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“KNOWLEDGE FOR HEALTH”:
INTEGRATED HEALTH CARE

Koper, Slovenia, 1 October 2022

The annual “Knowledge for Health” event was held on 1 October, International Day 
of Older Persons. The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed this day to highli-
ght the often overlooked role and position of this population group in society, despite 
the fact that the proportion of older people in the population is increasing. Experts from 
various fields participated in the event, which was aimed at a broad audience and was 
intended to highlight the issue of holistic health at the intersection of muscular, cogni-
tive and cardiovascular health.

Talking about the consequences of an inappropriate lifestyle and how to take care 
of one’s health in a holistic way that is also accessible to the general public remains the 
main goal of the initiators of the “Knowledge for Health” event, held for the eleventh 
consecutive year in collaboration with the Institute for Kinesiological Research of the 
Scientific Research Centre (ZRS) Koper and the Izola General Hospital. During this pe-
riod, numerous meetings and discussions were held and thousands of measurements of 
physical and functional fitness and risk factors were performed. Numerous public lectu-
res were held with top experts who have time and again offered new insights for health.

This year’s event took place in the morning at Taverna in Koper, Slovenia, and 
included measurements of physical characteristics, functional abilities and health risk 



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factors. Participants had the opportunity to assess their cardiovascular, muscular and 
cognitive health through simple but relevant tests.

On the occasion of the International Day of Older Persons, the organizers of the 
event emphasized the importance of monitoring sarcopenia for general health. They 
identified severe sarcopenia in 9% of those measured and urged them to change their 
lifestyle for better health. Sarcopenia can have very serious consequences, such as in-
sufficient muscle strength, decreased metabolic capacity, decreased aerobic capacity, 
leading to physical limitations, immobility, poorer quality of life, more fragile bones, 
cognitive decline, cardiovascular disease and ultimately premature death. This is main-
ly due to the excessive loss of muscle fibers and the reduction of the remaining fibers. 
What causes this is not yet entirely clear, and the answer is certainly very broad, which 
is why it is a syndrome rather than a disease. However, we can confirm with certainty 
that one of the causes is a lack of proper exercise with sufficient intensity to stimulate 
the repair and growth of muscle fibers. In addition to proper exercise, adequate protein 
intake is also important to support muscle repair after exercise.

The testing of participants at the “Knowledge for Health” event is an example of 
knowledge transfer to the general public, as it comes directly from the research work 
of colleagues from the Institute for Kinesiology Research, ZRS Koper. The irrevers-
ibility of the processes of muscle deterioration in the elderly motivated Prof. Dr Boštjan 
Šimunić to obtain two new national research projects. The “Validation of a muscle-
quality marker for the diagnosis of sarcopenia (ARRS J7-2605)” project will develop 
a method that will enable the early detection of changes in muscle properties and per-
formance during ageing, before they become visible with standard clinical instruments. 
The goal is to allow early intervention before sarcopenia actually sets in. The “Neuro-
muscular decline after physical inactivity: a comparison of younger and older adults 
(ARRS J5-4593)” project aims to investigate the mechanisms and temporal patterns 
of muscle mass and performance decline in younger and older adults, which is critical 
for understanding the processes of decline and for developing preventive and cura-
tive interventions/guidelines. The central nervous system controls muscle function and 
has been shown to be a key determinant of muscle performance. Under the leadership 
of Assoc. Prof. Dr Uroš Marušič, the researchers have been awarded the “TWINning 
the BRAIN with machine learning for neuromuscular efficiency – TwinBrain” interna-
tional project, which investigates brain function during movement, during execution of 
various movements, and during motor learning with and without skeletal movement.

With the completion of the testing in Taverna in Koper, each participant received 
a ticket to the afternoon part of the event, which took place at Koper Theatre, where a 
panel of experts spoke about the importance and role of monitored characteristics in 
health. Too often we want to “measure health”, compare ourselves to the norms without 
knowing more about the parameters and indicators of (un)healthiness that are being 
measured. High-profile speakers and top experts tried to find answers to the question 
of what holistic health is and how muscular, cognitive and cardiovascular health form 
a whole. Prim. Dorjan Marušič, MD, PhD, spoke about cardiovascular health, Bojan 



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Rojc, MD, PhD, spoke about neuromuscular health and Uroš Marušič, PhD, Associate 
Professor, spoke about cognitive health.

The discussion was moderated by the founding fathers of the meeting, Prof. Dr 
Rado Pišot and Assoc. Prof. Dr Mladen Gasparini. The event was another in the series 
of events that brought together Koper Theatre, ZRS Koper and Izola General Hospital 
in an effort to contribute to the health and quality of life of our citizens, and was there-
fore once again supported by the Koper City Council.

Boštjan Šimunić, Nika Štravs, Matej Kleva, Peter Čerče



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»ZNANJE ZA ZDRAVJE«: 
CELOSTNA SKRB ZA ZDRAVJE

Koper, Slovenija, 1. oktober 2022

Vsakoletni dogodek »Znanje za zdravje« je tokrat potekal 1. oktobra, ob medna-
rodnem dnevu starejših. Generalna skupščina Združenih narodov je ta dan razglasila 
zaradi pogosto spregledane vloge in položaja, ki ga ima ta skupina prebivalstva v druž-
bi, čeprav se delež starejše populacije povečuje. Strokovnjaki z različnih področji so 
na dogodku, ki je namenjen najširši zainteresirani javnosti, poskušali osvetliti problem 
celostnega zdravja v preseku med mišičnim, kognitivnim in srčno-žilnim zdravjem.

Spregovoriti o posledicah neustreznega življenjskega sloga in kako celostno poskr-
beti za svoje zdravje na način, ki je dostopen najširši javnosti, tudi sicer ostaja glavno 
vodilo pobudnikov dogodka »Znanje za zdravje«, ki je že enajsto leto zapored potekal 
v sodelovanju Inštituta za kineziološke raziskave Znanstveno-raziskovalnega središča 
(ZRS) Koper in Splošne bolnišnice (SB) Izola. V tem času so izvedli številna srečanja 
in pogovore, več tisoč meritev telesne in funkcionalne pripravljenosti ter dejavnikov 
tveganja. Organizirali so številna javna predavanja z vrhunskimi strokovnjaki, ki so 
vedno znova ponudili nova znanja za zdravje.

Na letošnji prireditvi so v koprski Taverni v dopoldanskem času potekale meritve 
telesnih značilnosti, funkcionalnih sposobnosti in dejavnikov tveganja za zdravje. Ude-
leženci so imeli možnost na osnovi preprostih, vendar relevantnih meritev preveriti 
svoje srčno-žilno, mišično in kognitivno zdravje. 

Ob svetovnem dnevu starejših so organizatorji dogodka posebej poudarili pomen 
spremljanja sarkopenije za celostno zdravje. Pri kar 9 % izmerjenih so odkrili hudo 
obliko sarkopenije in jih opozorili, naj spremenijo svoj življenjski slog za kakovostnej-
še zdravje. Sarkopenija lahko privede do zelo hudih posledic, kot so premajhna mišična 



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moč, manjše presnovne sposobnosti in manjše aerobne sposobnosti, vse to pa vodi v 
gibalne omejitve, nemobilnost, slabšo kakovost življenja, krhkejše kosti, kognitivni 
upad, srčno-žilne bolezni in v skrajni posledici v prezgodnjo smrt. Razlog je predvsem 
v preveliki izgubi mišičnih vlaken in zmanjšanju tistih, ki še ostanejo. Kateri so vzroki, 
ki privedejo do tega, še ni popolnoma jasno, in odgovor je gotovo zelo širok, zato je to 
tudi sindrom, bolj kot bolezen. Prav gotovo pa lahko kot enega od vzrokov potrdimo 
pomanjkanje primerne, dovolj intenzivne gibalne vadbe, ki spodbuja obnovo in rast 
mišičnih vlaken. Ob pravilni vadbi je pomemben tudi zadosten vnos beljakovin, ki 
podpirajo obnovo mišic po vadbi. 

Na dogodku »Znanje za zdravje« izvedene meritve udeležencev so primer preno-
sa znanja v širšo javnost, saj izhajajo neposredno iz raziskovalnega dela sodelavk in 
sodelavcev Inštituta za kineziološke raziskave ZRS Koper. Ireverzibilnost procesov 
upada mišične mase pri starejših je namreč motivirala prof. dr. Boštjana Šimuniča k 
pridobitvi dveh novih nacionalnih raziskovalnih projektov. V sklopu projekta Valida-
cija markerja mišične kakovosti za diagnosticiranje sarkopenije (ARRS J7-2605) raz-
vijajo metodo, ki bo omogočala zgodnjo zaznavo sprememb v mišičnih značilnostih in 
zmogljivostih med staranjem, še preden bo ta vidna s standardnimi kliničnimi orodji. 
Cilj je zagotoviti še pravočasno ukrepanje pred dejanskim nastopom sarkopenije. V 
sklopu projekta »Upad živčno-mišičnega sistema po gibalni neaktivnosti: primerjava 
mlajših in starejših odraslih (ARRS J5-4593)« pa nameravajo proučiti mehanizme in 
časovne zakonitosti upada mišične mase in zmogljivosti pri mlajših in starejših, kar 
je ključno za razumevanje procesov upada ter oblikovanje preventivnih in kurativnih 
ukrepov/smernic. Centralni živčni sistem nadzoruje delovanje mišic in je bil prepoznan 
za ključni dejavnik mišične zmogljivosti. Pod vodstvom izr. prof. dr. Uroša Marušiča 
so raziskovalci pridobili mednarodni projekt TWINning the BRAIN with machine lear-
ning for neuromuscular efficiency – TwinBrain, v sklopu katerega proučujejo delovanje 
možganov med gibanjem, v procesu izvedbe različnih gibov, med motoričnim učenjem 
s premikanjem skeleta in brez premikanja.

Z opravljeno meritvijo v koprski Taverni je vsak udeleženec pridobil vstopnico za 
popoldanski del dogodka, ki je potekal v Gledališču Koper. Na njem so strokovnjaki 
spregovorili o pomenu in vlogi spremljanih značilnosti za zdravje. Prevečkrat si namreč 
želimo »izmeriti zdravje«, se primerjati z veljavnimi normami, ne da bi hkrati o merje-
nih parametrih in kazalnikih (ne)zdravja vedeli kaj več. Eminentni predavatelji, vrhunski 
strokovnjaki, so poskušali poiskati odgovore na vprašanja, kaj sploh je celostno zdravje 
ter kako mišično, kognitivno in srčno-žilno zdravje tvorijo celoto. Prim. mag. Dorjan 
Marušič, dr. med., je tako spregovoril o srčno-žilnem zdravju, doc. dr. Bojan Rojc o ne-
vromišičnem zdravju, izr. prof. dr. Uroš Marušič pa o kognitivnem zdravju. 

Pogovor sta povezovala idejna očeta srečanja prof. dr. Rado Pišot in doc. dr. Mla-
den Gasparini. Dogodek je ponovno združil Gledališče Koper, ZRS Koper in SB Izola 
v želji, da bi prispevali h kakovosti zdravja in življenja naših občanov, zato ga je tudi 
tokrat podprla Mestna občina Koper.

Boštjan Šimunić, Nika Štravs, Matej Kleva, Peter Čerče


