[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 149 (Wednesday, August 4, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Page 42380]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-19975]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Office of the Secretary
Findings of Scientific Misconduct
AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, HHS.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that the Office of Research Integrity
(ORI) has made a final finding of scientific misconduct in the
following case:
Deborah Arenburg, University of Maryland: Based on a report dated
December 23, 1998, by the University of Maryland Investigation
Committee, Ms. Arenburg's admissions, and information obtained by ORI
during its oversight review, ORI finds that Ms. Arenburg, former
Research Associate, Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, University of
Maryland, engaged in scientific misconduct arising out of certain
biomedical research supported by National Institute of Mental Health
(NIMH), National Institutes of Health (NIH), grants.
Specifically, Ms. Arenburg was responsible for administering and
scoring neuropsychological, neurological, and cognitive tests on
patients during the course of two studies. These studies were entitled
``Neural Basis of the Deficit Syndrome of Schizophrenia'' (Study No. 1)
and ``Clozapine Treatment of Schizophrenic Outpatients'' (Study No. 2)
and were supported by the above-referenced grants. ORI finds that Ms.
Arenburg failed to conduct the required tests on three patients in
Study No. 1 and on ten to twelve patients in Study No. 2. Instead Ms.
Arenburg fabricated the experimental records for those tests. Ms.
Arenburg admits to fabricating the data.
The fabricated data was included in a publication, ``Association
Between Eye Tracking Disorder in Schizophrenia and Poor Sensory
Integration,'' American Journal of Psychiatry 155(10):1352-1357, 1998.
The principal investigator on the grants at issue reanalyzed the
research data, eliminating all data produced by Ms. Arenburg, and found
no significant difference in the results. A correction, including the
reanalyzed data, was published in the American Journal of Psychiatry
156(4):603-609, 1999.
Ms. Arenburg has accepted the ORI finding and has entered into a
Voluntary Settlement Agreement with ORI in which she has voluntarily
agreed, for the three (3) year period beginning July 15, 1999:
(1) To exclude herself from serving in any advisory capacity to the
Public Health Service (PHS), including but not limited to service on
any PHS advisory committee, board, and/or peer review committee, or as
a consultant; and
(2) That any institution that submits an application for PHS
support for a research project on which her participation is proposed
or which uses her in any capacity on PHS supported research, or that
submits a report of PHS-funded research in which she is involved, must
concurrently submit a plan for supervision of her duties to the funding
agency for approval. The supervisory plan must be designed to ensure
the scientific integrity of Ms. Arenburg's research contribution. The
institution also must submit a copy of the supervisory plan to ORI.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Acting Director, Division of Research
Investigations, Office of Research Integrity, 5515 Security Lane, Suite
700, Rockville, MD 20852, (301) 443-5330.
Chris B. Pascal,
Acting Director, Office of Research Integrity.
[FR Doc. 99-19975 Filed 8-3-99; 8:45 am]
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