IrGO 1.0: Iranian traditional medicine General Ontology
Creators: name: Ayeh Naghizadeh
name: Akbari, Shaghayegh
name: Donya Hamzeian
name: Rezaeizadeh, Hossein
name: Vaghasloo, Mahdi Alizadeh
name: Mirzaie, Mehdi
name: Karimi, Mehrdad
name: Mohieddin Jafari
Publisher: name: F1000 Research Limited
Year: 2018

description: Background:<br>A wide terminology has been used to describe the assets of the vast <i>materia medica</i> in Iranian traditional medicine (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 <i>materia medica </i>described in ITM, titled IrGO (Iranian traditional medicine General Ontology). The first version has been carried out on <i>Mizaj</i>.  <br><br>Materials and Methods:<br><i>Makhzan-al-Advieh,</i> compiled by <i>Mohammad Hossein Aghili</i> - 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 <i>Mizaj</i> [1-2]. As a key concept of Iranian traditional medicine, <i>Mizaj</i> is an attribute of all that exists in the universe. <i>Materia medica</i>, whether herbal, animal or mineral are no exception, the <i>Mizaj</i> of which is determined based on the prediction of the effect they have on the human body [3]. To design the ontology, the <i>Mizaj</i> section of the monographs was mined and a table of frequent words extracted. Words pertaining to the concept of <i>Mizaj</i> were then determined. Based on this list and the general principles of <i>Mizaj</i> definition and attributes in ITM as described by <i>Avicenna</i> and <i>Aghili</i>, classes were defined and subsequently arranged in a taxonomic hierarchy in <i>Protégé</i> [4].<br><br>Results:<br>Descriptions for <i>Mizaj</i> in <i>Makhzan-al-Advieh</i> generally include a type and a degree. <i>Mizaj</i> 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. <i>Mizaj</i> 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 <i>Mizaj</i> types with certain <i>Mizaj</i> 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 website page includes the database which includes the entities and the metadata provided for each (http://jafarilab.com/irgo/search-page), the network view of the ontology using the WebVOWL tool (http://visualdataweb.de/webvowl/#url=http://jafarilab.com/MezajOntology.json), a user manual providing details on the contents of the ontology (http://jafarilab.com/user_manual.html), and a tree view of the entities (http://jafarilab.com/irgo_search.php).<br><br>Conclusion:<br>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 [5]. This study was carried out to develop the ontology of <i>Mizaj</i>. Later versions of IrGO will be designed in the near future to create the ontologies of other attributes of <i>materia medica </i>based on <i>Makhzan-al-Advieh</i>, and include actions, functions, dosage, harms, substitutes, and enhancements.<br><br>References<br>1.      Aghili, M., Makhzan-al-Advieh. 1393, Tehran: Tehran University of Medical Sciences<br>2.      Hamzeian, D., Akbari, S., Karimi, M., Jafari, M. (2018) UNaProd 1.0: Universal Natural Product Resource. in The 7th Conference on Bioinformatics, Tehran, Iran.<br>3.      Avicenna, Qanun Fi al-Teb (Canon of Medicine). 2005, Beirut, Lebanon: Dare Ehya al-Toras Institute.<br>4.      Stanford Center for Biomedical Informatics Research (BMIR) at the Stanford University School of Medicine ; Available from: http://protege.stanford.edu.<br>5.      Garshasbi, M., H. Asadi, and A. Asosheh. Application and effectiveness of ontology on e-Health. in Telecommunications (IST), 2014 7th International Symposium on. 2014.