlled vocabulary developed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) for indexing research publications, articles and books. Using the MeSH terms associated with peer-reviewed articles published from India and indexed in PubMed, we developed a Web-based program which can be used to identify subject experts and subjects associated with an expert. RESULTS: We have extensively tested our system to identify experts from India in various subjects. The system provides a ranked list of experts where known experts rank at the top of the list. The system is general; since it uses information available with the PubMed, it can be implemented for any country. CONCLUSIONS: The expert finding system is able to successfully identify subject experts in India. Our system is unique because it allows the quantification of subject expertise, thus enabling the ranking of experts. Our system is based on peer-reviewed information. Use of MeSH terms as subjects has standardized the subject terminology. The system matches requirements of an ideal expert finding system.
Abstracting and Indexing as Topic ; Bias (Epidemiology) ; Data Mining ; Expert Systems ; India ; Medical Subject Headings* ; National Library of Medicine (U.S.) ; Online Systems ; Professional Competence ; Vocabulary, Controlled

For about 20 years, vertebroplasty has been used to achieve relief from pain and improve function in eligible patients affected by vertebral fractures. The procedure is also performed in patients with tumours of the vertebral body. The aim of this study was to investigate, by means of a literature review, correlations between vertebroplasty and the need for rehabilitation after patients with tumour-related vertebral fractures were operated on. This review was based on literature from the US National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health (PubMed), using the following Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms: "vertebroplasty," "surgical procedures minimally invasive," "bone neoplasm," "spine," "postoperative care," "rehabilitation," and "exercise." In total, 14 citations were retrieved: potentially relevant studies were identified by searching titles and abstracts, and then the full text of the selected articles was reviewed. From this review, the postoperative course of vertebroplasty today does not strictly indicate the need for rehabilitation.
Bone Neoplasms ; Humans ; Medical Subject Headings ; National Institutes of Health (U.S.) ; National Library of Medicine (U.S.) ; Postoperative Care ; PubMed ; Spine ; Surgical Procedures, Minimally Invasive ; Vertebroplasty

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to examine the feasibility of social network analysis as a valuable research tool for indicating a change in research topics in health care and medicine. METHODS: Papers used in the analysis were collected from the PubMed database at the National Library of Medicine. After limiting the search to papers affiliated with the National Institutes of Health, 27,125 papers were selected for the analysis. From these papers, the top 100 non-duplicate and most studied Medical Subject Heading terms were extracted. NetMiner V.3 was used for analysis. Weighted degree centrality was applied to the analysis to compare the trends in the change of research topics. Changes in the core keywords were observed for the entire group and in three-year intervals. RESULTS: The core keyword with the highest centrality value was "Risk Factor," followed by "Molecular Sequence Data," "Neoplasms," "Signal Transduction," "Brain," and "Amino Acid Sequence." Core keywords varied between time intervals, changing from "Molecular Sequence Data" to "Risk Factors" over time. "Risk Factors" was added as a new keyword and its social network was expanded. The slope of the keywords also varied over time: "Molecular Sequence Data," with a high centrality value, had a decreasing slope at certain intervals, whereas "SNP," with a low centrality value, had an increasing slope at certain intervals. CONCLUSIONS: The social network analysis method is useful for tracking changes in research topics over time. Further research should be conducted to confirm the usefulness of this method in health care and medicine.
Bibliometrics ; Delivery of Health Care ; Health Care Sector ; Knowledge Bases ; Medical Subject Headings ; National Institutes of Health (U.S.) ; National Library of Medicine (U.S.) ; Periodicals as Topic ; Track and Field

OBJECTIVECochrane reviews have the reputation for being more transparent and rigorous than other reviews. The aim of this overview was to evaluate and summarize Cochrane reviews of acupuncture for the treatment of any type of pain.

METHODSWe searched the Cochrane Database and evaluated the Cochrane reviews that were concerned specifically with the effectiveness of acupuncture for pain. Data were extracted according to pre-defined inclusion criteria by two independent reviewers.

RESULTSEight Cochrane reviews were included. They were all of high methodological quality. They related to a wide range of pain syndromes. Four reviews concluded that acupuncture is effective for migraines, neck disorders, tension-type headaches, and peripheral joint osteoarthritis; one review failed to demonstrate type the effectiveness of acupuncture for rheumatoid arthritis; and three reviews were inconclusive for shoulder pain, lateral elbow pain, and low back pain.

CONCLUSIONSeveral Cochrane reviews of acupuncture for a wide range of pain conditions have recently been published. All of these reviews were of high quality. Their results suggest that acupuncture is effective for some but not all types of pain.