The Mouse Grimace Scale (MGS) has been widely used for the noninvasive examination of distress/pain in mice. The aim of this study was to further improve its performance to generate repeatable, faster, blinded and reliable results for developing automated and standardized pictures for MGS scoring and simultaneous evaluation of up to four animals. Videos of seven C57BL/6N mice were generated in an experiment to assess pain and stress induced by repeated intraperitoneal injection of carbon tetrachloride (CCl4). MGS scores were taken 1 h before and after the injection. Videotaping was performed for 10 min in special observation boxes. For manual selection, pictures of each mouse were randomly chosen for quality analysis and scored according six quality selection criteria (0 = no, 1 = moderate, 2 = full accordance); the maximum possible score was 12. Overall, 609 pictures from six videos were evaluated for MGS scoring quality; evaluation was performed by using the picture selection tool or by manual scoring. With manual scoring, 288 pictures (48.3% of all randomly generated pictures) were deemed scorable using MGS (mean score = 22.15 ± SD 6.3). To evaluate the algorithm, ratings from different rater groups (beginner, medium-level trained, professional) were compared with the automated image generated. These differences were not significant (p = 0.1091). This study demonstrates an improved set-up and a picture selection tool that can generate repeatable, not-observer biased and standardized pictures for MGS scoring.

中文翻译：

---

改进了鼠标鬼脸刻度设置，以实现半自动的鼠标鬼脸刻度评分（第1部分）。

小鼠鬼脸量表（MGS）已广泛用于小鼠的窘迫/疼痛的非侵入性检查。这项研究的目的是进一步提高其性能，以产生可重复，更快，盲目和可靠的结果，以开发用于MGS评分的自动和标准化图片并同时评估多达四只动物。在实验中产生了七只C57BL / 6N小鼠的视频，以评估因反复腹膜内注射四氯化碳（CCl4）而引起的疼痛和压力。在注射前和注射后1 h进行MGS评分。在专用观察箱中进行录像10分钟。对于手动选择，随机选择每只小鼠的图片进行质量分析，并根据六个质量选择标准（0 =否，1 =中度，2 =完全符合）进行评分；最高可能得分为12。总体而言，对来自六个视频的609张图片进行了MGS评分质量评估；使用图片选择工具或手动评分进行评估。通过手动计分，使用MGS（平均得分= 22.15±SD 6.3），认为288张图片（占所有随机生成图片的48.3％）是可评分的。为了评估该算法，将来自不同评估者组（初学者，中级培训的专业人员）的评分与生成的自动图像进行了比较。这些差异不明显（p = 0.1091）。这项研究演示了一种改进的设置和一种图片选择工具，可以为MGS评分生成可重复的，非观察者偏见和标准化的图片。使用MGS（平均分= 22.15±SD 6.3），认为288张图片（占所有随机生成图片的48.3％）是可评分的。为了评估该算法，将来自不同评估者组（初学者，中级培训的专业人员）的评分与生成的自动图像进行了比较。这些差异不明显（p = 0.1091）。这项研究演示了一种改进的设置和一种图片选择工具，可以为MGS评分生成可重复的，非观察者偏见和标准化的图片。使用MGS（平均分= 22.15±SD 6.3），认为288张图片（占所有随机生成图片的48.3％）是可评分的。为了评估该算法，将来自不同评估者组（初学者，中级培训的专业人员）的评分与生成的自动图像进行了比较。这些差异不明显（p = 0.1091）。这项研究演示了一种改进的设置和一种图片选择工具，可以为MGS评分生成可重复的，非观察者偏见和标准化的图片。