Girdhar G. Agarwal

Bio: Girdhar G. Agarwal is an academic researcher from University of Lucknow. The author has contributed to research in topics: Population & Fibromyalgia. The author has an hindex of 17, co-authored 71 publications receiving 963 citations. Previous affiliations of Girdhar G. Agarwal include King George's Medical University.

Three day versus five day treatment with amoxicillin for non-severe pneumonia in young children: a multicentre randomised controlled trial.

Abstract: Objective To assess the efficacy of three days versus five days of treatment with oral amoxicillin for curing non-severe pneumonia in children. Design Randomised, double blind, placebo controlled multicentre trial. Setting Outpatient departments of seven referral hospitals in India. Participants 2188 children aged 2-59 months, 1095 given three days of treatment and 1093 given five days. Intervention Oral amoxicillin 31-54 mg/kg/day in three divided doses. Main outcome measures Treatment failure: defined as development of chest indrawing, convulsions, drowsiness, or inability to drink at any time; respiratory rate above age specific cut points on day 3 or later; or oxygen saturation by pulse oximetry < 90% on day 3. Results The clinical cure rates with three days and five days of treatment were 89.5% and 89.9%, respectively (absolute difference 0.4 (95% confidence interval - 2.1 to 3.0)). Adherence to treatment regimen was 94% and 85% for three day and five day treatments, respectively. Loss to follow up was 5.4% by day 5. There were no deaths, 41 hospitalisations, and 36 minor adverse reactions. There were 225 (10.3%) clinical failures and 106 (5.3%) relapses, and rates were similar in both treatments. At enrolment, 513 (23.4%) children tested positive for respiratory syncytial virus, and Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae were isolated from the nasopharynx in 878 (40.4%) and 496 (22.8%) children, respectively. Clinical failure was associated with isolation of respiratory syncytial virus (adjusted odds ratio 1.95 (95% confidence interval 1.0 to 3.8)), excess respiratory rate of > 10 breaths/minute (2.89 (1.83 to 4.55)), and non-adherence with treatment at day 5 (11.57 (7.4 to 18.0)). Conclusions Treatment with oral amoxicillin for three days was as effective as for five days in children with non-severe pneumonia.

Care-seeking behavior and out-of-pocket expenditure for sick newborns among urban poor in Lucknow, northern India: a prospective follow-up study

Abstract: Background The state of Uttar Pradesh, India accounts for one-quarter of India's neonatal deaths and 8 percent of those worldwide. More than half (52%) of these deaths occur due to infections. In order to achieve Millennium Development Goal-4 of reducing child mortality by two-thirds by the year 2015, it is important to study factors which affect neonatal health. In Uttar Pradesh there is meager data for spending on health care in general and neonates in particular.

Relationship of severity of depression, anxiety and stress with severity of fibromyalgia.

Abstract: OBJECTIVES Negative affects like depression, anxiety and stress are frequently observed in patients with fibromyalgia (FMS). Understanding the association between FMS and negative affects is likely to help in deciding the choice of treatment. The aim of this study was to determine the correlation between the severity of FMS with the severity of depression, anxiety and stress. METHODS Sixty patients with fibromyalgia and 60 healthy controls were included in the study. Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire Revised (FIQR), and Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS21) were administered to both the groups. The mean age of study population was 40.4±9.9 and 36±8.7 for FMS and control groups respectively. Most of the patients were females (93.3%). RESULTS In subjects without FMS, depression was seen in 5% and was significantly associated with all three components of FIQR (p<0.01), namely pain, symptoms and functional impairment. However, patients with FMS suffered more from all three components assessed in FIQR than those without FMS. In patients with FMS the severity of depression, anxiety and stress were found significantly associated with the severity of all three components of FIQR, namely pain, function and symptoms (p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS Results suggest that FMS is associated with depression, anxiety and stress and in FMS magnitude of negative affects is significantly correlated with FIQR. However, depression alone in absence of FMS can also give rise to all three components of FIQR.

A randomized controlled trial to evaluate the slow-acting symptom-modifying effects of colchicine in osteoarthritis of the knee: a preliminary report.

Abstract: Objective To determine if colchicine added to nimesulide may have a beneficial effect on osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee. Methods Colchicine 0.5 mg twice daily or placebo was added to nimesulide (a nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drug) in 36 patients with OA of the knee in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial over a 5-month period. Results The 30% improvement rate at 20 weeks was higher in the colchicine group than in the control group receiving placebo, as measured by total Western Ontario and McMaster University Osteoarthritis scores (57.9% versus 23.5%) and visual analog scale for index knee pain (52.6% versus 17.6%) (primary measures of response). The significance persisted on combined analysis by Mantel-Haenszel test (P = 0.062). Comparison of means also showed significant improvement in the colchicine group versus the control group in a multivariate analysis performed using T2 test (P = 0.0115). Conclusion Among patients with OA of the knee, the group receiving colchicine plus nimesulide exhibited significantly greater symptomatic benefit at 20 weeks than did the control group receiving nimesulide plus placebo.

I and i

Abstract: There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one. I remember first hearing about it at school. It seemed an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality. Usually familiarity dulls this sense of the bizarre, but in the case of i it was the reverse: over the years the sense of its surreal nature intensified. It seemed that it was impossible to write mathematics that described the real world in …

The Design and Analysis of Experiments

Abstract: THE DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF EXPERIMENTS. By Oscar Kempthorne. New York, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1952. 631 pp. $8.50. This book by a teacher of statistics (as well as a consultant for \"experimenters\") is a comprehensive study of the philosophical background for the statistical design of experiment. It is necessary to have some facility with algebraic notation and manipulation to be able to use the volume intelligently. The problems are presented from the theoretical point of view, without such practical examples as would be helpful for those not acquainted with mathematics. The mathematical justification for the techniques is given. As a somewhat advanced treatment of the design and analysis of experiments, this volume will be interesting and helpful for many who approach statistics theoretically as well as practically. With emphasis on the \"why,\" and with description given broadly, the author relates the subject matter to the general theory of statistics and to the general problem of experimental inference. MARGARET J. ROBERTSON

Monotone Regression Splines in Action

Abstract: Piecewise polynomials or splines extend the advantages of polynomials to include greater flexibility, local effects of parameter changes and the possibility of imposing useful constraints on estimated functions. Among these constraints is monotonicity, which can be an important property in many curve estimation problems. This paper shows the virtues of monotone splines through a number of statistical applications, including response variable transformation in nonlinear regression, transformation of variables in multiple regression, principal components and canonical correlation, and the use of monotone splines to model a dose-response function and to perform item analysis. Computational and inferential issues are discussed and illustrated.

British Thoracic Society guidelines for the management of community acquired pneumonia in children: update 2011

Abstract: The British Thoracic Society first published management guidelines for community acquired pneumonia in children in 2002 and covered available evidence to early 2000. These updated guidelines represent a review of new evidence since then and consensus clinical opinion where evidence was not found. This document incorporates material from the 2002 guidelines and supersedes the previous guideline document.