The UMLS is an invaluable resource to the biomedical community. However, the Metathesaurus's (META's) size and complexity can hinder its usefulness. We propose a number of divide and conquer techniques that facilitate the tasks of auditing and extending the META. The divide and conquer approach breaks down a large collection of items into more manageable units. In this research, the outcome will be new partitions of the META. Each partition will be employed in auditing the META. The UMLS's Semantic Network (SN) does not partition the META into disjoint sets. We first create a Refined Semantic Network (RSN) that does partition the META into disjoint sets of concepts (extents). Derived from the SN, the RSN incorporates intersection types along with pure semantic types and improves the UMLS in a number of ways, e.g., it contains types with semantically uniform and (usually) smaller extents. In addition to the RSN, three additional, novel partitioning techniques will be applied to extents: Partition along the dimension of relationship similarity;create singly rooted subgroups;and subdivide tangled, multi-rooted hierarchies. Each partition will (normally) expose new errors. We propose a large scale audit of the 2006AA UMLS concentrating on small groups obtained by the partition. The kinds of errors expected to be uncovered include: concept ambiguity and synonymy, wrong and missing IS-A and semantic relationships, inconsistent and incorrect classifications and omissions. We will perform an enhanced audit of the genomic component of the UMLS. For this we will create a Refined Genomic SN (RGSN). We will build an auditing software tool that incorporates the RSN and the three additional levels of partitioning. A formal evaluation, with human subjects, of the tool and a two-level expert evaluation of the auditing results are planned. Finally we focus on the integration of new terminologies into the UMLS, based on the RSN. In summary we will: 1) Create the RSN that partitions META into disjoint units;2) Design three new partitioning techniques for extents of semantic types;3) Audit the concepts of small groups;4) Design a Refined Genomic SN (RGSN) for auditing genomic concepts;5) Build an auditing tool;6) Design and evaluate an integration technique for terminologies.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Library of Medicine (NLM)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
3R01LM008445-03S2
Application #
7916891
Study Section
Biomedical Library and Informatics Review Committee (BLR)
Program Officer
Ye, Jane
Project Start
2006-06-01
Project End
2010-08-18
Budget Start
2009-08-19
Budget End
2010-08-18
Support Year
3
Fiscal Year
2009
Total Cost
$92,418
Indirect Cost
Name
Rutgers University
Department
Biostatistics & Other Math Sci
Type
Other Domestic Higher Education
DUNS #
075162990
City
Newark
State
NJ
Country
United States
Zip Code
07102
He, Zhe; Perl, Yehoshua; Elhanan, Gai et al. (2017) Auditing the Assignments of Top-Level Semantic Types in the UMLS Semantic Network to UMLS Concepts. Proceedings (IEEE Int Conf Bioinformatics Biomed) 2017:1262-1269
Geller, James; He, Zhe; Perl, Yehoshua et al. (2013) Rule-based support system for multiple UMLS semantic type assignments. J Biomed Inform 46:97-110
Chen, Yan; Gu, Huanying; Perl, Yehoshua et al. (2012) Overcoming an obstacle in expanding a UMLS semantic type extent. J Biomed Inform 45:61-70
Gu, Huanying Helen; Elhanan, Gai; Perl, Yehoshua et al. (2012) A study of terminology auditors' performance for UMLS semantic type assignments. J Biomed Inform 45:1042-8
Halper, Michael; Morrey, C Paul; Chen, Yan et al. (2011) Auditing hierarchical cycles to locate other inconsistencies in the UMLS. AMIA Annu Symp Proc 2011:529-36
Morrey, C Paul; Chen, Ling; Halper, Michael et al. (2011) Resolution of redundant semantic type assignments for organic chemicals in the UMLS. Artif Intell Med 52:141-51
Elhanan, Gai; Huang, Kuo-Chuan; Perl, Yehoshua (2010) Source authenticity in the UMLS--a case study of the Minimal Standard Terminology. J Biomed Inform 43:988-97
Huang, Kuo-Chuan; Geller, James; Halper, Michael et al. (2009) Using WordNet synonym substitution to enhance UMLS source integration. Artif Intell Med 46:97-109
Chen, Ling; Morrey, C Paul; Gu, Huanying et al. (2009) Modeling multi-typed structurally viewed chemicals with the UMLS Refined Semantic Network. J Am Med Inform Assoc 16:116-31
Geller, James; Morrey, C Paul; Xu, Junchuan et al. (2009) Comparing inconsistent relationship configurations indicating UMLS errors. AMIA Annu Symp Proc 2009:193-7

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