Looking beyond the numbers: quality assurance procedures in the Global Network for Women's and Children's Health Research Maternal Newborn Health Registry.

Background: Quality assurance (QA) is a process that should be an integral part of research to protect the rights and safety of study participants and to reduce the likelihood that the results are affected by bias in data collection. Most QA plans include processes related to study preparation and regulatory compliance, data collection, data analysis and publication of study results. However, little detailed information is available on the specific procedures associated with QA processes to ensure high-quality data in multi-site studies.

Predictive biomarkers candidates for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer treated with bevacizumab-containing regimen.

Bevacizumab was the first molecular-targeted antiangiogenic therapy approved for the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer. Until now, there are no predictive biomarkers available to decide the prescription of bevacizumab in patients with colorectal cancer. The purposes of this review were to provide a critical appraisal of the evidence and to identify possible predictive genetic biomarkers.

Equity in access to high cost drugs in Uruguay.

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the equity in access to high cost oncology medicines reimbursed by the Uruguayan National Health System. Also, were determined the causes of access inequities.

Methods: Different levels of access were determined by crossing epidemiological and reimbursement data with geographical distribution and number of Health System users.