Continuous Productivity

Doctors and Suicide

There's a grim, rarely talked-about twist to all that medical know-how doctors learn to save lives: It makes them especially good at ending their own. An estimated 300 to 400 U.S. doctors kill themselves each year -- a suicide rate thought to be higher than in the general population, although exact figures are hard to come by.

Some doctors believe the stigma of mental illness is magnified in a profession that prides itself on stoicism and bravado. Many fear admitting psychiatric problems could be fatal to their careers, so they suffer in silence.

And when the pain is too much, doctors have easy access to prescription drugs and a precise knowledge of both how the body works and the amount of a drug needed for an overdose to stop breathing and halt the heart.

This is something that I was completely unaware of. I could have guessed that policemen, firemen, and maybe even social workers are at the high end of the suicide spectrum, but not doctors. It seems to me that a profession which brings so much hope would not have these issues, but alas it's extremely common. The explanation as to why the suicide rate is so much higher for doctors is equally intriguing:

One explanation is that most suicide attempts in the broader population are unsuccessful, while doctors know how to successfully commit suicide, said Dr. Erika Frank, who specializes in research on physician health.

Risk is a Drug

In news that shouldn't surprise anybody that has ever traded or gambled:

A small group of scientists, including some psychologists, say they are starting to discover what many Wall Street professionals have long suspected — that people are hard-wired for money. The human brain, these researchers say, responds to high-stakes trading just as it does to the lure of sex. And the riskier the trades get, the more the brain craves them.

I don't know quite how I feel about brain images as data, but it is interesting to note that:

One of his findings was that brain images of drug addicts who are about to take another hit are indistinguishable from those of traders who are making money and about to place another trade. “That tells us pretty confidently that if you make money and make money again,” Mr. Zweig said, “it is very similar to a chemical addiction and it becomes very hard to let go.”

Pot or Pepsi?

Via the great Gizmodo, LA is now going to provide medicinal marijuana vending machines:

To use them, you'll need to go with a prescription in hand, get fingerprinted and get a prepaid credit card that's loaded up with your dosage and what strain of weed you want. Yeah, no joke, the pharmacists in LA give you a choice between OG Kush and Granddaddy Purple. In the future, the machines may also be outfitted to sell other popular drugs such as Viagra, Vicodin and Propecia.

'Roid Rage 'Roids and Age

Marginal Revolution (a daily must-read) pointed me to this great analysis by economist Steve Walters.  Walters outlines a study by Yale economist, Ray C. Fair. 

I wanted to finish watching the 60 Minutes piece on Roger Clemens before I completed this post. 

Anyway, I completely agree with the consensus that Clemens comes off as an asshole.  Perhaps, I am biased, but the credibility levels of his answers were very low.  As expected, Mike Wallace did not push.

Back to the earlier article, which seems to put some empirical data around what most ardent baseball fans already know.  Fair asked, and sought the answers to, a few very important questions as they relate to steroids and baseball:

When do ballplayers reach their peak? He used some sophisticated statistical tools to get the basic answers (28 for hitters, 27 for pitchers) for his sample of 441 hitters and 144 pitchers who played at least 10 full seasons between 1921 and 2004.

Then he asked this follow-up: Which players have exhibited the most unusual age-performance profiles? Specifically, are there any players who got better with age?

He then precedes to show that only 18 players since 1921 have exceeded their age-expected output levels by greater than one standard deviation.  And just as you would suspect, of the 18, 15 played in the 1990's. 

Still believe that steroids don't have an impact on player performance?

This is What Heaven Must be Like

Via Mark Andreessen, who happens to be an inspiration in every facet of his life, and Wired:

In what sounds like a dream for millions of tired coffee drinkers, Darpa-funded scientists might have found a drug that will eliminate sleepiness.

A nasal spray containing a naturally occurring brain hormone called orexin A reversed the effects of sleep deprivation in monkeys, allowing them to perform like well-rested monkeys on cognitive tests.

This, for many of us, could be the closest thing to the Fountain of Youth.  I'd be curious to learn what the side effects are. 

This article seems to imply that the nasal spray is not addictive:

For decades, stimulants have been used to combat sleepiness, but they can be addictive and often have side effects, including raising blood pressure or causing mood swings. The military, for example, administers amphetamines to pilots flying long distances, and has funded research into new drugs like the stimulant modafinil (.pdf) and orexin A in an effort to help troops stay awake with the fewest side effects.

I can't wait to see where this leads.