Quality assessment of reviewers' reports using a simple instrument.

Objective: To validate and test a simple instrument for assessing the quality of a review.

Methods: In this prospective observational study, the quality of 247 reviews of 119 original articles submitted to the Dutch Journal of Medicine was assessed using a 5-point scale that has been used for years by Obstetrics & Gynecology. Each review was assessed by three editors of the journal.

Visceral leishmaniasis and HIV in Tigray, Ethiopia.

Objectives: To identify characteristics that increased the risk of mortality in Ethiopian visceral leishmaniasis patients in a treatment programme managed by Médecins sans Frontières, in Tigray, Northern Ethiopia.

Methods: Retrospective review of a cohort of 791 patients treated for visceral leishmaniasis.

Results: The cohort displayed all the classical signs and symptoms of the disease.

Comparison of an rK39 dipstick rapid test with direct agglutination test and splenic aspiration for the diagnosis of kala-azar in Sudan.

We compared an rK39 dipstick rapid test (Amrad ICT, Australia) with a direct agglutination test (DAT) and splenic aspirate for the diagnosis of kala-azar in 77 patients. The study was carried out under field conditions in an endemic area of north-east Sudan. The sensitivity of the rK39 test compared with splenic aspiration was 92% (46/50), the specificity 59% (16/27), and the positive predictive value 81% (46/57).