BackgroundApproximately half of the earth's population in the rural areas of developing countries uses energy obtained from biomass burning, which is harmful to people.ObjectivesThis study is aimed at determining which respiratory symptoms can be associated with biomass burning amongst fish smokers in the Oyorokoto fishing settlement.MethodA community-based, cross-sectional questionnaire, which employed a modified cluster sampling technique, was used.ResultsA total of 300 subjects were recruited for the study, of which 210 (70%) were fish smokers. The mean age was 31.46 ± 13.03 years, with the majority (42.0%) having only primary school education. The prevalence of respiratory symptoms amongst the subjects was 86.7%, the most frequent of which were catarrh (30.48%) and a cough (28.57%). The respiratory symptom occurring least frequently was breathlessness (2.38%). The symptoms most often experienced during fish smoking were those of catarrh (75.5%) and sneezing (73.0%), whereas breathlessness occurred the least, in only 7 (3.3%) of the participants. Sneezing stopped in 64.2% of the subjects after fish smoking had ceased. Most of the fish smoking took place indoors.ConclusionHealth promotion featuring preventive interventions, such as the wearing of face-masks and the use of modern fish smoking methods, which is associated with fewer health risks, is essential to improving the quality of life of fish smokers. The government's provision of certain social services, including better education opportunities for the young, is advocated, and should be especially targeted at improving the lot of the girl child.

One of the dreaded disfiguring disease conditions among the Andoni tribesmen in the Nigerian Niger delta region is hydrocele, especially when its size is large (giant hydrocele) and it cannot be concealed. This case-control study was designed to evaluate the prevalence of depression among patients with giant hydrocele presenting to Bethesda Clinic Ngo, Andoni, Nigeria. A total of 52 patients were recruited into this study: 26 in the giant hydrocele group and 26 in the control group. Their age range was 23 to 78 years, with a mean age of 53.4 ± 15.5 years for the giant hydrocele group and 53.6 ± 14.2 years for the control group. The difference between the prevalence of depression among patients that presented with giant hydrocele (61.54%) and the controls (15.38%) was statistically significant (p = .0015). The authors conclude that depression is common among patients with giant hydrocele when compared with patients with other disease conditions.

Introduction: Crude oil is used as traditional medicine among rural dwellers in South-south Nigeria. Although complications have been reported following its use, this rural populace holds tenaciously to an erroneous belief in its efficacy in treating many ailments. Despite this widespread use there are no known studies from the region on the use of crude oil in this way. This study surveyed the use of crude oil by rural mothers with the objectives of determining the proportion of mothers who use crude oil as traditional medicine, the reasons for its use, the diseases believed to be cured by it, and to establish the identity of those who administer crude oil. Method: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Bethesda Clinic Ngo in South-south Nigeria in the period January-December 2009. Results: Of 420 mothers recruited, 134 (31.9%) used crude oil as medication. Their ages ranged from 19 to 47 years with a mean of 33.72 ± 9.45 years. Mothers older than 30 years were significantly more likely to use crude oil than those younger than 30 years (χ2 = 4.56, p = 0.033, RR = 0.737, CI = 0.548-0.990). There was no statistically significant association between marital status and the use of crude oil as traditional medicine (χ2 = 1.24, p = 0.265, RR= 0.793, CI = 0.545-1.255). Although the majority of participants (78.86%) had a minimum of primary education level (educated group), the uneducated participants were significantly more likely to use crude oil (χ2 = 62. 67, p < 0.001, RR = 2.936, CI = 2.243-3.776). The proportion of mothers using crude oil was significantly higher among those whose occupation was fishing (χ2 = 10.98, p = 0.001, RR = 1.629, CI = 1.198-2.232). The most common use of crude oil was for febrile convulsions (82.1%). The reasons for using crude oil were that crude oil was © PO Dienye, AB Akani, K Itimi, 2012. A licence to publish this material has been given to James Cook University, http://www.rrh.org.au 2 inexpensive (66.4%) and that available hospitals were costly and/or inefficient (61.9%). The most common administrators of crude oil were neighbours (73.2%). Conclusion:A high proportion of mothers attending Bethesda Clinic Ngo use crude oil on their children as a traditional medicine, and this is because of their belief in its effectiveness, and its availability and affordability. The use of this product is encouraged the country's costly and inefficient health system. Neighbours play a large role in the administration of crude oil and this is consistent with the local culture.

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