What's new?
News about ReleMed can be found on our news page.
What is ReleMed®?
ReleMed® is a search engine that allows you to find the most relevant answers to your questions. You enter one or a few query words, and then ReleMed searches for articles containing those query words. Unlike other search engines, ReleMed displays your results so that the most relevant articles-the ones most closely matching your query-are shown first.Currently ReleMed is focused on biomedical findings published in scientific journals. It searches 17 million articles indexed in MEDLINE, the National Library of Medicine's electronic database.
Why use ReleMed (instead of other services)?
ReleMed® searches MEDLINE, the same database searched by PubMed®. However, ReleMed® has significant advantages over PubMed® as a search tool. Because ReleMed uses a more sensitive retrieval method, it finds more articles per search than other services. ReleMed also uses a sophisticated sorting method, so that it returns articles in a different order than PubMed does, with the most relevant articles shown first.The increased sensitivity of the search process, combined with results that are sorted and displayed according to their relevance, results in an information-retrieval experience that is significantly superior to other services.
Read more about superior performance of ReleMed in this case study, and in ReleMed paper.
How do I learn more about ReleMed?
Learn more by getting a free copy of the peer-reviewed ReleMed paper.
How do I use ReleMed?
Type the main words that represent your question, into the search text box, and then click the submit button.If your search contains many words, start by including just a few of the major ones in the search text box; submit them and inspect the results returned by ReleMed. You can then fine-tune the results by adding, changing, or omitting words.
ReleMed accepts all major operators, if you want to formulate a sophisticated query. These include Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT, where upper or lower case are the same), parentheses for grouping the query words, the asterisk * for right-hand truncation, double quotes ("") for exact matches, etc. It reads the plus sign (+) as the Boolean AND. It treats the comma (,) as a separator, where the user explicitly shows that a sequence of words is separate from subsequent words; it is useful to make sure that a concept expressed by multiple words is separated from adjacent words by commas.
By default ReleMed adds the Boolean AND between the words of the user's query.
We try to use the grammar protocols that users are already familiar with by having used other search services. If you feel there is an operator, grammar, or syntax, which you would like to see them in ReleMed, please let us know by contacting us at custserv@relemed.com.
ReleMed accepts field-specific searches, where you ask ReleMed® to search for certain words in fields that you designate. For a more detailed explanation about field-specific searches, read a separate question on this page.
How should I formulate my question to ReleMed?
The following examples illustrate how to write a query for different purposes.|
type of query
|
query example
|
explanation of what ReleMed extracts as a result of the search
|
| one word | fever | Extracts articles in which any sentence contains the word "fever." |
| two-word query | heart attack | Extracts articles in which any sentence contains both the words "heart" and "attack," presented in either order. |
| use of "and" | heart attack and fever | Extracts articles in which any sentence contains the words "heart," "attack," and "fever," in any order. |
| multiple words without "and" | heart attack fever | Like example above, extracts articles in which any sentence contains the words "heart," "attack," and "fever," in any order. (By default Relemed adds the Boolean operator AND between each word of the query). |
| use of "or" | fever or infection | Extracts articles in which any sentence contains either (or both) of the words "fever" or "infection," in any order (i.e., at least one of the two words should be in the sentence). |
| use of parentheses | heart attack (fever or infection) | Extracts articles in which any sentence contains both of the words "heart" and "attack," and also at least one of the two words "fever" or "infection". |
| use of double quotes | "heart attack" | Extracts articles in which any sentence contains the phrase "heart attack" (with its 12 characters, including the space) exactly in the order entered. Because word order and adjacency is critical, the following sentence would not match the query, although it has both the words "heart" and "attack" in it: This article describes an approach to the diagnosis of recurrent attack of rheumatic fever in patients with rheumatic heart disease. |
| use of a star | infarct* | Extracts articles in which any sentence contains at least one word starting with the seven characters preceding the star (in this case, the characters "infarct"). In this example, articles extracted by ReleMed could contain the words "infarct," "infarction," "infracted," and "infracting." |
| use of "not" | heart not attack | Extracts articles in which any sentence contains the word "heart" but does not contain the word "attack." |
| *noatm | heart attack *noatm | By default, ReleMed uses Automatic Term Mapping (ATM) to expand your query by adding all synonyms and equivalent terms to it. For example, the query 'heart attack' would also look automatically for the terms '(infarction myocardial) OR mi OR (attack heart) OR (heart infarction) OR (infarct myocardial) OR (cardiac infarction) OR (attack coronary) OR ami.' If the inclusion of synonyms and equivalent terms is not desired, then adding '*noatm' to the query will tell ReleMed not to perform Automatic Term Mapping. Read more here. |
How should I read the results that ReleMed returns?
The results page that ReleMed produces has eight sections. The main section features a numbered list of articles that match your query. The articles are shown on an alternating white and gray background, so that your eyes can discern one article from the next easier.Each article has several parts, starting with the citation. To the left of the citation there is a checkbox, and a horizontal green bar. You can check the box if you want to include the article when you click the "Export checked results." The green bar shows how relevant ReleMed thinks the article is to your query; the darker the green, the more relevant the article.
A hyperlink to the PubMed® record for each article is listed at the right-end of the citation. Following this hyperlink, is a plus sign in '[+] Links' that you can click if you want to see a list of hyperlinks for that article. Some of the hyperlinks may point to the full text of that article.
Below each citation, there are two "expand/collapse" buttons: one for "Matches" and one for "Links." When you click on the minus [-] sign, the corresponding section will collapse; when you click on the plus [+] sign, the corresponding section will expand.
By default, ReleMed® shows the sentences from the article that match your query. Also, it will show other potential notes, such as revisions to the article, retractions, copyright notices, etc., that may be present for that article.
In the matching sentences, the query words that you submitted are highlighted in red. ReleMed® highlights all instances where the query words appear in the article; however, the sentences that ReleMed® thinks are more directly related to your query are shown in both red and bold (thus ReleMed® uses two shades of red for highlighting). The highlighting allows you to scan the references faster. When ReleMed expands your query via Automatic Term Mapping (ATM), the words added by ATM will be highlighted as well.
A section near the top of the results page (marked by a blue line with a plus sign on the left) says "Check the translations for query...." When you click on the plus sign, this section will expand to show the translations applied to the query you submitted. ReleMed® automatically finds all synonyms and related words for your query, and searches for them as well. It is recommended that you check the automatic translations to make sure they reflect your intentions. More explanation for this is provided under a separate topic in this page.
The gray bar at the top of the results page shows the count of articles matching your query.
The pink line at top of the results page has the same two expand/collapse buttons that every article has after its citation. The difference is that the buttons in the pink section apply to the entire page, while the buttons after each citation apply to only that article. The pink section also contains an "Export checked results" feature. If you would like to have a personal copy of the results that ReleMed® found for you, check the box to the left of the article(s) you want to save from the current results page, then click on the "Export checked results"; in response ReleMed® will generate a separate HTML page with the results you checked, where you can save it in your computer. Please note: if you checked any articles, you need to export them before going to the next page, or else all the check marks will reset.
To see the next page of results, click the "Next" button, located at the end of the current results page.
The ReleMed® search box containing your query words is shown at the top and bottom of the results page. You can edit your query in either box, and resubmit it. If you submit without changing your query, ReleMed® will show you the same first-result-page. (If you intend to go to the next page, use the Next button at the bottom of the page.)
Hyperlinks are shown as underlined blue text. When you hover your mouse over a hyperlink, it will change its background color to either green or blue. If the hyperlink takes you to a page inside ReleMed, then it will be green (like the help hyperlink.) If a hyperlink takes you to a page outside ReleMed then it will be blue (like the ReleMed paper hyperlink.)
What is Automatic Term Mapping (ATM), and ReleMed's query translations?
All search engines process the query you submit, before applying the query to the data. For example, the search engine may check spelling of the words you entered, and suggest alternative spelling if it finds some words might have been misspelled (spell-check will be added to ReleMed soon!).ReleMed adds synonyms and related words to your query. For example, if you enter 'heart attack', ReleMed will add 'heart infarction' as well as 'myocardial infarction' to your query. These are alternative ways (alternative strings of words) to express the same "concept" of the acute life-threatening heart disease where the muscle cells of the heart die due to interruption of blood flow. In other words for every given concept, being a disease or chemical or lab test or others, there are different strings of words that the concept is expressed. When you enter one string (composed of one or more words) that expresses a concept, ReleMed captures the concept behind your words, then it will find all other strings expressing the same concept, and then adds them to your query.
ReleMed will find articles that contain your words, as well as any of the alternative strings of the concept expressed by your words.
This expansion of your query with alternative strings is sometimes called "automatic term mapping", or ATM for short. ReleMed also refers to it as "query translation" or "query expansion".
The main purpose of ATM is to increase "sensitivity", which means more articles will be found for your query than when search engine only used your words.
ReleMed understands about 1.2 million biomedical concepts, where each concept is expressed by one or more strings, where each string is composed of one or more words. ReleMed understands about 3 million strings. "Word" in this sense is composed of any sequence of alphabets, numbers, or their mixture, and includes acronyms and abbreviations.
The knowledge that enables ReleMed to understand the biomedical concepts is extracted from Unified Medical Language System (UMLS®), and Medical Subject Headings (MeSH®). UMLS facilitates development of computer systems that behave as if they "understand" the meaning of the language of biomedicine and health. Both UMLS and MeSH are produced by the US National Library of Medicine (NLM®).
When you submit a query, ReleMed will try multiple translations. These translations are then shown in the section "[+] Check the translations for query ..." near the top of the results page. The translations are grouped into a few categories. (Try a query like 'cold aspirin anti infective agents' to see all the possible translation types.)
- Category "Synonyms added for..." shows alternative strings for the concepts ReleMed detected in your query. For example, for query 'heart attack', it will show 18 strings: (ATTACK CORONARY) OR (Heart attack) OR (Heart attack, NOS) OR (Cardiac infarction) OR (Cardiac infarction, NOS) OR (Myocardial infarction disorder) OR (HEART INFARCTION) OR (Infarction of heart, NOS) OR (Infarction of heart) OR (Myocardial Infarct) OR (Myocardial infarction, MIl) OR (MI - Myocardial infarction) OR (Myocardial Infarction) OR (Myocardial infarction, NOS) OR (Myocardial infarction syndrome) OR (MI, myocardial infarctionl) OR (Infarctions, Myocardial) OR (Infarcts, Myocardial)
- Category "Some words in your query might mean different things. Please choose..." shows you parts of your query that might mean different concepts. ReleMed asks you if you can tell which concepts are the ones you intended to search. You can uncheck the box in front of the concepts you are sure are not what you want. Please note usually ReleMed optimizes the translations pretty well; so it is good to try different combinations of translations, but for majority of users the default translations are optimal. Example is query 'cold', where ReleMed finds 5 concepts expressed by string 'cold': 'Low temperature', 'Acute infective rhinitis', 'Chronic obstructive lung disease', 'Feeling cold', and 'Cold brand of chlorpheniramine-phenylpropanolamine'.
- Category "Some lexical variants added for..." shows some of the words of your query, and their related words, in the sense that they are from the same root. For example, you may enter 'index', and ReleMed will add 'indexes' and 'indices' as plural forms of your word. These lexical variants are generated automatically by machine, and sometimes may contain words that don't exist or are not used; this usually is fine, as it will not be found in any article, and hence are effectively omitted anyway.
- Category "Translations to MeSH terms..." tries to find terms from MeSH that match your query. It also adds "MeSH Explode". When you enter 'infection', MeSH has an entry for it, plus many more terms that are specific types of infection, where MeSH classifies them as branches of the term "infection". MeSH Explode adds all the more specific branches of a term found in your query.
- Category "Pharmacological actions expanded:" finds words in your query that point to a specific pharmacological action, like when you enter 'anti infective agents'. It then adds all chemicals (drugs) that are known to have that action, to your query.
- Category "Chemical names were expanded using these pharmacological actions:" does reverse of the above category. When it detects a chemical or drug name in your query, it will add all the pharmacological actions known for the drug you entered, to the query. Example is 'amoxicillin' where ReleMed adds two actions to the query.
Here is an example "ATM" section for the query 'cold aspirin anti infective agents':
[+] Check the translations for query 'cold aspirin anti infective agents':
Please note the following translations are done automatically using UMLS® and MeSH®. If you see that any word in your query has been translated erroneously, please uncheck its box, and resubmit the query using the following 'submit' button. More information is in the help page.
- Translations done:
- Synonyms added for: (help me understand this)
- aspirin = = (2-Acetyloxybenzoic Acid) OR (acetylsalicyclic acid) OR (Acetylsalicylic Acid) OR ASA OR Aspirin OR (Aspirin [central nervous system use] product) OR (Aspirin [central nervous system use]) OR (Aspirin - chemical) OR (Aspirin [musculoskeletal use] product) OR (Aspirin [musculoskeletal use]) OR (ASPIRIN PREPARATION) OR (Aspirin product) OR (Aspirin substance)
- anti infective agents = = (520 MISCELLANEOUS ANTI-INFECTIVE AGENTS) OR (anti-infective agent) OR (Anti-infective agent, NOS) OR (Anti-infective agent product) OR (Anti-infective agent substance) OR (antiinfective agent) OR (communicable disease control agent) OR (ANTI INFECT AGENTS) OR (Anti-Infective Agents) OR (MISCELLANEOUS ANTI-INFECTIVE AGENTS) OR (ANTIINFECT AGENTS) OR (Antiinfective Agents) OR (Anti-Infective Drugs) OR (Anti-infective Preparation) OR Anti-infectives OR (AntiInfective Drugs) OR AntiInfectives
- Some words in your query might mean different things. Please choose from the following list the meaning you intended to search: (help me understand this)
- cold can be translated to these 5 UMLS concepts:
- (Cold, NOS) OR (cold temperature) OR (Low temperature (physical force)) OR (Low temperature)
- (Acute nasopharyngitis [common cold]) OR (Acute infective rhinitis) OR (Acute nasopharyngitis) OR (Common Cold) OR (Common cold disorder) OR (Cold Disease) OR (Head cold) OR (Head cold, NOS) OR (URI (head cold)) OR (Colds, Common) OR (VIRAL UPPER RESPIRATORY INFECTION) OR (Infective nasopharyngitis)
- (CAFL - Chronic airflow limitation) OR (CAL - Chronic airflow limitation) OR (Chronic airflow limitation) OR (CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE AIRWAY DIS) OR (Chronic airway disease) OR (Chronic Obstructive Airway Disease) OR (Chronic irreversible airway obstruction) OR (Chronic airway obstruction; not otherwise specified) OR (Chronic airway obstruction) OR (COAD - Chronic obstructive airways disease) OR (Chronic obstructive airways disease NOS disorder) OR (Chronic obstructive airways disease NOS) OR (CHRONIC OBSTRUCT AIRWAYS DISEASE) OR (Chronic Obstructive Airways Disease) OR (COLD - Chronic obstructive lung disease) OR (Disease COPD, chronic obstructive) OR (COPD - Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) OR (CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE LUNG DIS) OR (CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE PULM DIS) OR (Chronic obstructive lung disease disorder) OR (Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease finding finding) OR (Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease finding) OR (Chronic obstructive lung disease, NOS) OR (Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease) OR (Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease NOS) OR (Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive) OR COAD OR (COPD NOS)
- (Cold sensation, function (observable entity)) OR (Feeling cold) OR (Cold sensation, function) OR (SENSATION OF COLD) OR (Cold sensation quality (qualifier value)) OR (Cold Sensation) OR Psychroaesthesia OR Psychroesthesia
- (Cold brand of chlorpheniramine-phenylpropanolamine)
- Some lexical variants added for: (help me understand this)
- cold = = cold OR colder OR coldest OR colds
- Translations to MeSH terms (and "MeSH-Explode", and "See Related", where applicable) for: (help me understand this)
- cold
- aspirin
- anti infective agents
- Pharmacological actions expanded: (help me understand this)
- anti infective agents
- Chemical names were expanded using these phramacological actions: (help me understand this)
- aspirin expanded using these 14 pharmacological actions:
- Analgesics
- Analgesics, Non-Narcotic
- Anti-Inflammatory Agents
- Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal
- Antirheumatic Agents
- Cardiovascular Agents
- Cyclooxygenase Inhibitors
- Enzyme Inhibitors
- Fibrin Modulating Agents
- Fibrinolytic Agents
- Hematologic Agents
- Peripheral Nervous System Agents
- Platelet Aggregation Inhibitors
- Sensory System Agents
How often is ReleMed updated?
ReleMed is updated every day. As soon as the National Library of Medicine posts a new data file where new articles are indexed, we request a copy, and then start processing it. Subsequently, we add the new articles to the ReleMed® database, where you can access them by searching ReleMed®. Sometimes the National Library of Medicine releases an unusually large number of articles in a single day. On these occasions, it may take several days to process and add the articles to the ReleMed® database.
How can I get a count of the number of articles returned as a result of my query?
When you submit your query, ReleMed® displays the number of articles matching your query at the top of the results in a grey bar at the top of the page. Please note: the counts are approximate and not exact; however, they are usually within a few articles from the actual final count.Different search engines may retrieve different numbers of articles for the exact same query. In the case of ReleMed® versus PubMed®, this discrepancy is mostly due to the way each search engine translates and expands the user's query. This can be seen in the "Check the translations for query ..." section of ReleMed, and in the "Details" tab of PubMed.
ReleMed tries to provide a search engine that is both more sensitive and more specific than other engines. This means ReleMed® should be able to find at least as many articles as PubMed®. Additionally, ReleMed® is designed to locate and show the most relevant articles first. If you encounter a query where ReleMed® is not performing well, please send a note to us at webmaster@relemed.com.
How can I get the full-text articles for the matches ReleMed found?
Click on the "view PubMed record" link of the respective citation. This opens a new window where the National Library of Medicine's record for the citation is shown. Assuming the article is "open access," or you are on a computer where the publisher of the article grants access to the full-text, then you will see the National Library of Medicine's link to the full-text article.Also, for a given article, you can click on the plus [+] sign of the "[+] Links" located below the citation. This provides available hyperlinks, some of which may point to the full text article. If you see words like "subscription/membership/fee required," then that external site might ask you for a subscription. You also can try the hyperlink "search the above article's title in Google." This may provide free alternative full texts of the article.
Sometimes sending a request to the author(s) of the paper you wish to review may enable you to get the full text. ReleMed® tries to find the affiliation of the authors of each paper, and provide them in the "[+] Links" section.
How can I search for specific fields such as author name or publication date?
This table explains the field-specific search capability in ReleMed®. We will continue adding more fields to this table. If you feel there is a field that should be added to this table, please let us know by contacting us at custserv@relemed.com, and we will implement your suggestion as soon as possible.You can submit word(s) that may exist in a particular field, without mentioning that field's name in the square brackets (like instead of 'siadaty[au]' just submit 'siadaty'). ReleMed® automatically searches for the submitted word(s) in all available fields. Hence, eventually ReleMed® should be able to find the article you are looking for. However, when you add field name to the query word(s), then usually ReleMed can do a more specific retrieval, and do it faster.
In general, we try to use the grammar protocols that users are already familiar with by having used other search services. If you feel there is an operator, grammar, or syntax, which you would like to see them in ReleMed, please let us know by contacting us at custserv@relemed.com.
|
search for
|
query example
|
explanation of what Relemed extracts as a result of the search
|
| author(s) | smith | Extracts articles where the name 'smith' exists (case insensitive) in any place. |
| author(s) | smith[au] | Extracts articles where the name 'smith' matches one of the authors' names. |
| author(s) | (john smith)[au] | Extracts articles where the two names 'john' and 'smith' are listed as authors' names. Please note 'john' might be first name of a different author than 'smith'. To make sure ReleMed finds articles where 'john smith' is an author, use "john smith"[au], as explained below. |
| author(s) | "mir siadaty"[au] |
Extracts articles where the name combination "mir siadaty" matches as-is to one of the authors' names. The double quotes ensure that the 'mir' matches only when it is followed by the last name 'siadaty.' (Otherwise, 'mir' may match to another author of the article but not to an author with 'siadaty' as the last name.) If you use double quotes with [au], you need to follow this order of entering components of a name: first name, middle name or initial, last name, suffix.
Please note: MEDLINE may not have the complete name for every author of every article; therefore, asking for complete names can result in fewer articles being included in the search results. To illustrate this point, assume that the complete name of an author is 'allison higgins.' ReleMed® will have the name listed in its database as either 'allison higgins' or as 'a higgins,' depending on whether MEDLINE supplied the author's first name or only the initial of the author's first name. To look for articles by this author, the user can type "a higgins"[au] or "allison higgins"[au] into the search box; however, since MEDLINE might not have provided the full first name, if the user's query is typed as "allison higgins"[au], potentially relevant articles with the author name of "a higgins"[au] will not be retrieved. A solution is to OR the two alternatives together, like in "a higgins"[au] OR "allison higgins"[au] . Here's another example that includes a middle name and suffix: If the author's full name is 'allison lucene higgins jr', MEDLINE® probably represents it as 'allison l higgins jr.' So you can type your query as "allison l higgins jr"[au] if you want to include the suffix of this author name and be more specific. These next examples examine more complex names. If the author's last name consists of more than one word, the user submits the query as: 'patrick rene corail.' If the author's name has both a full first name and middle name, the user submits the query as 'samer sheikh ismael.' Also, look how the following names are saved in MEDLINE: 'john j aponte' (a middle initial of j); 'marie claude dubois ofori' (both first name and middle name are spelled out, plus the last name has two parts); 'w ripley ballou' (there is only an initial for the first name, but the middle name is spelled out); 'k g de la cruz (there is an initial for the first name, an initial for the middle name, and a three-word last name 'de la cruz,' which can be searched by submitting the query as "k g de la cruz"[au]). |
| author(s) | smithson sharpe | Extracts articles where the two names 'smithson' and 'sharpe' appear in any place. |
| author(s) | (smithson sharpe)[au] | Extracts articles where the two names 'smithson' and 'sharpe' are listed as authors' names. An alternative way to write this query would be smithson[au] sharpe[au]. |
| author(s) | "mir s siadaty"[au] "william a knaus"[au] | Extracts articles where the two name combinations ('mir s siadaty' and 'william a knaus') appear as authors' names in the same article. Using double quotes around the full names ensures that the initials belong to the correct last name. Please note: Each full name surrounded by double quotes must be followed by its own [au] in order to produce the intended results. (In other words, searching for "mir s siadaty" "william a knaus"[au] will not produce the intended results.) |
| author(s) and other fields | siadaty[au] sids |
Extracts articles where the name 'siadaty' is listed as an author name, and the word 'sids' appears in any place.
|
| journal name | "acad med"[ta] |
Searches for the phrase "acad med" in the journal-name field of each article. This query should retrieve results similar to the query (acad med)[ta], but may be a bit more specific. To see list of journal names and their abbreviation, visit the journal names page (www.relemed.com/journalnames.htm). Note: if the abbreviation of a journal name has parentheses in it, do not enter the parentheses in your query. Also, if the journal abbreviation is made of only one word, as in 'Acarologia', you can type your query without double quotes or parentheses: acarologia[ta]. |
| journal name and other fields | "acad med"[ta] continuous education |
Searches for the abbreviation "acad med" in the journal-name field, and the two words 'continuous' and 'education' in any place.
|
| PMID(s) | 2542 12345092[pmid] | Extracts the two articles with PubMed ID (PMID) of 2542, and 12345092. In other words, if your query includes more than one PMID, separated only by a space, ReleMed will automatically insert OR between the PMIDs, thus finding all of them. |
| PMID(s) | 17254999 |
If you enter a PMID number (or an integer) without adding '[pmid]', then ReleMed will search all places within an article for that number, treating it as a 'word'. Similarly, if you enter two numbers (i.e., '17254999 12345092') without including '[pmid]' then ReleMed® will search for articles containing both of the numbers. This makes it almost impossible to find the articles you are looking for through the query.
|
| language | eng[la] or fre[la] | Extracts articles that were published in the two specified languages 'eng' or 'fre', where 'eng' stands for English and 'fre' for French. To see a list of language abbreviations, look at the language table page (www.relemed.com/languages.htm). |
| language and other fields | spa[la] heart attack |
Extracts articles that were published in the specified language 'spa' (Spanish), and that also contain the words 'heart' and 'attack.'
|
Is there a search interface to ReleMed where I can choose search limits and filters?
ReleMed® uses search functions and operators (such as truncation, adjacency, and field-specific search in title, abstract, and MeSH) to define its relevance score, so these advanced search options are included by default in ReleMed® searches. This enables the majority of users to focus on reading and interpreting the results, rather than the mechanics of search. However, we realize different users may prefer different flavors and intend, in the near future, to provide alternative search interfaces (besides the current single text box) on ReleMed for professional researchers who would prefer to tweak search operators and limits. Please contact us at custserv@relemed.com with your opinion about the features you like to see implemented in an expert search interface for ReleMed.Alternatively, please check the info on how to modify ReleMed's automatic term mapping.
What is MEDLINE®?
MEDLINE® is an index of about seventeen million biomedical articles published in different scientific journals. It is maintained by the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM®).
How can I save the results ReleMed retrieved?
After you have entered a query, and ReleMed® has returned your results, you may want to keep some of the result pages on your computer for future reference.If you want to save only some of the articles, and not the whole page, then check the box to the left of each article you want to save. Then click the "Export checked results" feature at the top of the page, which can be found in the pink bar. This will automatically make a separate page with only the articles that you checked. Please note: the checked boxes will reset if you click the "Next" or "Previous" buttons (by going to a new results page) before exporting, so you need to export anything you want to save before leaving the page on which those articles appear. Using the "Export checked results" feature ensures the colors and fonts (i.e., the design) of the page is saved in your machine as well.
To save the web page that ReleMed® returned in response to your query, go to the 'File' menu of your browser, and choose option 'Save As.' This will show you a dialog box to optionally choose the place and the name of the file the results will be saved in.
Later, you can access the saved results by just double-clicking on the file. All the hyperlinks to PubMed® pages should be working in the file you saved (assuming your machine is connected to the Internet).
How can I print the results ReleMed retrieved?
If you have a color printer, the default highlight color (red) will be suitable for most purposes. To print the results on a black-and-white printer, go to the parameters page, and set the highlight color to black.
How should I express my opinions and suggestions, and ask my questions?
You can submit your feedback using the ReleMed feedback webpage; it includes a freetext box, which you can submit your opinions anonymously. Also, you can use the "report bugs" button at the end of every result page to inform ReleMed of any bugs and problems you find in the results that ReleMed retrieves for you. You can also communicate with us by email sent to custserv@relemed.com.
What are the relevance levels that ReleMed computes?
ReleMed computes eight major relevance levels (and a few finer-granularity levels), and automatically sorts and shows the most relevant articles first (where level 1 is the most relevant, and level 8 the least relevant). It is based on matching your query to the title, abstract, and MeSH parts of each article. Each article has a horizontal green bar, to the left of its citation. The green bar shows how relevant ReleMed thinks the article is to your query; the darker the green, the more relevant the article.Here are the definitions for the 8 relevance levels:
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relevance level
|
your query matches the following parts of a returned article
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| 1 (most relevant) | title, at least one sentence in the abstract, and the MeSH |
| 2 | title and at least one sentence in the abstract |
| 3 | title and MeSH |
| 4 | at least one sentence in the abstract, and the MeSH |
| 5 | title |
| 6 | at least one sentence in the abstract |
| 7 | MeSH |
| 8 (least relevant) | anywhere in the title, abstract, or MeSH (This relevancy level is similar to the default behavior of PubMed.) |
Learn more about the ReleMed relevance score, by getting a free copy of the ReleMed paper.
What should I do if I see that some words in my query are translated erroneously?
ReleMed takes your query, and uses UMLS® and MeSH® to find and add synonyms and related phrases to the query. This way even more relevant articles are retrieved. This is called Automatic Term Mapping (ATM).Sometimes the ATM process adds words to your query that are not right. It is important, therefoe, that you inspect the "translations for your query" section at the top of the results page that ReleMed shows to you (click on the [+] sign, to expand the section and see the details). If you see that there is any ATM-generated word or phrase in your query that you believe the ATM is not appropriate, ask ReleMed to omit that translation.
In the ATM "[+] Check the translations for query ..." section, you will find checkboxes in front of every translation that ReleMed applied to your query. You can uncheck the ones you don't want, and resubmit your query using the submit button inside the section. It is good you try different combinations of translations; and for majority of users ReleMed is already translating optimally.
The checkboxes of the different translations are arranged in a hierarchy, where the highest level is "Translations done:". If you uncheck the "Translations done:", all the translation will be omitted. Below this root level, there are potentially about 6 branches (depending on your query), in the second level of hierarchy. Under each of the second-level branches, there are up to 2 additional levels of branching. Therefore there are up to 4 levels of branching in the ATM section. Try a query like 'cold aspirin anti infective agents' to see all the possible branches.
When you uncheck a box, ReleMed will treat all the boxes underneath it as unchecked, even if you don't uncheck them one by one. On the other hand, if you check a box without its higher-order box being checked, ReleMed does not consider it to be checked.
Alternatively, you can quote the word(s) and resubmit your query. Quoting will prevent ATM for that particular quoted word. For example, a user may be interested in articles about nursing for SIDS. By entering query nursing sids, the word nursing is translated to (breast feeding) OR (breast fed) OR lactation OR nursing OR ... where it is mostly about breast feeding and not the profession of nursing. The user resubmits the query "nursing" sids where the word nursing is not ATMed any more, while the word SIDS is ATMed (as it was translated correctly in the first time).
If you want to prevent ATM for the whole query, then you can add the operator *noatm, like in query nursing sids *noatm .
If you find a translation that is obviously wrong, please send us a note, custserv@relemed.com.
What are the initial reactions of users to ReleMed?
We used web search engines like Google, and searched for the word "ReleMed." We then clipped the documents found by the search engines, and made this integral webpage where you can see the opinions people have formed about ReleMed®. Please note: we only learned of these people and their opinions after we conducted the search.