Editing of NCI Thesaurus 12.03d was completed on March 26, 2012.  Version
12.03d was March's fourth build in our development cycle.

This directory contains files:

	ReadMe.txt			This file
	Thesaurus_12.03d.FLAT.zip	The NCI Thesaurus 12.03d in flat file format
	Thesaurus_12.03d.OWL.zip	The NCI Thesaurus 12.03d in OWL
	ThesaurusInf_12.03d.OWL.zip	The NCI Thesaurus 12.03d in Inferred OWL
	Thesaurus_12.03d.LexGrid.zip	The NCI Thesaurus 12.03d in LexGrid 5.1 XML

The zip files unpack the following files:

	Thesaurus_12.03d.FLAT.zip	Thesaurus.txt
	Thesaurus_12.03d.OWL.zip	Thesaurus.owl
	ThesaurusInf_12.03d.OWL.zip	ThesaurusInferred.owl
	Thesaurus_12.03d.LexGrid.zip	Thesaurus.xml

In the first two formats below, the ontology is in a defined state, i.e. 
relations are as stated by the editors, no inferred relations are
specified.

The Thesaurus.txt flat file is in tab-delimited format.  Included in this 
format are all the terms associated with NCI Thesaurus concepts (names and 
synonyms), a text definition of the concept (if one is present), and stated 
parent-child relations, sufficient to reconstruct the hierarchy.  The fields 
are:

	code <tab> concept name <tab> parents <tab> synonyms <tab> definition

The "parents" field contains the concept name(s) of the superconcept(s).
If a "parents" or "synonyms" field contains multiple entries, these 
are pipe-delimited.  For root concepts without "parents", this field
contains the string "root_node".  The first entry in the "synonyms" field 
is the preferred name of the concept.  If no preferred name has been stated
for the concept, this field contains the concept name.  The 
"definition" field contains only one definition if more than one 
definition is associated with the concept; not all concepts contain 
definitions.  

The Thesaurus.owl file contains the entire terminology expressed in the OWL 
web ontology language (http://www.w3.org/TR/owl-ref/), with the exception of
the Ontylog namespace declaration, which was deemed unnecessary.  The Ontylog
Roles where converted to restrictions on OWL properties, and most of the 
concept annotations in Ontylog properties were converted to OWL 
AnnotationProperty; as in the Ontylog xml file, properties of use only to 
the EVS (e.g. editor notes) are absent in the OWL file.  Because 
Roles in Ontylog are mapped from a domain kind to a range kind, the OWL 
version of the Thesaurus has each kind as a root class to facilitate the 
conversion of Roles to OWL properties.  The kind root classes are declared 
disjoint in the OWL file.  

The unzipped Thesaurus.owl is available directly at 
http://ncicb.nci.nih.gov/xml/owl/EVS/Thesaurus.owl

The ThesaurusInf_12.03d.OWL.zip file contains the terminology from the NCI Thesaurus
but excludes retired concepts and includes inferred relationships. This file is created 
for import into the UMLS and NCI Metathesaurus. Properties of use only to the EVS 
(e.g. editor notes) are absent in the released terminology.

The Thesaurus.xml file contains the entire terminology in the LexGrid XML format.
For more information about LexGrid XML, please see the Vocabulary Knowledge
Center (https://cabig-kc.nci.nih.gov/Vocab/KC/index.php/LexGrid_Model_and_Schema).

The file nci_code_cui_map_201112.dat contains the map of NCI Thesaurus (NCIt) codes
to NCI Metathesaurus (NCIMeta) CUIs (concept unique identifier).  The format of the 
file is code <pipe> CUI <pipe>.  The CUIs are either derived from the UMLS Metathesaurus 
(CUIs that begin with "C-digit") or specific to the NCI Metathesaurus (CUIs that begin
with "CL").  This mapping file is created for each release of the NCIMeta, which is 
published on a quarterly schedule hence is not current with every release of NCIt which 
is published monthly.  Newly created Thesaurus concepts will not appear in this file 
until the next release of the Metathesaurus, and newly retired Thesaurus concepts will 
continue to appear until the next release of the Metathesaurus.  Archived mapping files 
may be found in the archives directory beneath the last release of Thesaurus it was 
generated from.  The current mapping file is derived from NCIt version 11.12e and
NCIMeta version 201112.

For previous releases of the NCI Thesaurus please see the archives at
ftp://ftp1.nci.nih.gov/pub/cacore/EVS/NCI_Thesaurus/archive/

For additional information, please see the Release Notes of LexEVS 5.1.
(https://wiki.nci.nih.gov/display/EVS/LexEVS+5.1+Release+Notes)