Department of Health and Human Services December 10, 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) gives notice as required by 42 CFR 83.12(e) of a decision to evaluate a petition to designate a class of employees at the Mallinckrodt Chemical Co., Destrehan Street Plant in St. Louis, Missouri, to be included in the Special Exposure Cohort under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000. The initial proposed definition for the class being evaluated, subject to revision as warranted by the evaluation, is as follows: Facility: Mallinckrodt Chemical Co., Destrehan Street Plant. Location: St. Louis, Missouri. Job Titles and/or Job Duties: All employees who worked with uranium. Period of Employment: January 1, 1958 to December 31, 1958.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) gives notice as required by 42 CFR 83.12(e) of a decision to evaluate a petition to designate a class of employees at the Metallurgical Laboratory in Chicago, Illinois, to be included in the Special Exposure Cohort under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000. The initial proposed definition for the class being evaluated, subject to revision as warranted by the evaluation, is as follows: Facility: Metallurgical Laboratory. Location: Chicago, Illinois. Job Titles and/or Job Duties: All Atomic Weapons Employer employees. Period of Employment: August 13, 1942 through June 30, 1946.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) proposes to update existing quality assurance requirements under 42 CFR Part 84 for the manufacture of all respirators approved by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (``NIOSH'') of Centers for Disease Control and Prevetion (CDC), HHS. The proposed new requirements would require respirator manufacturers to be compliant with a widely adopted voluntary consensus standard for quality management systems, would update technical requirements particular to quality assurance for manufacturing of NIOSH-approved respirators, and would establish requirements governing the related quality assurance oversight activities of NIOSH.

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: Homer D. Venters, Jr., M.D., University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign: Based on the report of an investigation conducted by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) and extensive additional image analysis conducted by the Office of Research Integrity (ORI), the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) found that Dr. Homer D. Venters, former graduate student, Neuroscience Program, UIUC, engaged in scientific misconduct in research supported by National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), National Institutes of Health (NIH), awards R01 MH051569 and F30 MH12558 and National Institute on Aging (NIA), NIH, award R01 AG06246. Specifically, PHS found that the Respondent committed misconduct in science: By intentionally and knowingly preparing and including duplicate image data in Figures 5 and 10 of PHS fellowship application F31 MH12558, ``Neurodegeneration via TNF-alpha inhibition of IGF-1,'' submitted in 1999, which was funded as F30 MH12558 from June 1, 2000, to May 31, 2003. Because the duplicate data were labeled as having been obtained from different experiments, the results for at least one of the two figures were intentionally falsified and constitute an act of scientific misconduct. By intentionally and knowingly preparing and including duplicate image data in Figure 3 and/or 4 of a manuscript submitted and published as: Venters, H.D., et al. ``A New Mechanism of Neurodegeneration: A Proinflammatory Cytokine Inhibits Receptor Signaling by a Survival Peptide.'' Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences U.S.A. 96:9879-9884, 1999. By preparing and providing to his dissertation committee in March 2000 a thesis proposal entitled ``An Alternate Mechanism of Neurodegeneration: Silencing of Insulin-like Growth Factor-I survival signals by Tumor Necrosis Factor-[alpha],'' which contained five falsified figures: Figures 1.3, 1.4a, 2.1b, 2.3e, and 2.5b. In each figure, he reused data within the same figure or in another thesis proposal figure as representing differently treated samples or as data obtained with different immunoblotting antisera. In March and April 2001, Respondent included several of the same falsified figures as in the thesis proposal and multiple additional falsified figures in his dissertation ``Silencing of Insulin-like Growth Factor I Neuronal Survival Signals by Tumor Necrosis Factor-[alpha].'' In all, Figures 3.3, 3.4a, 3.4b, 4.1b, 4.3a, 4.5b, 5.1a, 5.2, 5.4a, 5.5a, 5.6a, 5.7a, and 5.8a were falsified. In each instance, he assembled figures by reusing significant data, on some occasions after manipulating the orientation of the data, either within the same figure or in other figures related to his thesis and represented the data falsely as coming from different samples or different experiments. Dr. Venters has entered into a Voluntary Settlement Agreement (Agreement) in which he has voluntarily agreed, for a period of three (3) years, beginning on November 19, 2008: (1) 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 the Respondent in any capacity on PHS- supported research, or that submits a report of PHS-funded research in which the Respondent is involved, must concurrently submit a plan for monitoring of the Respondent's research to the funding agency and ORI for approval; the monitoring plan must be designed to ensure the scientific integrity of the Respondent's research contribution; Respondent agreed that he will not participate in any PHS-supported research until such a monitoring plan is submitted to ORI and the funding agency; (2) That Respondent will ensure that any institution employing him will submit to ORI, 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 analyses, procedures, and methodology are accurately reported in the application or report; Respondent must ensure that the institution sends a copy of each certification to ORI; and (3) To exclude himself 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 or contractor to PHS. Respondent also voluntarily agreed that within 30 days of the effective date of this Agreement: (4) He will submit a letter to the journal editor, with copies to his coauthors, identifying his falsification of Figures 3 and/or 4 in the following article: Venters et al. ``A New Mechanism of Neurodegeneration: A Proinflammatory Cytokine Inhibits Receptor Signaling by a Survival Peptide.'' Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 96:9879-9884, 1999.

In compliance with the requirement of Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, for opportunity for public comment on proposed data collection projects, the Office of Extramural Research, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will publish periodic summaries of proposed projects to be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval. Proposed Collection: Title: Research and Research Training Grant Applications and Related Forms. Type of Information Collection Request: Revision, OMB 0925-0001, Expiration Date 11/30/10. Form Numbers: PHS 398, 2590, 2271, 3734 and HHS 568. Need and Use of Information Collection: The application is used by applicants to request Federal assistance for research and research- related training. The other related forms are used for trainee appointment, final invention reporting, and to relinquish rights to a research grant. Frequency of response: Applicants may submit applications for published receipt dates. If awarded, annual progress is reported and trainees may be appointed or reappointed. Affected Public: Individuals or Households; Business or other for- profit; Not-for-profit institutions; Federal Government; and State, Local or Tribal Government. Type of Respondents: Adult scientific professionals. The annual reporting burden is as follows: Estimated Number of Respondents: 160,135; Estimated Number of Responses per Respondent: 1; Average Burden Hours per Response: 14; and Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours Requested: 2,251,500. The estimated annualized cost to respondents is $78,802,500. Request for Comments: Written comments and/or suggestions from the public and affected agencies are invited on one or more of the following points: (1) Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the function of the agency, including whether the information will have practical utility; (2) The accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of information, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions used; (3) Ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (4) Ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are to respond, including the use of appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology.