Is there any fast and efficient way to get abstracts from pubmed? - biopython

Question

I would like to download large scientific abstract data for lets say about 2000 Pubmed IDs. My python code is sloppy and seems rather slow working. Is there any fast and efficient method to do harvest these abstracts?
If this is the fastest method how do I measure it so I become able compare against others or home against work situation (different ISP may play part in speed)?
Attached my code below.
import sqlite3
from Bio.Entrez import read,efetch,email,tool
from metapub import PubMedFetcher
import pandas as pd
import requests
from datetime import date
import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET
import time
import sys
reload(sys)
sys.setdefaultencoding('utf8')
Abstract_data = pd.DataFrame(columns=["name","pmid","abstract"])
def abstract_download(self,dict_pmids):
"""
This method returns abstract for a given pmid and add to the abstract data
"""
index=0
baseUrl = "https://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/"
for names in dict_pmids:
for pmid in dict_pmids[names]:
try:
abstract = []
url = baseUrl+"efetch.fcgi?db=pubmed&id="+pmid+"&rettype=xml"+
response=requests.request("GET",url,timeout=500).text
response=response.encode('utf-8')
root=ET.fromstring(response)
root_find=root.findall('./PubmedArticle/MedlineCitation/Article/Abstract/')
if len(root_find)==0:
root_find=root.findall('./PubmedArticle/MedlineCitation/Article/ArticleTitle')
for i in range(len(root_find)):
if root_find[i].text != None:
abstract.append(root_find[i].text)
if abstract is not None:
Abstract_data.loc[index]=names,pmid,"".join(abstract)
index+=1
except:
print "Connection Refused"
time.sleep(5)
continue
return Abstract_data
EDIT: The general error that occurs for this script is seemingly a "Connection Refused". See the answer of ZF007 below how this was solved.

Answer 1

The below code works. Your script hang on malformed URL construction. Also if things went wrong inside the script the response was a refused connection. This was infact not the case because it was the code that did the processing of the retrieved data.. I've made some adjustments to get the code working for me and left comments in place where you need to adjust due to the lack of the dict_pmids list.
#!/usr/bin/env python
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
import sys, time, requests, sqlite3
import pandas as pd
import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET
from metapub import PubMedFetcher
from datetime import date
from Bio.Entrez import read,efetch,email,tool
def abstract_download(pmids):
"""
This method returns abstract for a given pmid and add to the abstract data
"""
index = 0
baseUrl = "https://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/"
collected_abstract = []
# code below diabled to get general abstract extraction from pubmed working. I don't have the dict_pmid list.
"""
for names in dict_pmids:
for pmid in dict_pmids[names]:
move below working code to the right to get it in place with above two requirements prior to providing dict_pmid list.
# from here code works upto the next comment. I don't have the dict_pmid list.
"""
for pmid in pmids:
print 'pmid : %s\n' % pmid
abstract = []
root = ''
try:
url = '%sefetch.fcgi?db=pubmed&id=%s&rettype=xml' % (baseUrl, pmid)
# checks my url... line to parse into a webbrowser like firefox.
print 'url', url
response = requests.request("GET", url, timeout=500).text
# check if I got a response.
print 'response', response
# response = response.encode('utf-8')
root = ET.fromstring(response)
except Exception as inst:
# besides a refused connection.... the "why" it was connected comes in handly to resolve issues at hand
# if and when they happen.
print "Connection Refused", inst
time.sleep(5)
continue
root_find = root.findall('./PubmedArticle/MedlineCitation/Article/Abstract/')
if len(root_find)==0:
root_find = root.findall('./PubmedArticle/MedlineCitation/Article/ArticleTitle')
# check if I found something
print 'root_find : %s\n\n' % root_find
for i in range(len(root_find)):
if root_find[i].text != None:
abstract.append(root_find[i].text)
Abstract_data = pd.DataFrame(columns=["name","pmid","abstract"])
# check if I found something
#print 'abstract : %s\n' % abstract
# code works up to the print statement ''abstract', abstract' teh rest is disabled because I don't have the dict_pmid list.
if abstract is not None:
# Abstract_data.loc[index] = names,pmid,"".join(abstract)
index += 1
collected_abstract.append(abstract)
# change back return Abstract_data when dict_pmid list is administered.
# return Abstract_data
return collected_abstract
if __name__ == '__main__':
sys.stdout.flush()
reload(sys)
sys.setdefaultencoding('utf8')
pubmedIDs = range(21491000, 21491001)
mydata = abstract_download(pubmedIDs)
print 'mydata : %s' % (mydata)