Minerva

Inflammatory ocular events have been reported among patients taking oral bisphosphonates. In a cohort of over 900 000 people taking oral bisphosphonates, including more than 10 000 first time users, researchers reported an incidence rate of 29 and 63 cases per 10 000 person years of uveitis and scleritis, respectively (CMAJ 2012;184:E431-4, doi:10.1503/cmaj.111752). These rates compared with 20 and 36 cases per 10 000 person years among non-users, respectively. The authors advised that first time users of oral bisphosphonates should be made familiar with the symptoms of inflammatory eye conditions.

A strategy to get better, locally produced ceramic cooking stoves into homes in 60 rural Kenyan villages to reduce exposure to household air pollutants was partly successful. Local vendors were trained, vendors and purchasers received incentives, and better cooking stoves were quickly adopted by a large number of households. Homes using these stoves needed less firewood. But relatively few stoves were installed among households of young women …