Open GALEN - GALEN Common Reference Model

The GALEN Common Reference Model is the model of medical concepts (or clinical terminology) being built in GRAIL. This model forms the underlying structural foundation for the services provided by a GALEN Terminology Server.

The GALEN Common Reference Model is written in the formal language GRAIL (see below). The GRAIL statements in the model are equivalent with sentences like these:

  • Ulcer is a kind of inflammatory lesion
  • The process whose outcome is an ulcer is called ulceration
  • The stomach is a part of the GI tract
  • It is sensible to talk about ulcers located in the stomach
  • Ulcers located in the stomach are called Gastric Ulcers
  • Ulcers located in the stomach are actually located on the mucosa of the wall of the stomach

The GALEN Common Reference Model is available from the OpenGALEN Foundation as open source.

Read more about this topic:  Open GALEN

Famous quotes containing the words common, reference and/or model:

    “The British are a self-distrustful, diffident people, agreeing with alacrity that they are neither successful nor clever, and only modestly claiming that they have a keener sense of humour, more robust common sense, and greater staying power as a nation than all the rest of the world put together.”
    —Quoted in Fourth Leaders from the Times (1950)

    “Meaning is what essence becomes when it is divorced from the object of reference and wedded to the word.”
    —Willard Van Orman Quine (b. 1908)

    “The best way to teach a child restraint and generosity is to be a model of those qualities yourself. If your child sees that you want a particular item but refrain from buying it, either because it isn’t practical or because you can’t afford it, he will begin to understand restraint. Likewise, if you donate books or clothing to charity, take him with you to distribute the items to teach him about generosity.”
    —Lawrence Balter (20th century)