MIS Database Query

MENDELIAN INHERITANCE IN SHEEP

HELP

BIRX

Mendelian Inheritance in Sheep (MIS) uses the BIRX database searching software (obtained from NCBI). This is a WWW-compatible interface for the IRX (Information Retrieval eXperimental workbench) database searching program.

The Search Query


                MENDELIAN INHERITANCE IN SHEEP (MIS)
 
              An annotated trait/locus list compiled by
  the Committee on Genetic Nomenclature of Sheep and Goats (COGNOSAG)
 
            President: C.H.S. Dolling [fax: 61 8 323 9084]
       Secretary/Treasurer: J.J. Lauvergne [fax 33 1 34 65 22 10]
 
             MIS has been compiled by four Working Groups
             (Convenors shown in brackets):
 
1. Coat colour                      (D.P. Sponenberg; fax 1 703 231 7367)
2. Visible traits other than colour (C.H.S. Dolling; fax 61 8 323 9084)
3. Blood and milk polymorphisms     (L. di Stasio; fax 39 11 696 56 26)
4. Mapped loci and other genetic systems (T.E. Broad; broadte@agresearch.cri.nz)

The MIS file that you are about to search consists of the entire contents of
the entries compiled by each of the working groups. Convenors of the working
groups would welcome feedback.

Field Restrictions

The query form consists of twenty eight Field Restriction check boxes followed by four query input boxes. Each of the twenty eight fields of the database (locus name, gene effect, locus symbol, MIM number, etc.) can be searched independently of (or in conjunction with) one another.

To restrict your search to particular fields, check one or more of the check buttons beside locus name, gene effect, locus symbol, MIM number, etc. You must then check off the Field Restriction button in front of an input box.

If no buttons are checked all fields will be searched.

For any input box you may choose whether or not to apply field restrictions. However, if you do apply field restrictions you may only apply one pattern across all input boxes, e.g. if you choose the field restrictions MIM number and genomic location for the first input box, all other boxes for which you mark Field Restriction will be restricted to the MIM number and genomic location fields.

Input Boxes

Each input box is preceded by a "Field Restriction" check button and followed by a choice of the Boolean Operators AND or OR (last box excepted). The Boolean operator combines the results generated by the preceeding input box with the results of the next box.

Usually, single input boxes are used for entering phrases or other combinations of words you expect to occur together. Words entered within a single input box will generate a match only if all the words occur within a single field of the document.

In contrast, a Boolean operator (AND, OR) between query input boxes combines documents without respect to fields. Therefore, entering words within a single input box is more restrictive than entering them across boxes.

Boolean Operators

Boolean operators are used to combine the results from different query input boxes.

The Boolean operators are:

AND - Places only documents with matches from ALL input boxes into the final document list.
OR - Places documents with matches from ANY input box into the final document list.

Therefore, the AND operator is used to narrow the query output and the OR operator is used to expand the query output. The default is AND.

1st 100

The "nth 100" button is used to specify which subset of the query output is to be returned to the user.

You should normally select the "1st 100" documents to be returned. Usually, this will be all you need. If your query finds more than 100 documents, you can resubmit it to retrieve the next 100 documents or you can request that all of the documents be retrieved. However, be aware that it can take a long time and use a lot of memory to load and transfer large numbers of documents over the network. We do not recommend using the "all" button unless you feel that it is necessary.

Note that, as with IRX, BIRX ranks the returned documents in order so that those first returned will be most relevant to your query (will contain most instances of the input words).

Run Query

The "Run Query" button causes the current query to be executed.

Clear Input

The "Clear Input" button resets the contents of the query form to their original state.

Results

After the query has been submitted, you will receive a table of contents of the documents retrieved. Each document is prefixed with an icon. Selecting that icon will retrieve the text for that document.