Alcohol use during pregnancy is a leading, preventable cause of birth defects and developmental disabilities in the United States, with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) being one of the most severe outcomes. Current survey statistics find that approximately one in eight pregnant women (500,000 per year) report alcohol use, with approximately 80,000 reporting binge drinking. While annual rates have fluctuated, trends analysis finds that there has been no significant change in rates of prenatal alcohol exposure over the past 10-year period. Development of effective programs to prevent FAS and to monitor the success of prevention efforts requires epidemiological data systems to inform these activities. This article describes alcohol use patterns among childbearing-age women and data sources that can be used in monitoring this behavior.

Background: Bond established between the mother and foetus before birth is referred to as maternalfoetal attachment which is inuenced by many factors like cultural, mental, social conditions, marriage, marriage, foetal appearance, family and social support. Literature suggests positive role of spirituality in many chronic illnesses as well as in alleviating stress in pregnant women. So this study aimed to nd out relation between spiritual health and maternal-foetal attachment behaviours in pregnant women. Aim and Objectives: To determine correlation between spiritual health and maternal-foetal attachment behaviours in pregnant women attending at a tertiary care hospital, Jaipur, Rajasthan This hospital-based cross-sectional observational study was conducted on 150 pregnant Materials and Methods: women attending at Mahila Hospital attached to SMS Medical College, Jaipur using pre-validated Maternal-foetal attachment Scale developed by Cranley and Spiritual Health Assessment scale developed by Dr. Mahesh and Dr. Kusum Gaur. Results: Mean age of pregnant women was 24.98 years with standard deviation 3.90 years, distributed almost at equal among urban (58%) and rural (42%) as per residence. Among participants, the mean scores of Maternal-foetal attachment behaviour Scale was 63.67±12.28 and for Spiritual Health Attachment Scale was 41.61±12.92. A positive correlation was observed between maternal-foetal attachment behaviour and spiritual health (p<0.05, r=0.65). This study concludes t Conclusions: hat maternalfoetal attachment behaviours increase with increase in spiritual health of pregnant women. Thus it recommends that by incorporating spirituality during pregnancy is an effective strategy to improved maternal and foetal health by increasing the maternal and foetal attachment behaviours

The 2009 H1N1 pandemic, only two months after its discovery, was an unprecedented event. Evidence suggests disproportionate disease with rapid deterioration in the young and pregnant, but is rapidly evolving and frequently limited by poor denominator data. The authors investigated the prevalence and severity in pregnant and non-pregnant reproductiveage women (15 -44 years) at a North East London hospital serving a multi-ethnic population of 700 000. Results Sixty-three admissions with confi rmed positive H1N1 RT-PCR occurred between 27/04/09 and 12/01/10. Seventeen (27%) were pregnant and seven (11%) non-pregnant reproductive-age women. Most were either Caucasian (41%) or Asian (33%) despite a predominantly Caucasian population. Presentation was at a median 28 +5 weeks gestation (range 5 +1 -38 +0 ), eight (47%) in the third and six (35%) in the second trimester. ITU admission occurred in 17% -three pregnant and one non-pregnant woman who died. Two (29%) of the non-pregnant had co-morbidities and one (14%) of the pregnant did. Overall 18 (75%), including all ITU cases, received anti-viral treatment within 48 h. Twelve delivered at a median 39 +1 weeks gestation (range 28 +6 -41 +0 ), seven (58%) vaginally and in three ITU cases (25%) by emergency caesarean within a week of admission -two under 37 +0