NOMIS

NOMIS quantifies morphometric deviations in the adult human brain by comparing individual MRI-derived FreeSurfer morphometric measures to normative models built from MRI data of 6,909 cognitively healthy individuals aged 18–100.

Key Features:

• Extensive normative dataset: Normative models derived from MRI of 6,909 cognitively healthy individuals aged 18–100.
• FreeSurfer integration: Computes morphometric measures using the FreeSurfer pipeline.
• Scope of measures: Models 1,344 morphometric measures.
• Personal characteristic adjustments: Accounts for age, sex, and intracranial volume (head size) in modeling.
• Image quality adjustments: Accounts for image quality factors including resolution, contrast-to-noise ratio, and surface reconstruction defects.
• Z-score generation: Generates Z-scores that quantify deviation from normative values for each morphometric measure.
• Z-score variants: Provides four versions of Z-score calculations that all account for head size and image quality and optionally include age and/or sex adjustments.

Scientific Applications:

• Multi-site neuromorphometric research: Enables normative comparisons across sites and cohorts in adulthood.
• Aging research: Assesses age-related deviations in brain morphometry using normative reference values.
• Neurodegenerative disease studies: Quantifies morphometric deviations relevant to research on neurodegenerative diseases.
• Cognitive health and population comparisons: Facilitates comparison of brain morphometry across populations and settings to study cognitive health.

Methodology:

Computes morphometric measures with the FreeSurfer pipeline; builds statistical normative models from MRI data of 6,909 cognitively healthy individuals aged 18–100; models 1,344 morphometric measures while adjusting for age, sex, intracranial volume and image quality factors (resolution, contrast-to-noise ratio, surface reconstruction defects); generates per-measure Z-scores and provides four Z-score variants with head size and image quality accounted and optional age/sex adjustments.