Using concepts in literature-based discovery: Simulating Swansonʹs Raynaud–fish oil and migraine–magnesium discoveries

Literature-based discovery has resulted in new knowledge. In the biomedical context, Don R. Swanson has generated several literature-based hypotheses that have been corroborated experimentally and clinically. In this paper, we propose a two-step model of the discovery process in which hypotheses are generated and subsequently tested. We have implemented this model in a Natural Language Processing system that uses biomedical Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) concepts as its unit of analysis. We use the semantic information that is provided with these concepts as a powerful filter to successfully simulate Swansonʹs discoveries of connecting Raynaudʹs disease with fish oil and migraine with a magnesium deficiency.