How do I parse XML with PHP not using SimpleXML

So I'm pretty new to both php and xml, but I am trying to get some data into a database from a medical database.  Most of the data is easily parsed and I have no problem entering it into the database, but there is one xml field that looks as follows:

<MeshHeadingList>
    <MeshHeading>
        <DescriptorName MajorTopicYN="N">Animal</DescriptorName>
    </MeshHeading>
    <MeshHeading>
        <DescriptorName MajorTopicYN="N">Dogs</DescriptorName>
    </MeshHeading>
    <MeshHeading>
        <DescriptorName MajorTopicYN="Y">Myocardial Contraction</DescriptorName>
    </MeshHeading>
    <MeshHeading>
        <DescriptorName MajorTopicYN="N">Myocardium</DescriptorName>
        <QualifierName MajorTopicYN="Y">metabolism</QualifierName>
    </MeshHeading>
    <MeshHeading>
        <DescriptorName MajorTopicYN="Y">Oxygen Consumption</DescriptorName>
    </MeshHeading>
    <MeshHeading>
        <DescriptorName MajorTopicYN="N">Surface Tension</DescriptorName>
    </MeshHeading>
    </MeshHeadingList>

A lot of different headings, all with attributes.  What I have been using so far is:

$rows[$count]->meshid = $results['PubmedArticleSet']['PubmedArticle'][$count]['MeshHeadingList']['MeshHeading']['DescriptorName'];

(changed for each variable I want ), and it works with the previous one-element, non-attributed fields.  

What would be an appropriate way to somehow make the results an array that i can store?  Is there an easy way to get around the attribute field?  I don't need to store the "MajorTopicYN" or the result at all, just the key words.

Any help would be appreciated,

Thanks!

ccarlisleiv