41702 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 158 / Tuesday, August 18, 2009 / Notices 

1Wolfort, R.M., Stokes, K.Y., & Granger, D.N. 

‘‘CN4+ T lymphocytes mediate 

hypercholesterolemia-induced endothelial 

dysfunction via a NAD(P)H oxidase-dependent 

mechanism.’’ Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 

294:H2619–H2626, 2008; hereafter referred to as 

‘‘paper 1.’’ Identified for retraction. 

Wolfort, R.M., Manriquez, R., Stokes, K.Y., & 

Granger, D.N. ‘‘Platelet-derived RANTES mediates 

hypercholesterolemia-induced superoxide 

production and endothelial dysfunction.’’ 

Arterioscler. Thromb. Vasc. Biol. Vol. 28 (pages 

unavailable), as Epub 2008, July 17; hereafter 

referred to as ‘‘paper 2.’’ Identified for retraction. 

Wolfort, R.M., Stokes, K.Y., & Granger, D.N. 

‘‘Immune cell-mediated endothelial cell 

dysfunction during hypercholesterolemia involves 

interferon-g dependent signaling.’’ Am J Physiol 

Heart Circ Physiol, as Epub 2008, September 5; 

hereafter referred to as ‘‘paper 3.’’ Retracted in Am 

J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 295(5):H2219, 2008 

November. 

2Manuscript submitted to the journal Free 

Radicals in Biology and Medicine, by Ryan M. 

Wolfort, Katherine C. Wood, Robert P. Hebbel, and 

Neil Granger, ‘‘Mechanisms underlying the 

vasomotor dysfunction in sickle transgenic mice,’’ 

Ms Number FRBM–D–08–00454; hereafter referred 

to as the ‘‘FRBM’’ manuscript. 

administer Subtitle B, ‘‘Incentives for 

the Use of Health Information 

Technology,’’ sections 3011 through 

3017, with the exception of 3012(c)(5), 

the Financial Support subsection. 

These authorities may be redelegated. 

The delegations authorize the National 

Coordinator to administer the Incentives 

for the Use of Health Information 

Technology as provided in Subtitle B. 

I hereby affirm and ratify any actions 

taken by the National Coordinator or by 

any other officials of the Office of the 

National Coordinator for Health 

Information Technology, which, in 

effect, involved the exercise of this 

authority prior to the effective date of 

this delegation. 

This delegation is effective upon date 

of signature. 

Dated: August 7, 2009. 

Kathleen Sebelius, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. E9–19709 Filed 8–17–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4150–24–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Office of the Secretary 

Findings of Research Misconduct 

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, HHS. 

ACTION: Notice. 

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: 

Ryan M. Wolfort, M.D., Ph.D., 

Louisiana State University Health 

Sciences Center—Shreveport : Based on 

the report of an investigation conducted 

by Louisiana State University Health 

Sciences Center—Shreveport (LSUHSC– 

S) and additional analysis conducted by 

ORI in its oversight review, the U.S. 

Public Health Service (PHS) found that 

Dr. Ryan M. Wolfort, who was a House 

Officer in the Department of Surgery, 

and a former graduate student, 

Department of Molecular and Cellular 

Physiology, LSUHSC–S, engaged in 

research misconduct in the reporting of 

research supported by National Heart, 

Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), 

National Institutes of Health (NIH), 

grants R01 HL26441 and P01 HL55552. 

Respondent’s research misconduct 

related to his dissertation research as a 

graduate student, which he undertook at 

the same time that he also was serving 

as a House Officer at LSUHSC–S. ORI 

acknowledges Dr. Wolfort’s cooperation 

with the LSUHSC–S misconduct 

proceedings. 

PHS found that Dr. Wolfort engaged 

in research misconduct by falsifying and 

fabricating data reported in three 

publications 1 and one manuscript 2 that 

had been submitted for publication, 

reviewed, and returned for revision. 

Specifically, Dr. Wolfort falsified and 

fabricated data reported in research 

examining the contribution of immune 

mechanisms to early oxidative stress 

and endothelial dysfunction in mice 

with induced dietary 

hypercholesterolemia by: 

1. Admittedly fabricating tabulations 

and the associated statistical analyses of 

RT–PCR data on Nox-2 mRNA 

expression in the three publications and 

the manuscript; 

2. Falsifying data and the associated 

statistical claims, specifically by (a) 

Admittedly falsifying the measurements 

of endothelial function by myographic 

recordings of aortic ring dilation in 

reaction to vasoactive substances in the 

three papers and manuscript, (b) 

admittedly falsifying the measurement 

of cytokine by cytometric bead assay in 

paper 3, and (c) falsifying the 

measurement of superoxide production 

by cytochrome c reduction in papers 1 

and 2, for which the underlying 

spreadsheet data the Respondent claims 

were unintentionally misrepresented, 

massaged, and improperly collated, but 

for which Respondent acknowledges 

that the raw data were missing for all 

three papers, admittedly because he 

intentionally erased files and discarded 

notebooks. 

Dr. Wolfort has entered into a 

Voluntary Exclusion Agreement in 

which he has voluntarily agreed, for a 

period of two (2) years, beginning on 

July 13, 2009: 

(1) To exclude himself from any 

contracting or subcontracting with any 

agency of the United States Government 

and from eligibility or involvement in 

nonprocurement programs of the United 

States pursuant to HHS’ Implementation 

(2 CFR part 276 et seq.) of OMB 

Guidelines to Agencies on Government 

wide Debarment and Suspension (2 

CFR, part 180); and 

(2) 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. 

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. E9–19795 Filed 8–17–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4150–31–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Office of the Secretary 

Notice of Interest Rate on Overdue 

Debts 

Section 30.18 of the Department of 

Health and Human Services’ claims 

collection regulations (45 CFR Part 30) 

provides that the Secretary shall charge 

an annual rate of interest as fixed by the 

Secretary of the Treasury after taking 

into consideration private consumer 

rates of interest prevailing on the date 

that HHS becomes entitled to recovery. 

The rate generally cannot be lower than 

the Department of Treasury’s current 

value of funds rate or the applicable rate 

determined from the ‘‘Schedule of 

Certified Interest Rates with Range of 

Maturities.’’ This rate may be revised 

quarterly by the Secretary of the 

Treasury and shall be published 

quarterly by the Department of Health 

and Human Services in the Federal 

Register. 

The Secretary of the Treasury has 

certified a rate of 111⁄4% for the quarter 

ended June 30, 2009. This interest rate 

will remain in effect until such time as 

the Secretary of the Treasury notifies 

HHS of any change. 

Dated: August 6, 2009. 

Molly P. Dawson, 

Director, Office of Financial Policy and 

Reporting. 

[FR Doc. E9–19707 Filed 8–17–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4150–04–P 


jlentini on DSKJ8SOYB1PROD with NOTICES