Effectiveness of a Voice Training Program for Religious Officials in Turkey.

This study examines the effectiveness of a voice training program designed for Islamic religious officials, who are occupational voice users with a significant vocal load. The participants included 34 healthy religious officials whose acoustic measures were within normal voice ranges for healthy adults (jitter < 1%; shimmer < 3%) and reported no voice complaints. Participants were randomly divided into two groups (experimental, n = 17; control, n = 17). The two-stage voice training program consisted of 32 sessions over 8 weeks with informative and voice exercise stages. Objective and subjective voice measurements were performed at the beginning and end of the research. Objective measurements included fundamental frequency, percentage of vocal pitch perturbation (jitter), percentage of vocal intensity perturbation (shimmer), and harmonics-to-noise ratio. Subjective voice measurements included the Singing Voice Handicap Index, Vocal Fatigue Index (VFI), and Voice-Related Quality of Life (V-RQoL) scores. All initial measurements other than VFI scores were within acceptable limits for both groups. There were no significant differences between the groups initially (p > 0.05) and no significant changes in the control group in the second evaluation (p > 0.05). However, there was significant improvement in the experimental group after the training program in all measures, including VFI scores (p < 0.05). This study shows the positive results of a voice training program. Voice training should be integrated into the formal education of occupational voice users or in-service training programs of relevant institutions.

The Validity and Reliability of the Turkish Version of Preschool Hearing Environments and Reflection on Quality of Life Questionnaire.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to assess preschool children's hearing-related quality of life and to introduce the scale, originally titled "Preschool Hearing Environments and Reflections on Quality of Life Questionnaire" (Preschool HEAR-QL), to the literature through Turkish adaption, validity, and reliability analyses. METHOD: Our study included 210 children aged 2-6 years: 110 with hearing loss (56 cochlear implant users and 54 hearing aid users) and 100 with normal hearing. Demographic data were collected and then the Preschool HEAR-QL, which was translated into Turkish, was administered twice at 15-day intervals. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to determine whether the factor structure found in the original scale development study was confirmed in our sample (construct validity). Cronbach's alpha, intraclass correlation scores, and the test-retest method were used to assess the scale's reliability as the findings were analyzed using paired samples t tests. RESULTS: The children with hearing loss had lower scores than their normal-hearing peers, and the difference was significant in the subdomains of behavior and attention, hearing environments, and communication. The subscale of the Preschool Period Listening Environments and their Reflections on Quality of Life Scale consists of 23 items, and Cronbach's alpha value was found as 0.922 in the first application and 0.926 in the second application (high reliability). In the model established for validity analysis, χ2/df = 2.156, root-mean-square error of approximation = 0.074, standard root-mean-square residual = 0.078, goodness-of-fit index = 0.830, adjusted goodness-of-fit index = 0.789, comparative fit index = 0.895, and Tucker-Lewis index = 0.881 (good model fit). In terms of test-retest reliability, the correlation between the two measurements was 0.837, and there was no statistical difference between the test-retest scores (p = .15). CONCLUSION: The Turkish version of the Preschool HEAR-QL scale was proven to be a valid and reliable scale for assessing the hearing-related quality of life of children aged 2-6 years. SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.25236949.

Evaluation of Voice in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases.

INTRODUCTION: Inflammatory bowel diseases, which are among the most common chronic gastrointestinal diseases, can also affect the voice for different reasons.The aim of this study is to investigate acoustic, perceptual and subjective voice evaluation parameters in inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). METHODS: This prospective case-control study included a total of 80 participants: 28 patients with ulcerative colitis (UC), 22 patients with Crohn's Disease (CD), and 30 healthy controls. Following the endoscopic examination, the fundamental frequency (F0), shimmer (dB), jitter (%), and harmonic/noise ratio (HNR) were measured. GRBAS (grade, roughness, breathiness, asthenia, strain) scale was used for perceptual evaluation, Voice Handicap Index-10 (VHI-10) Turkish version was used for subjective assessment. RESULTS: The F0 value was within normal limits in both disease groups in male and female participants and in the control group. Jitter and shimmer values were statistically higher in the UC and CD groups than the control group. HNR did not differ between CD and control, however it was statistically lower in the UC group when compared to both the control and CD group. The total GRBAS score did not differ between the UC and CD groups, however it was greater in IBD patients compared to the control group. However these differences were within normative parameters. Although total VHI-10 score did not differ between UC and CD groups, both had higher voice handicap than the control group. CONCLUSION: IBD might have an effect on the voice and voice quality. This disease group was discovered to have perceptual and subjective voice problems additionally.

Comparing dysphonia severity index, objective, subjective, and perceptual analysis of voice in patients with multiple sclerosis and healthy controls.

BACKGROUND: Impairments in voice quality in Multiple Sclerosis (MS) have recently been investigated and different results were found. A voice-centered multidimensional assessment protocol with patient-reported outcome measures was conducted to evaluate all the aspects of the voice changes. OBJECTIVES: The study aimed to compare the objective, subjective, and perceptual measures of voice between the people with MS and the healthy control group. METHODS: A total of 128 participants, including 64 people with MS age, and gender-matched healthy controls were enrolled in the study. Subjective, objective, and auditory-perceptual voice assessments of the participants were performed. The auditory-perceptual evaluation was performed with GRBAS. The Dysphonia Severity index was computed for both groups. All the participants completed the Turkish version of The Voice Handicap Index-10 (VHI-10) and the Voice-Related Quality of Life (VRQoL). RESULTS: Acoustic and aerodynamic parameters of voice were found significantly different for both males and females between the MS and control group. DSI was found significantly different for both males and females in the MS group compared to the control group (p<0.05). All components of the GRBAS scale were significantly higher in the MS group (p<0.001). Using a multivariate regression model, it was determined that age, gender, EDSS score, number of MS attacks, and disease duration did not affect the DSI. The overall VHI-10 score was higher in the MS group (median=1.0 range= 0-28) and lower in the control group (median=0 range= 0-4). The mean VRQoL was lower in the MS group (median=95 range= 62.5-100) than in controls (median=100 range= 85-100) (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Our results indicated that people with MS have significant differences in acoustic and aerodynamic parameters of voice compared to healthy individuals. A significant number of persons with MS are aware that their voice problem affects their quality of life. People with MS must be monitored for voice changes and a multidimensional voice assessment protocol should be implemented.

A cyanobiphenyl-based fluorescent ''lighting-up'' sensor for highly selective and sensitive recognition of Al3+: Theoretical, practical and bioimaging studies.

The recognition of toxic Al3+ in foods and biosystems has of great interest to researchers. Herein, a novel cyanobiphenyl-based chemosensor CATH (E)-N'-((4'-cyano-4-hydroxy-[1,1'-biphenyl]-3-yl)methylene)thiophene-2-carbohydrazide was fabricated and shown to recognize Al3+ in HEPES buffer:EtOH (90:10, v:v, pH = 7.4) by ''lighting-up'' fluorescence sensing. The CATH evidenced high sensitivity (LOD = 13.1 nM) and excellent selectivity to Al3+ over competing cations. The Job's plot, TOF-MS and theoretical computation studies were performed to probe the binding mechanism of Al3+ to CATH. Additionally; CATH was successfully utilized to practical applications and employed to recover of Al3+ from different food samples. More importantly, it was employed to intracellular Al3+ detection in living cells including THLE2 and HepG2.

Organic and functional dysphonias: comparison of Self-Assessment protocols by confirmatory factor analysis.

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to see if the effects of the sub-domains of the Voice Handicap Index-10 (VHI-10) and Voice Related Quality of Life (VRQoL) differ in organic (OD) and functional dysphonia (FD). METHOD: A total of 162 patients completed the validated Turkish versions of the Voice Handicap Index-10 (VHI-10) and Voice-Related Quality of Life (VRQoL). Physical (pVHI-10), emotional (eVHI-10) and functional (fVHI-10) sub-domains of VHI-10 and physical-functional (PF-VRQoL), socio-emotional (SE-VRQoL) dimensions of VRQoL were assessed. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to compare the sub-domains of these questionnaires between diagnostic categories. RESULTS: The total and sub-domain scores of both VHI-10 and VRQoL were not statistically different between the two etiologic categories of dysphonia (MANOVA, p > .05). The total VHI-10 and total VRQoL scores were significantly and moderately correlated in both the OD and FD groups. During CFA, 4 models were constructed for the OD and FD groups for VHI-10 and VRQoL factors. There was no significant difference between OD and FD groups in terms of path coefficients of sub-domains (z test, p > .05). CONCLUSION: In terms of VHI-10 and VRQoL, the sub-domains of each questionnaire are equally important in both organic and functional dysphonia. Functional disorders do not depend only on "emotional" factors, and neither do organic problems. Factor analysis should be included when performing a study on patient-reported outcome measures.

Reliability and validity of the Turkish version of speech pathology-specific questionnaire for persons with multiple sclerosis (SMS-TR).

PURPOSE: The aim of this study is to validate the speech pathology-specific questionnaire for persons with Multiple Sclerosis (SMS) in Turkish. METHOD: A total of 218 participants were included in the study. The study group was composed of 104 persons diagnosed with MS, and the control group was 114 healthy participants without any neurological deficits. The translated version of the SMS was administered to all participants. Test-retest reliability, internal consistency, construct validity, floor and ceiling effects were investigated. Dysphagia in multiple sclerosis questionnaire (DYMUS) was used for criterion validity. Finally, sensitivity and specificity of the SMS-TR was calculated using a ROC curve analysis. RESULT: SMS-TR has an excellent internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.92). Item-total correlations range between 0.45 and 0.78. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) obtained for the test-retest indicates a good level of reproducibility (ICC = 0.86). According to confirmatory factor analysis, the fit measures of the scale were found to be acceptable. A significant difference was found between the total SMS scores of the study group and the control group (20.6 ± 10.4 and 1.9 ± 2.8, P < 0.001, respectively). A statistically significant correlation was observed between SMS and DYMUS (r = 0.833, P < 0.001). There were no floor and ceiling effects found in the study group. According to the ROC curve analysis, the area under the curve of SMS-TR was 0.98. The optimal cut-off value was 8, with a sensitivity of 91.3% and a specificity of 95.6%. CONCLUSION: SMS-TR is a valid and reliable patient-reported outcome measure suitable for the assessment of language, speech, and swallowing disorders in persons with MS. A score >8 is an indicator of language, speech, and swallowing pathology for persons.

Effects of Subthalamic Nucleus Deep Brain Stimulation Surgery on Voice and Formant Frequencies of Vowels in Turkish.

AIM: To investigate the effects of deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) on acoustic characteristics of voice production in Turkish patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). MATERIAL AND METHODS: This study recruited 20 patients diagnosed with PD. Voice samples were recorded under the "stimulation on" and "stimulation off" conditions of STN-DBS. Acoustic recordings of the patients were made during the production of vowels /a/, /o/, and /i/ and repetition of the syllables /pa/-/ta/-/ka/. Acoustic analyses were performed using Praat. RESULTS: A significant difference in the parameters was observed among groups for vowels. A positive significant difference was observed between preoperative med-on and postoperative med-on/stim-on groups for /a/ and the postoperative med-on/ stim-on and postoperative med-on/stim-off groups for /o/ and /i/ for frequency perturbation (jitter) and noise-to-harmonics ratio. No significant difference was noted between the preoperative med-on and postoperative med-on/stim-off groups for any vowels. CONCLUSION: STN-DBS surgery has an acute positive effect on voice. Studies on formant frequency analysis in STN-DBS may be expanded with both articulation and intelligibility tests to enable us to combine patient abilities in various perspectives and to obtain precise results.

The Effect of Parental Smoking on Voice-Related Quality of Life in the Pediatric Population.

OBJECTIVES: Exposure to cigarette smoke has significant effects on the respiratory mucosa. However, little is known about the effects of household smoke exposure on children's voice-related quality of life. The aim of this study was to elucidate the effect of parental smoking (PS) on voice-related quality of life in the pediatric population. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The Pediatric Voice-related Quality of Life (PVRQoL) instrument was administered to the parents of 104 healthy children without any known voice disorder. The children were evaluated in two groups. The first group of children had no PS history and no household smoke exposure (non-PS group), in the second group, at least one parent of the child consumed tobacco products in the house (PS group). Social emotional and physical functional subdomains of the PVRQoL were also calculated. RESULTS: A total of 104 surveys were analyzed. The overall percentage of dysphonia in the PS group was 23.6%, whereas it was 6.1% in the non-PS group. The mean PVRQoL scores were 89.1 (±13.8) in the PS group and 97.7 (±4.7) in the non-PS group (P < 0.001). The mean physical functional-PVRQoL score was 35.4 (±7.2) in the PS group and 39.0 (±6.0) in the non-PS group. The mean social emotional-PVRQoL scores were 51.2 (±9.3) in the PS group and 57.2 (±5.6) in the non-PS group. The overall voice quality was significantly lower in the PS group than in the non-PS group. CONCLUSION: Exposure to PS has negative effects on voice-related quality of life in children that cannot be underestimated. Parents should be informed about the detrimental effects of passive smoking on the voice quality of their children. Inclusion of items in pediatric voice surveys about PS that lead to dysphonia would be suggested.

Investigating resilience, perceived social support and trait anxiety levels of mothers of school-age children who stutter.

PURPOSE: The attitude of mothers of children who stutter is believed to be crucial in the management of therapy process. Therefore, this study aimed at the description of resilience, perceived social support and trait anxiety levels of mothers of children with stuttering, as well as at the exploration of the relationship between them. METHODS: The study sample consisted of 33 mothers of children with stuttering aged 6-12 years. The data were gathered using the following instruments: Mother Resilience Scale, Revised Parental Social Support Scale, State-trait Anxiety Inventory, Stuttering Severity Instrument-4, and a personal information form. RESULTS: Resilience of mothers of children who stutter was high, whereas perceived social support and trait anxiety levels of the participants were lower. Mother's increased level of perceived social support resulted in increased resilience level and decreased trait anxiety level. The trait anxiety levels of mothers with a college degree were significantly lower than those of mothers with other education levels. No statistically significant correlation was observed between stuttering severity and the levels of resilience, perceived social support and trait anxiety. CONCLUSION: Although mothers of stuttering children present the required skills to cope with the situation, it is believed that they need more social support. Consequently, offering professional support to mothers in the course of stuttering management and referring them to appropriate intervention programs are emphasized.

Investigating resilience, perceived social support and trait anxiety levels of mothers of school-age children who stutter

ABSTRACT Purpose The attitude of mothers of children who stutter is believed to be crucial in the management of therapy process. Therefore, this study aimed at the description of resilience, perceived social support and trait anxiety levels of mothers of children with stuttering, as well as at the exploration of the relationship between them. Methods The study sample consisted of 33 mothers of children with stuttering aged 6-12 years. The data were gathered using the following instruments: Mother Resilience Scale, Revised Parental Social Support Scale, State-trait Anxiety Inventory, Stuttering Severity Instrument-4, and a personal information form. Results Resilience of mothers of children who stutter was high, whereas perceived social support and trait anxiety levels of the participants were lower. Mother's increased level of perceived social support resulted in increased resilience level and decreased trait anxiety level. The trait anxiety levels of mothers with a college degree were significantly lower than those of mothers with other education levels. No statistically significant correlation was observed between stuttering severity and the levels of resilience, perceived social support and trait anxiety. Conclusion Although mothers of stuttering children present the required skills to cope with the situation, it is believed that they need more social support. Consequently, offering professional support to mothers in the course of stuttering management and referring them to appropriate intervention programs are emphasized.

Investigation of dielectric properties, total phenolic content and optimum formulation of microwave baked gluten-free cakes.

This study discusses the production of microwave baked gluten-free cakes formulated by mixing buckwheat flour and rice flour at different concentrations. Three different ratios of buckwheat flour to rice flour (20:80%, 30:70%, 40:60%) and two different gum types (xanthan and guar gum) with a white layer cake recipe were employed. The batters were baked in microwave oven at different microwave powers (540 W, 450 W, 360 W) for different baking times (3 min, 3.5 min, 4 min). The effect of microwave power, baking time and buckwheat flour concentration on weight loss, color, specific volume, porosity, total phenolic content and dielectric properties were investigated. The optimum microwave power, baking time and buckwheat flour concentration were found as 432.77 W, 3 min, 40% for guar gum added cakes and 360 W, 3.70 min and 29.23% for xanthan gum added ones. It was found that weight loss and color values of the cakes that were baked at the optimal conditions were less than those of control cakes. On the other hand, total phenolic content, specific volume, porosity, dielectric constant and dielectric loss factor values were higher for guar gum added cakes compared to control samples. In addition, it was observed that the cakes prepared with guar gum had similar pore size distribution with control cakes. As a conclusion of the study, it can be declared that surface color and specific volume problems of microwave baking could be solved by addition of guar gum to the formulation which also enables the production of functional, phenolic rich microwave baked cakes.

Levels of Glucagon-like Peptide 1 are Decreased in Macrosomic Neonates from Non-Diabetic Mothers.

Glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) is a gut-derived peptide with insulin-like effects. Our aim was to analyze cord blood GLP-1 levels of macrosomic and appropriate-gestational-age (AGA) neonates from non-diabetic mothers. A case-control study was conducted with 22 term macrosomic neonates (birth weight≥4000 g) and 22 AGA (birth weight>10th percentile and<4000 g) pregnancies. Cord blood GLP-1 levels of neonates were measured. There were no significant differences in maternal age, gestational age and gravida between the 2 groups. Umbilical cord blood GLP-1 levels were significantly lower in macrosomic neonates (6.9±2.9 pg/mL) compared with control group (10.3±3.7 pg/mL) (p=0.002). Binary logistic regression analysis showed only the maternal BMI to be an independent statistically significant predictor of macrosomia (odds ratio=2.459; 95% CI, 1.170-5.170; P=0.018). The results of our study revealed decreased GLP-1 levels in macrosomic neonates, and maternal BMI was an independent predictor of macrosomia.

Profiling morpho-syntactical development of cochlear implanted children with TR-LARSP.

This research aims to describe the grammatical development of Turkish-speaking children with cochlear implants (CI) using the Turkish adaptation of the Language Assessment and Remediation Profile (LARSP). The study was conducted on a total of 15 children with CIs aged 43-87 months with 22-45 months of hearing age. A total of 750 utterances were elicited from the CI group's recorded speech samples and analysed using the methodology of Turkish-Language Assessment and Remediation Profile (TR-LARSP). A cross-sectional descriptive model is used in the study. The results show that there is a significant difference in the acquisition of grammatical structures in children with CIs as compared to typically developing (TD) age-matched children in Turkish. In conclusion, this study suggests that after the implantation of these children, the speech therapist should consider the acquisition time of morpho-syntactical structures before making a language-based therapy plan.

Dielectric properties, optimum formulation and microwave baking conditions of chickpea cakes.

The aim of this study was to correlate dielectric properties with quality parameters, and to optimize cake formulation and baking conditions by response surface methodology. Weight loss, color, specific volume, hardness and porosity were evaluated. The samples with different DATEM (0.4, 0.8 and 1.2%) and chickpea flour concentrations (30, 40 and 50%) were baked in microwave oven at different power (300, 350, 400 W) and baking times (2.50, 3.0, 3.50 min). It was found that microwave power showed significant effect on color, while baking time showed effect on weight loss, porosity, hardness, specific volume and dielectric properties. Emulsifier level affected porosity, specific volume and dielectric constant. Chickpea flour level affected porosity, color, hardness and dielectric properties of cakes. The optimum microwave power, baking time, DATEM level and chickpea flour level were found as 400 W, 2.84 min, 1.2% and 30%, respectively. The comparison between conventionally baked and the microwave baked cakes at optimum points showed that color difference, weight loss, specific volume and porosity values of microwave baked cakes were less than those of conventionally baked cakes, on the other hand, hardness values were higher. Moreover, a negative correlation between dielectric constant and porosity, and weight loss values were detected for microwave baked samples. A negative correlation between dielectric loss factor and porosity was observed. These correlations indicated that quality characteristics of a microwave baked cake sample can be assessed from dielectric properties. These correlations provides understanding on the behavior of food material during microwave processing.

Biomechanical Performances of Networked Polyethylene Glycol Diacrylate: Effect of Photoinitiator Concentration, Temperature, and Incubation Time.

Nutrient conduit networks can be introduced within the Polyethylene Glycol Diacrylate (PEGDA) tissue construct to enable cells to survive in the scaffold. Nutrient conduit networks can be created on PEGDA by macrochannel to nanochannel fabrication techniques. Such networks can influence the mechanical and cell activities of PEGDA scaffold. There is no study conducted to evaluate the effect of nutrient conduit networks on the maximum tensile stress and cell activities of the tissue scaffold. The study aimed to explore the influence of the network architecture on the maximum tensile stress of PEGDA scaffold and compared with the nonnetworked PEGDA scaffold. Our study found that there are 1.78 and 2.23 times decrease of maximum tensile stress due to the introduction of nutrient conduit networks to the PEGDA scaffold at 23°C and 37°C temperature conditions, respectively. This study also found statistically significant effect of network architecture, PI concentration, temperature, and wait time on the maximum failure stress of PEGDA samples (P value < 0.05). Cell viability results demonstrated that networked PEGDA hydrogels possessed increased viability compared to nonnetworked and decreased viability with increased photoinitiator concentrations. The results of this study can be used for the design of PEGDA scaffold with macrosize nutrient conduit network channels.

Behçet's disease and pregnancy: a retrospective analysis of course of disease and pregnancy outcome.

AIM: Behçet's disease (BD) is a rare, chronic, multisystemic disease of unknown cause. BD is characterized by mucocutaneous, ocular, vascular and central nervous system manifestations and is also associated with thrombogenicity. In this retrospective analysis we investigated the relation between gestation and BD. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This retrospective study consisted of 49 pregnancies in 24 patients with BD between January 2008 and June 2013. The following clinical and demographic data were obtained: maternal age, obstetric history, pregnancy outcome, and maternal and neonatal complications during pregnancy following diagnosis of BD. To avoid recall bias, the following data were collected only in the recent pregnancy of each patient: disease activity and use of medications during pregnancy. RESULTS: Sixty-three pregnancies occurred in this group and 52 of them were after the diagnosis. Mean age of the patients at diagnosis was 21.4 years. The duration of BD during pregnancy was 7.2 years. Fourteen patients (58.3%) had no symptoms during recent pregnancy. No change was observed in the disease activity during pregnancy in eight patients. Disease activity was aggravated in two patients. The rate of vascular complications was higher in pregnancies of patients with BD. The rates of stillbirth, pre-eclampsia, preterm delivery and intrauterine growth restriction did not differ between the groups. Perinatal mortality and neonatal intensive care unit admissions as well as low birthweight infants were also similar between groups. CONCLUSION: Patients with BD had a higher rate of vascular complications during pregnancy; however, other obstetric complications were not increased and neonatal outcomes were not negatively influenced by BD.

Retrospective evaluation of pregnancy outcomes in women with familial Mediterranean fever.

AIM: Familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) is an autosomal recessive condition characterized by periodic attacks of fever, aseptic serositis and synovitis. In this study, we investigated maternal and neonatal outcomes in pregnant patients with FMF. METHODS: This retrospective study consisted of 46 pregnant patients with FMF who attended the perinatology clinic of Dr Zekai Tahir Burak Research and Training Hospital between January 2008 and December 2012. The following clinical and demographic data were obtained by reviewing the patients' medical records: maternal age, colchicine use during pregnancy, obstetric history, pregnancy outcome and maternal and neonatal complications during the current pregnancy. RESULTS: The patients with FMF had higher rates of premature rupture of membranes (PROM) and Cesarean delivery as well as low birth weight infants; however, rates of stillbirth, gestational diabetes, preeclampsia did not differ between the groups. Preterm delivery rates were higher in the study group, but this difference did not reach statistical significance. Patients with pregnancy complications had significantly more basal proteinuria than did patients without complications. Nine patients did not receive colchicine therapy in the previous or current pregnancies. Within this subgroup, four (44.4%) of the patients had a history of two or more previous miscarriages. However, there were only three cases (8.1%) of two or more miscarriages among 37 patients who received colchicine; this difference was statistically significant CONCLUSIONS: FMF leads to higher rates of PROM, recurrent miscarriage and preterm deliveries. Colchicine treatment is safe in pregnancy and may lead to a decreased miscarriage rate.

A Lindenmayer system-based approach for the design of nutrient delivery networks in tissue constructs.

Large thick tissue constructs have reported limited success primarily due to the inability of cells to survive deep within the scaffold. Without access to adequate nutrients, cells placed deep within the tissue construct will die out, leading to non-uniform tissue regeneration. Currently, there is a necessity to design nutrient conduit networks within the tissue construct to enable cells to survive in the matrix. However, the design of complex networks within a tissue construct is challenging. In this paper, we present the Lindenmayer system, an elegant fractal-based language algorithm framework, to generate conduit networks in two- and three-dimensional architecture with several degrees of complexity. The conduit network maintains a parent-child relationship between each branch of the network. Several L-system parameters have been studied-branching angle, branch length, ratio of parent to child branch diameter, etc-to simulate several architectures under a given L-system notation. We have also presented a layered manufacturing-based UV-photopolymerization process using the Texas Instruments DLP system to fabricate the branched structures. This preliminary work showcases the applicability of L-system-based construct designs to drive scaffold fabrication systems.