A Study for Improving Animal Welfare by Focusing on Scientific Publications on Research with Laboratory Animals that Include a Discussion of Pain Management Practice

该项目旨在改善实验动物的生活，并改进来自实验动物的数据。为了实现这些目标，研究者将分析涉及动物受试者的研究中疼痛管理的报告。这项分析的结果将用于建议关于改进数据收集和出版做法的准则，作为负责任地使用动物实验对象和改善动物福利的组成部分。研究结果也将纳入研究者（兽医、实验室技术人员和科学家）的教学，并将发表在出版物中，供对科学和动物福利感兴趣的外行读者阅读。研究人员和他的团队将把数据质量和动物研究中对动物的道德待遇这两方面的关注结合在一起。他们将审查250篇以动物为研究对象的出版物，并分析它们对疼痛管理的描述。由此产生的数据库将作为分析各种疼痛管理方法的基础，目的是阐明研究人员报告（和未报告）疼痛管理中一些最重要的激励因素。这个项目的目标是扩大关于疼痛管理在动物研究中的作用的对话。对已发表的研究进行正式分析，重点是对疼痛管理实践的描述，将为所有动物研究的这一基本组成部分提供新的见解。

General Audience Summary The project aims both to improve the life of laboratory animals, and to improve the data that comes from experimentation on them. To accomplish these aims, the investigator will analyze the reporting of pain management in research involving animal subjects. The results of this analysis will be used to recommend guidelines on improved data gathering and publication practices as integral components of responsible use of animal subjects and improved animal welfare. The results will also be incorporated into the investigator's teaching (of veterinarians, laboratory technicians, and scientists) and they will be presented in publications for lay audiences interested in science and in animal welfare. Technical Summary The investigator and his team will weave together two strands of concern, data quality and the ethical treatment of animals in animal research. They will review 250 publications using animal subjects and analyze their description of pain management. The resulting database will then serve as the basis for an analysis of the varied approaches to pain management with the goal of illuminating some of the most significant motivating factors in the researchers reports (and underreports) of pain management. The goal of this project is to expand the conversation regarding the role of pain management in animal research. The formal analysis of published research with a focus on the description of pain management practice will provide new insight to this fundamental component of all animal research.