DeCS 2004 — Conclusion of the Conversion of Letters

Following the standard adopted by MeSH, the letters of the terms (descriptors and synonyms) of the DeCS vocabulary were changed to lower case (from the second letter on), in the three languages, including also the SP and HP categories. Most changes were made globally. The most representative ones are illustrated below:

 

·          Normal cases:

Cancer Vaccines Cancer Vaccines

Pulmonary Heart Disease Pulmonary Heart Disease

 

·          Organisms in Latin (genus and species):

HOMO SAPIENS Homo sapiens

Primula officinalis Primula officinalis

 

·          Organisms with acronyms/abbreviations and single letters:

MICE, INBRED AKR Mice, Inbred AKR

Rats, Inbred A x C 9935 Irish Rats, Inbred A x C 9935 Irish

 

·          Chemical terms with acronyms/abbreviations which differ in one or more languages):

AIDS ANTIGENS AIDS Antigens (English)

ANTÍGENOS DA AIDS Antígenos da AIDS (português)

ANTIGENOS DEL SIDA Antigenos del SIDA (espanhol)

ANTÍGENOS HIV Antígenos HIV (português)

ANTIGENOS VIH Antígenos VIH (espanhol)

 

·          Chemical terms which include names of organisms:

Silent Information Regulator Proteins, Saccharomyces cerevisiae Silent Information Regulator Proteins, Saccharomyces cerevisiae

 

·          Others:

- Accronyms/abbreviations and others which contain exceptions (Roman numerals, Greek letters, etc):

 

Platelet Glycoprotein GPIIb-IIIa Complex Platelet Glycoprotein GPIIb-IIIa Complex

FaCtor XIIIa Factor XIIIa

ATPase ATPase

Adrenergic alpha-Agonists Adrenergic alpha-Agonists

Oncogene Protein p75(gag-fos-fox) Oncogene Protein p75(gag-fos-fox)

 

- Words equal to Accronyms, whose characters should be lowered:

 

VISUAL AIDS Visual Aids

 

- Articles, conjunctions and prepositions:

 

Africa South of the Sahara Africa South of the Sahara

AcademiEs AND InstitutEs Academies and Institutes

 

- homeopathic terms which, although in Latim in the three languages, are not of animal nor plant origin (organisms), but chemical/mineral (substances):

 

CADMIUM OXYDATUM Cadmium Oxydatum    (Latin for Cadmium Oxide).