Tip #51: MeSH Major Topics across PubMed and Ovid, with a bonus glimpse of changes to NLM indexing practices
You might think that a recent publication indexed in PubMed with Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe* / pathology would be retrieved by this query in Ovid MEDLINE : *Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe / pa [Pathology] You would be incorrect. One example is Xie K, Royer J, Larivière S, et al. Atypical connectome topography and signal flow in temporal lobe epilepsy. Prog Neurobiol. 2024;236:102604 . doi:10.1016/j.pneurobio.2024.102604. and you can compare for yourself by searching for 38604584.ui in your preferred Ovid Medline segment, where it will show This issue, of Major Topic MeSH-with-subheading not being accurately imported into Ovid, seems to affect literally every article since mid-2022 with a Heading/subheading combination marked as a Major Topic. What’s happening, and why? At the moment of intake processing, Ovid breaks apart headings consisting of a Major Topic and subheading. NLM Data Ovid HIV Infections* / prevention & control