Isolation

People who are socially isolated are more likely to die prematurely, regardless of their underlying health issues, according to a study of the elderly British population. The findings, published online Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, showed that when mental and physical health conditions were factored out, the lack of social contact continued to lead to early death among 6,500 men and women tracked over a seven-year period. "They're dying of the usual causes, but isolation has a strong influence," said study author Andrew Steptoe, an epidemiologist at University College London.

Re "Too young for solitary," Editorial, May 12 Your editorial had such a promising beginning. Unfortunately, rather than saying the cruel solitary confinement of juveniles should be banned, the editorial recommend that it "should at the very least be documented. " Documentation cannot make an inhumane practice humane. We know that a high percentage of juvenile offenders have psychiatric disorders. Research consistently confirms that isolation exacerbates mental health disorders.

What makes some state capitals so much more corrupt than others? New research provides a partial answer to that long-standing question: isolated capitals breed more corruption and lack of news coverage is a major reason why.   State capitals have long been known for corrupt practices. While every state has its roster of legendary local miscreants, some have a much more consistent record of corruption than others. Researchers have studied that variation for years, looking for factors that might explain the patterns.

At probation camps and juvenile halls, where delinquent minors are often held, officials sometimes have no choice but to temporarily isolate disruptive juveniles for the safety of other youths and camp personnel. But as an hour turns into a day or more - and reports from some camps and halls suggest it can turn into a week or a month - temporary isolation turns into solitary confinement, a brutal practice when employed against anyone, and an especially cruel way to treat a juvenile who is still developing and does not yet have the emotional skills to bounce back from such treatment.

Isolation is not good for business, nor democracy. ALBERT JOHN HUSAR Cathedral City

Henry David Thoreau relished isolation but didn't feel lonely. Marilyn Monroe was a social butterfly but died lonely. Their separate fates -- Thoreau dead of tuberculosis at 44, Monroe of suicide at 36 -- can't tell us much scientifically, but a study of an elderly population in England might shed more light. Having few social contacts may be more deadly than feeling alone, according to the study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science. Even when physical and mental health are factored out, isolation still led to a higher mortality rate than feeling lonely did among the 6,500 elderly British people whose health outcomes over a six-year period were studied.

California prison officials continue to move prisoners out of its controversial high-security units, where inmates are held, many indefinitely, nearly 23 hours a day in spartan isolation with minimal access to exercise and reduced privileges for such things as canteen food. The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation in October adopted new criteria for what constitutes gang involvement that will land an inmate in a prison's Security Housing Unit, or SHU. The state also began what it says is a trial of a "step down" program that allows inmates to leave the SHU in four years.

The scene inside the National Palace is about what you would expect of a Third World dictatorship. It resembles an armed fort, crawling with soldiers, the courtyard full of newly arrived crates of submachine guns, Uzis from Israel. Offices are decorated with the most expensive Haitian art, waiting rooms are opulent concoctions of white-on-white, full of priceless antiques and luxurious sofas adorned with dozens of perfectly matched African elephant tusks.

Of all the myths enshrouding Michael Jackson's too-brief life, none was more potent than his image as the isolated artist, the tormented creative soul cut off from ordinary mortals. It's an archetype with a strongly American pedigree, as grizzled and hoary as Citizen Kane clutching his snow globe while he sits alone in Xanadu, brooding on happier days. Thoreau took to his cabin in the woods. Howard Hughes hid out naked in germ-free hotels. Elvis holed up in Graceland under the sway of drugs and a byzantine retinue of friends and false comforters.

The Iqra'a bookstore in Baghdad's old quarter says much about Iraq today. William Shakespeare, Ernest Hemingway, Joseph Conrad, T.S. Eliot -- the secondhand volumes that fill the shelves of Iqra'a reveal the worldly, literate side of an ancient society. Many of the books are falling apart and are bound with Scotch tape -- testimony to nearly 13 years of sanctions and isolation from the outside world.

SABHA, Libya - Their fatigues don't match and their pickup has no windshield. Their antiaircraft gun, clogged with grit, is perched between a refugee camp and ripped market tents scattered over an ancient caravan route. But the tribesmen keep their rifles cocked and eyes fixed on a terrain of scouring light where the oasis succumbs to desert. "If we leave this outpost the Islamist militants will come and use Libya as a base. We can't let that happen," said Zakaria Ali Krayem, the oldest among the Tabu warriors.

People who are socially isolated are more likely to die prematurely, regardless of their underlying health issues, according to a study of the elderly British population. The findings, published online Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, showed that when mental and physical health conditions were factored out, the lack of social contact continued to lead to early death among 6,500 men and women tracked over a seven-year period. "They're dying of the usual causes, but isolation has a strong influence," said study author Andrew Steptoe, an epidemiologist at University College London.

Henry David Thoreau relished isolation but didn't feel lonely. Marilyn Monroe was a social butterfly but died lonely. Their separate fates -- Thoreau dead of tuberculosis at 44, Monroe of suicide at 36 -- can't tell us much scientifically, but a study of an elderly population in England might shed more light. Having few social contacts may be more deadly than feeling alone, according to the study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science. Even when physical and mental health are factored out, isolation still led to a higher mortality rate than feeling lonely did among the 6,500 elderly British people whose health outcomes over a six-year period were studied.

With the rapid shift in public opinion toward same-sex marriage, opposition to changing marriage laws increasingly has become limited to a few slices of the electorate, according to an analysis of polling data by leading Republican and Democratic pollsters. The two major divides are a generational and cultural split, according to the analysis, which looked at data from the November exit polls. Among people who voted in the last election who are older than 65, opponents of legalizing same-sex marriage outnumber supporters 58% to 37%. But those older voters made up only about one-sixth of the electorate.

California prison officials continue to move prisoners out of its controversial high-security units, where inmates are held, many indefinitely, nearly 23 hours a day in spartan isolation with minimal access to exercise and reduced privileges for such things as canteen food. The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation in October adopted new criteria for what constitutes gang involvement that will land an inmate in a prison's Security Housing Unit, or SHU. The state also began what it says is a trial of a "step down" program that allows inmates to leave the SHU in four years.

Serendipity is what gives us "Happy People: A Year in the Taiga," an intimate portrait of the vanishing breed of hunters and fishers still making a life in the isolated heart of Siberia, where a mild winter day is 30-below and the only way in or out is by helicopter or boat. That we are given a glimpse of this extraordinary place and its people at all is due to pure chance. Filmmaker Werner Herzog had dropped in unexpectedly on a friend in Los Angeles and found footage of Siberia playing on the plasma.

Re "Too young for solitary," Editorial, May 12 Your editorial had such a promising beginning. Unfortunately, rather than saying the cruel solitary confinement of juveniles should be banned, the editorial recommend that it "should at the very least be documented. " Documentation cannot make an inhumane practice humane. We know that a high percentage of juvenile offenders have psychiatric disorders. Research consistently confirms that isolation exacerbates mental health disorders.

I read with dismay that the Supreme Court has yet again weakened the rights of inmates to sue to obtain due process before being placed in isolation units in prisons (June 20). Since diminishing any prisoners' rights will likely be widely applauded by most politicians, there is a need to explain why everyone should care about the way inmates are treated during their period of incarceration, aside from the obvious humanitarian concerns. Those reasons can best be summed up in three words--Robert Walker Scully.

Evelyn Freeman, a pioneer in the field of aging who in the twilight of her life helped people cope with the challenges of getting older, has died. She was 96. Freeman, who was the longtime director of the senior counseling program at what was then called the Center for Healthy Aging in Santa Monica, died Jan. 14 of old age at her Brentwood home, her close friend Antoinette O'Connor said. Freeman was instrumental in adapting peer counseling techniques for seniors facing the difficult issues of aging, such as losing loved ones, isolation and stress from chronic pain.

TEHRAN - As rebel forces advance and longtime allies in Moscow distance themselves, Syria's most faithful friend is recalculating as well: Iranian officials and analysts say the Islamic Republic has launched a vigorous internal debate about how firmly it will continue to support Syrian President Bashar Assad. On the surface, Iranian officials stick to the view that Assad remains in control, and they welcome his emissaries. In Friday sermons, clerics close to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, accuse Israel and Western powers of plotting to bring Assad down.