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Table I   Summary of provisional cases of selected notifiable diseases, United States, cumulative, week ending February 1, 2014 (5th Week).

Erin K. Sauber-Schatz, PhD1, Bethany A. West, MPH1, Gwen Bergen, PhD1 (Author affiliations at end of text).

A special issue of the American Journal of Medical Genetics Part C with a specific focus on teratology?or the study of birth defects and their causes?recently has been published online. Included in this special issue is a new CDC study: “Influencing Clinical Practice Regarding the Use of Antiepileptic Medications During Pregnancy: Modeling the Potential Impact on the Prevalences of Spina Bifida and Cleft Palate in the United States.” You can read the abstract here.

The journal Pediatrics has published a new CDC article: "Maternal Smoking and Congenital Heart Defects in the Baltimore-Washington Infant Study". You can read the abstract of the article here. Following is a summary of the findings from this article.

The journal Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety has published a new brief report: “Safe Lists for Medications in Pregnancy: Inadequate Evidence Base and Inconsistent Guidance from Web-based Information, 2011.” You can read the article’s abstract here. See below for a summary of the findings from this article.

Pregnant women should not stop or start taking any type of medicine that they need without first talking with a health care provider. Women who are planning to become pregnant should discuss the need for any medicine with their health care provider before becoming pregnant and ensure they are taking only medicines that are necessary.

Researchers from Boston University’s Slone Epidemiology Center, in collaboration with researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Harvard School of Public Health, have published a new study describing medication use during pregnancy in the United States during the period 1976–2008. You can read the abstract here. The findings from this article are summarized in the following text.

The journal Obesity has published a new study online: “Modeling the Potential Public Health Impact of Prepregnancy Obesity on Adverse Fetal and Infant Outcomes.” You can read the article’s abstract here. See below for a summary of the findings from this article.

CDC's Office on Smoking and Health offers information related to smoking and tobacco use.