docs: def _convertBlastParamsToDict(self, record):
          """
          Pull the global BLAST parameters out of a BLAST record and return
          them as a C{dict}.
  
          Some of these attributes are useless (not filled in), but we record
          them all just in case we one day need them or they start to be used or
          they disappear etc. Any of those changes might alert us that something
          has changed in BLAST XML output or in BioPython.
  
          @param record: An instance of C{Bio.Blast.Record.Blast}. The attributes
              on this don't seem to be documented. You'll need to look at the
              BioPython source to see everything it contains.
          @return: A C{dict}, as described above.
          """
          result = {}
          for attr in (
                  # From Bio.Blast.Record.Header
                  'application',
                  'version',
                  'date',
                  'reference',
                  'query',
                  'query_letters',
                  'database',
                  'database_sequences',
                  'database_letters',
                  # From Bio.Blast.Record.DatabaseReport
                  'database_name',
                  'posted_date',
                  'num_letters_in_database',
                  'num_sequences_in_database',
                  'ka_params',
                  'gapped',
                  'ka_params_gap',
                  # From Bio.Blast.Record.Parameters
                  'matrix',
                  'gap_penalties',
                  'sc_match',
                  'sc_mismatch',
                  'num_hits',
                  'num_sequences',
                  'num_good_extends',
                  'num_seqs_better_e',
                  'hsps_no_gap',
                  'hsps_prelim_gapped',
                  'hsps_prelim_gapped_attemped',
                  'hsps_gapped',
                  'query_id',
                  'query_length',
                  'database_length',
                  'effective_hsp_length',
                  'effective_query_length',
                  'effective_database_length',
                  'effective_search_space',
                  'effective_search_space_used',
                  'frameshift',
                  'threshold',
                  'window_size',
                  'dropoff_1st_pass',
                  'gap_x_dropoff',
                  'gap_x_dropoff_final',
                  'gap_trigger',
                  'blast_cutoff'):
              result[attr] = getattr(record, attr)
          return result