We describe a child with multiple congenital anomalies born to a women treated with valproic acid (1000 mg/day) for post traumatic epilepsy. Defects included the typical dysmorphism of the "fetal valproic syndrome", bilateral radial ray aplasia, unilateral proximal phocomelia of the upper limb, kidney hypoplasia and brain atrophy. A direct teratogenic effect of valproic acid is suspected on an experimental basis, and validated by two previous reports of radial defects after valproic acid exposure.

The object of the study was to investigate the outcome in growth-retarded newborns who were diagnosed with fetal renal hyperechogenicity without anatomical abnormality during any stage of pregnancy. Depending on the fetal renal ultrasonography result, the cases were divided into two study groups. There was an intrauterine growth-retarded group with fetal renal medullary hyperechogenicity and another group without fetal renal medullary hyperechogenicity. The renal parenchyma was observed after birth, within the first 5 days of life, and several times until the 14th postpartum day in positive cases. Hyperechogenic renal medullae were detected in 25 of 90 cases with intrauterine growth retardation during the 8-month study period. This may be an in utero cause of subsequent intrauterine and neonatal complications, such as cesarean section because of fetal distress (36%), perinatal infection (24%), treatment in a neonatal intensive care unit (52%), or increased perinatal mortality (8%). The results demonstrate that fetuses with hyperechoic medullae had 1.5 times the risk of an abnormal outcome compared with fetuses with normal echoic kidneys and intrauterine growth retardation. Detailed ultrasound examinations of renal parenchyma appear to be useful for the prenatal diagnosis of intrauterine hypoxia, allowing the detection of possible pathological fetal conditions in utero.

Filtration performance of a geotextile is related to its capacity to retain soil particles over time without clogging. A pore size determination such as the filtration opening size (FOS) is used to assess the geotextile's filtration behavior. Standard hydrodynamic methods use a soil with a uniformity coefficient (Cu) greater than 6, with the coarser particle size value at least twice the estimated FOS value, and with a d10 four times smaller than the FOS value. The filtration opening size determination, using such a soil, is greatly influenced by the size of the coarser particles and by their fraction. Pore size has been overestimated because of these factors and because of the curve continuity. The soil nature of the gradation curve and the quantity of soil used in the test may distort pore size determination, hide some phenomena, and lead to errors in interpretation. The geotextile structure can be characterized by the mass per unit area, thickness, density of fibers, fiber diameter, porosity, and fabrication process. This report includes the first results of a laboratory study performed at the Polytechnical School of Montreal, the University of Liège, the University of Grenoble, CEMAGREF (Antony, France), ENEL (Milano, Italy) and the Ontario Ministry of Transports (Toronto, Canada) on the interaction between geotextile structure and filtration opening size (FOS).

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