TY - JOUR
T1 - Searching PubMed for molecular epidemiology studies: the case of chromosome aberrations
AU - Ugolini, Donatella
AU - Neri, Monica
AU - Knudsen, Lisbeth E
AU - Bonassi, Stefano
AU - Merlo, Domenico Franco
N1 - Keywords: Abstracting and Indexing as Topic; Biological Markers; Child; Chromosome Aberrations; DNA Damage; Environmental Exposure; Environmental Pollutants; Humans; Medical Subject Headings; Molecular Epidemiology; National Library of Medicine (U.S.); PubMed; United States
PY - 2006
Y1 - 2006
N2 - The available tools for searching literature in the field of Molecular Epidemiology are largely unsatisfactory. To identify major problems in retrieving information on this discipline, we comment here on the results of a literature search on cytogenetic biomarkers in children exposed to environmental pollutants. The search, done on the PubMed/MedLine database, was based on a strategy combining descriptors listed in the PubMed Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) Thesaurus and other available tools (free text or phrase search tools). 178 articles were retrieved by searching the period from January 1, 1980 to November 30, 2004. Only 2 of the 178 articles were indexed by the MeSH term "Epidemiology, molecular" (introduced in 1994) and 30 of 178 by the MeSH term "Biological markers" (introduced in 1989). The case of chromosome aberration (CA) was emblematic of the problem: 44 of 78 articles (56.4%) were not pertinent to the search. The reasons for this poor performance are reported and discussed. Authors and indexers may be able to improve the efficiency of article retrieval in the field of molecular epidemiology by using relevant terms in the title and abstract. This may suggest appropriate MeSH terms to the indexers for the indexing process. As regards the difficulty in identifying population studies using CA, the introduction of a specific MeSH term for chromosome aberrations when used as a biomarker would improve the search process.
AB - The available tools for searching literature in the field of Molecular Epidemiology are largely unsatisfactory. To identify major problems in retrieving information on this discipline, we comment here on the results of a literature search on cytogenetic biomarkers in children exposed to environmental pollutants. The search, done on the PubMed/MedLine database, was based on a strategy combining descriptors listed in the PubMed Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) Thesaurus and other available tools (free text or phrase search tools). 178 articles were retrieved by searching the period from January 1, 1980 to November 30, 2004. Only 2 of the 178 articles were indexed by the MeSH term "Epidemiology, molecular" (introduced in 1994) and 30 of 178 by the MeSH term "Biological markers" (introduced in 1989). The case of chromosome aberration (CA) was emblematic of the problem: 44 of 78 articles (56.4%) were not pertinent to the search. The reasons for this poor performance are reported and discussed. Authors and indexers may be able to improve the efficiency of article retrieval in the field of molecular epidemiology by using relevant terms in the title and abstract. This may suggest appropriate MeSH terms to the indexers for the indexing process. As regards the difficulty in identifying population studies using CA, the introduction of a specific MeSH term for chromosome aberrations when used as a biomarker would improve the search process.
U2 - 10.1002/em.20198
DO - 10.1002/em.20198
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 16416429
SN - 0893-6692
VL - 47
SP - 227
EP - 229
JO - Environmental and Molecular Mutagenesis
JF - Environmental and Molecular Mutagenesis
IS - 4
ER -