Editor's note: CultureMap Austin is proud to partner with?Leadership Austin?? the region's premier provider of civic and community leadership development ? in this series of editorial columns meant to inform Austinites about the upcoming?City of Austin proposition elections?to be held Nov. 6.
This is the first of two articles spelling out arguments for and against the City of Austin's Proposition 1 election on funding the University of Texas Medical School. This article advocates voting yes; the second article, opposing Proposition 1, will be published Thursday.
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Central Health, the owner of University Medical Center Brackenridge (UTMB), placed Proposition 1 on the ballot to transform the way healthcare is delivered to the poor and uninsured in Travis County. It will ensure more efficient systems and effective healthcare plans. And it will focus on prevention and wellness, on helping those with chronic conditions maintain their health, and on paying for care based on the outcomes for patients.?
Prop 1?s passage will mean improved health care for more of the 200,000 Travis County residents without insurance. It will result in healthier and more productive families, better-utilized clinics by the uninsured and underinsured, more access for mental health treatment and less-crowded emergency rooms that are better able to focus on families and individuals with real emergencies.?
Central Health will procure some of these services through the faculty, medical students and residents at a new Austin medical school ? providing a revenue stream to help cover some of the med school?s costs. Approximately 90 percent of the funding for the medical school will come from UT System, Seton, research grants and other identified funding sources.
Projections show we will need 770 more doctors in Central Texas by 2016 just to keep up with population growth. Already, a lack of physicians who accept Medicaid and Medicare means many of us must wait weeks or months to see a specialist. That leads some families and individuals to travel to other cities to get care.?
And our senior population, of which I am a member, is growing at record rates. Between 2000 and 2010, Travis County had the second fastest growing senior population in the country. And we had the fastest growth rate in the U.S. among baby boomers between the ages of 55 and 64. And, as I?m very aware, people over 65 access health care services twice as much as those under 65.
A new medical school and teaching hospital will create a pipeline of doctors and other health care professionals, trained to work together in teams, who will likely practice in the region after they train here. Studies show that 80 percent of doctors that study and train in Texas remain in Texas to practice medicine ? most within 50 miles of their training site.
Travis County residents also will gain access to cutting-edge treatments developed by medical school faculty through clinical trials. Almost everyone I know has a close friend or family member who has traveled to Houston, Dallas or out of state to receive complex treatments ? like liver transplants ? or for clinical trials that are not available in Austin. Imagine Austin becoming a medical destination for cutting-edge treatment.
With the new medical school and teaching hospital, our region stands to gain 15,000 new permanent jobs and $2 billion in annual economic activity. Those jobs are not just for MDs and PhDs ? 60 percent of them are expected to require less than four-year degrees and they will be spread across many industries.
We can?t forget who Prop 1 is serving ? the uninsured and those most vulnerable in our society. The surprising fact is that almost six in 10 of those folks are employed.?
In an entrepreneurial, creative city like Austin, these are our friends and neighbors ? they live in our neighborhoods, and we probably see them every day. When they become ill, they face impossible choices ? needing health care they can?t begin to afford.
What Prop 1 does not do is build buildings. UT will pay for the bricks and mortar and many operating expenses of the medical school. The Seton Healthcare Family will pay to build a new teaching hospital and to expand the number of residency slots in Central Texas.????
Prop 1 will raise our health care tax by 5 cents ? a nickel ? per $100 valuation. That is approximately $100 a year for a $200,000 home. For the average Travis County property owner, that is less than $9/month.
By accessing federal health care funds ? tapping $1.46 from Washington for every dollar our region raises ? our community can expand the capacity of the healthcare system and catalyze investments in infrastructure and services at a level we?ve previously only imagined. Prop 1 is an investment in our community and in health care for you and your family.
Central Health Tax Ratification Election
PROP. 1: Approving the ad valorem tax rate of $0.129 per $100 valuation in Central Health, also known as the Travis County?Healthcare District, for the 2013 tax year, a rate that exceeds the district?s rollback tax rate. The proposed ad valorem tax rate?exceeds the ad valorem tax rate most recently adopted by the district by $0.05 per $100 valuation; funds will be used for improved healthcare in Travis County, including support for a new medical school consistent with the mission of Central Health, a site for a new teaching hospital, trauma services, specialty medicine such as cancer care, community-wide health clinics,?training for physicians, nurses and other healthcare professionals, primary care, behavioral and mental healthcare, prevention?and wellness programs, and/or to obtain federal matching funds for healthcare services.
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Former Mayor Pro Tem Betty Dunkerley?was a panelist at the Oct. 10?ENGAGE Breakfast Town Hall?event with KXAN News. The opinions of Leadership Austin alumni and faculty members are their own, and do not represent an official position of the organization.
Slidell Police?Chief Randy Smith released the following information from Tuesday:
Tuesday
Norman G. Shephard Jr., age 30 of 220 Cross Gates, Slidell, was arrested for possession of a schedule I and III controlled dangerous substance
James Davis, 21, of no listed address, was arrested on three counts of distribution of a schedule I controlled dangerous substance
William E. Frazier, 30, of 224 Bilten Avenue, Slidell, was arrested for possession of a schedule I controlled dangerous substance
Joshua P. Loyacano, 30, of 33699 Sylve Road, Slidell, was arrested for possession of a schedule I controlled dangerous substance, possession of drug paraphernalia and creation of a clandestine lab
Skyler E. Branton, 22, of 1260 Road 326, Pearlington, Miss., was issued a summons for theft under $300 by shoplifting merchandise from Wal-Mart on Natchez
Devin P. Hart, 24, of 1940 Sixth Street, Slidell, was arrested for possession of a schedule I controlled dangerous substance and possession of drug paraphernalia
Now that you have a website, you naturally want people to visit your site. This means that you need to attract qualified visitors to your web site. So what better way to Internet marketing or online marketing? Internet Marketing covers many different methods you want to get visitors to visit your site. So let's Search Engine Marketing, which is one of the most effective ways to achieve these qualified visitors. One Internet sources that can bring qualified visitors to your website in the search engines. A search engine can generate more visitors to your web site valid after searching using the right keywords and keyword phrases relevant to your business. check this out
Commissioning If this is your first time to try the search engine optimization, then it would be better to appoint a SEO specialist who can guide you and who is also an expert in pay per click advertising, and keywords to Use Internet Marketing Search Engine Optimization mechanical In optimizing your search engine marketing consultant will review your website and demographics of visitors Based on the search engine consultant will develop a plan fully optimize your website, which includes the use of the relevant page titles, research and the use of meta tags with appropriate keywords, keyword density recommending and keyword phrases in the content of individual pages and elements of your website Before that he had studied the frequency of occurrence of these keywords in the content and keywords on the search terms that people use in different search engines In some cases, may recommend other landing pages you create This review is based on his experience and knowledge of the algorithms of the search engines use different page ranges to rank pages So there are pages optimized for search engines A landing page is a page in a website that is reached when a visitor clicks on a link that is out of place where the linked page Pay Per Click Marketing in SEO Some search engines accept a paid inclusion, where there will be a link to your website high on the search results page Alternatively, you can purchase keywords so that the page is high when a search These keywords are usually auctioned by search engines and are valid for a period of time or clicks Another option that is available where you only pay when someone clicks on your ad or notice This is known as pay per click list At the end of the In conclusion SEO marketing is probably due to better yields of investment of time and resources than other methods of promotion A good bet is to seek professional advice before entering into a referral program Visitors are waiting to meet you! The author is an online marketing professional with Info media check this out Direct Technologies Ltd - specializing in Internet marketing in the UK the Company provides innovative solutions for internet marketing for small, medium and large Prepayment offer per click, search engine optimization and search engine marketing solutions for your business with a full money back guarantee James Doons is experienced internet marketing consultant and writes articles on , search engine ranking, , ,seo uk, seo services, seo company uk, seo services uk, seo company, seo services london etc check this out
Are you great at golf? Crazy about cupcakes? Passionate about podcasting? Then starting an internet marketing business based around your hobby could be the perfect outlet for you.
Now I?m not suggesting for one second that you give up the day job if you are currently employed (or self-employed). Not just yet anyhow.
But increasingly, more people are turning to niche marketing to enjoy a comfortable second income whilst focusing on a subject that?s close to their heart. Something that genuinely doesn?t feel like hard work.
What?s particularly great about niche marketing is that you can set up your business with a domain name and website hosting that needn?t cost you more than $50 a year. Let?s face it, what other business can you start from home with less than $50?
So what sort of niches or subjects make for ideal niche marketing businesses? Let?s start with the ?evergreen? niches:
Making money
Health
Dating (and relationship issues)
These are ?universally popular? subjects that will always attract human interest no matter what else is going on in the world.
But you don?t want to grab a niche that?s too wide ? too big.? A narrow focus is better, so you can explore every facet of your subject matter over the coming months ? and years.
Instead of the generic theme of ?making money?, you could focus on: ?Selling Your Ebook On Kindle?.
Rather than a general health website, how about: ?Triathlon Training??
Instead of a one-size-fits-all dating site, what about ?Date A Doc??
If the evergreen niches don?t appeal, then making money around your hobby is a strong possibility. Hobbies are a very personal thing. I happen to know someone who is now making a very comfortable living through internet marketing, whose very first niche website was . . . wait for it . . . metal lunch boxes. Yes, honestly! And I know he won?t mind me mentioning it here because he?s still making money from his site even though he hasn?t updated it for quite some time.
But generally speaking, with hobby blogs you should avoid niches that only attract limited interest and look to subjects which people are ?irrationally passionate? about. Most people are irrationally passionate about their pets. So if you are too, then a blog about dog training or dog accessories could be perfect for you. Again, keep your niche narrow ? but deep.
So a blog on ?How To Train Your Tibetan Spaniel? would be preferable to a general dog training site, as would ?Accessories For The Airedale Who Has Everything.?
So how do you actually make money from your niche blog?
You could:
Sign up to Google AdWords to allow text ads to be placed on your site which will attract a revenue for you each time they are clicked on.
Allow selected private advertisers in your niche to rent a space on your blog.
Become an affiliate for products relating to your blog theme and earn a commission whenever someone makes a purchase through your link.
Sell your own products: ebooks, training courses, memberships, and so on.
By narrowing your focus to attract people who are ?irrationally passionate? about your particular niche, you are much more likely to attract proven buyers rather than casual browsers, which will be great for business.
?
About the Author
Chris Jenkinson is a UK based internet marketing consultant increasing online enquiries and sales for business owners and directors. He also writes marketing? related articles on his GizTheBiz? blog.
Amelia Bedelia is the main character in a series of children's books written by Peggy Parish, an American author. The main character of the series starts out as an older housekeeper, sort of a Miss Marple looking character. The first book in the series was published in 1963. As a housekeeper, Amelia Bedelia has a problem in that she takes everything that is asked of her literally. If you ask her to make a sponge cake - you will get a cake with a sponge in it. Or if she is asked to dust the furniture, she does just that with enthusiasm and liberal amounts of dust sprinkled all over the furniture. Children love her and she provides a delightful basic entry into the difficulties of the English language.
The young Amelia series
After Peggy Parish died in 1988, her nephew, Herman Parish, began the series again this time with a much younger Amelia Bedelia. The series has now been around for more than thirty years and has morphed into an excellent training module for children. There are Amelia Bedelia lesson plans for teachers which provide an entertaining method of teaching children all sorts of things including reading comprehension. The comical series of books together with lesson plans for teachers has become a staple of teachers in the early school grades including kindergarten. The books feature warm illustrations that are perfect with the humorous tone of the stories. The new series of books featuring Amelia Bedelia as a child doing all the things children do make the series perfect for young children.
Available lesson plans
The book Amelia Bedelia's First Day of School, shows us a young Amelia trying to figure out all sorts of new words and terminology. In her usual way, when the teacher tells her to stay glued, she does just that gluing herself to the chair. The book allows teachers to point out the kinds of misunderstandings and double meanings of words to children. There are lesson plans available for each book full of activities and games that teachers can use to keep children motivated and engaged with the reading material while they are learning idiomatic expressions and the meanings of words. In addition, all of the Amelia Bedelia books teach children its okay to make a mistake, and that you will learn from it. It is also fun to create new lesson plans based on the series of books, just let your imagination go.
Teaching children how to read can sometimes be difficult, particularly if the children are not engaged in the material. The popularity of the Amelia Bedelia books and the accompanying lesson plans for teachers, help teachers with organizing activities to accompany reading material. The lesson plans include exercises in phonics awareness, oral reading suggestions, crafts activities to go along with the stories, and word searches to increase vocabulary.
The books also give children a sense of confidence as they learn the meanings of words. They end up knowing more than Amelia does as she continues to follow the literal meanings of the words. So children feel good about themselves and their knowledge of the written word.
Enrichment Activities
Some of the activities in the lesson plans that work along with the Amelia Bedelia books include doing things like making puppets, theatrical activities such as pretending to be Amelia, and acting out how she would react to things, making items that could explain what words mean to Amelia, such as making a scrapbook or posters.
Other activities in lesson plans include word games where children can try and think of words or phrases that would be a problem for Amelia. Other suggested things to do are cooking. One of the things that Amelia always gets right at the end of the book is cooking. Cooking with children teaches them about words, vocabulary, math skills, cooperation, and how to follow directions.
To follow up the cooking experience, a suggestion is to come up with cooking directions in cookbooks that could be confusing to Amelia. Make it a contest among the students, and see who can come up with the best or the funniest directions. Give the students examples like a drop of oil, or a pinch of salt, or beat butter until soft. Visual aids can be fun to create to help Amelia Bedelia get through all the confusion. Have the children make pictures with examples of the right way to cook and the wrong way to cook based on an understanding of the cooking terminology.
Travis Blackstone is a well travelled blogger and journalist who specializes in education, and particularly in the area of teaching children reading comprehension strategies via the http://readingcomprehensionlessons.com site. He keeps latest breakthroughs in teaching resources and is especially interested in the creation of online resources for teachers.
A Mississippi river diversion helped build Louisiana wetlands, Penn geologists findPublic release date: 21-Oct-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Katherine Unger Baillie kbaillie@upenn.edu 215-898-9194 University of Pennsylvania
PHILADELPHIA The extensive system of levees along the Mississippi River has done much to prevent devastating floods in riverside communities. But the levees have also contributed to the loss of Louisiana's wetlands. By holding in floodwaters, they prevent sediment from flowing into the watershed and rebuilding marshes, which are compacting under their own weight and losing ground to sea-level rise.
Reporting in Nature Geoscience, a team of University of Pennsylvania geologists and others used the Mississippi River flood of the spring of 2011 to observe how floodwaters deposited sediment in the Mississippi Delta. Their findings offer insight into how new diversions in the Mississippi River's levees may help restore Louisiana's wetlands.
While scientists and engineers have previously proposed ways of altering the levee system to restore some of the natural wetland-building ability of the Mississippi, this is among the only large-scale experiments to demonstrate how these modifications might function.
The study was headed by Douglas Jerolmack, an assistant professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Science at Penn, and Federico Falcini, who at the time was a postdoctoral researcher in Jerolmack's lab and is now at the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche in Rome. Benjamin Horton, an associate professor in the Earth and Environmental Science Department; Nicole Khan, a doctoral student in Horton's lab; and Alessandro Salusti, a visiting undergraduate researcher also contributed to the work. The Penn researchers worked with Rosalia Santoleri, Simone Colella and Gianluca Volpe of the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche; Leonardo Macelloni, Carol B. Lutken and Marco D'Emidio of the University of Mississippi; Karen L. McKee of the U.S. Geological Survey; and Chunyan Li of Louisiana State University.
The 2011 floods broke records across several states, damaged homes and crops and took several lives. The destruction was reduced, however, because the Army Corps of Engineers opened the Morganza Spillway, a river-control structure, for the first time since 1973 to divert water off of the Mississippi into the Atchafalaya River Basin. This action involved the deliberate flooding of more than 12,000 square kilometers and alleviated pressures on downstream levees and spared Baton Rouge and New Orleans from the worst of the flood.
For the Penn researchers, the opening of the Morganza Spillway provided a rare look into how floods along the Mississippi may have occurred before engineered structures were put in place to control the river's flow.
"While this was catastrophic to the people living in the Atchafalaya Basin, it was also simulating accidentally the sort of natural flood that used to happen all the time," Jerolmack said. "We were interested in how this sort of natural flooding scenario would differ from the controlled floods contained within levees that we normally see in the Delta."
To capitalize on this opportunity, the team began examining satellite images showing the plume of sediment-laden water emerging from the mouths of the Atchafalaya and Mississippi rivers. They calculated the amount of sediment in the plumes for the duration of the flood based on the ocean color in the satellite images and calibrated these data to field samples taken from a boat in the Gulf of Mexico. Their boat sampling also allowed them to gather data on the speed of the plume and the extent to which river water mixed with ocean water.
From the satellite images, researchers observed that the Mississippi River unleashed a jet of water into the ocean. In contrast, the waters diverted into the Atchafalaya Basin spread out over 100 kilometers of coastline, the sediment lingering in a wide swampy area.
"You have this intentionally flooded Atchafalaya Basin and when those flood waters hit the coast they were trapped there for a month, where tides and waves could bring them back on shore," Jerolmack said. "Whereas in the Mississippi channel, where all the waters were totally leveed, you could see from satellite images this sort of fire hose of water that pushed the sediment from the river far off shore."
The researchers used a helicopter to travel to 45 sites across the two basins, where they sampled sediment cores. They observed that sediment deposited to a greater extent in the Atchafalaya Basin than in any area of the Mississippi Basin wetlands, even though the Mississippi River plume contained more total sediment.
The recently deposited sediments lacked plant roots and were different in color and consistency from the older sediments. Laboratory analyses of diatoms, or photosynthetic algae, also revealed another signature of newly deposited sediments: They contained a higher proportion of round diatoms to rod-shaped diatoms than did deeper layers of sediment.
"This diatom ratio can now serve as an indicator for freshwater floods," Horton said. "With longer sediment cores and analyses of the diatoms, we may be able to work out how many floods have occurred, how much sediment they deposited and what their recurrence intervals were."
Taken together, the researchers' findings offer a large-scale demonstration of how flooding over the Atchafalaya's wide basin built up sediment in wetland areas, compared to the more-focused plume of water from the Mississippi River. Jerolmack says this "natural experiment" provides a convincing and reliable way of gathering data and information about how changes in the Mississippi's levees and control structures could help restore marsh in other areas of the Delta.
"One of the things that we found here is that the Atchafalaya, which is this wide, slow plume, actually produced a lot of sedimentation over a broad area," Jerolmack said. "We think that what the Atchafalaya is showing us on a field scale is that this is the sort of diversion that you would need in order to create effective sedimentation and marsh building."
###
This work was supported by the National Science Foundation, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Luquillo Critical Zone Laboratory, European Commission and University of Pennsylvania's Benjamin Franklin Fellowship.
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?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
A Mississippi river diversion helped build Louisiana wetlands, Penn geologists findPublic release date: 21-Oct-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Katherine Unger Baillie kbaillie@upenn.edu 215-898-9194 University of Pennsylvania
PHILADELPHIA The extensive system of levees along the Mississippi River has done much to prevent devastating floods in riverside communities. But the levees have also contributed to the loss of Louisiana's wetlands. By holding in floodwaters, they prevent sediment from flowing into the watershed and rebuilding marshes, which are compacting under their own weight and losing ground to sea-level rise.
Reporting in Nature Geoscience, a team of University of Pennsylvania geologists and others used the Mississippi River flood of the spring of 2011 to observe how floodwaters deposited sediment in the Mississippi Delta. Their findings offer insight into how new diversions in the Mississippi River's levees may help restore Louisiana's wetlands.
While scientists and engineers have previously proposed ways of altering the levee system to restore some of the natural wetland-building ability of the Mississippi, this is among the only large-scale experiments to demonstrate how these modifications might function.
The study was headed by Douglas Jerolmack, an assistant professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Science at Penn, and Federico Falcini, who at the time was a postdoctoral researcher in Jerolmack's lab and is now at the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche in Rome. Benjamin Horton, an associate professor in the Earth and Environmental Science Department; Nicole Khan, a doctoral student in Horton's lab; and Alessandro Salusti, a visiting undergraduate researcher also contributed to the work. The Penn researchers worked with Rosalia Santoleri, Simone Colella and Gianluca Volpe of the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche; Leonardo Macelloni, Carol B. Lutken and Marco D'Emidio of the University of Mississippi; Karen L. McKee of the U.S. Geological Survey; and Chunyan Li of Louisiana State University.
The 2011 floods broke records across several states, damaged homes and crops and took several lives. The destruction was reduced, however, because the Army Corps of Engineers opened the Morganza Spillway, a river-control structure, for the first time since 1973 to divert water off of the Mississippi into the Atchafalaya River Basin. This action involved the deliberate flooding of more than 12,000 square kilometers and alleviated pressures on downstream levees and spared Baton Rouge and New Orleans from the worst of the flood.
For the Penn researchers, the opening of the Morganza Spillway provided a rare look into how floods along the Mississippi may have occurred before engineered structures were put in place to control the river's flow.
"While this was catastrophic to the people living in the Atchafalaya Basin, it was also simulating accidentally the sort of natural flood that used to happen all the time," Jerolmack said. "We were interested in how this sort of natural flooding scenario would differ from the controlled floods contained within levees that we normally see in the Delta."
To capitalize on this opportunity, the team began examining satellite images showing the plume of sediment-laden water emerging from the mouths of the Atchafalaya and Mississippi rivers. They calculated the amount of sediment in the plumes for the duration of the flood based on the ocean color in the satellite images and calibrated these data to field samples taken from a boat in the Gulf of Mexico. Their boat sampling also allowed them to gather data on the speed of the plume and the extent to which river water mixed with ocean water.
From the satellite images, researchers observed that the Mississippi River unleashed a jet of water into the ocean. In contrast, the waters diverted into the Atchafalaya Basin spread out over 100 kilometers of coastline, the sediment lingering in a wide swampy area.
"You have this intentionally flooded Atchafalaya Basin and when those flood waters hit the coast they were trapped there for a month, where tides and waves could bring them back on shore," Jerolmack said. "Whereas in the Mississippi channel, where all the waters were totally leveed, you could see from satellite images this sort of fire hose of water that pushed the sediment from the river far off shore."
The researchers used a helicopter to travel to 45 sites across the two basins, where they sampled sediment cores. They observed that sediment deposited to a greater extent in the Atchafalaya Basin than in any area of the Mississippi Basin wetlands, even though the Mississippi River plume contained more total sediment.
The recently deposited sediments lacked plant roots and were different in color and consistency from the older sediments. Laboratory analyses of diatoms, or photosynthetic algae, also revealed another signature of newly deposited sediments: They contained a higher proportion of round diatoms to rod-shaped diatoms than did deeper layers of sediment.
"This diatom ratio can now serve as an indicator for freshwater floods," Horton said. "With longer sediment cores and analyses of the diatoms, we may be able to work out how many floods have occurred, how much sediment they deposited and what their recurrence intervals were."
Taken together, the researchers' findings offer a large-scale demonstration of how flooding over the Atchafalaya's wide basin built up sediment in wetland areas, compared to the more-focused plume of water from the Mississippi River. Jerolmack says this "natural experiment" provides a convincing and reliable way of gathering data and information about how changes in the Mississippi's levees and control structures could help restore marsh in other areas of the Delta.
"One of the things that we found here is that the Atchafalaya, which is this wide, slow plume, actually produced a lot of sedimentation over a broad area," Jerolmack said. "We think that what the Atchafalaya is showing us on a field scale is that this is the sort of diversion that you would need in order to create effective sedimentation and marsh building."
###
This work was supported by the National Science Foundation, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Luquillo Critical Zone Laboratory, European Commission and University of Pennsylvania's Benjamin Franklin Fellowship.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
A man convicted of capital murder in the strangulation death of a pastor in a north Texas church was sentenced to death on Tuesday.
A jury in state District Judge Mike Thomas' court deliberated for about 90 minutes before deciding on the sentence for Steven Lawayne Nelson, 25, of Arlington, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.
Nelson faced either the death penalty or life in prison without parole for killing the Rev. Clint Dobson at his Baptist church in Arlington in March 2011. Dobson was beaten, strangled with a computer extension cord and suffocated with a plastic bag. A church secretary was also brutally beaten and left for dead but survived.
Prosecutors said Nelson, a convicted felon, killed the pastor because he wanted to steal a car that he had seen in the church parking lot.
Nelson was convicted of capital murder last week by the same jury in Fort Worth that decided on his death sentence.
Watch US News crime videos on NBCNews.com
At trial, prosecutors showed text messages that Nelson sent the day after the killing. In one, he wrote: "I don't mean to brag. I'm a monster," according to The Associated Press.
Nelson's family members testified that he had a troubled childhood in which he suffered from attention deficit disorder and dysfunctional relationships, according to AP.
Defense attorneys asked jurors to spare Nelson's life, saying he didn't get the proper help he needed when he was growing up.
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ASTRO GAMING ANNOUNCES NEW AND IMPROVED 2013 EDITIONS OF AWARD-WINNING A40 HEADSET AND MIXAMP? PRO
Critically Acclaimed ASTRO Gaming A40 Headset and MixAmp? Pro Deliver Most Accurate Audio Ever; Feature Updated Cabling System, Re-tuned Drivers, Custom Audio Profiles and More
SAN FRANCISCO ? Oct. 16, 2012 ? ASTRO Gaming, a division of Skullcandy, Inc. (Nasdaq: SKUL), and creators of premium video gaming equipment for professional and hardcore gamers, today announced a major update to two of the brand's most innovative and best-selling products with 2013 editions of the ASTRO A40 Pro Gaming Headset and the ASTRO MixAmp? Pro.
The 2013 Edition of the ASTRO A40 Headset features an update to the company's highly popular Quick Disconnect Cabling System as well as re-tuned drivers and enclosures that make the audiophile-grade headset the most accurate and detailed ASTRO Gaming has ever produced, with improved low-end response and less distortion at peak volume.
2013 Edition ASTRO A40 Headset Features Include:
NEW FEATURES:
? New Quick Disconnect Cabling System: Updated version of the ASTRO Quick Disconnect system, offering the same flexibility of using multiple cable types and lengths, but now plugging directly into the headset via a 3.5mm 4-pole jack instead of the oiriginal mid-cable release. This increases reliability and durability while also making it easier to change to preferred cable lengths and update cables as desired.
? Best Sounding ASTRO Headsets Ever: The 2013 Edition ASTRO A40 has re-tuned drivers and enclosures with improved low-end response and less distortion at high volumes making them the most accurate ASTRO headsets ever
RETURNING FEATURES:
? ASTRO Audio Experience - Engineered specifically for gaming, ASTRO Audio delivers audiophile-grade sound in a richly detailed positional audio experience. ASTRO A40 headsets are designed for extended game playing, movie watching and music listening sessions with superior fit and finish.
? Removable Mic System: The ASTRO A40 feature a removable boom mic that can be removed and swapped from ear to ear.
? Dolby ? Digital 7.1 Surround Sound: ASTRO 40 headsets deliver pinpoint spatial accuracy and crystal clear definition with Dolby ? Digital 5.1 and 7.1 Surround Sound decoding providing more immersive gaming, movie and music experiences.
? Customizable Speaker Tags: ASTRO A40 features a magnetic, removable and customizable Speaker Tag system. Tags can be designed online to create a unique look for teams, clans, guilds or simply for pure personal expression.
? Multi-System Compatibility: ASTRO products are compatible with any platform you choose to game on. Whether it's Xbox 360, PS3, PC, Mac, or a mobile platform, ASTRO headsets will provide superior audio performance and vocal fidelity.
The cutting edge 2013 Edition ASTRO MixAmp? Pro raises the bar once again with a host of new features, including: custom audio profiles; a new streaming out capability allowing gamers to incorporate Game Sound and Voice Chat directly into their livestreams; and, a smaller, more portable form factor for easier transportation to and from LAN and Pro Gaming events.
2013 Edition ASTRO MixAmp? Pro Features Include:
NEW FEATURES:
? Game and Voice Stream Output: The ASTRO MixAmp? Pro now features a Stream Out - a 3.5mm jack that allows Game Sound and incoming/outgoing Voice Chat to be output without interruption directly to a livestream using a single cable.
? New Custom Audio Profiles: The ASTRO MixAmp? Pro now allows users to switch between four pre-set Audio Profiles ? Pro, Core, Media and Sports. Soon, ASTRO users will be able to create and share their own custom audio profiles via www.astrogaming.com.
? New Smaller Form Factor: The ASTRO MixAmp? Pro is now smaller and more portable allowing for easier transport between LAN and Pro Gaming events.
? New Optical Port: A more reliable 3.5mm optical port is now being utilized in place of the previous TOSlink optical port.
RETURNING FEATURES:
? Game to Voice Balance: The MixAmp? Pro features discrete game to voice balance controls which allow for a customized audio experience depending upon the gaming situation or personal listening preference.
? Multi-System Compatibility: Whether you play on an Xbox 360, PS3, PC or Mac the 2013 Edition MixAmp? Pro will provide the compatibility you need. The MixAmp? Pro also features an MP3 input allowing for music listening while game playing.
? Dolby? 5.1 and 7.1 Surround Sound: The ASTRO MixAmp? Pro features 7.1 and 5.1 channel Dolby? Surround Sound decoding and Dolby? Headphone Surround Sound output.
? Dedicated Voice Channel: The ASTRO MixAmp? Pro can be daisy-chained linking multiple MixAmp?s together for a private, hands-free, full-duplex voice communication channel providing significantly superior vocal clarity, as compared to VoIP, with zero network and system lag.
View the latest 2013 Edition video at http://youtu.be/m7v9yYTBWhM. 2013 Editions of the ASTRO Gaming A40 Headset and MixAmp? Pro are available now from www.astrogaming.com as a bundled system for $249.99 .
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ASTRO 2013 Edition A40 Audio Systems and additional ASTRO products can also be found now at select Gamestop stores in the United States as well as EB Games and JB Hifi in Australia. In November, Astro's retail distribution will expand to include select Canadian and French Retailers including EB Games Canada, Best Buy Canada, Fnac and Micromania.
About ASTRO Gaming ASTRO Gaming creates premium video gaming equipment for pro gamers, leagues, gaming enthusiasts and their lifestyles. Spun-off from design powerhouse ASTRO Studios, known in the gaming world for designing the Microsoft Xbox 360?, Alienware PCs, and HP's Gaming PCs, ASTRO Gaming produces a line of gamer-centric "tech-life" products, supporting this rapidly growing community. ASTRO Gaming's product line includes the A50 Wireless Headset, the A40 Audio System, the A30 Cross-Gaming Headset, and the Transport Series of gaming gear bags.
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I'm going to throw a new word at you. It's a bit of a portmanteau, but I think it stands on its own: Awesomenoying. Something that is simultaneously awesome and annoying. To understand what this word means, you have to look at the ThinkGeek Mega Stomp Panic, a $39.99 (direct) audio costume toy that forced me to create this new word. It's something you wear to make sound effects while you walk, and it's equally brilliant and irritating.
Belt Clip Sound Effects The Mega Stomp Panic is a device that clips to your belt that generates different sound effects when you walk and stop, providing ambient noise to reflect your costume. It comes with nine different sound effect tracks, and the included motion sensor adjusts the track based on your movement. The main box is a little larger than a pack of cigarettes, with two control knobs and a one-digit LED readout on the top. The top knob controls which sound effect track plays, and the bottom knob controls power and volume. Each sound effect track corresponds to a number, and the active number is displayed on the readout. On the other side of the device, a screw-in door holds four AA batteries.
A small wire comes out of the left, clip side of the box, and holds a 3.5mm port. It connects to the included motion sensor through a two-foot cable. The sensor is a small plastic rectangle with another belt clip that's designed to be worn near your belt buckle to best track your motion, and four blue lights light up when it's plugged in and turned on. The two-part design is slightly inconvenient for personal soundtrack use, because you need to clip at least one item to your belt and have a cable running over your person, but it's meant for use in a costume and it gives you flexibility that the single large box wouldn't allow. It lets you position the speaker, located in the large box, anywhere you want on your person to make the appropriate sounds come while the motion sensor on your belt tracks your steps.
Choose Your Soundtrack Each effect track has an ambient background or music track, a sound effect or two that plays when you walk normally, and a sound effect or two that plays when you stomp your feet. The effect tracks include hydraulic giant robot, rainstorm, zombie attack, giant monster, gunslinger, medieval knight, pirate, 8-bit gaming hero, and steampunk giant robot, and they vary from the vaguely amusing to the infectious. The 8-bit gaming hero soundtrack stands out, with a chiptunes music track and Mario-like jumping and coin collecting sounds when you walk and stomp. The giant monster track is also a lot of fun, with Godzilla-like roars and stomping sound effects. The tracks can sound equally amusing or cheesy based on your tastes; I loved the 8-bit hero and giant monster tracks, but the gunslinger track and medieval knight track sounded a bit grating to me, with stereotypical whistling high noon and jousting horn music tracks. Of course, if you prefer wearing a cowboy hat to wearing a large red "M" cap, you might love the gunslinger track and hate the 8-bit hero track.
The motion sensor tracks your steps easily, but it's a bit flakey on tracking stomping motions. It picks up some stomps, picks up some steps as stomps, and ignores some stomps. Fortunately, the step and stomp sound effects are similar enough and contribute to the effect of the tracks well enough to make it a minor issue.
If you want something to put an extra bit of ambiance into your Halloween costume, or just want to annoy people with sound effects, the ThinkGeek Mega Stomp Panic is a fun toy. At $40, though, it's a bit of a pricey novelty for what it is: Awesomenoying.
More Toy Reviews: ??? ThinkGeek Mega Stomp Panic ??? Pressman iPieces Snakes & Ladders ??? Pressman iPieces Air Hockey ??? NeuroSky Necomimi Brainwave Cat Ears ??? Hasbro Lazer Tag 2-Blaster Battle Pack ?? more
Authorities in Europe today kicked off a fresh wave of scrutiny over Google's privacy policy and called for changes to be made in how Google manages user data, describing Google's scope as "too large". But they also stopped short of saying Google is acting illegally in how it manages privacy or demanding a change in its wider policy. France's data protection authority, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique (CNIL), today published a list of recommendations for the company in the area of user privacy, following an investigation that began earlier this year.
LONDON?? An abstract painting by German artist Gerhard Richter has a set a new record for the price paid at auction for the work of a living artist, after selling for $34.2 million, Sotheby's auction house in London said.
"Abstraktes Bild (809-4)", from the collection of rock guitarist Eric Clapton, was sold to anonymous buyer after five minutes of bidding late on Friday, triggering a round of applause.
The sale smashed the previous 2010 record of $28.6 million paid for Jasper Johns' "Flag" at Christie's auction house in New York in 2010.
Richter's red, yellow and black oil on canvas had been estimated to fetch $14-19 million.
"The combination of outstanding provenance and gold-standard quality in this sublime work by this blue-chip artist made for an historic auction moment," said Alex Branczik, senior director at Sotheby's and head of the sale.
The top end of the art market has performed strongly in recent years despite a faltering global economy.
(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Check for restrictions at: http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
By Traci PedersenAssociate News Editor Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on October 11, 2012
Researchers have pinpointed a small region in the genome ? the entirety of human hereditary information ??as a vital factor in the development of psychiatric disease and obesity.
Brain-derived neurotrophic factor, or BDNF, is a nervous system growth factor that plays a critical role in brain development.? To determine the role of BDNF in humans, McGill researchers screened over 35,000 people referred for genetic screening at clinics, as well as over 30,000 control subjects in the U.S., Canada and Europe.
Researchers found five individuals with BDNF deletions, all of whom were obese, had a mild-moderate intellectual impairment, and had a mood disorder.
The children had anxiety disorders, aggressive disorders, or attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), while post-pubescent individuals had anxiety and major depressive disorders. Subjects slowly gained weight with age, suggesting that obesity is a long-term process when BDNF is deleted.
The results of the new study, published in the Archives of General Psychiatry, reveal for the first time the link between BDNF deletion, cognition, and weight gain in humans.
?Scientists have been trying to find a region of the genome which plays a role in human psychopathology, searching for answers anywhere in our DNA that may give us a clue to the genetic causes of these types of disorders,? said?Carl Ernst, Ph.D., from McGill?s Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine.
?Our study conclusively links a single region of the genome to mood and anxiety.?
Based on animal studies, BDNF has been a suspect of several functions in the brain, but no study has proven what happens when BDNF is missing from the human genome. The new study helps provide a better understanding of human behavior and mood by clearly identifying genes associated with mental disorders.
?Mood and anxiety can be seen like a house of cards. In this case, the walls of the house represent the myriad of biological interactions that maintain the structure,? said Ernst, who is also a researcher at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute.
?Studying these moving parts can be tricky, so teasing apart even a single event is important. Linking a deletion in BDNF conclusively to mood and anxiety really tells us that it is possible to dissect the biological pathways involved in determining how we feel and act.?
?We now have a molecular pathway we are confident is involved in psychopathology,? he adds.? ?Because thousands of genes are involved in mood, anxiety, or obesity, it allows us to root our studies on a solid foundation.?
?All of the participants in our study had mild-moderate intellectual disability, but most people with these cognitive problems do not have psychiatric problems ? so what is it about deletion of BDNF that affects mood? My hope now is to test the hypothesis that boosting BDNF in people with anxiety or depression might improve brain health.?
Source: McGill University
APA Reference Pedersen, T. (2012). Gene Deletion Linked to Mental Illness, Obesity. Psych Central. Retrieved on October 12, 2012, from http://psychcentral.com/news/2012/10/11/gene-deletion-linked-to-mental-illness-obesity/45914.html
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) ? An endorsement from a Tennessee congressman who in a recorded phone conversation urged a mistress to get an abortion has vanished from Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's website.
Freshman Rep. Scott DesJarlais, who opposes abortion rights, told a Nashville talk radio show Thursday that while there were many difficult elements to his 2001 divorce, "there was no pregnancy, and no abortion."
But DesJarlais did not dispute the transcript of a recorded phone conversation in which he urges the woman to terminate a pregnancy more than a decade ago.
"You told me you'd have an abortion, and now we're getting too far along without one," DesJarlais is quoted as saying in the transcript. "If we need to go to Atlanta, or whatever, to get this solved and get it over with so we can get on with our lives, then let's do it."
DesJarlais' endorsement of Romney still appears on the congressman's website, but a link to the presidential campaign site returns an "access denied" message.
The Romney campaign did not immediately comment.
The revelations did not prevent DesJarlais from presiding over a quick pro forma session of the House in Washington on Friday. The congressman had cited that responsibility in declining to participate in a debate with his Democratic opponent, state Sen. Eric Stewart.
While the Tennessee Republican Party appears to be standing behind DesJarlais, other GOP leaders in the state like Gov. Bill Haslam and Sen. Lamar Alexander have sought to avoid being drawn in.
Haslam said he wanted to speak with DesJarlais before voicing an opinion, but didn't say when that conversation would take place. "I probably will speak to him at some point in time," he said.
Alexander said it wasn't his practice to "go around telling people what to do about issues like that.
"That's between the congressman and the voters in his district and his opponent," he said. "I know the voters of his district very well, and they're perfectly capable of making their own minds up."
DesJarlais in the radio interview blamed "a disgruntled, defeated ex-congressman, a vindictive ex-wife, and a desperate Democratic candidate" for dredging up details from his past.
The DesJarlais campaign has dismissed the details as "old news" that emerged in the last election cycle. But while the 2010 campaign did feature allegations raised during his divorce that he intimidated his ex-wife with a gun ? and in one instance put a gun in his mouth for three hours ? the abortion element was not public knowledge until this week.
DesJarlais said in the radio interview that he has remarried and has enjoyed a "near perfect" marriage for the last decade.
"I would hope that when the voters judge me, they judge me on the marriage I have now," he said.
___
Associated Press writer Jim Abrams contributed to this report from Washington.
Even at its debut, I was surprised at what a user-friendly yet powerful digital workflow app PhotoDirector was. It had nearly all the bases covered?support for camera raw files, keyword tagging, and even local adjustment brushes. But it still lacked advanced features like face-tagging and corrections for chromatic aberration and geometry offered by competitors like Adobe Lightroom 4 (, 4.5 stars), Apple Aperture 3 ($79.99, 4 stars), and ACDSee Pro 3 ($99.99, 4 stars). Not only does the latest PhotoDirector release address all of those omissions, it adds some nifty tricks like content-aware object removal, HDR effects, and even a body slimming tool. It also brings the first Mac OS X version non-Apple-built pro photo editor to support Retina displays.
Setup/Signup PhotoDirector is available as a free 30-day, full-function trial, as part of CyberLink's $149 PhotoDirector 4 Suite, which includes our Editors' Choice consumer video editor, PowerDirector, or as a standalone for $99.99. I had some difficulty installing the program on a 64-bit Windows 7 PC. Setting up PhotoDirector generated error messages, though this could well have been due to issues with my particular Windows setup. The installer stopped from two different causes: First it couldn't install Microsoft C++ Redistributable Service Pack. Second, I got a message saying that I needed to install on a 32-bit OS. I was running 64-bit Windows 7, but that can run 32-bit apps, too.
Installing the Mac OS X version on a Retina MacBook, by contrast, was a snafu-free breeze.
Interface PhotoDirector 4's interface still manages to be less intimidating than those of competitors. It's even more uncluttered and friendly than consumer-level competitors like Corel PaintShop and Photoshop Elements. PhotoDirector bypasses the annoyance of Photoshop Element's separate Organizer app?you can do everything in the one PhotoDirector app.
As is common among pro and near-pro-level photo workflow apps, PhotoDirector uses "modes." That just means there are global tabs or buttons that switch the interface among different functions, usually organizing, editing, and sharing. PhotoDirector started with just three modes, but two more?Edit and Print?have been added to the original Library, Adjustment, and Slideshow. Unlike Lightroom 4, PhotoDirector doesn't let you choose which of these mode buttons appears, so, for example, if you never print, you still can't remove the Print mode button.
Switching between the modes is as simple as it is in Lightroom, but I actually noticed even more of a delay when switching modes than in Adobe's photo workflow app. And within each of PhotoDirector's modes, a left-side panel offers mode-appropriate options. In the Library and Adjustment modes, as in Aperture, the panel is further broken down into two tabs, Project and Metadata for the first, and Manual and Presets for the second.
The main viewing area is flexible, with a few options of its own. In Library mode, a large view of the photo sits above a filmstrip-style look at other pictures in the folder. Alternatively, buttons at the top let you see just the photo, a gallery browser of thumbnails or filenames, or a full-screen view of just the current photo. Instead of viewing one large image, you can also compare two or several in Library mode.
The gallery view can be filtered by photos you've flagged, color labeled, or those you've edited. Hover the mouse over a thumbnail in gallery view, and you'll see star rating and flagging buttons for easy rating and selecting. When viewing one large image, the same choices appear along the bottom, with color labeling added; optionally you can add controls for rotation and back and forward arrows.
In Adjustment mode, you can see a split view showing before and after your edits. Flipping through images was snappy and delay-free, as was overall program response?even on a less-than-stellar 2.5GHz dual-core laptop. Like Lightroom, PhotoDirector only lets you zoom to preset sizes?25 percent, 33 percent, and 50 percent, and so on?rather than having a full-range slider like ACDSee's. But a single click switches between zoomed and unzoomed, which is convenient.
Like most photo apps at this level, PhotoDirector makes good use of keyboard shortcuts for most actions. As with Lightroom and Aperture, the F key switches you to full screen view. You can also view the image on a separate monitor, and four shades of gray for the background. This last choice doesn't change the whole interface color as Lightroom's more helpfully does, just the area behind the photo, but the rest of PhotoDirector's interface is a dark enough shade to stay out of the way of your concentration on the images.
You can't detach the programs panels to float anywhere on screen as you can in ACDSee. Undo is well implemented, and an excellent adjustment history panel not only shows all previous tweaks, but also a thumbnail at the top displaying a mini view of those tweaks' effects. Clicking on any history entry applies that point to the full image view. So for interface, PhotoDirector gets very high marks indeed.
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Two American scientists won the 2012 Nobel Prize for chemistry on Wednesday for research into how cells respond to external stimuli that is helping to develop better drugs to fight diseases such as diabetes, cancer and depression.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said the 8 million crown ($1.2 million) prize went to Robert Lefkowitz, 69, and Brian Kobilka, 57, for discovering the inner workings of G-protein-coupled receptors, which allow cells to respond to chemical messages such as adrenaline rushes.
"Around half of all medications act through these receptors, among them beta blockers, antihistamines and various kinds of psychiatric medications," the committee said.
Working out better ways to target the receptors, known as GPCRs, is an area of keen focus for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.
Lefkowitz told a news conference by telephone he was asleep when the phone call came from Sweden.
"I did not hear it - I must share with you that I wear earplugs to sleep. So my wife gave me an elbow. So there it was, a total shock and surprise," he said.
Sven Lidin, Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at Lund University and chairman of the committee, told a news conference the discovery had been key in medical research.
"Knowing what they (the receptors) look like and how they function will provide us with the tools to make better drugs with fewer side effects," he added.
GPCRs are linked to a wide range of diseases, since they play a central role in many biological functions in the body, but developing new drugs to target them accurately has been difficult because of a lack of fundamental understanding as to how they function. Experts say the work of the Nobel Prize winners has opened the door to making better medicines.
Drugs targeting GPCRs have potential in treating illnesses involving the central nervous system, heart conditions, inflammation and metabolic disorders.
Mark Downs, chief executive of Britain's Society of Biology, said the researchers had covered important ground in more than one discipline.
"This ground-breaking work spanning genetics and biochemistry has laid the basis for much of our understanding of modern pharmacology as well as how cells in different parts of living organisms can react differently to external stimulation," he said in a statement.
Johan Aqvist, Professor of Chemistry at Sweden's Uppsala University, said Lefkowitz was "the father of this entire field".
"Out of the roughly 1,400 drugs that exist in the world, about 1,000 of them are little pills that you consume, and the majority of these are based in these receptors," he told Reuters.
Chemistry was the third of this year's Nobel prizes. Prizes for achievements in science, literature and peace were first awarded in 1901 in accordance with the will of dynamite inventor and businessman Alfred Nobel. ($1 = 6.6125 Swedish crowns)
(Additional reporting by Ben Hirschler, Kate Kelland and Chris Wickham; Editing by Patrick Lannin, Alistair Scrutton and Giles Elgood)
TOKYO (AP) ? The fast aging of Japanese society is evident as soon as one lands at Tokyo's Narita airport and sees who is doing the cleaning. Young people tend to take such menial jobs in other countries, but here they are often held by workers obviously in the second half-century of their lives.
Having the world's highest percentage of older people is creating unique challenges for Japan, but a report released Monday by the U.N. Population Fund warns that they will not be unique for long. Japan is the only country with 30 percent of its population over 60, but by 2050 more than 60 other countries, from China to Canada to Albania, will be in the same boat.
The report urges governments to summon the political will to protect the elderly and ensure they can age with good health and dignity. Discrimination toward and poverty among the aged are still far too prevalent in many countries, it says, even in the relatively wealthy industrialized nations.
The problem is worse for women, whose access to jobs and health care is often limited throughout their lives, along with their rights to own and inherit property.
"More must be done to expose, investigate and prevent discrimination, abuse and violence against older persons, especially women who are more vulnerable," the report says, calling on countries to "ensure that aging is a time of opportunity for all."
"We need bold political leadership," said Babatunde Osotimehin, executive director of the Population Fund. "Aging is manageable, but first it must be managed."
In some countries, such as Latvia and Cyprus, about half of those over 60 are living in poverty. And even in highly industrialized countries such as Japan the elderly struggle to get some services.
Hisako Tsukida, a 77-year-old retired elementary school teacher in Japan's ancient capital of Kyoto, is living what sounds like a dream retirement life, taking tai chi and flower arrangement lessons and visiting a fitness center for spa treatments and muscle training.
But her current leisure followed many years of caring for her ailing husband and then for her mother. Japan's elderly often take on enormous burdens in caring for older relatives at home.
Tsukida spent years trying to find a nursing home for her mother, now 100, and finally succeeded about six months ago after a rare vacancy opened up. But now she wonders about the time when she'll have to go through the same struggle for herself.
"I wonder if I could do this again when I'm even older and need to find myself a place to go," she said.
The U.N. report said that policy discussions of all kinds must include a consideration of problems facing the aging if mankind is to reap a "longevity benefit" from people's longer life expectancies.
Governments should build safety nets to ensure older people have income security and access to essential health and social services, it said. The report cited data from the International Labor Organization showing that only about a fifth of all workers get comprehensive social insurance.
Aging is no longer solely an issue for rich countries. About two-thirds of people over 60 years old live in developing countries such as China, and by 2050 that figure is expected to rise to about 80 percent.
One in nine people ? 810 million ? are 60 or older, a figure projected to rise to one in five ? or more than 2 billion ? by 2050.
Even Japan, the world's third-largest economy, offers only meager social benefits, though government-subsidized services provide affordable household help and daycare in some areas.
Neighbors and religious groups often help older people, and public facilities have been vastly improved from a few decades ago, with elevators and other handicapped access now the norm.
The discovery earlier this year, though, that an aged couple and their son apparently had starved to death in their home in a Tokyo suburb highlighted Japan's own growing problems with poverty and unemployment.
Growing numbers of people suffering from dementia pose another challenge. About 35.6 million people around the world were afflicted with the disease in 2010, a number growing about 7.7 million a year and costing about $604 billion worldwide.
Provisions must be made for the infirm to ensure their basic human rights, the U.N. report says.
In many countries, including the United States, India, Brazil and Mexico, statistics show the elderly often pay more into pension systems over their lifetimes than they receive in return. Meanwhile, as retirement ages are raised and benefits cut due to ballooning deficits, the elderly are paying proportionately more in taxes.
The report blamed a bias toward youth in mass media, which stereotype aging as a time of decline, for lowering expectations about life for older people. It noted that older people often live highly productive, enjoyable lives if they have good health and reasonable levels of income.
The report's authors also argued against a prevalent belief that older workers should make way for younger job seekers, saying that way of thinking is based on the mistaken idea that there is a finite number of jobs and that workers are perfectly interchangeable.
"More jobs for older people do not mean fewer jobs for younger people," it says.
___
Associated Press Writer Mari Yamaguchi contributed to this report.
Editor's note:?Marc Gayle is a Rails developer and founder of?5KMVP, where he builds Minimum Viable Products for just $5K. Follow him on Twitter.? A few months ago, I got the idea that one way to get leads for remote freelance gigs was to scour Craigslist. So, after doing the manual work of 'crawling' through at least 100 job postings by hand, I wrote a Ruby script to do the heavy lifting and filtering for me.
Are you great at golf? Crazy about cupcakes? Passionate about podcasting? Then starting an internet marketing business based around your hobby could be the perfect outlet for you.![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 21-Oct-2012
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Authorities in Europe today kicked off a fresh wave of scrutiny over 
Researchers have pinpointed a small region in the genome ? the entirety of human hereditary information ??as a vital factor in the development of psychiatric disease and obesity.
Editor's note:?Marc Gayle is a Rails developer and founder of?