br A brain MRI template provides

A purchase DMH-1 MRI template provides a standard reference for assessment of brain structure and function (). Advances in understanding of the structure, function, and development of human brain would be facilitated with the availability of population-specific MRI templates in neuroimaging research. The most commonly used templates (e.g., the Talairach and Tournoux stereotaxic atlas, ; the MNI-305, ; the ICBM-152; ) were created using adult participants from Western European or North American populations (see , for a review). These templates created with North American adult MRIs have been found to be inappropriate for use with brain images from children (see for a review). constructed the first average Chinese MRI template with 56 Chinese adult males. The Chinese adult brain template should not be recommended for use with Chinese children because using age-inappropriate MRI references would cause significantly more deformations of the brain tissues (). Thus, the current study developed novel age-specific average MRI brain and head templates for Chinese children and adolescents spanning between 7 years and 16 years in 2-year intervals. We assessed whether registrations based on these Chinese age-specific templates would fit Chinese children\'s MR images significantly better than age-appropriate templates based on U.S. children, or adult templates based on either Chinese or U.S. adults. Age-appropriate templates are recommended for scientific research targeted on developmental populations. compared the tissue distributions obtained from normalizing an 8-year-old child\'s brain with an age-specific template (i.e., a template constructed based on 8-year-old children) and with an adult template. They found that normalization with the age-specific template led to significantly different tissue distributions than normalization with the adult template. Several brain and head MRI templates have been constructed based on North American pediatric populations ranging from infancy (e.g., ) to childhood and adolescence (e.g., ), and over the entire lifespan (). These age-specific templates were created to resolve the limitation of using adult references for brain images from pediatric populations. It is important to use population-specific brain templates for MR images from Asian participants or patients. Significant differences have been shown between Caucasian and Asian brain features, such as size, shape, AC–PC distance, and brain structure volumes (). Therefore, people have constructed average MRI templates for Chinese and Korean adults (). found that a standard Korean brain template created based on Korean adults was 10% shorter in length, 9% shorter in height, and 1% greater in width compared to the ICBM-152 brain template. Similarly, found the Chinese adult template (Chinese56) created with 56 right-handed Chinese males was shorter in length and height and greater in width than the ICBM-152. also tested the registration of Chinese adults’ MR images to the Chinese56 template in comparison with the ICBM-152 template. They found that use of the Chinese56 template led to significantly less deformation in shape and size than the ICBM-152 template. These studies imply that brain-imaging research with Chinese participants should consider using nationality-appropriate templates. Differences in brain developmental trajectories have been found between Chinese and North American children and adolescents (). compared brain development between Chinese and U.S. children from 8 to 16 years of age using structural MRI techniques. Results revealed both morphological and volumetric differences in brain development between these two nationalities. Chinese children\'s brains and heads were shorter in length and height and wider than those of U.S. children. Moreover, there were significant differences in cortical gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM) intensity between Chinese children and their U.S. peers. Developmental trajectories of cerebral volume, GM, and several key brain structures (e.g., fusiform gyrus, lingual gyrus, middle and superior temporal gyri, orbitofrontal gyrus, superior frontal gyrus) were also shown to be distinct between these two populations. A crucial implication of these findings is that brain and head templates created from North American children are not representative of Asian developmental populations. It has been found that the use of the ICBM-152 template with Chinese adults led to significantly greater deformation and reduced consistency compared with the use of a nationality-specific template (). It is very likely that the use of templates created from North American children with MRIs of Chinese children will lead to the similar consequences. Therefore, the creation of age-specific templates for Asian infants, children, and adolescents would be necessary for research examining brain anatomy and activation in these pediatric populations and in facilitation of accurate medical diagnoses.