Biomedical subjects

A R Aronson

Publications and source records attributed to A R Aronson.

11 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1996

Finding the findings: identification of findings in medical literature using restricted natural language processing.

The ability to search the biomedical literature based on findings would provide enhanced access to information. We describe a computer program called FINDX which relies on the UMLS Metathesuaurus and restricted natural language processing to identify findings in free text. Such identification can serve as a filtering mechanism while selecting relevant papers. After discussing the salient characteristics of findings on which FINDX depends, we report on the results of an experiment in which we tested the program on a set of MEDLINE abstracts pertaining to the diagnosis of Parkinson Disease.

Humans↗

PubMed1996

The effect of textual variation on concept based information retrieval.

Accounting for textual variation in the documents and queries processed by information retrieval systems is considered essential for achieving good retrieval. Recent research has called into question several of the techniques used to support this endeavor. This paper reports on experiments with a concept based information retrieval system which relies on a program called MetaMap to account for textual variation in the process of mapping biomedical text such as MEDLINE bibliographic citations to the UMLS Metathesaurus. The experiments confirm that the effort expended in handling textual variation is well-spent for at least one type of concept based information retrieval.

Information Storage and Retrieval↗

PubMed1994

Ambiguity resolution while mapping free text to the UMLS Metathesaurus.

We propose a method for resolving ambiguities encountered when mapping free text to the UMLS Metathesaurus. Much of the research in medical informatics involves the manipulation of free text. The Metathesaurus contains extensive information which supports solutions to problems encountered while processing such text. After discussing the process of mapping free text to the Metathesaurus and describing the ambiguities which are often the result of such mapping, we provide examples of rules designed to eliminate mapping ambiguities. These rules refer to the context in which the ambiguity occurs and crucially depend on semantic types obtained from the Metathesaurus. We have conducted a preliminary test of the methodology and the results obtained indicate that the rules successfully resolve ambiguity around 80% of the time.

Abstracting and Indexing↗

PubMed1993

Semantic processing in information retrieval.

Intuition suggests that one way to enhance the information retrieval process would be the use of phrases to characterize the contents of text. A number of researchers, however, have noted that phrases alone do not improve retrieval effectiveness. In this paper we briefly review the use of phrases in information retrieval and then suggest extensions to this paradigm using semantic information. We claim that semantic processing, which can be viewed as expressing relations between the concepts represented by phrases, will in fact enhance retrieval effectiveness. The availability of the UMLS domain model, which we exploit extensively, significantly contributes to the feasibility of this processing.

Information Storage and Retrieval↗

PubMed1993

UMLS knowledge for biomedical language processing.

This paper describes efforts to provide access to the free text in biomedical databases. The focus of the effort is the development of SPECIALIST, an experimental natural language processing system for the biomedical domain. The system includes a broad coverage parser supported by a large lexicon, modules that provide access to the extensive Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) Knowledge Sources, and a retrieval module that permits experiments in information retrieval. The UMLS Metathesaurus and Semantic Network provide a rich source of biomedical concepts and their interrelationships. Investigations have been conducted to determine the type of information required to effect a map between the language of queries and the language of relevant documents. Mappings are never straightforward and often involve multiple inferences.

Humans↗

PubMed1977

Controlled trials of aluminum hydroxide gels for peptic ulcer.

Relief of duodenal ulcer pain by aluminum hydroxide gel (AG) was compared with that obtained by a dummy gel (DG) in randomized trials. In 44 individual pain episodes, complete relief was obtained by 15-ml doses of AG in 79% and by DG in 45% (P less than 0.05). In 48 identical blind trials replicated at another hospital the difference was not significant. The gels were also tested against ulcer pain induced by intragastric acid instillation (Palmer test) in 35 patients; pain was relieved by AG in 63% and by DG in 62%. Presumed effectiveness in terminating ulcer episodes was studied in 65 patients admitted for pain; 37 received milk and cream hourly and 28 did not. All were treated with 15 ml of AG or DG during waking hours. Median time for complete disappearance of spontaneous pain was 3 days for AG and 7 days for DG, the same in both groups. In all patients the acid instillation test was repeated every few days. For the milk and cream group it became negative after 4 days with AG and after 6 days with DG. In 18 patients with gastric ulcer treated for 4 weeks AG led to greater reductions in size than did DG. A number of these trials indicate AG to be more effective than DG, but sampling and other methodological problems limit the certainty of any conclusions.

Aluminum Hydroxide↗

PubMed1973