Mining Relation Reversals in the Evolution of SNOMED CT Using MapReduce.

Tao S, Cui L, Zhu W, Sun M, Bodenreider O, Zhang GQ

AMIA Jt Summits Transl Sci Proc. 2015 Mar 23;2015:46-50. eCollection 2015.

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Abstract:

Relation reversals in ontological systems refer to such patterns as a path from concept A to concept B in one version becoming a path with the position of A and B switched in another version. We present a scalable approach, using cloud computing, to systematically extract all hierarchical relation reversals among 8 SNOMED CT versions from 2009 to 2014. Taking advantage of our MapReduce algorithms for computing transitive closure and large-scale set operations, 48 reversals were found through 28 pairwise comparison of the 8 versions in 18 minutes using a 30-node local cloud, to completely cover all possible scenarios. Except for one, all such reversals occurred in three sub-hierarchies: Body Structure, Clinical Finding, and Procedure. Two (2) reversal pairs involved an uncoupling of the pair before the is-a coupling is reversed. Twelve (12) reversal pairs involved paths of length-two, and none (0) involved paths beyond length-two. Such reversals not only represent areas of potential need for additional modeling work, but also are important for identifying and handling cycles for comparative visualization of ontological evolution.

Tao S, Cui L, Zhu W, Sun M, Bodenreider O, Zhang GQ. Mining Relation Reversals in the Evolution of SNOMED CT Using MapReduce. 
AMIA Jt Summits Transl Sci Proc. 2015 Mar 23;2015:46-50. eCollection 2015.

PMID | PMCID