Resource Description Framework for Mucosal Surface Pathology
Grace F. Kao MD; Baltimore Veterans Affairs Maryland Health Care System; Lawrence A. Brown MD; Baltimore Veterans Affairs Maryland Health Care System; G. William Moore MD; Baltimore Veterans Affairs Maryland Health Care System;
Content:
Tumors of mucosal surfaces are among the most common human malignancies. The pathogenesis of these tumors is well-studied, but scattered in articles and textbooks. Resource Description Framework (RDF) is a general syntax for writing computer-parsable ordered triples, that export meaning among databases on the semantic worldwide web, by binding a described datum to a specified subject. Internet web-crawler programs can interrogate multiple RDF documents, and draw inferences from these ordered triples.
Technology:
Perl programming language, classical propositional logic, non-monotonic logic.
Design:
We propose a hierarchical classification for human mucosal surface tumors, and present a Perl computer script for translating this hierarchy into RDF code, in the style of the Laboratory Data Imaging Project. This hierarchical classification employs classical logic, with additional features to handle non-monotonic logic ("Sutton's Law") and ethical constraints ("first do no harm").
Results:
This human mucosal surface tumor RDF class hierarchy is mathematically consistent. Over 200 theorems of classical and modal logic are proved in the system. An Intercalation Theorem (for inserting new concepts) and a Retirement Theorem (for removing obsolete concepts) are stated and proved.
Conclusion:
This RDF hierarchy serves to organize the vast knowledge of mucosal surface pathology in the format of the semantic worldwide web, in a manner that incorporates both clinical and pathologic findings. Related URL: http://www.netautopsy.org/mucordfh.htm
