Measure for measure: consequences, detection and treatment of hyperglycaemia

Pissing evil is how sir Thomas Willis in the 17th century described the high concentrations of glucose found in the urine of patients. The sweet urine described by dr. Willis was the result of pathologically elevated concentrations of glucose in the blood called hyperglycaemia. In those days, hyperglycaemia would eventually mean certain death. Since then we have come a long way, but are still left with questions on the consequences of hyperglycaemia and how we best measure it in order to take the appropriate measures. In this thesis, several studies are presented that investigated the consequences, detection and treatment of hyperglycaemia.