29 April 2013: New Emtree release includes over 1,000 more medical devices

The second release of Emtree in 2013 became available on 26 April, with a focus on the addition of a further 1,153 general and medical device terms in all categories, bringing the total of device terms to more than 3,000. All medical devices are classified in a readily accessible structure with 27 classes ranging from anesthetic, cardiovascular and diagnostic equipment through to orthopedic and surgical equipment. Indexing using the terminology in this “May” release will begin as from 1 May.  

As with previous releases all new Emtree terms, including new drugs and diseases introduced since December 2012, have been backposted to bring the indexing of older records into line with the new terminology (many new terms having previously been indexed in Embase as candidate terms). You can access a list of all 1,686 new terms here:  

Download the full list of terms added to Emtree in May 2013

 

Jan 292013: NEW ALERTING CENTRE IN EMBASE!

We are thrilled to announce the launch of the brand new Email Alerting Centre on Embase which will deliver exciting features and functionalities.

Implementation

During the release, the system will NOT be offline, and you’ll be able to use Embase.

What are the improvements and new features?
   

• New interface for the email alert page that will now feature the latest hit count & last sent time
• New email alert templates which are smaller in size and easier to read
• Export alerts option to allow you to export an overview of all email alerts
• Email alert audit trail as a 'log' of all activities concerning one particular alert (automatic runs, hit counts, edits, manual runs etc.) that can be exported
• Send now option so that you can manually override the alert frequency at any given date and time and get a relevant result set immediately
• Ability to add comments; users can add custom comments to the alerts
• Last content load message; displaying last date and time the database was updated

You can also contact us with any questions or recommendations.

We also invite you to check the Elsevier Embase YouTube channel.

 

Dec 19 2012: New terms and further improvements in medical device terminology

As from Tuesday 18 December 2012, the first release of Emtree 2013 is available for use.

With 1,057 new terms, including 161 drugs and 513 additional device terms, Emtree now has a total of 64,594 preferred terms, including over 30,000 drugs and 2,000 device terms. As usual, all older records are backposted to bring their indexing into line with the current version of Emtree. For an overview of all new and changed terms, please download the list of terms from the Indexing / Emtree page, where you can also find overviews of all Emtree terms added and changed since January 2011.

You can also access the list directly here:

Download the full list of terms added to Emtree in January 2013

Searching Embase with the newest Emtree terms typically retrieves some older records in addition to more recent records. This is because older records may have been indexed with these terms when they were prospective or “candidate” terms.

If you search Emtree using explosion searches, we suggest that you take a moment to check the structure of the part of Emtree you are using, especially for drugs, diseases and devices, to ensure that your search is optimized to your needs.

 

Sep 24 2012: New terms and improvements in medical device terminology

The third and final Emtree release this year, with 1,305 new terms, including 220 drugs and 430 medical device terms was released on Friday, 05th October. Highlights include a greater focus on Medical Devices and this branch in Emtree now has over 1,000 terms. We have also taken the opportunity to adapt the structure of this branch and bring it into line with current approaches used for medical device classification. See below for more information.

Improved terminology

Overall, Emtree has grown by 1,049 terms (this being the net growth; some new terms replace existing terms) to a total of 63,569 terms.

With this third update of Emtree in 2012 our emphasis is on staying up to date with the growth in biomedical terminology, especially for drugs, diseases and medical devices, and on ensuring that with each release older records are backposted to bring their indexing into line with the current version of Emtree.

Searching Embase with the newest Emtree terms typically retrieves some older records in addition to more recent records. This is because new terms are often already indexed in these older records as prospective or “candidate” terms.

For an overview of all new and changed terms, please download the list of terms provided on the Indexing/Emtree information page. This page also provides overviews of all terms added since January 2011.

Changes in the Devices branch of Emtree, and how these changes affect you

Because the number of terms listed in the Devices branch of Emtree has more than doubled (including some terms previously accessible only via other Emtree facets), we have reviewed the structure of this branch and have added new nodes (“explosion terms”) to ensure that all medical devices are classified in such a way as to maximize their retrievability.

Overall, an explosion search of devices now yields 5% more results than before (2.54 million records = 10% of Embase), just over half of which are designated as medical devices. Medical devices are now classified into categories corresponding to the main device classes (e.g. including a new class for respiratory equipment), which may in some cases lead to different (usually increased) results for explosion searches.

We recommend that if you are searching for information on devices you take a few minutes to re-familiarize yourself with the structure of this part of Emtree, and to optimize your search strategy accordingly.

 

Jun 11 2012: New features and improvements

Customize your export fields

Export all fields or make a customized selection when you use CSV and plain text export formats.
 

Editing your existing email alert query from the alert page

In addition to editing your email alert details, you may now edit your email alert search query directly on the email alert page, saving you time by not having to re-run your search in order to edit it.
 

Email your search queries from session results

Your session result search queries may now be emailed to colleagues as HTML, txt or CSV.
 

New version of Emtree

Emtree has been enhanced by the addition of 870 new terms, including over 150 drugs and 400 organism names, together with a reorganization of the Organisms facet to bring it into line with current insights in organism phylogeny.

 

Feb 23 2013: Improvements on the coverage of drug terminology in Emtree.

The next Embase release will be on Tuesday the 28th of February. This release is focused on delivering significant improvements on the coverage of drug terminology in Emtree. (see below)

How will these key changes on the Emtree structure affect you?

Although the list of changes appears extensive, the consequences are unlikely to be large for most users.

Changes may affect how some explosion searches are executed, primarily in cases where high level terms in the Emtree structure are used.

Emtree in 2012 is divided into 14 facets, from Anatomical concepts to Types of article or study. This is one facet less than in 2011.

These are the facets in which most changes can be found:

- Anatomical concepts
- Biological functions
- Diseases
- Organisms
- Procedures, parameters and devices
- Psychological and psychiatric phenomena

What are the main benefits of these improvements?

Terminology Improvements

- 952 new drug terms and 991 non-drug terms have been added (compared with Emtree 2011). This represents a growth rate significantly greater than in previous years, and especially reflects the attention paid to new drug terminology.

Download a list of terms added to Emtree in Jan 2012

- Coverage of drug terminology in Emtree is broader and more comprehensive than ever: Emtree now covers all new International Non-Proprietary Names (INNs) for drugs registered with the World Health Organization (WHO), as well as all US Adopted Names and NDAs (New Drug Approvals) listed by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and European Medicines Agency (EMA) until mid-November 2011. Trade names belonging to major pharmaceutical companies are also covered.

- All MeSH terms introduced by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) in 2012 are included in Emtree 2012, so that Emtree terminology is now fully in synchrony with MeSH updates.

Tree structure Improvements

- Key facets are now organized to ensure that users have a better overview of the overall Emtree structure.

- Terminology used for explosion searches has been updated to be more self explanatory and simpler to use.

Medical Librarian Association Annual Meeting
Boston (May 3 – 8)
 

Drug Discovery Leaders Summit
Geneva (June 10-11)
 

Pharma BioMed
TBA, September