Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2020.05.08.077172v1?rss=1 Authors: Holla, B., Taylor, P. A., Glen, D. R., Lee, J. A., Vaidya, N., Mehta, U. M., Venkatasubramanian, G., Pal, P., Saini, J., Rao, N. P., Ahuja, C., Kuriyan, R., Krishna, M., Basu, D., Kalyanram, K., Chakrabarti, A., Orfanos, D. P., Barker, G. J., Cox, R. W., Schumann, G., Bharath, R. D., Benegal, V. Abstract: Anatomical brain templates are commonly used as references in neurological MRI studies, for bringing data into a common space for group level statistics and coordinate reporting. Having a group representative template increases the accuracy of alignment, improves statistics and decreases distortions (as well as potential biases) in final coordinate reports. Given the inherent variability in brain morphology across age and geography, it is important to have templates that are as representative as possible for both age and population. In this study, we developed and validated a new set of T1w Indian brain templates (IBT) from a large number of subjects (total n=466) across different Indian states and acquired at multiple 3T MRI sites. A new tool in AFNI, make_template_dask.py, which uses the Dask python parallelization library, was created to efficiently make a template from a group of subjects. A total of five age-specific categories of IBTs [ages 6-11 yrs (C1), 12-18 yrs (C2), 19-25 yrs (C3), 26-40 yrs (C4), and 41-60 yrs (C5)], as well as maximum probability map (MPM) atlases for each template were generated; for each age group's template-atlas pair, there is both a population-average and a typical version. Validation experiments on an independent Indian structural and functional MRI dataset show the appropriateness of IBTs for spatial normalization of Indian brains. The results indicate significant structural differences when comparing the IBTs and MNI template, with these differences being maximal along the Anterior-Posterior and Inferior-Superior axes, but minimal Left-Right. For each age group, the MPM brain atlases provide reasonably good representation of the native-space volumes in the IBT space, except in a few regions with high inter-subject variability as indicated by high mean deformation value. These findings provide evidence to support the use of age and population-specific templates in human brain mapping studies. These templates, with corresponding atlases and tools, are publicly available on the NIMHANS and AFNI websites. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info