Wakeman reworks rock epic Journey to Centre of Earth

LONDON (Reuters) – The story behind the upcoming re-issue of Rick Wakeman‘s 1974 concept album “Journey to the Center of the Earth” sounds almost as unlikely as the Jules Verne tale that inspired it.

Progressive rock veteran Wakeman had presumed the original orchestration to his chart-topping disc was lost for good when his record company MAM, where the manuscripts had been stored in boxes, was brought to its knees in the early 1980s.

Although he could have re-orchestrated the work from the original album, recorded live at the Royal Festival Hall in London in 1974, Wakeman knew it would be far from perfect.

And the original score was 55 minutes long whereas the 1974 version had to be cut to closer to 40 due to the constraints of vinyl recordings at the time.

“In about 1983 or 1984 I had an enquiry to do Journey again in America,” Wakeman recalled in a telephone interview.

“I thought ‘great’. But MAM had gone, and nobody there had any idea what had happened to all the stuff of mine,” the former Yes keyboardist told Reuters.

“Up until recently I would get phone calls to do it and I said ‘no, I can’t', there is no music any more. You just resign yourself to disappointment.”

Everything changed about four years ago when a box of papers arrived at his doorstep – a fairly regular occurrence, he explained, for a man who had been married several times and had “stuff in storage all over the place”.

Sifting through the contents, Wakeman found a pile of music that was not his own, but “something told me to empty the entire box.” At the very bottom was the long-lost conductor’s score of Journey, albeit so damp the pages were stuck together.

To this day Wakeman does not know where the box came from, and is amazed it reappeared nearly 30 years after going missing.

ORIGINAL SONGS

Once the music had been downloaded on to a computer, Wakeman set about reintroducing the songs and other sections he removed for the 1974 recording with the help of notes he had kept.

He decided to make a studio recording of the rock opera, and sought to replicate the sound of the original instruments.

For the narrator’s voice, he could not go back to David Hemmings, who died in 2003, and so invited actor Peter Egan.

The result is a re-mastered version of Journey, complete with 20 minutes of unheard music, which hits shelves on November 20. It comes in the form of a “fanback” comprising the music, a 132-page magazine and a replica of the program to the 1974 show.

For Wakeman it was a labor of love, but one he hopes will prove profitable.

“We did have record companies come forward,” the 63-year-old said. “But I don’t want an A&R (artists and repertoire) man coming in and saying it could do with this and that.

“The only way I can get this done as I believe it should be is to finance it and do it myself which we did. It broke the bank, there’s no doubt about it.”

While the concept of a rock opera based on French author Verne’s 1864 sci-fi classic may not instantly appeal to young listeners today, Wakeman believes there is a market for his latest release.

“Music audiences today don’t put a date on anything, they either like it or they don’t,” he said, adding that the “prog-rock” genre for which he is best known has made something of a comeback in recent years.

PROKOFIEV FAN

The prolific musician who has made around 100 albums and sold millions of records started piano lessons when he was seven, and at about that time the seeds of his career were sown.

“Story telling to music is something I have loved since my father took me to see ‘Peter and the Wolf’ aged eight, and (Sergei) Prokofiev became my hero,” he recalled.

By his late teens he was an established session musician and joined the band Yes in 1971 with whom he recorded the hit album “Fragile” and, the following year, “Close to the Edge”.

In 1973 he released “The Six Wives of Henry VIII” a solo concept album, and in 1974, which his official online biography calls “probably the most significant year in Rick’s career”, he made Journey and toured the world with it.

Another concept album, “The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table” followed in 1975, and Wakeman returned to Yes for spells throughout the 1990s.

Next week he plays six dates in South America, including the first concert performance of the new, full Journey and a rendition of The Six Wives.

The new “holy grail” following the rediscovery of Journey is to track down the original music to King Arthur, which was also lost. Wakeman is orchestrating the existing recording for a show next June, but would love to find the full score.

“All of us involved hope very much that it (Journey) makes its money back, because it would then allow me to look for the King Arthur music. We are doing a version next June and it would be lovely to say we’ve done it from the original music.”

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)

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Scientists map domestic pig’s genome

LONDON (Reuters) – Scientists have mapped the genome of the domestic pig in a project that could enhance the animal’s use in the testing of drugs for human disease.

A study, published in science journal Nature, identified genes that could be linked with illnesses suffered by farmed pigs, providing a reference tool for selective breeding to increase their resistance to disease.

“This new analysis helps us understand the genetic mechanisms that enable high-quality pork production, feed efficiency and resistance to disease,” said Sonny Ramaswany, director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture‘s National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

“This knowledge can ultimately help producers breed high-quality swine, lower production costs and improve sustainability.”

Alan Archibald at the University of Edinburgh’s Roslin Institute in Scotland, who worked on the project with collaborators in the Netherlands and the United States, said the new genome sequence was the first good draft.

Archibald said while making sense of the analysis would take time, the benefits of genome sequencing flow through more quickly in agriculture than, for instance, human medicine, “because we can use selective breeding”.

Identifying genes responsible for diseases that are also seen in people could see pigs used more extensively for drug testing.

For instance, the inherited illness known as porcine stress syndrome, which can cause sudden death in pigs, has similarities to the human condition malignant hyperthermia which causes a fast and dangerous rise in body temperature in some people under general anesthetic.

Some of the genetic faults that pigs share with humans can be linked with conditions as varied as Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, dyslexia, obesity and Parkinson’s disease, the researchers said.

“In total, we found 112 positions where the porcine protein has the same amino acid that is implicated in a disease in humans,” they said.

(Editing by Dan Lalor)

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Wall Street gains, led by retail sector after Home Depot

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stocks rose on Tuesday in a sharp turnaround from earlier losses, led by gains in retail stocks after strong results from Home Depot , the world’s largest home improvement company.

Traders said rumors that Spain may be close to asking for a sovereign bailout may have boosted buying.

Dow component Home Depot Inc was the top gainer on the S&P 500, climbing 4.5 percent to $ 63.90 after reporting earnings that beat expectations and raising its outlook. Rival retailer Lowes Companies also gained, up 1.1 percent to $ 32.32.

Energy stocks, which were trading lower earlier, also turned around sharply. The S&P 500 energy sector index <.GSPE> rose 0.7 percent.

Technology shares were little changed and earlier were under pressure from weakness in Microsoft after the executive most widely tipped to be the next chief executive left the company.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> was up 74.71 points, or 0.58 percent, at 12,889.79. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index <.SPX> was up 7.49 points, or 0.54 percent, at 1,387.52. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> was up 1.24 points, or 0.04 percent, at 2,905.50.

The euro zone debt crisis continued to roil global markets.

“The intraday moves are pretty big today as we continue to be in a rumor-filled market, mainly news out of Europe,” said Ryan Detrick, senior technical strategist at Schaeffer’s Investment Research in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Despite the gains, the S&P 500 was still down nearly 2 percent for the month on lingering concerns about the “fiscal cliff” in the U.S., and debt crisis in the euro zone.

The fiscal cliff is a series of budget cuts and tax hikes that begin to take effect in the new year. Market participants worry that if no deal is reached to avoid going over the cliff, the economy could fall back into recession.

Concerns over this possibility contributed to the S&P’s worst week since June last week, with no sign of a bottom despite a drop of almost 3 percent over the past two weeks.

“The attention in the equity markets has shifted more noticeably to the possibility that the U.S. fails to properly handle the so-called fiscal cliff,” said Ari Wald, analyst at PrinceRidge Group. He said equities in developed countries have been outperforming U.S. stocks despite worries about the euro zone’s financial health.

In other earnings news, AK Steel Holding Corp shares fell 10 percent to $ 4.91 after forecasting a fourth-quarter loss, while Michael Kors Holdings gained 3.9 percent to $ 52.58 after raising its outlook.

(Editing by Kenneth Barry)

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At Mao-style conclave, China embraces Twitter age

BEIJING (AP) — During China’s last party congress, the cadres in charge of the world’s most populous nation didn’t know a hashtag from a hyperlink. But five years on, there’s a new message from Beijing: The political transition will be microblogged.

Party officials have this fall embraced social media with unprecedented enthusiasm, hoping it can help guide public opinion and stir up excitement about the staid and scripted party meeting taking place this week in Beijing that kicks off a transition to a new, younger set of top leaders.

Dozens of the more than 2,000 party delegates, among them Chairman Mao‘s grandson, are using social media to wax rhapsodic about China’s rise and Party General Secretary Hu Jintao’s live 90-minute reading of highlights from this year’s party work report. Typical posts include pictures of grinning delegates on Tiananmen Square and mobile snapshots of poinsettia arrangements and chandeliers from inside the Great Hall of the People, where the congress is meeting.

Guo Mingyi, a miner from the frigid northeast who was making his debut as a party delegate, tweeted: “On this land with great affections, how can I not sing, how can I not tear up, I love this piece of land, the people and the great Chinese Communist Party!”

State media also are posting microblog interviews with officials and shooting out updates about the congress schedule via Twitter-like accounts.

But apart from being a tool to deliver Beijing’s approved policy messages to the mobile phones of ordinary Chinese, the Internet is a two-way street that’s also being used by the public to poke fun at and critique the propaganda. Online commentators have compared the gushy crying and clapping of some delegates over Hu’s speech to North Korean style mass hysteria.

Responding to state media report about how a female delegate, Li Jian, cried five times at Hu’s work report, a Sina microblog user writing under the name ‘Buying Soysauce’ wrote: “I sobbed uncontrollably too, at the thought that these people were my compatriots.”

Wang Keqin, the assistant to the editor in chief of Beijing’s Economic Observer magazine, wrote about the tears of another delegate, He Guiqin: “It’s back to North Korea overnight!”

Other critics have dredged up old headlines from 1987 about the scourge of bribe-seeking and posted them online to highlight how little party rhetoric, and party problems, have changed despite major social change over the last three decades.

The clash of ideas underscores just how important the Internet has become in China’s campaign to guide public opinion — a major shift from just a few years ago.

At the last party conclave in October 2007, Twitter was a little over a year old and hashtags had only just been introduced. China’s leading homegrown Twitter-like microblog service, Sina Weibo, was still two years from launch.

But as elsewhere, China’s Internet population has exploded over the last five years, jumping from 170 million to more than 500 million today. Social media has boomed with it and now plays a huge part in everyday Chinese life, particularly for urban residents who use it to find restaurants, jobs and mates.

Beijing’s initial reaction to social media was to block and censor, to limit conversations by banning access to Twitter and Facebook and to limit mention of anything considered sensitive or destabilizing with keyword filters. Though authorities still use those tactics, the government is increasingly proactive and working to wrest control of the online conversation by flooding the zone with its own content.

David Bandurski, a researcher with the China Media Project at Hong Kong University, says Chinese officials have learned that simply banning or blocking reports is no longer effective in the porous Internet sphere and that stifling information can backfire by fanning more interest in scandals and crises and sparking online rumors.

“You can’t just stuff the genie back into the bottle,” said Bandurski. “You have also to channel public opinion … officially, they are seeing social media as the best way to send out their authoritative information and kind of drive the agenda.”

But the government remains yoked to its party-ese, which can seem hopelessly out of date in the Twitter age.

A dispatch on the trend by the official Xinhua News Agency gives a hint to the flavor of Beijing’s rhetoric.

“The Internet has been unprecedentedly embedded into the ongoing National Congress of the Communist Party of China,” the news agency trumpeted over the weekend. “Not only can contents on the Internet be found in the congress report, but online media practitioners are attending the congress in person.”

On Saturday, Chairman Mao’s grandson Mao Xinyu tweeted this to his 105,943 followers on Renmin Weibo, the microblog of the official party paper, the People’s Daily: “Mao Zedong thought will always be the guiding ideology of the party.”

It got 155 retweets, a mediocre showing in China‘s lively web sphere.

___

Follow Alexa Olesen on Twitter: http://twitter.com/alobeijing

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Jason Biggs defends tweeting ways

NEW YORK (AP) — Jason Biggs is brushing off criticism he received during the recent election season for vulgar tweets that referenced the wives of both Republican Mitt Romney and his running mate in the presidential race, Paul Ryan.

The “American Pie” star took heat for off-color comments posted to his Twitter feed at the time of the Republican National Convention in August. The outpouring of criticism from parents groups, pundits and others led Nickelodeon to issue an apology for the actor’s comments on the social media website. Biggs is providing one of the voices in the cable TV station’s new animated series “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.”

“I made a political tweet, so I got a little bit of heat from the right,” he said.

With elections over, Biggs says he’s moving on.

He appeared Monday night in New York at the annual 24 Hour Plays event, which was sponsored by luxury pen-maker Montblanc to benefit the Urban Arts Partnership. The benefit draws more than two dozen actors who write, rehearse, and perform one of six plays that they began working on the night before.

Biggs’ tweets have also poked fun at the Kardashians, Amanda Bynes, Lindsay Lohan and the ABC show “The Bachelorette.”

“I’m more afraid of the Kardashians, than I am of the Republicans,” he said.

He said he sees Twitter as an extension of the darker side of his humor.

As a three-time performer in 24 Hour Plays benefit, Biggs says he’s grown to feel more comfortable with the process.

“It’s a little easier. But it’s still nerve-racking, man.”

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One in three open to traveling for medical treatment, poll finds

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Looking for an affordable face lift without breaking the bank? Want to combine a tummy tuck with two weeks in the sun? You’re not alone.

Nearly a third of people surveyed around the world say they are open to the idea of medical tourism – traveling abroad to enjoy cheaper medical or dental treatment, according to a new Ipsos poll of 18,731 adults in 24 countries.

Indeed, 18 percent said they would definitely consider it.

“The concept of medical tourism is well accepted in many countries,” said Nicolas Boyon, senior vice president of Ipsos Public Affairs.

“With the exception of Japan there are at least one third of consumers in every country we covered that are open to the idea,” he said in an interview.

Whether for economic reasons or perceptions of superior treatment elsewhere, for treatments ranging from cosmetic to life-saving surgeries, Indians, Indonesians, Russians, Mexicans and Poles were the most open to the idea of being medically mobile.

Thirty-one percent or more people in each of those countries said they would definitely consider traveling for a medical or dental treatment.

Conversely, people in Japan, South Korea, Spain and Sweden were least likely to be medical tourists.

Boyon said it was not surprising that men and women from emerging nations would be medically mobile if the treatments were cheaper.

“This probably reflects perceptions of medical care in other countries that is superior to what is available at home,” he said.

But he was intrigued by the percentage of people in developed nations such as Italy, where 66 percent said they would definitely or probably consider medical tourism, along with Germany (48 percent), Canada (41 percent) and the United States, where 38 percent of people were open to the idea.

“It is a reflection that the medical profession is no longer protected from globalization,” Boyon said.

RISKS VS. BENEFITS

Although medical tourism spans a range of treatments, the most common are dental care, cosmetic surgery, elective surgery and fertility treatment, according to an OECD report.

“The medical tourist industry is dynamic and volatile and a range of factors including the economic climate, domestic policy changes, political instability, travel restrictions, advertising practices, geo-political shifts, and innovative and pioneering forms of treatment may all contribute towards shifts in patterns of consumption and production of domestic and overseas health services,” the report said.

Various studies using different criteria have estimated that anywhere between 60,000 to 750,000 U.S. residents travel abroad for health care each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Along with variations among countries, the Ipsos survey showed that younger adults under 35 years of age were more likely in most countries to consider medical tourism, than people 50 to 64 years old.

In India, 86 percent of young adults said they would consider medical tourism, along with 77 percent in China, and 71 percent in Italy.

Boyon suggested that the cost of travel, proximity, borders and quality of care may also be factors considered by potential medical tourists. In both Italy and Germany, about 20 percent of adults said they would definitely consider medical tourism. Both countries are near Hungary, a popular destination for health treatments.

Ipsos conducted the poll in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and the United States.

(Editing by Elaine Lies and Bernadette Baum)

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S&P 500 and Nasdaq inch higher, fiscal cliff a concern

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stocks mostly ticked higher on Monday, but persistent concerns about the upcoming debate on the fiscal cliff limited gains even after last week’s steep sell-off.

Barclays cut its year-end target for the S&P 500 to 1,325, citing fiscal cliff issues.

The S&P 500 dropped 2.4 percent last week, the worst week for the benchmark index since June. It closed below its 200-day moving average for the first time in five months, and an extended run under that level could signal further losses ahead.

Trading volume is expected to be light, with the U.S. bond market and government offices closed on Monday for the Veterans Day holiday.

Last week’s weakness was partly propelled by concerns about whether there will be a timely solution to avoid the fiscal cliff, a combination of government spending cuts and tax increases set to go into effect early next year unless Congress acts to change the law before then. Though most consider it unlikely that no deal will be reached, analysts fear going over the cliff could push the economy back into recession

“Right now, all eyes are on Washington, and we’re just waiting,” said Matthew Keator, a partner in the Keator Group, a wealth management firm in Lenox, Massachusetts. “We’re hopeful something gets done, but we’ve been disappointed before. We need to see something done if we’re going to remain up for the year.”

The S&P 500 is still up 10 percent for 2012, though recent months have eroded those gains. The Nasdaq has fallen for five straight weeks.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> was down 3.69 points, or 0.03 percent, at 12,811.70. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index <.SPX> was up 0.87 of a point, or 0.06 percent, at 1,380.72. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> was up 4.53 points, or 0.16 percent, at 2,909.41.

Some major acquisition news gave investors some reasons for optimism on Monday. Precision Castparts Corp offered to buy Titanium Metals Corp for $ 2.9 billion, while Leucadia National Corp agreed to buy investment bank Jefferies Group for $ 3.6 billion.

Shares of Titanium surged 42.3 percent to $ 16.46 while Jefferies climbed 13.5 percent to $ 16.19. Precision rose 5.5 percent to $ 180.67. In contrast, Leucadia fell 4 percent to $ 20.93.

“After last week, there could be some bargain opportunities out there,” said Keator, who helps oversee $ 500 million in assets. “Especially since if there is a fiscal cliff deal, that could lead to a tremendous move on the upside.”

Overseas, a report over the weekend showed China’s export growth climbed to a five-month high, beating expectations and adding to recent data suggesting the country’s seven straight quarters of slowing economic growth have ended.

In addition, the Greek parliament on Sunday approved an austerity budget for next year, a necessary step to unblock a new tranche of credit from the European Union and International Monetary Fund before the government runs out of cash. Still, investors remain concerned about whether the EU and IMF will agree to send the next tranche.

Apple Inc rose 0.6 percent to $ 550.42 after the company announced a global patent settlement with HTC Corp <2498.TW>, as well as a 10-year licensing agreement. Apple‘s stock has been under pressure recently, dropping more than 20 percent from its 2012 high to enter bear market territory.

Homebuilder D.R. Horton Inc reported fourth-quarter earnings that beat expectations, helped by a jump in orders. D.R. Horton‘s shares gained 3.1 percent to $ 21.23.

According to Thomson Reuters data through Friday, of the 449 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings, 63.3 percent have topped expectations. But only 38.2 percent of companies have topped revenue expectations – well below the 62 percent average since 2002.

(Editing by Jan Paschal)

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Dutch teenagers sentenced in “Facebook murder”

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Two Dutch teenagers were sentenced to two years in juvenile detention and three years of compulsory therapy on Monday for ordering the death of a girl after an argument on Facebook.

The case, known in the Netherlands as the “Facebook murder”, has caused widespread debate about the role of social media in violent crime.

The victim, identified only as 15-year old Winsie, was fatally stabbed in January at the request of the boy and girl, who were aged 17 and 16 respectively at the time.

Winsie had argued for weeks with the girl, and they had swapped insults on the social networking site.

“The defendants are guilty of a particularly serious criminal offence. The fact that a friendship between two young girls can turn into deep hate and ultimately into murder being incited is shocking and hard to comprehend,” a court in the city of Arnhem said in a statement.

The killer, who Dutch media named only as Jinhua and who was 14 when he committed the crime, was sentenced in September to one year in juvenile detention.

(Reporting Gilbert Kreijger; Editing by Anthony Deutsch and Pravin Char)

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Elmo puppeteer accused of underage relationship

NEW YORK (AP) — The puppeteer who performs as Elmo on “Sesame Street” is taking a leave of absence from the popular kids’ show in the wake of allegations that he had a relationship with a 16-year-old boy.

Sesame Workshop said puppeteer Kevin Clash denies the charges, which were first made in June by the alleged partner, who by then was 23.

“We took the allegation very seriously and took immediate action,” Sesame Workshop said in a statement issued Monday. “We met with the accuser twice and had repeated communications with him. We met with Kevin, who denied the accusation.”

The organization described the relationship as personal and “unrelated to the workplace.” Its investigation found the allegation of underage conduct to be unsubstantiated. But it said Clash exercised “poor judgment” and was disciplined for violating company policy regarding Internet usage. It offered no details.

“I had a relationship with (the accuser),” Clash told TMZ. “It was between two consenting adults and I am deeply saddened that he is trying to make it into something it was not.”

At his request, Clash has been granted a leave of absence in order to “protect his reputation,” Sesame Workshop said.

No further explanation was provided, nor was the duration of his leave specified.

“Elmo is bigger than any one person and will continue to be an integral part of ‘Sesame Street’ to engage, educate and inspire children around the world, as it has for 40 years,” Sesame Workshop said in its statement.

“Sesame Street” is currently in production, but other puppeteers are prepared to fill in for Clash during his absence, according to a person close to the show who spoke on condition of anonymity because that person was not authorized to publicly discuss details about the show’s production.

“Elmo will still be a part of the shows being produced,” that person said.

The 52-year-old Clash, the divorced father of a grown daughter, has been a puppeteer for “Sesame Street” since 1984. It was then that he was handed the fuzzy red puppet named Elmo and asked to come up with a voice for him. Clash transformed the character, which had been a marginal member of the Muppets troupe for a number of years, into a major star rivaling Big Bird as the face of “Sesame Street.”

In 2006, Clash published an autobiography, “My Life as a Furry Red Monster,” and was the subject of the 2011 documentary “Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey.”

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Assisted Dying Advocates Deflated

More than 1.5 million Massachusetts voters said “no” to a ballot measure last week that would have allowed doctor-assisted suicide for the terminally ill, clinching a 51 percent majority. Jim Carberry might have been one of them, had he not watched his cancer-stricken wife starve herself to death.

Margie Carberry had four surgeries and 44 doses of radiation for a rare spinal tumor before doctors said “there was nothing more they could do.”

“By that point, she was just existing,” said Jim Carberry of Natick, Mass., recalling the 16-year cancer battle that left his wife unable to walk, talk, eat and even breathe on her own. “She started seeing the palliative care team at Mass General, as well as a social worker and her minister. And she told them all on numerous occasions that after our youngest daughter’s graduation, she wanted to die.”

Margie made it to the graduation ceremony, a milestone she imagined when at the time of her diagnosis when her daughters were 2 and 5 years old. A week later, she decided to die by removing her feeding tube.

“She exercised the only option she had,” said Carberry of the agonizing process that spanned five weeks in the summer of 2011. “It was horrendous watching her waste away, having my children watch her waste away. I decided that if there was anything I could do to help another family avoid this, I would do it.”

Carberry became a voice for Death With Dignity, a national campaign to let doctors prescribe life-ending medication to terminally ill patients. Assisted dying laws have already been passed in Oregon and Washington. And on Nov. 6, the issue was on the Massachusetts ballot as “Question 2.” The measure was met with fierce opposition by religious, medical and disability rights groups.

“I honestly thought we would win,” said Carberry, who was devastated by the narrow defeat. “The fact that we lost by such a close margin, and the fact that the other side was funded by some outside groups who really didn’t have a dog in this fight, I won’t lie, I’m really angry.”

One of the groups, the Committee Against Assisted Suicide, argued Question 2 was “poorly written, confusing and flawed,” opening the door for depressed patients to take their lives before getting mental health counseling or seeking hospice care.

”We believe the voters came to see this as a flawed approach to end of life care, lacking in the most basic safeguards,” committee chairwoman Rosanne Bacon Meade said in a statement to the Associated Press. ”We hope this marks the beginning of a real conversation about ways to improve end-of-life care in Massachusetts, which, as the nation’s health care capital, is well positioned to take the lead on this issue.”

Assisted dying advocates argue data from Oregon, where the Death With Dignity Act was passed in 1994, refutes concerns about safeguards and plan to push for the ballot measure again in 2014.

“The foundation for support has been built, and we’ll keep working to make sure voters in Massachusetts and other states get the facts they need for an open and honest debate about Death with Dignity,” Peg Sandeen, executive director of the Death With Dignity National Center, said in a statement.

Carberry admits his position on Question 2 was undoubtedly influenced by his personal experience, which he did his best to share in advance of the vote.

“If someone could watch what my family went through all the way to the end and say, ‘That’s how I want my loved one to pass away,’ then there’s nothing I can do,” he said. “But anyone who has an iota of compassion in the heart, I can’t see them saying that.”

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