FINDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC MISCONDUCT

Release Date:  August 5, 1999

P.T.

Department of Health and Human Services

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.

INQUIRIES

For further information contact:

Acting Director
Division of Research Investigations
Office of Research Integrity
5515 Security Lane, Suite 700
Rockville, MD  20852
Telephone:  (301) 443-5330

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