Amendments made prior to publication may now be included as part of the 18-month application publication, provided that such amendments are submitted in sufficient time to be entered into the file wrapper (typically 9-14 weeks before projected publication date). To ensure publication, the patent office recommends submitting the application, as amended, through the EFS (electronic filing). This raises two issues: First, if you are hoping that publication of your application will provide notice to infringers and allow back-royalties, then you may want to make sure that the amendments are included in the publication. Second, published amendments may provide even easier access for competitors who hope to get a glimpse of your R&D activities. Arnold Silverman discusses whether publication reveals confidential information.
See the link (pdf) for more information on the changes. Anyone can search patent applications.