Office of the Secretary December 26, 2012 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Department of Labor (DOL) is submitting the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) sponsored information collection request (ICR) titled, ``Notice of Pre-Existing Condition Exclusion Under Group Health Plans,'' to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval for continued use in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.).

Notice is hereby given that the Office of Research Integrity (ORI) has taken final action in the following case: Terry S. Elton, Ph.D., The Ohio State University: Based on the reports of two investigations conducted by The Ohio State University (OSU) and additional analysis conducted by ORI in its oversight review, ORI found that Dr. Terry S. Elton, Professor, College of Pharmacy and Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute, OSU, engaged in research misconduct in research supported by National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), National Institutes of Health (NIH), grants R01 HL048848, R01 HL084498, and P01 HL70294, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), NIH, grant R21 HD058997, National Institute on Aging (NIA), NIH, grant R01 AG021912, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), NIH, grant R01 AI39963, and National Eye Institute (NEI), NIH, grant R01 ES012241. ORI found that the Respondent engaged in research misconduct by falsifying and/or fabricating data that were included in 1 R21 HD058997-01, 1 R21 HD058997-01A1, 1 R21 HD058997-01A2, 1 RC1 HL100298- 01, and in: 1. Kuhn, D.E., Nuovo, G.J., Terry, A.V. Jr., Martin, M.M., Malana, G.E., Sansom, SE., Pleister, A.P., Beck, W.D., Head, E., Feldman, D.S., & Elton, T.S. ``Chromosome 21-derived microRNAs provide an etiological basis for aberrant protein expression in human Down syndrome brains.'' J Biol Chem 285(2):1529-43, 2010 Jan 8. 2. Kuhn, D.E., Nuovo, G.J., Martin, M.M., Malana, G.E., Pleister, A.P., Jiang, J., Schmittgen, T.D., Terry, A.V. Jr., Gardiner, K., Head, E., Feldman, D.S., & Elton, T.S. ``Human chromosome 21-derived miRNAs are overexpressed in Down syndrome brains and hearts.'' Biochem Biophys Res Commun 370(3):473-7, 2008 Jun 6. 3. Martin, M.M., Buckenberger, J.A., Jiang, J., Malana, G.E., Knoell, D.L., Feldman, D.S., & Elton, T.S. ``TGF[szlig]1 stimulates human AT1 receptor expression in lung fibroblasts by cross talk between the Smad, p38 MAPK, JNK, and PI3K signaling pathways.'' Am. J. Physiol. Lung Cell. Mol. Physiol. 293(3):L790-9, 2007 Sept. (Retracted: Am. J. Physiol. Lung Cell. Mol. Physiol. 302(7):L719, 2012 Apr.) 4. Martin, M.M., Buckenberger, J.A., Jiang, J., Malana, G.E., Nuovo, G.J., Chotani, M., Feldman, D.S., Schmittgen, T.D., & Elton, T.S. ``The human angiotensin II type 1 receptor +1166 A/C polymorphism attenuates microRNA-155 binding.'' J Biol Chem 282(33):24262-9, 2007, Aug 17. 5. Martin, M.M., Buckenberger, J.A., Knoell, D.L., Strauch, A.R., & Elton, T.S. ``TGF-beta(1) regulation of human AT1 receptor mRNA splice variants harboring exon 2.'' Mol Cell Endocrinol 249(1-2):21-31, 2006 Apr 25. 6. Duffy, A.A., Martin, M.M., & Elton, T.S. ``Transcriptional regulation of the AT1 receptor gene in immortalized human trophoblast cells.'' Biochim. Biophys. Acta. 1680(3):158-70, 2004 Nov 5. As a result of its investigation, OSU has recommended that all of the above publications be retracted. Specifically, ORI finds that Respondent: Falsified and/or fabricated Western blots in an NIH grant application in three submissions of the same grant application: