Papers by Marie Cecchini Sternquist
Medical Hypotheses, 2007
For decades, scientists have investigated the environmental and human health effects of synthetic... more For decades, scientists have investigated the environmental and human health effects of synthetic chemicals. A growing body of research has illuminated the spectrum of consequences deriving from our reliance these substances and their proliferation in air, water, soil and the food chain. Of particular concern is the fact that residues of many man-made chemicals are now detectible in virtually every person. A key to a chemical's tendency to persist in tissues once it has entered the body is its lipophilicity. Substances that are poorly soluble in water and quite soluble in fat have relatively free access, via lipid-rich cellular membranes, to the cells of all organs including the ability to cross the blood-brain and placental barriers. Substantial data exist demonstrating that in addition to pollutants, drugs and their metabolites dispose to tissues high in fat content, including brain and adipose. While their characteristic lipophilicity permits drugs and medications to reach target tissues, thereby producing therapeutic effects in the present, current perceptions of risk may be ignoring the possibility that adipose accumulations of illicit drugs and pharmaceuticals may lead to future patterns of ill health similar to those associated with exposure to other categories of xenobiotic chemicals. Empirical data are beginning to characterize the myriad regulatory functions of adipose hormones, including roles in cravings, cognitive function, energy level, and inflammation as well as changes in adipose hormone levels associated with drug use. Included in this data are the observation that a rehabilitative treatment intervention introduced by L. Ron Hubbard in 1978 to aid in the broad elimination of chemicals from body stores improves symptoms common to both chemical exposure and drug addiction. The regimen, which includes exercise, sauna bathing, and vitamin and mineral supplementation, is utilized by nearly 70 drug rehabilitation and medical practices in over 20 countries. At present, much more is unknown than is known regarding long-term drug retention and effects. This subject deserves careful evaluation given its potential implications for health and chronic illnesses of poorly defined etiology (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), as well as drug abuse prevention, drug rehabilitation, forensic and legal areas.
Substance Abuse Treatment Prevention and Policy, Mar 19, 2008
Background: An estimated 13 million youths aged 12 to 17 become involved with alcohol, tobacco an... more Background: An estimated 13 million youths aged 12 to 17 become involved with alcohol, tobacco and other drugs annually. The number of 12-to 17-year olds abusing controlled prescription drugs increased an alarming 212 percent between 1992 and 2003. For many youths, substance abuse precedes academic and health problems including lower grades, higher truancy, drop out decisions, delayed or damaged physical, cognitive, and emotional development, or a variety of other costly consequences. For thirty years the Narconon program has worked with schools and community groups providing single educational modules aimed at supplementing existing classroom-based prevention activities. In 2004, Narconon International developed a multimodule, universal prevention curriculum for high school ages based on drug abuse etiology, program quality management data, prevention theory and best practices. We review the curriculum and its rationale and test its ability to change drug use behavior, perceptions of risk/ benefits, and general knowledge. Methods: After informed parental consent, approximately 1000 Oklahoma and Hawai'i high school students completed a modified Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) Participant Outcome Measures for Discretionary Programs survey at three testing points: baseline, one month later, and six month follow-up. Schools assigned to experimental conditions scheduled the Narconon curriculum between the baseline and one-month follow-up test; schools in control conditions received drug education after the six-month follow-up. Student responses were analyzed controlling for baseline differences using analysis of covariance. Results: At six month follow-up, youths who received the Narconon drug education curriculum showed reduced drug use compared with controls across all drug categories tested. The strongest effects were seen in all tobacco products and cigarette frequency followed by marijuana. There were also significant reductions measured for alcohol and amphetamines. The program also produced changes in knowledge, attitudes and perception of risk. Conclusion: The eight-module Narconon curriculum has thorough grounding in substance abuse etiology and prevention theory. Incorporating several historically successful prevention strategies this curriculum reduced drug use among youths.
Une immunoanalyse utilisant des peptides antigeniques recombinants codes par les genes env, tax e... more Une immunoanalyse utilisant des peptides antigeniques recombinants codes par les genes env, tax et gag du VLHT-I (virus de la leucemie humain a cellules en T). L'utilisation d'une combinaison de ces polypeptides antigenes permet de realiser une analyse de depistage de la presence d'anticorps du VLHT-I dans les fluides corporels par: combinaison de fluides corporels renfermant des anticorps avec un ou plusieurs antigenes de polypeptides recombinants selectionnes parmi le groupe qui consiste en des polypeptides codes par l'ensemble ou une partie des genes env, tax et gag du VLHT-I; la formation d'une paire de liaison d'anticorps-antigene detectable et detection de la presence de la paire de liaison.
attack and collapse of the
Medical Hypotheses, 2007
For decades, scientists have investigated the environmental and human health effects of synthetic... more For decades, scientists have investigated the environmental and human health effects of synthetic chemicals. A growing body of research has illuminated the spectrum of consequences deriving from our reliance these substances and their proliferation in air, water, soil and the food chain. Of particular concern is the fact that residues of many man-made chemicals are now detectible in virtually every person. A key to a chemical's tendency to persist in tissues once it has entered the body is its lipophilicity. Substances that are poorly soluble in water and quite soluble in fat have relatively free access, via lipid-rich cellular membranes, to the cells of all organs including the ability to cross the blood-brain and placental barriers. Substantial data exist demonstrating that in addition to pollutants, drugs and their metabolites dispose to tissues high in fat content, including brain and adipose. While their characteristic lipophilicity permits drugs and medications to reach target tissues, thereby producing therapeutic effects in the present, current perceptions of risk may be ignoring the possibility that adipose accumulations of illicit drugs and pharmaceuticals may lead to future patterns of ill health similar to those associated with exposure to other categories of xenobiotic chemicals. Empirical data are beginning to characterize the myriad regulatory functions of adipose hormones, including roles in cravings, cognitive function, energy level, and inflammation as well as changes in adipose hormone levels associated with drug use. Included in this data are the observation that a rehabilitative treatment intervention introduced by L. Ron Hubbard in 1978 to aid in the broad elimination of chemicals from body stores improves symptoms common to both chemical exposure and drug addiction. The regimen, which includes exercise, sauna bathing, and vitamin and mineral supplementation, is utilized by nearly 70 drug rehabilitation and medical practices in over 20 countries. At present, much more is unknown than is known regarding long-term drug retention and effects. This subject deserves careful evaluation given its potential implications for health and chronic illnesses of poorly defined etiology (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), as well as drug abuse prevention, drug rehabilitation, forensic and legal areas.
Substance Abuse: Research and Treatment, 2014
Journal of International Medical Research
Objective: Protracted drug withdrawal symptoms can last months or years after drug cessation, oft... more Objective: Protracted drug withdrawal symptoms can last months or years after drug cessation, often precipitating a return to substance misuse. We evaluated the safety and preliminary health benefits of a unique chemical exposure regimen based on exercise, sauna and therapeutic nutrients. Methods: This was a prospective evaluation of 109 individuals sequentially enrolled into a sauna detoxification component of a multi-modal, long-term residential substance abuse treatment centre. Results: Data from medical charts, client self-reports and Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) responses indicated that the Hubbard sauna detoxification method was well tolerated, with a 99% completion rate, including one human immunodeficiency virus and nine hepatitis C positive clients. There were no cases of dehydration, overhydration or heat illness. Statistically significant improvements were seen in both mental and physical SF-36 scores at regimen completion, as well as in Addiction Severity Index and Global Appraisal of Individual Needs Short Screener change scores at rehabilitation program discharge, compared with enrolment. Conclusions: The regimen lacked serious adverse events, had a very low discontinuation rate and high client-reported satisfaction. The SF-36 data indicated improved physical and emotional symptoms. Therefore, broader investigation of this sauna-based treatment regimen is warranted.
Townsend Letter the Examiner of Alternative Medicine, Apr 1, 2006
Toxicology and industrial health, 2012
The medical literature reports health hazards for law enforcement personnel from repeated exposur... more The medical literature reports health hazards for law enforcement personnel from repeated exposure to methamphetamine and related chemical compounds. Most effects appear transitory, but some Utah police officers with employment-related methamphetamine exposures developed chronic symptoms, some leading to disability. This report is of an uncontrolled retrospective medical chart evaluation of symptomatic officers treated with a sauna detoxification protocol designed to reduce the chronic symptoms and improve the quality of life. Sixty-nine officers consecutively entering the Utah Meth Cops Project were assessed before and after a treatment program involving gradual exercise, comprehensive nutritional support and physical sauna therapy. Evaluations included pre- and post-treatment scores of the Research and Development Corporation (RAND) 36-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) in comparison with RAND population norms, pre- and post-treatment symptom score intensities, neurotoxicity sc...
Substance Abuse: Research and Treatment, 2013
The routine collection of drug treatment outcomes to manage quality of care, improve patient sati... more The routine collection of drug treatment outcomes to manage quality of care, improve patient satisfaction, and allocate treatment resources is currently hampered by two key difficulties: (1) problems locating clients once they leave treatment; and (2) the prohibitive cost of obtaining meaningful and reliable post-treatment data. This pilot describes precise methods for an economical staffbased routine outcome monitoring (ROM) system using an 18-item core measure telephone survey. As implemented at Narconon™ of Oklahoma, a behavioral and social skills based, residential drug rehabilitation program, the system was psychometrically adequate for aggregate reporting while providing clinically useful information. Standardized procedures for staff training, collecting client contact information, structuring exit interviews and maintaining post-treatment telephone contact produced follow-up rates that improved from 57.6% to 100% over the course of the project. Aggregate data was used to improve program delivery and thereby post-treatment substance use and social outcomes. These methods and use of data may contribute to the discussion on how to best monitor outcomes.
Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy, 2008
Background: An estimated 13 million youths aged 12 to 17 become involved with alcohol, tobacco an... more Background: An estimated 13 million youths aged 12 to 17 become involved with alcohol, tobacco and other drugs annually. The number of 12-to 17-year olds abusing controlled prescription drugs increased an alarming 212 percent between 1992 and 2003. For many youths, substance abuse precedes academic and health problems including lower grades, higher truancy, drop out decisions, delayed or damaged physical, cognitive, and emotional development, or a variety of other costly consequences. For thirty years the Narconon program has worked with schools and community groups providing single educational modules aimed at supplementing existing classroom-based prevention activities. In 2004, Narconon International developed a multimodule, universal prevention curriculum for high school ages based on drug abuse etiology, program quality management data, prevention theory and best practices. We review the curriculum and its rationale and test its ability to change drug use behavior, perceptions of risk/ benefits, and general knowledge.
Science, 1987
The autocrine model postulates that constitutive release of a mitogenic growth factor can lead to... more The autocrine model postulates that constitutive release of a mitogenic growth factor can lead to uncontrolled proliferation and cell transformation. A synthetic polynucleotide encoding epidermal growth factor conferred a tumorigenic phenotype on cells. These cells were transformed through the action of an autocrine circuit having an extracellular component.
Chemosphere, 2007
Exposure to toxins following the September 11, 2001 attack on and collapse of the World Trade Cen... more Exposure to toxins following the September 11, 2001 attack on and collapse of the World Trade Center (WTC) is of particular concern given the ultra fine particulate dust cloud, high temperature combustion, and months-long fire. Firefighters, paramedics, police and sanitation crews are among the approximately 40 000 personnel who labored for weeks and months on rescue and cleanup efforts. Many of the rescue workers have subsequently developed symptoms that remain unresolved with time. This study characterizes body burdens of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs), and polychlorinated dioxins (PCDDs) in rescue workers and citizens exposed following the WTC collapse. Our research includes a pilot evaluation of a detoxification method aimed at reducing toxic burden. Many congeners were found at elevated levels, in ranges associated with occupational exposures. Post-detoxification testing revealed reductions in these congeners and despite the small study size, some reductions were statistically significant. Health symptoms completely resolved or were satisfactorily improved on completion of treatment. These results argue for a larger treatment study of this method and an overall treatment approach to address toxic burden.
Journal of International Medical Research
Objective: Protracted drug withdrawal symptoms can last months or years after drug cessation, oft... more Objective: Protracted drug withdrawal symptoms can last months or years after drug cessation, often precipitating a return to substance misuse. We evaluated the safety and preliminary health benefits of a unique chemical exposure regimen based on exercise, sauna and therapeutic nutrients. Methods: This was a prospective evaluation of 109 individuals sequentially enrolled into a sauna detoxification component of a multi-modal, long-term residential substance abuse treatment centre. Results: Data from medical charts, client self-reports and Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) responses indicated that the Hubbard sauna detoxification method was well tolerated, with a 99% completion rate, including one human immunodeficiency virus and nine hepatitis C positive clients. There were no cases of dehydration, overhydration or heat illness. Statistically significant improvements were seen in both mental and physical SF-36 scores at regimen completion, as well as in Addiction Severity Index and Global Appraisal of Individual Needs Short Screener change scores at rehabilitation program discharge, compared with enrolment. Conclusions: The regimen lacked serious adverse events, had a very low discontinuation rate and high client-reported satisfaction. The SF-36 data indicated improved physical and emotional symptoms. Therefore, broader investigation of this sauna-based treatment regimen is warranted.
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Papers by Marie Cecchini Sternquist