Relative Severity Score (RELSA)
The RELSA package contains a set of functions for assessing relative severity in laboratory animals. In animal-based research, the problem of severity classification is crucial. As animals cannot communicate their state of well-being, scientists need reliable tools for monitoring severity as closely as possible. It has been shown that a diversity of behavioral tests (and others) may serve this purpose. However, the main issue with these approaches is that they are rather specific and challenging to transfer. A comprehensive and easy-to-use toolbox for assessing and comparing different variables and animal models is missing. RELSA offers the first glimpse into this matter by combining any set of experimental outcome variables into a single composite score. ## Installation
You can install the development version of RELSA by running:
Documentation
This package is documented using pkgdown, and the resulting website is available here, where detailed tutorials can be found covering aspects of package functionality. See reference section for detailed function documentation.
Example
library(RELSA)
# Build model -------------------------------------------------------------
raw <- surgery
vars <- c("bwc", "burON", "hr", "hrv", "temp", "act")
turnvars <- c("hr", "temp" )
pre <- relsa_norm(cbind(raw[,1:4], raw[,vars]),
normthese = c("burON", "hr", "hrv", "temp", "act"), ontime = 1)
bsl <- relsa_baselines(dataset = pre, bslday = -1, variables = vars, turnvars = turnvars)
levels <- relsa_levels(pre, bsl = bsl, drops = NULL, turns = c("hr", "temp"),
k = 4, customCol = c("red", "green", "blue", "magenta"))
# Test model --------------------------------------------------------------
animal <- 1
RELSA <- relsa(set = pre, bsl, a = animal,
drop= NULL, turnvars = turnvars)
head(RELSA$relsa$rms)