High-resolution dynamical downscaling experiment outputs data over Reunion and Mauritius islands in the South-West Indian Ocean.

The present article describes a dataset encompassing model outputs generated by the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) regional climate model. A high-resolution (1km) downscaling simulation was performed over two tropical islands, Reunion and Mauritius, situated in the South-West Indian Ocean (SWIO), with initial and boundary conditions provided by the ERA5 reanalysis with a global resolution of 0.25° × 0.

Surface measurement of total solar and ultraviolet irradiance and ancillary meteorological data at the South-West Indian Ocean Solar network (IOS-net) stations.

The observational data described in this article are collected at several locations in the South-West Indian Ocean (SWIO). Platforms equipped with radiometers and a weather transmitter, and located over Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, La Réunion and Seychelles islands, are used to measure incident global and diffuse shortwave radiation and incident global UV  + -band radiation along with air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and direction, air pressure and rainfall amount with a sampling frequency of 0.1 Hz.

Macroscopic investigation of the transient hydrodynamic memory behavior of preparative packed chromatography beds.

The goal of the present work was to examine the hydrodynamic behavior of preparative scale packed chromatography beds during long-term cyclical operation at high loads using an experimental set-up with a high resolution measuring device of bed height. One agarose-based resin and one methacrylic-based resin were examined in a 140 mm column. Both resins exhibited hysteresis behavior during compression/relaxation cycles.

Defining laterality of the descending thoracic aorta in a 4-chamber view of the heart.

Objective: Right descending aortas have been correlated with an increased risk of congenital heart disease. Nevertheless, the aortic position remains a largely overlooked diagnostic tool in second-trimester sonography because no formal system for assessing the position exists. By developing a method of assigning the position of the aorta relative to the thoracic midline, diagnostic use of the descending aorta's position might be implemented more easily.

Prenatal diagnosis of spontaneous septostomy in dichorionic diamniotic twins and review of the literature.

Objective: We present 2 cases of spontaneous septostomy in dichorionic diamniotic twins and review the literature regarding the incidence, etiology, and complications of this condition.

Methods: The following key words were used in the literature search: "rupture dividing membrane twin," "disruption dividing membrane twin," "pseudomonoamniotic twin," "spontaneous septostomy twin," "interfetal membrane disruption," "intertwin membrane rupture," and "intertwin membrane disruption."

Results: We present 2 cases in which an intertwin membrane defect was found prenatally in dichorionic diamniotic twins.

[Double aortic arch: prenatal case report].

We have presented a case of prenatal double aortic arch, diagnosed by ultrasound, to demonstrate the importance of 3-vessel view by detecting aortic arch abnormalities. Double aortic arch is one the most common types of the vascular ring. The suspicion of a double aortic arch is raised by detecting the U-sign which is formed by the combination of both aortic arches and the left ductus arteriosus.

A review of findings in fetal cardiac section drawings: part 4: sagittal and parasagittal views.

Objective: The goal of this presentation is to review some of the common and rare fetal heart abnormalities and to provide an easy approach to these findings with schematic drawings. In this presentation, we limit the scope to the sagittal and parasagittal sections.

Methods: Over the past 10 years, we collected cases in which the common views of the heart were abnormal and the differential diagnoses that existed for each.

Three-dimensional sonographic evaluations of embryonic brain development.

Objective: The purpose of this presentation is to show 3-dimensional development of the ventricles of the brain in early pregnancy, from 6 to 13 weeks, and to provide a reference for early diagnosis of central nervous system anomalies such as hydrocephalus and holoprosencephaly.

Methods: From March 2007 to August 2007, 46 patients were included. All patients had routine first-trimester 2- and 3-dimensional sonographic examinations at the same time.

A review of findings in fetal cardiac section drawings. Part 3: the 3-vessel-trachea view and variants.

Objective: The goal of this presentation is to review some of the common and rare fetal heart abnormalities and to provide an easy approach to these findings with the schematic drawings.

Methods: Over the past 10 years, we collected cases in which the common views of the heart were abnormal and the differential diagnoses that existed for each. This presentation shows the normal sonographic sections and then variations of these sections and the associated anomalies.

A review of findings in fetal cardiac section drawings, Part 2: high abdominal views.

Objective: The goal of this presentation is to review some of the common and rare fetal heart abnormalities and to provide an easy approach to these findings with schematic drawings.

Methods: Over the past 10 years, we collected cases in which the common views of the heart were abnormal and the differential diagnoses that existed for each. This presentation shows the normal sonographic sections and then variations of these sections and the associated anomalies.

A review of findings in fetal cardiac section drawings, part 1: The 4-chamber view.

Objectives: The goal of this presentation is to review some of the common and rare fetal heart abnormalities and to provide an easy approach to these findings with schematic drawings.

Methods: Over the past 10 years, we collected cases in which the common views of the heart were abnormal and the differential diagnoses that existed for each. The presentation shows the normal sonographic sections and then variations of these sections and the associated anomalies.

Intrathoracic fluid may be a normal finding at around 8 gestational weeks.

Objective: To describe the observation of embryonic thoracic fluid at around 8 weeks' gestation and to discuss the likely etiology.

Methods: This was a retrospective study of patients referred between August 2005 and May 2006 to our units in France and in the USA for a dating scan between 6 and 10 weeks. Included in our series were all embryos presenting with an ultrasound finding suggestive of an early pericardial fluid collection, i.

The value of single umbilical artery in the prediction of fetal aneuploidy: findings in 12,672 pregnant women.

Objectives: To assess the risk of the association of single umbilical artery and aneuploidies.

Methods: In a general unselected obstetric population of 12,672 singleton pregnant women from January 1998 to December 2002, we detected 61 fetuses (prevalence, 0.48%) with single umbilical artery (SUA) on prenatal ultrasound at 16 to 23 menstrual weeks.

Prognosis of very large first-trimester hematomas.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the outcome of pregnancies complicated by very large hematomas in the first trimester.

Methods: Between January 2001 and January 2006, 8085 patients between 5 and 14 weeks' gestation underwent routine first-trimester ultrasonographic examinations at our practice. Of these, 30 patients had a "very large" (> 50% of the gestational sac) intrauterine hematoma.

Isolated fetal pyelectasis and chromosomal abnormalities.

Objective: The primary objective of this study was to determine if isolated pyelectasis is a risk factor for trisomy 21.

Study Design: Twelve thousand, six hundred and seventy-two unselected singleton fetuses were examined by prenatal ultrasound during the second trimester at a single institution. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and likelihood ratio of pyelectasis (either isolated or in association with other soft markers/structural anomalies) to detect trisomy 21 were calculated.

Growth patterns of the heart and kidney suggest inter-organ collaboration in facultative fetal growth.

Maternal smoking during pregnancy has been associated with a number of negative sequelae among offspring, including elevated postnatal blood pressure. While animal studies have described organ level alterations with smoke exposure, human data have been more limited. Thirty-four healthy maternal/fetal pairs (24 nonsmokers, 10 smokers) participated in a longitudinal growth study from the thirteenth week of pregnancy to document fetal kidney and heart growth trajectories and morphology.

Karyotyping of fetuses with isolated choroid plexus cysts is not justified in an unselected population.

Objective: The main objective of this study was to determine whether isolated choroid plexus cysts are a risk factor for trisomy 18.

Methods: A total of 12,672 unselected patients were examined, and the outcome of fetuses with choroid plexus cysts was assessed. The cases with choroid plexus cysts were selected from the 12,672 patients and further divided into cases with minor markers of aneuploidy and cases with associated structural anomalies.

Exposure to maternal diabetes is associated with altered fetal growth patterns: A hypothesis regarding metabolic allocation to growth under hyperglycemic-hypoxemic conditions.

The prevalence of diabetes is rising worldwide, including women who grew poorly in early life, presenting intergenerational health problems for their offspring. It is well documented that fetuses exposed to maternal diabetes during pregnancy experience both macrosomia and poor growth outcomes in birth size. Less is known about the in utero growth patterns that precede these risk factor expressions.

An isolated echogenic heart focus is not an indication for amniocentesis in 12,672 unselected patients.

Objective: To evaluate the risk of Down syndrome in fetuses with a heart echogenic focus using the Bayes theorem and likelihood ratios in an unselected population.

Methods: We prospectively evaluated 12,672 second-trimester sonographic features and extracted and examined a population with an echogenic focus for chromosomal anomalies.

Results: There were 479 cases of echogenic focus; 90.

Timing is everything: a reconsideration of fetal growth velocity patterns identifies the importance of individual and sex differences.

Fetal growth has been posited to follow a "timing hypothesis" sequence in which the second trimester favors a single growth velocity peak in body length and the third trimester accommodates a single growth velocity peak in weight accrual. To our knowledge, this proposition has never been tested with high-frequency longitudinal ultrasound data from normally growing human fetuses. The present study examined whether fetal growth in leg length had its peak velocity at or about 20-26 gestational weeks and declined subsequently and whether estimated fetal weight velocity was maximal at or about 33 weeks and declined subsequently; if the greatest acquisition of leg length occurred in the second trimester and weight in the third trimester; and if birth outcomes reflected these relationships.

Prenatal smoke exposure alters growth in limb proportions and head shape in the midgestation human fetus.

The objective of this study was to examine the effects of smoke exposure on the growth patterns of the head, limbs, and torso of the midgestation human fetus. Four hundred maternal/fetal pairs contributed to this analysis: 366 individuals were assessed cross-sectionally (87 smokers and 279 nonsmokers) at approximately 20 and 32 weeks, and 34 individuals were followed longitudinally at 23, 27, and 32 weeks (10 smokers, 24 nonsmokers). Ten body parameters were measured by fetal ultrasound.

Infants thinner at birth exhibit smaller kidneys for their size in late gestation in a sample of fetuses with appropriate growth.

Fetal ultrasound measurements were employed to investigate the relationship between weight and ponderal index at birth and kidney size during the second (23 weeks) and third (32 weeks) trimesters of pregnancy in a sample of 25 normally growing fetuses. Kidney volume and kidney volume / fetal weight ratio at 32 weeks are significantly and positively related to both weight and ponderal index at birth, controlling for sex, gestational age at birth, and day of ultrasound measurement. A second-degree polynomial relationship approximates the predictability of kidney volume fetal weight ratio at 23 weeks to that at 32 weeks, demonstrating shifting growth rates in fetal organ and body growth relationships during midgestation.