BackgroundPrevious studies have demonstrated that endoscopic ultrasound-fine needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) is a reliable tool for diagnosing pancreatic lesions; however, the reported sensitivity and specificity vary greatly across studies. The aim of this study was to pool the existing literature and assess the overall performance of EUS-FNA in the diagnosis of solid pancreatic lesions.MethodsA systematic search of MEDLINE, Cochrane Database for Systematic Reviews, and EMBASE was performed to identify original and review articles published between January 1995 and January 2014 that reported the accuracy of EUS-FNA in the diagnosis of pancreatic masses. Quality of the included studies was assessed using the quality assessment of diagnosis accuracy studies score tool. Meta-DiSc software was used to calculate the pooled sensitivity and specificity, positive and negative likelihood ratios, and to construct the summary receiver operating characteristics curve.ResultsTwenty studies involving a total of 2,761 patients were included in the study. The pooled sensitivity and specificity of EUS-FNA in the diagnosis of solid pancreatic lesions were 90.8 % [95 % confidence interval (CI), 89.4–92 %] and 96.5 % (95 % CI, 94.8–97.7 %), respectively. The positive and negative likelihood ratios were 14.8 (95 % CI, 8.0–27.3) and 0.12 (95 % CI, 0.09–0.16), respectively. The overall diagnostic accuracy was 91.0 %.ConclusionsOur findings suggest that EUS-FNA has high sensitivity and specificity in the diagnosis of solid pancreatic lesions.

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Introduction: Superficial skin fungal infections are among the neglected communicable diseases in many developing countries. Schoolchildren are among the most affected groups in Southern Tanzania. The main objective of this study was to determine the magnitude and associated risk factors of superficial skin fungal infections among primary schoolchildren in Southern Tanzania.Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive community-based study was conducted in October 2017 in a public primary school in Songea Municipal, Southern Tanzania. A sample of 500 pupils was interviewed and a physical examination performed to assess for the presence of clinically suspected skin fungal infections. Data were analyzed by SPSS v21 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, US).Results: A total of 500 pupils (52.40% males) with a mean age of 9.92±1.13 years were recruited. The point-prevalence of skin fungal infections was 35.20%. Tinea capitis was the leading suspected skin fungal disease found in 73 (80.22%) pupils. Age between 10 and 12 years and sharing of a bed with more than three people were significantly associated with the development of superficial skin fungal infections (p<0.05).Conclusion: Our findings indicate that the magnitude of superficial skin fungal infections among schoolgoing children in this study area is moderately high. We recommend the provision of health education programs for preventing and controlling diseases in schoolchildren, with the aim to reduce long-term morbidity and the socioeconomic impact.