The Study of Muscle, Mobility and Aging (SOMMA): A Unique Cohort Study About the Cellular Biology of Aging and Age-related Loss of Mobility.

BACKGROUND: The Study of Muscle, Mobility and Aging (SOMMA) aims to understand the biological basis of many facets of human aging, with a focus on mobility decline, by creating a unique platform of data, tissues, and images. METHODS: The multidisciplinary SOMMA team includes 2 clinical centers (University of Pittsburgh and Wake Forest University), a biorepository (Translational Research Institute at Advent Health), and the San Francisco Coordinating Center (California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute). Enrollees were age ≥70 years, able to walk ≥0.6 m/s (4 m); able to complete 400 m walk, free of life-threatening disease, and had no contraindications to magnetic resonance or tissue collection. Participants are followed with 6-month phone contacts and annual in-person exams. At baseline, SOMMA collected biospecimens (muscle and adipose tissue, blood, urine, fecal samples); a variety of questionnaires; physical and cognitive assessments; whole-body imaging (magnetic resonance and computed tomography); accelerometry; and cardiopulmonary exercise testing. Primary outcomes include change in walking speed, change in fitness, and objective mobility disability (able to walk 400 m in 15 minutes and change in 400 m speed). Incident events, including hospitalizations, cancer diagnoses, fractures, and mortality are collected and centrally adjudicated by study physicians. RESULTS: SOMMA exceeded its goals by enrolling 879 participants, despite being slowed by the COVID-19 pandemic: 59.2% women; mean age 76.3 ± 5.0 years (range 70-94); mean walking speed 1.04 ± 0.20 m/s; 15.8% identify as other than Non-Hispanic White. Over 97% had data for key measurements. CONCLUSIONS: SOMMA will provide the foundation for discoveries in the biology of human aging and mobility.

'Let Others Love You Back to Health': The Role of Performance-based Support Groups for People in Recovery.

Peer support groups have become widely utilized among those in recovery from problematic substance use. Yet, these peer-based programs vary and research examining their effectiveness has yielded mixed results. Relatively less is known about the impacts of arts-based peer recovery programs. Some research suggests that theatre may offer a powerful tool to address biopsychosocial changes among individuals in recovery. To explore the role of arts-based peer support programs, we draw on qualitative interviews with performers in two arts-based recovery programs. Our findings suggest that arts-based peer recovery programs may aid individuals in recovery in four main ways. Performing allowed participants to build relationships with others in recovery, channel experiences creatively while challenging stigma, foster confidence and recovery-identity formation, aiding participants in working through emotional impacts of prior substance use. These findings support emerging scholarship examining the role of performance in challenging stereotypes about substance use to aid those in recovery.