neuroanatomical database available

[Bruno A. Olshausen]

    The following software is available via 

	ftp://v1.wustl.edu/pub/xanat/xanat-2.0.tar.Z

    There is also a homepage at

	http://redwood.psych.cornell.edu/bruno/xanat/xanat.html



			     Xanat 2.0
	          A Graphical Anatomical Database

	         By Bill Press and Bruno Olshausen
	      Washington University School of Medicine
	       Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology
		     St. Louis, Missouri 63110


    XANAT is a computer   program  that facilitates the analysis   of
    neuroanatomical data by  storing the results of numerous  studies
    in a  standardized  format, and  by providing  various  tools for
    performing summaries and  comparisons of these studies.  Data are
    entered by   drawing   injection and label  sites  directly  onto
    canonical representations of  the neuroanatomical  structures  of
    interest, along   with  providing descriptive  text  information.
    Searches   may then  be  performed  on the   data by querying the
    database graphically according to injection or label site, or via
    text information  (i.e., keyword search).   Analyses  may also be
    performed   by   accumulating data  across  multiple  studies and
    displaying a  color coded  map  that graphically  represents  the
    total  evidence for  connectivity  between regions.   Data may be
    studied and  compared free of  areal boundaries (which often vary
    from one lab  to the next), and  instead with respect to standard
    landmarks,    such as   the    position relative  to  well  known
    neuroanatomical    substrates,  or stereotaxic   coordinates.  If
    desired,   areal boundaries may    be   defined by  the user   to
    facilitate the interpretation of results.

    XANAT is written in C and is intended to run on unix workstations
    running  the X11  window  system.  The workstation   must have at
    least  a   modifiable 8-bit   color map.  The   program  has been
    successfully tested on Suns, SGIs, and IBM PCs (running Linux).

    Included with  the  distribution    is  an example  dataset    of
    pulvinar-cortical  connectivity, which   should  prove useful  in
    learning how to use the program.