IrGO 1.0: Iranian Traditional Medicine General Ontology

A wide terminology has been used to describe the assets of the vast materia medica in ITM (ITM). The many concepts are at times vague, both in definition, and the existing intricate relationships between them. Coupled with the large amount of data, this ambiguity impedes acquisition of knowledge from this rich resource. Clearly demarcating concepts and extracting a semantic network of relations may help resolve this issue and also bridge the gap between traditional and conventional schools of medicine. This study is an attempt to design an ontology of the attributes of materia medica described in ITM, titled IrGO 1.0: Iranian traditional medicine General Ontology. The first version has been carried out on Mizaj.Material and Methods: Makhzan-al-Advieh, compiled by Mohammad Hossein Aghili - a prominent physician of the 18th century - includes 1745 herbal, animal and mineral monographs, each described by a number of attributes one of the most fundamental of which is Mizaj. As a key concept of Iranian traditional medicine, mizaj is an attribute of all that exists in the universe. Materia medica, whether herbal, animal or mineral are no exception, the mizaj of which is determined based on the prediction of the effect they have on the human body.To design the ontology, the Mizaj section of the monographs was mined and a table of frequent words extracted. Words pertaining to the concept of Mizaj were then determined. Based on this list and the general principles of Mizaj definition and attributes in ITM as described by Avicenna and Aghili, classes were defined and subsequently arranged in a taxonomic hierarchy in Protégé.Results: Descriptions for Mizaj in Makhzan-al-Advieh generally include a type and a degree. Mizaj type was categorized into balanced and unbalanced each with further classifications, which were identified in a manner as to reduce multiple inheritance and optimize number of classes while maintaining comprehensiveness. Mizaj degree is either slight for qualities of hotness, coldness, wetness, and dryness, or lies in a range from first (weakest) through fourth (most potent) degree for each quality each comprising of three sub-degrees of minimum, medium, and maximum The next step consisted of defining axioms for the classes, including descriptions for Mizaj types with certain Mizaj degrees, and when applicable covering, closure and defining axioms. Finally, annotation properties including a code based on the parent-child hierarchy, English and Persian labels, synonyms, and definitions were determined for each class. This ontology is available online at Jafarilab.com/irgo. The site includes the database, the network view of the ontology using the WebVOWL tool, and a user manual.Conclusion: Developing an ontology of the concepts in the domain of ITM will provide a whole range of benefits that include offering a shared and common understanding of ITM, enabling reuse of the knowledge in this field, making the assumptions explicit and finally gaining new knowledge by analyzing the concepts and their relationships. This study was carried out to develop the ontology of Mizaj. Later versions of IrGO will be designed in the near future to create the ontologies of other attributes of materia medica based on Makhzan-al-Advieh, and include actions, functions, dosage, harms, substitutes, and enhancements.

کلیدواژه ها:

mizaj ، ontology ، Iranian traditional medicine ، semantic network ، Makhzan-al-Advieh