[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 70 (Tuesday, April 13, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18836-18837]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-8386]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Office of the Secretary


Findings of Research 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) and the Assistant Secretary for Health have taken final action in 
the following case:
    Emily M. Horvath, Indiana University: Based on the Respondent's own 
admissions in sworn testimony and as set forth below, Indiana 
University (IU) and the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) found that Ms. 
Emily M. Horvath, former graduate student, IU, engaged in research 
misconduct in research supported by National Center for Complementary 
and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), National Institutes of Health (NIH), 
grant R01 AT001846 and Predoctoral Fellowship Award F31 AT003977-01, 
and National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases 
(NIDDK), NIH, grant R01 DK082773-01.
    Specifically, the Respondent admitted to falsifying the original 
research data when entering values into computer programs for 
statistical analysis with the goal of reducing the magnitude of errors 
within groups, thereby gaining greater statistical power. The 
Respondent, IU, and ORI agree that the figures identified below in 
specific grant applications and published papers are false and that 
these falsifications rise to the level of research misconduct:
     Respondent admitted to falsifying Figures 6B, 18, 22, 23B, 
and 24 in NCCAM, NIH, grant application R01 AT001846-06, ``Chromium 
Enhanced Insulin & GLUT4 Action via Lipid Rafts,'' Jeffery S. 
Elmendorf, P.I. (07/01/04-05/31/20) (application was withdrawn in May 
2009).
     Respondent admitted to falsifying Figures 6B, 8, 9D, 16D, 
and 21 in NIDDK, NIH, grant application R01 DK082773-01, ``Mechanisms 
of Membrane-Based Insulin Resistance & Therapeutic Reversal 
Strategies,'' Jeffrey S. Elmendork, P.I. (3/15/09-01/31/13).
     Respondent admitted to falsifying Figures 2C, 5, 6D, and 
11 in the publication: Horvath, E.M., Tacket, L., McCarthy, A.M., 
Raman, P., Brozinick, J.T., & Elmendorf, J.S. ``Antidiabetogenic 
Effects of Chromium Mitigate Hyperinsulinemia-induced Cellular Insulin 
Resistance via Correction of Plasma Membrane Cholesterol Imbalance.'' 
Molecular Endocrinology 22:937-950, 2008.
     Respondent admitted to falsifying Figure 2C in the 
publication: Bhonagiri, P., Patter, G.R., Horvath, E.M., Habegger, 
K.M., McCarthy, A.M., Elmendorf, J.S. ``Hexosamine biosysthesis pathway 
flux contributes to insulin resistance via altering membrane 
PIP2 and cortical F-actin.'' Endocrinology 150(4):1636-1645, 
2009.
    Respondent also admitted to falsifying Figures 2C, 5, 6D, 11, 13C, 
15A, 16A, 17A, 18, 19C, and 20A, which are included in her thesis, 
``Cholesterol-dependent mechanism(s) of insulin-sensitizing 
therapeutics.'' The Ph.D. was awarded to the Respondent on December 31, 
2008. Respondent was supported by a Predoctoral Fellowship Award F31 
AT003977 from 09/30/2006 to 09/29/2009.
    Ms. Horvath has entered into a Voluntary Settlement Agreement in 
which she has voluntarily agreed, for a period of three (3) years, 
beginning on March 22, 2010:
    (1) To exclude herself from serving in any advisory capacity to 
PHS, including but not limited to service on any PHS advisory 
committee, board, and/or peer review committee, or as a consultant;
    (2) That any institution that submits an application for PHS 
support for a research project on which the Respondent's participation 
is proposed or that 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 her research 
contribution; respondent agreed that she will not participate in any 
PHS-supported research until such a supervisory plan is submitted to 
ORI;
    (3) That any institution employing her submits, in conjunction with 
each application for PHS funds or report, manuscript, or abstract of 
PHS-funded research in which the Respondent is involved, a 
certification that the data provided by the Respondent are based on 
actual experiments or are otherwise legitimately derived and that the 
data, procedures, analyses, and methodology are accurately reported in 
the application, report, manuscript, or abstract; the Respondent must 
ensure that the institution sends a copy of the certification to ORI; 
and
    (4) That she will write letters, approved by ORI, to relevant 
journal editors of the published papers cited above to state what she 
falsified/fabricated and to provide corrections if she has not already 
done so. These letters should state that her

[[Page 18837]]

falsifications/fabrications were the underlying reason for the 
retraction/corrections.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Director, Division of Investigative 
Oversight, Office of Research Integrity, 1101 Wootton Parkway, Suite 
750, Rockville, MD 20852, (240) 453-8800.

John Dahlberg,
Director, Division of Investigative Oversight, Office of Research 
Integrity.
[FR Doc. 2010-8386 Filed 4-12-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4150-31-P