Identifying Consensus Scientific Opinion in Research with Google
Geomapping Tools
About this map: This tool uses data from the
NIH's PubMed research indexing
service. Every study concerning Blastocystis (over 700 as of July 2009) has
been reviewed for researcher conclusion. This tool plots whether the study
found Blastocystis to be disease causing or not.br />
How to use the tool: Move the mouse to a marker to see the study title.
You can zoom in on an area, and pan as well. When multiple studies were
performed at the same lab, the markers are distanced by about 80 miles so they
don't all show up on top of each other. You can also download a PDF with
the abstracts of the 17 studies finding Blastocystis to be non-pathogenic, and the
106 studies finding it
to be pathogenic. If there is interest, this tool may be extended to
produce research plots for other diseases.
For more information:
* Link to peer reviewed study in
BMC Parasites and Vectors that describes methodology used to assess research
opinion. Details are in supplementary file #3. The study was
co-authored by 11 scientists in 8 countries, including BRF. The authors
were working at the US Center for Disease Control, China's Center for Disease
Control, a World Health Organization Collaborating Lab, the US Department of
Defense, the Scottish Parasitology Laboratory, and other groups.