ToxPi GUI: an interactive visualization tool for transparent integration of data from diverse sources of evidence by David M. Reif, Myroslav Sypa, Eric F. Lock, Fred A. Wright, Ander Wilson, Tommy Cathey, Richard R. Judson and Ivan Rusyn. (Bioinformatics (2013) 29 (3): 402-403. doi: 10.1093/bioinformatics/bts686)
Abstract:
Motivation: Scientists and regulators are often faced with complex decisions, where use of scarce resources must be prioritized using collections of diverse information. The Toxicological Prioritization Index (ToxPi™) was developed to enable integration of multiple sources of evidence on exposure and/or safety, transformed into transparent visual rankings to facilitate decision making. The rankings and associated graphical profiles can be used to prioritize resources in various decision contexts, such as testing chemical toxicity or assessing similarity of predicted compound bioactivity profiles. The amount and types of information available to decision makers are increasing exponentially, while the complex decisions must rely on specialized domain knowledge across multiple criteria of varying importance. Thus, the ToxPi bridges a gap, combining rigorous aggregation of evidence with ease of communication to stakeholders.
Results: An interactive ToxPi graphical user interface (GUI) application has been implemented to allow straightforward decision support across a variety of decision-making contexts in environmental health. The GUI allows users to easily import and recombine data, then analyze, visualize, highlight, export and communicate ToxPi results. It also provides a statistical metric of stability for both individual ToxPi scores and relative prioritized ranks.
Availability: The ToxPi GUI application, complete user manual and example data files are freely available from http://comptox.unc.edu/toxpi.php.
Contact: reif.david@gmail.com
Very cool!
Although like having a Ford automobile in any color, so long as the color was black, you can integrate any data source, so long as the format is csv. And values are numbers. Subject to other restrictions as well.
That’s an observation, not a criticism.
The application serves a purpose within a domain and does not “integrate” information in the sense of a topic map.
But a topic map could recycle its data to add other identifications and properties. Without having to re-write this application or its data.
Once curated, data should be re-used, not re-created/curated.
Topic maps give you more bang for your data buck.