press release

Nov. 9, 2011, 8:00 a.m. EST

ORBIS International Brings World's Only Flying Eye Hospital to Memphis

FedEx Team Members Visit the Flying Eye Hospital They Help to Fly

MEMPHIS, Tenn., Nov 09, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- ORBIS International, a leading global organization dedicated to saving sight worldwide, makes its final U.S. stop in Memphis as part of the North American Goodwill Tour. The tour kicked off earlier this year in Los Angeles with the announcement by FedEx of a new 5-year, $5.375 million commitment to ORBIS in the form of cash and in-kind contributions. In addition, FedEx Express is donating an MD-10 cargo aircraft to ORBIS to be converted into the third-generation, state of the art Flying Eye Hospital.

The current aircraft also visited Vancouver, BC, Burlington, Vt., Dallas Fort/Worth, and Indianapolis and will visit Toronto and Ottawa, Canada in November to raise public awareness of the need to eliminate avoidable blindness. Additionally, the ORBIS Flying Eye Hospital just completed its final medical program of the year in Trujillo, Peru, which was sponsored by FedEx.

"FedEx team members here in Memphis and around the globe have supported ORBIS for almost three decades, one of our longest-running relationships with a nonprofit organization," said James R. Parker, executive vice president, FedEx Express Air Operations. "Our pilots volunteer to fly the plane on its sight-saving missions around the world. All ORBIS pilots train here in Memphis at the FedEx flight simulator. Our mechanics provide maintenance support and we donate the use of our unparalleled network and our aviation expertise. Why do we help this eye hospital fly to places in need? Because ORBIS significantly has improved the lives of millions of people around the world who will now experience the gift of sight."

The Flying Eye Hospital is the world's only airplane with a fully functioning state-of-the-art eye hospital on board. ORBIS brings dedicated eye care professionals from across the world to developing countries to provide two to three weeks of training and state-of-the-art surgical demonstrations. ORBIS volunteer doctors train local doctors, nurses, biomedical engineers and technicians in the skills necessary to provide high-quality eye care to their communities - skills that will prevent and treat avoidable causes of blindness such as cataracts, glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy.

Worldwide, there are 39 million blind persons, and 90 percent of them live in developing countries where there is a severe lack of proper medical care. At least 80 percent of vision impairment cases are preventable or treatable. Since 1982, ORBIS has conducted programs in 89 countries, impacting the lives of more than 15 million people.

"There are more than 39 million blind adults and children in the world today, 90% in the developing world. The true tragedy of this global health crisis is that 80% of visually impairment can be avoided or cured," said Dr. Barbara DeBuono, president and CEO of ORBIS International. "Thanks to the unwavering support of companies such as FedEx, hundreds of eye care professionals, aviation staff and pilots who have dedicated their considerable time and talents, we have been able to save sight for millions of people around the world."

FedEx and ORBIS International

FedEx has supported ORBIS for 29 years, providing millions of dollars of support in cash and in-kind contributions. The $5.375 million donation of cash and in-kind services announced in August and the MD-10 cargo aircraft donated to ORBIS to be the next-generation Flying Eye Hospital builds on an earlier $5.5 million, five year commitment that FedEx made to ORBIS in 2006. In addition, FedEx and its team members donate the unparalleled FedEx Express global network and aviation expertise to help the Flying Eye Hospital fly. FedEx Express pilots volunteer to fly the current ORBIS DC-10 to many of its medical program sites and train other volunteer pilots; FedEx Express mechanics provide maintenance support; team members around the world volunteer as part of the ORBIS humanitarian team as interpreters, welcoming and escorting patients to and from their surgeries and checkups, canvassing neighborhoods and assisting with patient screenings. FedEx Express provides complimentary transportation services to move critically needed medical supplies to ORBIS clinics worldwide; makes the FedEx Express flight training simulator available to train volunteer pilots and manages the cost and performance of the annual safety checks for ORBIS' flagship Flying Eye Hospital.

FedEx team members will be able to visit the Flying Eye Hospital on Thursday and Friday, November 10 and 11. On Saturday, November 12, FedEx and ORBIS will celebrate their historic relationship with a FedEx Friends and Family Day. The event will feature a fun-filled day of activities for FedEx Express Air Operations team members and their families.

About FedEx

FedEx Corp. FDX +0.68% provides customers and businesses worldwide with a broad portfolio of transportation, e-commerce and business services. With annual revenues of $40 billion, the company offers integrated business applications through operating companies competing collectively and managed collaboratively, under the respected FedEx brand. Consistently ranked among the world's most admired and trusted employers, FedEx inspires its more than 290,000 team members to remain "absolutely, positively" focused on safety, the highest ethical and professional standards and the needs of their customers and communities. For more information, visit news.fedex.com.

About ORBIS International

ORBIS International is a nonprofit humanitarian organization that works in developing countries to save sight worldwide. ORBIS prevents and treats blindness through hands-on training, public health education, improved access to quality eye care, and partnering with local health care organizations in an effort to eliminate avoidable blindness. For more information on ORBIS, please visit www.ORBIS.org

Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=50063383&lang=en

SOURCE: FedEx Corp.

AHRQ Questions Effectiveness of Glaucoma Screening Programs -- Medscape

Ophthalmologists Blast Federal Review of Glaucoma Screening

James Brice

November 10, 2011 — Ophthalmologists are crying foul after a draft review from the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) questioned the effectiveness of glaucoma screening in the general and asymptomatic at-risk populations.

The American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) and American Glaucoma Society (AGS) issued a joint statement November 3 criticizing the draft analysis for overlooking the value of screening in specific at-risk groups and ignoring published studies and anecdotal experience demonstrating the clinical benefits of screening.

"We know that early detection is beneficial compared to treating the disease once it gets advanced," said Cynthia Maddox, MD, chair of the glaucoma society’s patient care committee, in an interview with Medscape Medical News. "Glaucoma is an asymptomatic disease, which disproportionately affects groups of patients who should have [access to] early detection. To me, this is a formula that calls for screening."

The AHRQ draft review concludes that no published evidence exists to establish a link between screening for glaucoma and its early detection and effective treatments. Analysts found promise in new screening devices, such as frequency-doubling technology and optical coherence tomography, but they failed to find convincing evidence that screening leads to less visual impairment and better clinical outcomes for asymptomatic adults who undergo the procedures.

The AHRQ review focused on screening both general and at-risk populations for open-angle glaucoma, the most common form of the disease. The analysts identified 72 primary studies that consider the efficacy of glaucoma screening. Of that total, all but 12 were set aside because of statistical bias or methodologic problems. No randomized controlled clinical trials or professional consensus statements about the appropriate use of glaucoma screening were available to guide the AHQR panel's findings.

The joint AAO/AGS statement stressed the importance of screening for open-angle glaucoma because patients remain asymptomatic until late in disease progression, when visual loss and functional impairment are irreversible.

Open-angle glaucoma affects more than 2.2 million people in the United States, although only half of the prevalent cases have been identified. Definitive diagnosis is difficult and involves multiple ocular exams, such as ocular tonometry, perimetry, and direct ophthalmoscopy. The limitations of intraocular pressure tests alone for diagnosis have led the AAO and AGS to remain neutral about screening a general population. However, Dr. Maddox and other ophthalmologists are adamant about the need to screen at-risk populations, including African Americans, Latinos, people with a family history of open-angle glaucoma, and individuals who are receiving long-term corticosteroid therapy or have a history of blunt trauma to the eye.

African Americans have a 3-fold higher incidence of open-angle glaucoma and a 6-fold higher incidence of glaucoma-related blindness, relative to non-Hispanic whites in the United States, according to the joint statement. Hispanics have a similar incidence and morbidity as African Americans, it said.

The negative AHRQ draft has also led ophthalmologists to worry that the findings may influence future recommendations from the US Preventive Services Task Force, the federal agency responsible in 2009 for controversial guidelines recommending against screening mammography for women before age 50. The Task Force last assessed glaucoma screening in March 2005. At that time, it concluded that not enough data were available to recommend for or against screening.

Now, a negative recommendation from the Task Force could create an additional disincentive for at-risk individuals (who have relatively less access to healthcare than the general population) for undergoing glaucoma screening, Dr. Maddox noted.

"Our concern is that having a negative record from AHRQ saying that screening has no value will create a disincentive for patients to be evaluated," she said.

Additionally, a negative review from AHRQ may have implications for Medicare and private insurance payers coverage decision. Such decisions could reduce access to care for at-risk populations, according to the advocacy groups.

The joint statement also faults the draft report for not comparing the costs of screening against the benefits of early detection and treatment. It criticized the review for allegedly overlooking the burden that untreated glaucoma and associated blindness has on individuals.

The AHRQ had no immediate response to the AAO/AGS critique, said Karen J. Migdail, senior policy advisor. It will be evaluated with other material submitted to the agency during the draft's 30-day public comment period, which ended October 12.

AHRQ is a branch of the US Department of Health and Human Services. It gained authority from Congress in 2003 to conduct clinical effectiveness research to advise Medicare and other federal health insurance programs about the performance of medical diagnostics, therapies, and preventive practices. Its mandate was expanded in 2009 to include comparative effectiveness research.

Sources for this article have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.

Medscape Medical News © 2011 WebMD, LLC
Send comments and news tips to news@medscape.net.

Start-up Nation - Millennials as Entrepeneurs

An interesting book that I recently enjoyed reading is "Start-up nation". The author tells us about the infrastructure, support, capital and overwhelmingly nurturing culture that the Israeli government has created in order to foster start-up companies, esp in life-sciences.

Fast forward to 2011...a tough job market...and the # 1 employer of college graduates being Teach for America (> 46,000 applications last year!) and Andrew Yang has an idea and decides to launch Venture for America (VFA), which will attract our best and brightest grads to start-up companies in the US and plant an entrepreneurial seed in their mind, early in their careers. Interesting!  

The question remains, what is the best way to educate our future generations, particularly Millennials who are just graduating and entering a tough job market?

Some (Peter Thiel included) argue that education, in the traditional sense, is too costly and does not have value for certain people. Street smarts, starting a company, leading, and entrepreneurship are not skills best acquired in a classroom. But isn't there a baseline foundation that one needs before getting to all of that?  Peter's experiment is to offer a handful of students funding for their companies in exchange for not attending college and jumping right in.  Time will tell whether this proves to be a positive experience.

Increasingly, part of the debate has been home-schooling, online education, and most recently a new institution (Avenues) which turns the entire preparatory/Northeast feeder school curricula upside down and offers a unique educational model for our next generation.

As someone who has invested a lot in my personal education, including ivy league school, graduate school, post-graduate training, and then sub-specialty training, I argue that there is tremendous value in a formal education. However, most of my important life lessons and the ethos of who I am, were formed outside of the classroom...and some really by chance. Those experiences have really colored the fiber of who I am....but all layered on a strong foundation of a formal education.

Apps as revolutionary medical tools

With the advent of the iPhone and near introduction of the 5-th generation phone, we are starting to see more advanced applications. These more 'mature' apps are now beginning to have an impact in healthcare -- particularly with the ability to act as diagnostic tools. From reading EKG's to checking blood pressure, analyzing a urine sample, and even this -- checking your blood glucose through nano-sensors? Now that's revolutionary!
http://www.tuaw.com/2011/07/22/iphone-reads-blood-glucose-level-with-nanosensor-tattoo/