The Representation of Meaning in the UMLS

A. T. McCray; S. J. Nelson

doi:10.1055/s-0038-1634592

Methods of Information in Medicine, Table of Contents

Methods Inf Med 1995; 34(01/02): 193-201
DOI: 10.1055/s-0038-1634592

Original article

Schattauer GmbH

The Representation of Meaning in the UMLS

A. T. McCray

¹National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MD

,

S. J. Nelson

²Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, GA, USA

› Author Affiliations

Abstract

Abstract:

The UMLS knowledge sources provide detailed information about biomedical naming systems and databases. The Metathesaurus contains biomedical terminology from an increasing number of biomedical thesauri, and the Semantic Network provides a structure that encompasses and unifies the thesauri that are included in the Metathesaurus. This paper addresses some fundamental principles underlying the design and development of the Metathesaurus and Semantic Network. It begins with a description of the formal properties of thesauri, including the Metathesaurus, and the formal properties of the Semantic Network. It continues with consideration of the principle of semantic locality and how this is reflected in the UMLS knowledge sources. The paper concludes with a discussion of the issues involved in attempting to re-use knowledge and the potential for re-use of the UMLS knowledge sources.

Keywords:

UMLS - Knowledge Representation

Full Text

References

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