Meena Kumari
Biographic Data
| ID | 260394 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Meena Kumari |
| GIVEN NAMES | Meena |
| FAMILY NAME | Kumari |
| SIGNATURE | KUMARI M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Essex |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-9716-1035 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 38 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 75 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 38 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2009 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
A systematic review and empiric examination of the conceptual and analytic overlap between allostatic load and multimorbidity
War & Women: From the perspective of Krishna’s beloved Radha
War poems document both the cruellest and darkest periods in human history and the brightest moments also. Kanupriya is the one the greatest creation of Hindi Literature where narrator see the aftermath of war through Radha’s perspective. The poet's intense yearning to declare the futility of this world of mossy, tainted, and petty self-interested men, who prioritize war over peace, valorise impurity over love, reveals the radiance of Kanupriya's…
The Future of Indian Musical Art: Evolution From Ancient Tradition to Global Orbit
English: This paper presents a thorough and analytical study of the millennia-long evolutionary journey of Indian music, from its ancient Vedic roots to its contemporary position on the global stage in the 21st century. Indian music, world-renowned for its spiritual depth, philosophical underpinnings, and classical complexity, today stands at a crucial juncture of tradition and modernity. The study critically examines the key factors that have sh…
Pragmatic Expression in Aashadh ka Ek Din (In Context of Communicability of Theatrical Language)
Drama is a living experience that gets its vibrancy on the theatre itself. Although drama, like other literary genres, is also a medium of linguistic expression, and being worded, the expressive power of language will be given as much importance to it as in a story or novel, but even if it is worded, it cannot be called empty literature. Being interactive, the verbal element (interactive language) becomes the main element in the play. The play re…
Two-sided matching strategy for peer-to-peer energy trading in community energy markets: Enhancing urban energy hub planning and development
How Different Mixed-Mode Data Collection Approaches Impact Response Rates and Provision of Biomeasure Samples
Social surveys can be enriched with the collection of objective health measures, allowing new types of research in both health and social sciences. We experimentally tested three alternative designs for collecting survey responses and biomeasures within a longitudinal survey. In the nurse-administered design, a nurse conducts the survey and collects biomeasures in person. In the interviewer-first design, an interviewer initially attempts to carry…
Stories of Ancient Stones: A Living Tradition of Indigenous People (Mundas) in Jharkhand, India
The study explores the continued tradition of constructing megalithic monuments among the Munda community, an indigenous group in Jharkhand, India. These monumental stones serve a dual purpose: as burial sites and symbols of collective heritage and resilience. The paper examines the historical, cultural, and ritual significance of these megaliths, demonstrating their central role in the Munda's oral traditions and spiritual beliefs. These structu…
Risk of diagnosed and undiagnosed mental distress in coastal and inland English residents: A pooled cross-sectional analysis of adult UKHLS respondents
Recent research in the United Kingdom (UK) has highlighted a potential 'coastal effect', whereby residents of coastal areas may be subject to poorer health outcomes, including mental health. This study sought to investigate the coastal effect by comparing the risk of experiencing diagnosed and undiagnosed mental distress in both coastal and inland English adult residents. Data from waves 10-13 (2018-2023) of Understanding Society, a nationally re…
Worldwide trends in underweight and obesity from 1990 to 2022: A pooled analysis of 3663 population-representative studies with 222 million children, adolescents, and adults
BACKGROUND: Underweight and obesity are associated with adverse health outcomes throughout the life course. We estimated the individual and combined prevalence of underweight or thinness and obesity, and their changes, from 1990 to 2022 for adults and school-aged children and adolescents in 200 countries and territories. METHODS: ). For school-aged children and adolescents, we report thinness (BMI 2 SD above the median). FINDINGS: From 1990 to 20…
You too turned out to be just like the Gurus, Galav, Living document of patriarchy conspiracy: Madhavi
'Madhvi' is an age-old story of women living and dying in traditional cultural-moral confines, whose consciousness, intelligence, thinking-vision, thought-conscience have been deliberately pushed to the margins by the patriarchal system. The purpose of this paper is to understand the cruel story of the transformation of Madhavi, who is gifted with unique and divine qualities (Possessing intact virginity and becoming the mother of Chakravarti sons…
Cross-sectional associations between patterns of cultural engagement and indicators of biological dysregulation
Cultural engagement is cross-sectionally associated with biomarkers, although the characteristics of people who engage with culture are an important consideration when interpreting these findings
Are housing circumstances associated with faster epigenetic ageing
BACKGROUND: Numerous aspects of housing are associated with health. However, the pathways between housing and health, particularly the psychosocial elements of housing, are less well understood. Epigenetic information alongside social survey data offers an opportunity to explore biological ageing, measured using DNA methylation, as a potential pathway through which housing affects health. METHODS: We use data on housing and DNA methylation from t…
Partnership status and positive DNA methylation age acceleration across the adult lifespan in the UK
Although a significant body of research has shown that married people are healthier and live longer, empirical research on sex differences in the link between marital status and health suggests results are mixed. Moreover, the sex disparities in marital status and health relationships vary across adulthood. The literature on partnership status and measures of ageing is largely focused on older age groups and is limited in its view of early adulth…
Reimagining Rural Development in Post Pandemic India: Role of State and Civil Society in the Backdrop of Migration
State plays a vital role in the development and progress of its citizens all around the world. Within the state people migrate from one state to another, from one region to another in search of better living conditions and livelihood. The aim of the present paper is to examine the degraded life of these peripatetic workers, specifically poor and backward among them in post pandemic India. The main question which prompted this paper is what is the…
Language as an Arrow and a Shield in the Hands of Harold Pinter’s Characters: A Study of the Play The Birthday Party
One of the most naturally gifted dramatists to have come out of England since the war,”1 Harold Pinter has emerged as the most original theatre talent who gave fresh life to the British theatre in the second half of the twentieth century. He has achieved international recognition and has been hailed as “Britain’s best living playwright”2 of post-World War II period. In 2005, the Nobel Prize was conferred upon him for his contribution to drama. Th…
Biological costs and benefits of social relationships for men and women in adulthood: The role of partner, family and friends
Despite numerous studies on social relationships and health, the empirical focus has often been on middle-aged or older adults, even though young adulthood is a period of considerable change in social networks. We investigated whether the associations between social relationships and allostatic load, a multisystem physiological dysregulation index that reflects chronic stress responses, vary by type of relationship and stages of the lifecourse. R…
Impacts of long-standing illness and chronic illness on working hours and household income in a longitudinal UK study
Individuals within households encounter a variety of events including development of a disability or chronic illness. We used data from the Understanding Society, 2009-2016, to determine whether there are changes to working hours or household income as a result of an individual developing an illness. After adjusting for a variety of sociodemographic characteristics, there were few associations observed between one's own individual illness status …
Is the association between self-rated health and underlying biomarker levels modified by age, gender, and household income? Evidence from Understanding Society – the UK Household Longitudinal Study
The goal of this study was to evaluate how self-rated health (SRH) and objective measures of health (biomarkers) are associated, and if this association varies by gender, age, and socioeconomic position (measured by household income). Data come from the UK Household Longitudinal Study nurse visit (2010-2012), including a representative sample of adults in Great Britain (N = 15 687 maximum sample). SRH was assessed by the question "In general, wou…
Social support and trajectories of body mass index and waist to hip ratio from mid-adulthood to old age
Background Although social networks’ influence on obesity has been increasingly recognised, it remains unclear if different dimensions of social support, for example, emotional or practical support, received from one’s closest relationship are associated with weight outcomes over mid-life and old age. Methods Using linear mixed models we examined whether person-level body mass index (BMI) and waist to hip ratio (WHR) trajectories vary according t…
Early-life inequalities and biological ageing: A multisystem Biological Health Score approach in U nderstanding S ociety
Social position is known to play a role in the quality of ageing, notably through the stimulation/dysregulation of key physiological systems in response to external stresses. Using data from one wave of Understanding Society including 9088 participants, we defined, as an extension of the allostatic load, a synthetic Biological Health Score (BHS) capturing the wear-and-tear of four physiological systems (endocrine, inflammatory, cardiovascular and…
Testosterone, risk, and socioeconomic position in British men: Exploring causal directionality
Lower testosterone levels in men are observationally associated with worse health, but it is unclear whether they contribute to well-established social gradients in health. Mendelian Randomization studies suggest positive testosterone-health associations may not be causal, with some intervention studies suggesting testosterone administration could be harmful. Since testosterone is rarely measured in general population studies, very little is know…
Are Flexible Work Arrangements Associated with Lower Levels of Chronic Stress-Related Biomarkers? A Study of 6025 Employees in the UK Household Longitudinal Study
Debates around the benefits of flexible work arrangements for employee well-being are limited by a lack of empirical analyses on whether flexible working enables employees with work or family stressors to cope with their levels of stress. This study examines whether the availability and use of different flexible work arrangements are associated with lower allostatic load (an index of chronic stress-related biomarkers) in a large representative st…
Gene discovery and polygenic prediction from a genome-wide association study of educational attainment in 1.1 million individuals
Here we conducted a large-scale genetic association analysis of educational attainment in a sample of approximately 1.1 million individuals and identify 1,271 independent genome-wide-significant SNPs. For the SNPs taken together, we found evidence of heterogeneous effects across environments. The SNPs implicate genes involved in brain-development processes and neuron-to-neuron communication. In a separate analysis of the X chromosome, we identify…
Retirement and Socioeconomic Differences in Diurnal Cortisol: Longitudinal Evidence From a Cohort of British Civil Servants
Socioeconomic differences in a biomarker associated with stress increase, rather than decrease, around the retirement period. These biological differences associated with transitions into retirement for different occupational groups may partly explain the pattern of widening social inequalities in health in early old age
Age at first birth and cardiovascular risk factors in the 1958 British birth cohort
BACKGROUND: To assess relationships between age at first birth and cardiovascular risk factors in a large longitudinal study of men and women. By assessing associations for both genders, we were able to investigate biological versus social and behavioural explanations from early life through to adulthood. METHODS: Multiply-imputed data on more than 7600 men and women of a British birth cohort study (National Child Development Study, 1958 British …
Are Flexible Work Arrangements Associated with Lower Levels of Chronic Stress-Related Biomarkers? A Study of 6025 Employees in the UK Household Longitudinal Study
Debates around the benefits of flexible work arrangements for employee well-being are limited by a lack of empirical analyses on whether flexible working enables employees with work or family stressors to cope with their levels of stress. This study examines whether the availability and use of different flexible work arrangements are associated with lower allostatic load (an index of chronic stress-related biomarkers) in a large representative st…
Genetic evidence of assortative mating in humans
Work-family life courses and metabolic markers in mid-life: Evidence from the British National Child Development Study
BACKGROUND: Previous studies have found generally better health among those who combine employment and family responsibilities; however, most research excludes men, and relies on subjective measures of health and information on work and family activities from only 1 or 2 time points in the life course. This study investigated associations between work-family life course types (LCTs) and markers of metabolic risk in a British birth cohort study. M…
Elevated inflammatory biomarkers during unemployment: Modification by age and country in the UK
BACKGROUND: There is raised risk of mortality following unemployment, and reviews have consistently found worse psychological health among the unemployed. Inflammation is increasingly implicated as a mediating factor relating stress to physical disease and is strongly linked to depression. Inflammation may, therefore, be implicated in processes associated with excess mortality and morbidity during unemployment. This study examined associations of…
What explains the American disadvantage in health compared with the English? The case of diabetes
BACKGROUND: Middle-aged and older American men and women have almost twice the rate of diabetes of men and women in England. This differential was not explained by conventional risk factors including age, smoking, social position and body mass index (BMI). METHODS: This study used large and representative samples of non-minority adults aged 52-85 years taken from the 1999-2006 American National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) and…
Are housing circumstances associated with faster epigenetic ageing
BACKGROUND: Numerous aspects of housing are associated with health. However, the pathways between housing and health, particularly the psychosocial elements of housing, are less well understood. Epigenetic information alongside social survey data offers an opportunity to explore biological ageing, measured using DNA methylation, as a potential pathway through which housing affects health. METHODS: We use data on housing and DNA methylation from t…
Early-life inequalities and biological ageing: A multisystem Biological Health Score approach in U nderstanding S ociety
Social position is known to play a role in the quality of ageing, notably through the stimulation/dysregulation of key physiological systems in response to external stresses. Using data from one wave of Understanding Society including 9088 participants, we defined, as an extension of the allostatic load, a synthetic Biological Health Score (BHS) capturing the wear-and-tear of four physiological systems (endocrine, inflammatory, cardiovascular and…
Retirement and Socioeconomic Differences in Diurnal Cortisol: Longitudinal Evidence From a Cohort of British Civil Servants
Socioeconomic differences in a biomarker associated with stress increase, rather than decrease, around the retirement period. These biological differences associated with transitions into retirement for different occupational groups may partly explain the pattern of widening social inequalities in health in early old age
Age at first birth and cardiovascular risk factors in the 1958 British birth cohort
BACKGROUND: To assess relationships between age at first birth and cardiovascular risk factors in a large longitudinal study of men and women. By assessing associations for both genders, we were able to investigate biological versus social and behavioural explanations from early life through to adulthood. METHODS: Multiply-imputed data on more than 7600 men and women of a British birth cohort study (National Child Development Study, 1958 British …
Biological costs and benefits of social relationships for men and women in adulthood: The role of partner, family and friends
Despite numerous studies on social relationships and health, the empirical focus has often been on middle-aged or older adults, even though young adulthood is a period of considerable change in social networks. We investigated whether the associations between social relationships and allostatic load, a multisystem physiological dysregulation index that reflects chronic stress responses, vary by type of relationship and stages of the lifecourse. R…
Social support and trajectories of body mass index and waist to hip ratio from mid-adulthood to old age
Background Although social networks’ influence on obesity has been increasingly recognised, it remains unclear if different dimensions of social support, for example, emotional or practical support, received from one’s closest relationship are associated with weight outcomes over mid-life and old age. Methods Using linear mixed models we examined whether person-level body mass index (BMI) and waist to hip ratio (WHR) trajectories vary according t…
Testosterone, risk, and socioeconomic position in British men: Exploring causal directionality
Lower testosterone levels in men are observationally associated with worse health, but it is unclear whether they contribute to well-established social gradients in health. Mendelian Randomization studies suggest positive testosterone-health associations may not be causal, with some intervention studies suggesting testosterone administration could be harmful. Since testosterone is rarely measured in general population studies, very little is know…
Gene-environment interactions between education and body mass: Evidence from the UK and Finland
Assessing salivary cortisol in large-scale, epidemiological research
Organizational Justice and Sleeping Problems: The Whitehall II Study
OBJECTIVES: To test the hypothesis that organizational injustice contributes to sleeping problems. Poor sleep quality can be a marker of prolonged emotional stress and has been shown to have serious effects on the immune system and metabolism. METHODS: Data were from the prospective Whitehall II study of white-collar British civil servants (3143 women and 6895 men, aged 35-55 years at baseline). Age, employment grade, health behaviors, and depres…
Measures of Social Position and Cortisol Secretion in an Aging Population: Findings From the Whitehall II Study
OBJECTIVE: To examine whether dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis associated with disadvantaged social position in working populations also occurs in older age groups. METHODS: This study examines the association of several indicators of social position with two measures of cortisol secretion, a product of the HPA axis. We examined the cortisol awakening response (CAR), and slope of the decline in cortisol secretion acr…
Deathbed Visions from India: A Study of Family Observations in Northern Kerala
This is an interview-based study of 104 families and their observations of the last weeks and days of a dying family member. Forty families reported "unusual experiences and behaviors" from the dying person in their last period of life. Thirty of these dying persons displayed behavior consistent with deathbed visions-interacting or speaking with deceased relatives, mostly their dead parents. There were six cases of reported premonitions of death …
Job strain as a risk factor for coronary heart disease: A collaborative meta-analysis of individual participant data
What explains the American disadvantage in health compared with the English? The case of diabetes
BACKGROUND: Middle-aged and older American men and women have almost twice the rate of diabetes of men and women in England. This differential was not explained by conventional risk factors including age, smoking, social position and body mass index (BMI). METHODS: This study used large and representative samples of non-minority adults aged 52-85 years taken from the 1999-2006 American National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) and…
Genetic studies of body mass index yield new insights for obesity biology
Long working hours and risk of coronary heart disease and stroke: A systematic review and meta-analysis of published and unpublished data for 603 838 individuals
Elevated inflammatory biomarkers during unemployment: Modification by age and country in the UK
BACKGROUND: There is raised risk of mortality following unemployment, and reviews have consistently found worse psychological health among the unemployed. Inflammation is increasingly implicated as a mediating factor relating stress to physical disease and is strongly linked to depression. Inflammation may, therefore, be implicated in processes associated with excess mortality and morbidity during unemployment. This study examined associations of…
Genetic variants associated with subjective well-being, depressive symptoms, and neuroticism identified through genome-wide analyses
Work-family life courses and metabolic markers in mid-life: Evidence from the British National Child Development Study
BACKGROUND: Previous studies have found generally better health among those who combine employment and family responsibilities; however, most research excludes men, and relies on subjective measures of health and information on work and family activities from only 1 or 2 time points in the life course. This study investigated associations between work-family life course types (LCTs) and markers of metabolic risk in a British birth cohort study. M…
Retirement and Socioeconomic Differences in Diurnal Cortisol: Longitudinal Evidence From a Cohort of British Civil Servants
Socioeconomic differences in a biomarker associated with stress increase, rather than decrease, around the retirement period. These biological differences associated with transitions into retirement for different occupational groups may partly explain the pattern of widening social inequalities in health in early old age
Age at first birth and cardiovascular risk factors in the 1958 British birth cohort
BACKGROUND: To assess relationships between age at first birth and cardiovascular risk factors in a large longitudinal study of men and women. By assessing associations for both genders, we were able to investigate biological versus social and behavioural explanations from early life through to adulthood. METHODS: Multiply-imputed data on more than 7600 men and women of a British birth cohort study (National Child Development Study, 1958 British …
Gene-environment interactions between education and body mass: Evidence from the UK and Finland
Genetic evidence of assortative mating in humans
Gene discovery and polygenic prediction from a genome-wide association study of educational attainment in 1.1 million individuals
Here we conducted a large-scale genetic association analysis of educational attainment in a sample of approximately 1.1 million individuals and identify 1,271 independent genome-wide-significant SNPs. For the SNPs taken together, we found evidence of heterogeneous effects across environments. The SNPs implicate genes involved in brain-development processes and neuron-to-neuron communication. In a separate analysis of the X chromosome, we identify…
Is the association between self-rated health and underlying biomarker levels modified by age, gender, and household income? Evidence from Understanding Society – the UK Household Longitudinal Study
The goal of this study was to evaluate how self-rated health (SRH) and objective measures of health (biomarkers) are associated, and if this association varies by gender, age, and socioeconomic position (measured by household income). Data come from the UK Household Longitudinal Study nurse visit (2010-2012), including a representative sample of adults in Great Britain (N = 15 687 maximum sample). SRH was assessed by the question "In general, wou…
Social support and trajectories of body mass index and waist to hip ratio from mid-adulthood to old age
Background Although social networks’ influence on obesity has been increasingly recognised, it remains unclear if different dimensions of social support, for example, emotional or practical support, received from one’s closest relationship are associated with weight outcomes over mid-life and old age. Methods Using linear mixed models we examined whether person-level body mass index (BMI) and waist to hip ratio (WHR) trajectories vary according t…
Early-life inequalities and biological ageing: A multisystem Biological Health Score approach in U nderstanding S ociety
Social position is known to play a role in the quality of ageing, notably through the stimulation/dysregulation of key physiological systems in response to external stresses. Using data from one wave of Understanding Society including 9088 participants, we defined, as an extension of the allostatic load, a synthetic Biological Health Score (BHS) capturing the wear-and-tear of four physiological systems (endocrine, inflammatory, cardiovascular and…
Testosterone, risk, and socioeconomic position in British men: Exploring causal directionality
Lower testosterone levels in men are observationally associated with worse health, but it is unclear whether they contribute to well-established social gradients in health. Mendelian Randomization studies suggest positive testosterone-health associations may not be causal, with some intervention studies suggesting testosterone administration could be harmful. Since testosterone is rarely measured in general population studies, very little is know…
Are Flexible Work Arrangements Associated with Lower Levels of Chronic Stress-Related Biomarkers? A Study of 6025 Employees in the UK Household Longitudinal Study
Debates around the benefits of flexible work arrangements for employee well-being are limited by a lack of empirical analyses on whether flexible working enables employees with work or family stressors to cope with their levels of stress. This study examines whether the availability and use of different flexible work arrangements are associated with lower allostatic load (an index of chronic stress-related biomarkers) in a large representative st…
Impacts of long-standing illness and chronic illness on working hours and household income in a longitudinal UK study
Individuals within households encounter a variety of events including development of a disability or chronic illness. We used data from the Understanding Society, 2009-2016, to determine whether there are changes to working hours or household income as a result of an individual developing an illness. After adjusting for a variety of sociodemographic characteristics, there were few associations observed between one's own individual illness status …
Reimagining Rural Development in Post Pandemic India: Role of State and Civil Society in the Backdrop of Migration
State plays a vital role in the development and progress of its citizens all around the world. Within the state people migrate from one state to another, from one region to another in search of better living conditions and livelihood. The aim of the present paper is to examine the degraded life of these peripatetic workers, specifically poor and backward among them in post pandemic India. The main question which prompted this paper is what is the…
Language as an Arrow and a Shield in the Hands of Harold Pinter’s Characters: A Study of the Play The Birthday Party
One of the most naturally gifted dramatists to have come out of England since the war,”1 Harold Pinter has emerged as the most original theatre talent who gave fresh life to the British theatre in the second half of the twentieth century. He has achieved international recognition and has been hailed as “Britain’s best living playwright”2 of post-World War II period. In 2005, the Nobel Prize was conferred upon him for his contribution to drama. Th…
Biological costs and benefits of social relationships for men and women in adulthood: The role of partner, family and friends
Despite numerous studies on social relationships and health, the empirical focus has often been on middle-aged or older adults, even though young adulthood is a period of considerable change in social networks. We investigated whether the associations between social relationships and allostatic load, a multisystem physiological dysregulation index that reflects chronic stress responses, vary by type of relationship and stages of the lifecourse. R…
Medicine (23 works) · Demography (16 works) · Gerontology (14 works) · Psychology (14 works) · Internal Medicine (12 works) · Sociology (12 works) · Environmental health (10 works) · Gerontology (10 works) · Health disparities and outcomes (9 works) · Population (9 works)