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Representing and querying conceptual graphs with relational database management systems is possible.
G Schadow1, M R Barnes, C J McDonald
1Regenstrief Institute, Indianapolis, IN, USA.
Proceedings. AMIA Symposium
|February 5, 2002
Summary
Modern relational database systems can now manage complex medical concept dictionaries. This study confirms that SQL-99 standard databases support querying transitive relationships, overcoming previous limitations for knowledge base management.
Area of Science:
- Computer Science
- Medical Informatics
Background:
- Relational database management systems (RDBMS) traditionally lacked support for transitive relational structures, hindering their use for complex knowledge bases.
- The evolution of database standards, particularly SQL-99, introduces capabilities that may resolve these limitations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the feasibility of maintaining medical concept dictionaries within production-grade RDBMS.
- To evaluate the capability of modern RDBMS supporting recursive queries to handle transitive relationships in a generic data model.
Main Methods:
- Experimental validation of RDBMS performance with medical concept dictionaries.
- Development and testing of an efficient indexed representation for transitive closure.
- Querying of complex, combined transitive relationships using SQL.
Main Results:
- Modern RDBMS supporting recursive queries can effectively query transitive relationships within a generic data model.
- A novel, efficient indexed representation for transitive closure was demonstrated.
- Successful querying of challenging combined transitive relationships in SQL was confirmed.
Conclusions:
- Production-grade RDBMS are now feasible for managing medical concept dictionaries.
- Recursive query capabilities in modern SQL standards enable efficient handling of complex, transitive knowledge structures.