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MLDS grant Sabine Daemen

MLDS grant Sabine Daemen

15 November 2024

Dr Sabine Daemen (Dept of Internal Medicine) received a Career Development Grant (160k) from the Dutch Digestive Foundation (MLDS).

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Our new Division Leaders

Our new Division Leaders

3 October 2024

As of 1 October 2024, Casper Schalkwijk and Joost Lumens have been appointed as Division Leaders Vessels and Heart. Judith Sluimer will success Hugo ten Cate as Division Leader Blood in March 2025.

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Carim Maastricht
Carim Maastricht

Boy Houben

Associate professor

Alfons (Boy) Houben is Associate Professor at the Department of Internal Medicine of Maastricht UMC+. He graduated in Biology at the University of Nijmegen, and received his PhD, in Maastricht in 1993, on early microcirculatory changes in patients with type 1 diabetes. He has longstanding expertise in human (non-invasive) micro- and macrovascular function tests in combination with (pharmacological) interventions, and in the epidemiological setting (The Maastricht Study). Using this unique approach, his main research interest is on the role of microvascular dysfunction in cardiometabolic diseases. An additional focus in his present research is the effects of lifestyle modifications in order to improve microvascular function. He is Past-President of the European Society for Microcirculation, chair of the Dutch Society for Microcirculation and Vascular Biology, and member of several other international scientific societies.

The focus of my research for many years has been microvascular dysfunction (MVD) as both a cause and a consequence of (cardio)metabolic diseases. One important function of the microcirculation is to deliver oxygen/nutrients to all tissues and to remove waste products. In normal metabolism this includes the delivery of glucose, which taken up by the gut following a meal, to skeletal muscle in order to be stored as glycogen. For that, insulin plays an important role by stimulating the endothelium to produce nitric oxide (NO), which leads to recruitment of capillaries in skeletal muscle and thus an increase in exchange surface. As a result, both glucose and insulin can reach skeletal muscle cells quickly and easily in order to store glucose in the cells. In our working hypothesis, we state that MVD may disturb this insulin-mediated glucose delivery/uptake, leading to metabolic insulin resistance and contributing to the development of type 2 diabetes. Within the framework of The Maastricht Study (a population-based cohort study), we perform deep phenotyping of the microcirculation. By using this approach, we are looking for (early) determinants of MVD, and study the role of MVD in the development and progression of various diseases (e.g. (pre)diabetes, heart failure, and depression).

Boy-houben

Department of Internal Medicine
P. Debyelaan 25, 6229 HX Maastricht 
PO Box 5800, 6202 AZ Maastricht

  • 2024
    • van Oeteren, M. A. J., Simons, N., Simons, P. I. H. G., van de Waarenburg, M. P. H., Kooi, M. E., Feskens, E. J. M., van der Ploeg, E. M. C. L., Van den Eynde, M. D. G., Houben, A. J. H. M., Schalkwijk, C. G., & Brouwers, M. C. G. J. (2024). Fructose restriction has beneficial effects on adipose tissue distribution but not on serum adipokine levels: Post-hoc analysis of a double-blind randomized controlled trial. Clinical Obesity, Article 12714. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/cob.12714
    • Zhao, X., Schalkwijk, C., Kroon, A., Schram, M. T., Stehouwer, C., & Houben, A. (2024). Different Measures of Hyperglycemia Are Negatively Associated With Skin Microvascular Flowmotion: The Maastricht Study. Microcirculation, 31(7), Article e12882. https://doi.org/10.1111/micc.12882
    • Lear, R., Metcalf, B., Hillsdon, M., Bond, B., Koster, A., Vandercappellen, E., de Galan, B., Berendschot, T. T. J. M., Houben, A., Kooman, J., Kroon, A. A., Bosma, H., Eussen, S. J. P. M., & Pulsford, R. (2024). Associations of between- and within-day patterns of physical activity accumulation with arterial stiffness and indices of microvascular health—Evidence from The Maastricht study. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 34(5), Article e14649. https://doi.org/10.1111/sms.14649
    • van Gennip, A. C. E., Gupta, M. D., Houben, A. J. H. M., Berendschot, T. T. J. M., Webers, C. A. B., van Greevenbroek, M. M. J., van der Kallen, C. J. H., Koster, A., Wesselius, A., Eussen, S. J. P. M., Schalkwijk, C. G., de Galan, B. E., Köhler, S., Schram, M. T., Stehouwer, C. D. A., & van Sloten, T. T. (2024). Retinal microvascular function and incidence and trajectories of clinically relevant depressive symptoms: the Maastricht Study. Psychological Medicine, 1-10. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291724000618
    • Betz, M. W., Hendriks, F. K., Houben, A. J. H. M., Van Den Eynde, M. D. G., Verdijk, L. B., Van Loon, L. J. C., & Snijders, T. (2024). Type II Muscle Fiber Capillarization Is an Important Determinant of Post-Exercise Microvascular Perfusion in Older Adults. Gerontology, 70(3), 290-301. https://doi.org/10.1159/000535831
    • Beran, M., van Gennip, A. C. E., Stehouwer, C. D. A., Jansen, J. F. A., Gupta, M. D., Houben, A. J. H. M., Berendschot, T. T. J. M., Webers, C. A. B., Wesselius, A., Schalkwijk, C. G., Backes, W. H., de Jong, J. J. A., van der Kallen, C. J. H., van Greevenbroek, M. M. J., Köhler, S., Vonk, J. M. J., Geerlings, M. I., Schram, M. T., & van Sloten, T. T. (2024). Microvascular Dysfunction and Whole-Brain White Matter Connectivity: The Maastricht Study. Journal of the American Heart Association, 13(3), Article e9112. https://doi.org/10.1161/JAHA.123.031573
    • Steegh, F. M. E. G., Keijbeck, A. A., de Hoogt, P. A., Rademakers, T., Houben, A. J. H. M., Reesink, K. D., Stehouwer, C. D. A., Daemen, M. J. A. P., & Peutz-Kootstra, C. J. (2024). Capillary rarefaction: a missing link in renal and cardiovascular disease?Angiogenesis, 27(1), 23-35. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10456-023-09883-8
  • 2023
    • Feng, L., Ye, Z., Mo, C., Wang, J., Liu, S., Gao, S., Ke, H., Canida, T. A., Pan, Y., Greevenbroek, M. M. J. V., Houben, A. J. H. M., Wang, K., Hatch, K. S., Ma, Y., Lei, D. K. Y., Chen, C., Mitchell, B. D., Hong, L. E., Kochunov, P., ... Ma, T. (2023). Elevated blood pressure accelerates white matter brain aging among late middle-aged women: a Mendelian Randomization study in the UK Biobank. Journal of Hypertension, 41(11), 1811-1820. https://doi.org/10.1097/HJH.0000000000003553
    • Linkens, A. M. A., Eussen, S. J. M. P., Houben, A. J. H. M., Mari, A., Dagnelie, P. C., Stehouwer, C. D. A., & Schalkwijk, C. G. (2023). Habitual intake of advanced glycation endproducts is not associated with worse insulin sensitivity, worse beta cell function, or presence of prediabetes or type 2 diabetes: The Maastricht Study. Clinical Nutrition, 42(8), 1491-1500. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clnu.2023.05.021
    • van den Eynde, M. D. G., Houben, A. J. H. M., Scheijen, J. L. J. M., Linkens, A. M. A., Niessen, P. M., Simons, N., Hanssen, N. M. J., Kusters, Y. H. A. M., Eussen, S. J. M. P., Miyata, T., Stehouwer, C. D. A., & Schalkwijk, C. G. (2023). Pyridoxamine reduces methylglyoxal and markers of glycation and endothelial dysfunction, but does not improve insulin sensitivity or vascular function in abdominally obese individuals: A randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial. Diabetes Obesity & Metabolism, 25(5), 1280-1291. https://doi.org/10.1111/dom.14977
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