Search

Policies to improve air quality need to be based on effective plans for reducing anthropogenic emissions. In 2020, the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic resulted in significant reductions of anthropogenic pollutant emissions, offering an unexpected opportunity to observe their consequences on ambient concentrations. Taking the national lockdown occurred in Italy between March and May 2020 as a case study, this work tries to infer if and what lessons may be learnt concerning the impact of emission reduction policies on air quality. Variations of NO2, O3, PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations were calculated from numerical model simulations obtained with business as usual and lockdown specific emissions. Both simulations were performed at national level with a horizontal resolution of 4 km, and at local level on the capital city Rome at 1 km resolution. Simulated concentrations showed a good agreement with in-situ observations, confirming the modelling systems capability to reproduce the effects of emission reductions on ambient concentration variations, which differ according to the individual air pollutant. We found a general reduction of pollutant concentrations except for ozone, that experienced an increase in Rome and in the other urban areas, and a decrease elsewhere. The obtained results suggest that acting on precursor emissions, even with sharp reductions like those experienced during the lockdown, may lead to significant, albeit complex, reduction patterns for secondary pollutant concentrations. Therefore, to be more effective, reduction measures should be carefully selected, involving more sectors than those related to mobility, such as residential and agriculture, and integrated on different scales.

Air pollution represents a global threat leading to large impacts on health and ecosystems and many European areas still show a poor air quality. Many measures and policies have been adopted in the past decades at European, national, regional and even local level and many tools have been developed to tackle this issue. Among these tools, the European Air Quality Directive places more emphasis on the use of models for air quality assessment and management. Within this context, air quality forecasting systems play an important role in supporting decision makers when short-term actions are required to reduce human health risks by limiting population exposure. In this framework, at European level within the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS), the regional air quality models participating to the service provide 4-day daily forecasts of the main atmospheric pollutants concentrations, in the lowest layers of the atmosphere. This work presents the development and the performances evaluation of FORAIR_IT, an high-resolution air quality forecasting system operating at both European (20 km) and Italian (4 km) scales. Its skill results are compared with CAMS_50 interim ensemble reanalysis (IRA) ones and a long lasting PM10 exceeding event, occurred in Emilia Romagna region in October 2017, is studied in more detail. Results show similar skill scores between FORAIT_IT and CAMS_50. Comparing the annual average of the monthly Root Mean Square Error Difference (RMSED) between FORAIT_IT first forecast day and CAMS_50, over the European domain the RMSED is 0.6, 1.7, 1.4 and 7.4 μg/m3 for daily mean PM10 and PM2.5 and daily maximum for NO2 and O3, respectively, while over the Italian domain it is 1.2, 0.3, 4.3 and 3.8 μg/m3. The importance of increasing model resolution in the region of interest is highlighted by the lower values of RMSED over Italy with respect to Europe. The results obtained by the detailed analysis of the PM10 exceeding event suggests the crucial role of the meteorological forcing in capturing both the timing and the intensity of the exceedances. As far as we know FORAIR_IT is the first forecasting system at high spatial resolution at Italian National level.

The first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic brought about a broader use of masks by both professionals and the general population. This resulted in a severe worldwide shortage of devices and the need to increase import and activate production of safe and effective surgical masks at the national level. In order to support the demand for testing surgical masks in the Italian context, Universities provided their contribution by setting up laboratories for testing mask performance before releasing products into the national market. This paper reports the effort of seven Italian university laboratories who set up facilities for testing face masks during the emergency period of the COVID-19 pandemic. Measurement set-ups were built, adapting the methods specified in the EN 14683:2019+AC. Data on differential pressure (DP) and bacterial filtration efficiency (BFE) of 120 masks, including different materials and designs, were collected over three months. More than 60% of the masks satisfied requirements for DP and BFE set by the standard. Masks made of nonwoven polypropylene with at least three layers (spunbonded–meltblown–spunbonded) showed the best results, ensuring both good breathability and high filtration efficiency. The majority of the masks created with alternative materials and designs did not comply with both standard requirements, resulting in suitability only as community masks. The effective partnering between universities and industries to meet a public need in an emergency context represented a fruitful example of the so-called university “third-mission”.

In this paper the background, activities undertaken, and main outcomes of the cooperation project “Renewable Energy Potential Maps for Lesotho” are presented. The project was launched in 2018 in fulfilment of the Paris Agreement by the Italian Ministry for the Environment and the Lesotho Ministry of Energy and Meteorology, with the aim to facilitate the local Government in the future planning and development of renewable energy in the country. A user-oriented WebGIS platform was utilised to share and analyse the outcomes of the project: a hydrological map to recognize potential areas for power generation; a wind atlas to identify specific sites with the most potential for wind energy generation; a solar radiation map, defining the different levels of radiation intensity, useful to localise sites for photovoltaic production. Human capacity building and technology transfer were carried out to strengthen the local expertise and ability to manage and plan renewable energy sources exploitation. The implementation of the project was based on a fruitful collaboration between scientists and stakeholders at the same time giving the local authorities a useful dataset and tool for renewable energy growth in Lesotho.

Since 2017, the operational high-resolution air quality forecasting system FORAIR_IT, developed and maintained by the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, has been providing three-day forecasts of concentrations of atmospheric pollutants over Europe and Italy, on a daily basis, with high spatial resolution (20 km on Europe, 4 km on Italy). The system is based on the Atmospheric Modelling System of the National Integrated Assessment Model for Italy (AMS-MINNI), which is a national modelling system evaluated in several studies across Italy and Europe. AMS-MINNI, in its forecasting setup, is presently a candidate model for the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service&rsquo, s regional production, dedicated to European-scale ensemble model forecasts of air quality. In order to improve the quality of the meteorological input into the chemical transport model component of FORAIR_IT, several tests were carried out on daily forecasts of NO2 and O3 concentrations for January and August 2019 (representative of the meteorological seasons of winter and summer, respectively). The aim was to evaluate the sensitivity to the meteorological input in NO2 and O3 concentration forecasting. More specifically, the Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF) was tested to potentially improve the meteorological driver with respect to the Regional Atmospheric Modelling System (RAMS), which is currently embedded in FORAIR_IT. In this work, the WRF chain is run in several setups, changing the parameterization of several micrometeorological variables (snow, mixing height, albedo, roughness length, soil heat flux + friction velocity, Monin&ndash, Obukhov length), with the main objective being to take advantage of WRF&rsquo, s consistent physics in the calculation of both mesoscale variables and micrometeorological parameters for air quality simulations. Daily forecast concentrations produced by the different meteorological model configurations are compared to the available measured concentrations, showing the general good performance of WRF-driven results, even if performance skills are different according to the single meteorological configuration and to the pollutant type. WRF-driven forecasts clearly improve the model reproduction of the temporal variability of concentrations, while the bias of O3 is higher than in the RAMS-driven configuration. The results suggest that we should keep testing WRF configurations, with the objective of obtaining a robust improvement in forecast concentrations with respect to RAMS-driven forecasts.

Purpose: Awake surgery is an established technique for resection of low-grade gliomas, while its possible benefit for resection of high-grade gliomas (HGGs) needs further confirmations. This retrospective study aims to compare overall survival, extent of resection(EOR) and cognitive outcome in two groups of HGGs patients submitted to asleep or awake surgery. Methods: Thirty-three patients submitted to Gross Total Resection of contrast-enhancing area of HGGs were divided in two homogeneous groups: awake (AWg; N = 16) and asleep surgery (ASg; N = 17). All patients underwent toan extensive neuropsychological assessment before surgery (time_1), 1-week (time_2) and 4-months (time_3) after surgery. We performed analyses to assess differences in cognitive performances between groups, cognitive outcomes in each group and EOR. A comparison of overallsurvival(OS) between the twogroups was conducted. Results: Statisticalanalyses showed no differences between groups at time_2 and time_3 in each cognitive domain, excludingselective attentionthat resulted higher in the AWg before surgery. Regarding cognitive outcomes, we found a reversible worsening of memory and constructional praxis, and a significant recovery at time_3, similar for both groups. Assessment of time_3 in respect to time_1 never showed differences (all ps >.074). Moreover we found a significant lower level of tumor infiltration after surgery for AWg (p

An application of the Weather Research and Forecasting model aiming to estimate wind and photovoltaic energy resources over Lesotho is presented. To this scope, the whole year 2015 was simulated in a two-way nesting mode reaching 1 km horizontal resolution. Different model parameterizations were tested and compared to available observations, then the best performing simulation was used to elaborate wind and photovoltaic potential maps over Lesotho. Concerning the photovoltaic potential, Lesotho presents a good potential countrywide, having values ranging from around 1600 kWh/kWp to 1750 kWh/kWp, with maxima in the highlands. The results also show that there are many promising areas for wind power exploitation. Zones with higher wind potential are mainly found all along the eastern border with South Africa, from north to south and in general in the highlands. The wind potential exhibits much more variability respect to the photovoltaic one, with estimated energy production ranging from 1000 kWh/kW up to 4000 kWh/kW. Finally, an evaluation of complementarity of wind and solar electricity generation was done at different time scales, showing that some areas with negative correlation coefficient exist, where it is possible to minimise intermittent production and allowing an optimal integration in the electricity grid.

This paper presents the first outcomes of the “FAIRMODE pilot” activity, aiming at improving the way in which air quality models are used in the frame of the European “Air Quality Directive”. Member States may use modelling, combined with measurements, to “assess” current levels of air quality and estimate future air quality under different scenarios. In case of current and potential exceedances of the Directive limit values, it is also requested that they “plan” and implement emission reductions measures to avoid future exceedances. In both “assessment” and “planning”, air quality models can and should be used; but to do so, the used modelling chain has to be fit-for-purpose and properly checked and verified. FAIRMODE has developed in the recent years a suite of methodologies and tools to check if emission inventories, model performance, source apportionment techniques and planning activities are fit-for-purpose. Within the “FAIRMODE pilot”, these tools are used and tested by regional/local authorities, with the two-fold objective of improving management practices at regional/local scale, and providing valuable feedback to the FAIRMODE community. Results and lessons learnt from this activity are presented in this paper, as a showcase that can potentially benefit other authorities in charge of air quality assessment and planning., Highlights • Air quality is still a challenge in various areas in Europe. • FAIRMODE provides methodologies and tools for supporting air quality improvement. • Specifically, a new FAIRMODE initiative for better management practices has been recently launched. • The initiative provides a “live tutorial” to interested authorities. • First results on improved emission inventories and concentrations are presented.

An assessment of potential carcinogenic and toxic health outcomes related to atmospheric emissions from the new-generation coal fired power plant of Torrevaldaliga Nord, in Central Italy, has been conducted. A chemical-transport model was applied on the reference year 2010 in the area of the plant, in order to calculate airborne concentrations of a set of 17 emitted pollutants of health concern. Inhalation cancer risks and hazard quotients, for each pollutant and for each target organ impacted via the inhalation pathway, were calculated and mapped on the study domain for the overall ambient concentrations and for the sole contribution of the plant to airborne concentrations, allowing to assess the relative contribution of the power plant to the risk from all sources. Cancer risks, cumulated on all pollutants, resulted around 5 × 10−5 for the concentrations from all sources and below 3 × 10−7 for the plant contribution, mainly targeting the respiratory system. On each part of the study domain, the plant contributed for less than 6% to the overall cancer risk. Hazard quotients from all sources, cumulated on all pollutants, reached values of 2.5 for the respiratory and 1.5 for the cardiovascular systems. Hazard quotients of non-carcinogenic risks from the plant, cumulated on all pollutants, resulted below 0.03 for the respiratory system and 0.02 for the cardiovascular system. On each part of the study domain, the plant contributed for less than 5% to the respiratory and cardiovascular risks. Both cancer risks and hazard quotients related to the plant are far below international thresholds for human health protection, while the values from all sources require consideration. The proposed method provides an instrument for prospective health risk assessment of large industrial sources, with some limitations presented and discussed. © 2018 Elsevier B.V.

Il Market Hall, progettato dagli MVRDV a Rotterdam, può essere assunto come icona di un nuovo modo di concepire lo spazio ad uso collettivo. Si tratta infatti di un edificio polifunzionale, connesso ai servizi infrastrutturali della città, adibito non solo a mercato coperto, ma anche ad uso residenziale. Il complesso architettonico racchiude al suo interno un vero e proprio spazio pubblico dove intrattenere le persone durante il loro tempo libero. Il complesso programma funzionale, che connota queste nuove architetture, definisce un uso ibrido degli spazi, innovando l’edificio monofunzionale che ha contraddistinto le architetture del secolo scorso.

A methodology for quantifying areas of spatial representativeness of air quality monitoring station is here proposed, exploiting the wide spatial and temporal coverage of chemical transport models results. The method is based on the analysis of time series of model concentrations, extracted at monitoring sites and around, by means of a Concentration Similarity Function (CSF). The method was tested on AMSMINNI model results, covering Italy and three reference years (2003, 2005, 2007), for assessing the spatial representativeness of PM2.5 and O3 rural background monitoring stations. The CSF methodology shows good performances in describing both the extension and the shape of representativeness areas, taking into account the difference between pollutants and the dependence on averaging time and temporal interval of concentration data. Results show a large variability in the size and shape of the selected stations in Italy, ranging from 220 to 4500 km2. This confirms the importance of carrying out adhoc analyses on monitoring stations, as general a priori classifications and qualitative assessments of spatial representativeness are not able to fully capture the complexity of different territorial contexts. © 2015 Turkish National Committee for Air Pollution Research and Control. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Ziziphus jujuba Mill., jujube, leaf infusions are popular bedtime beverages as they improve sleep by soothing the nerves. With the aim of providing further insights into the polyphenol content of jujube leaf infusion and their antioxidant activities, a 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH)-guided purification of the aqueous extract of Z. jujuba Mill. leaves was conducted. Three major antioxidant polyphenols (i.e. quercitrin, catechin and gallocatechin) of the leaves were identified. In addition, a significant antibiofilm bioactivity against Streptococcus mutans, a causative agent of human dental caries, was detected for the aqueous leaf extract and its bio-guided separation resulted in the identification of the lupane triterpenoid alphitolic acid as the main antibiofilm metabolite. The results herein presented further promote the consumption of jujube leaf infusion as a healthy antioxidant bedtime beverage, and associate it to an unreported anti-caries activity.

The planetary boundary layer structure in the coastal areas, and particularly in complex orography regions such as the Mediterranean, is extremely intricate. In this study, we show the evolution of the planetary boundary layer based on in situ airborne measurements and ground-based remote sensing observations carried out during the MORE (Marine Ozone and Radiation Experiment) campaign in June 2010. The campaign was held in a rural coastal Mediterranean region in Southern Italy. The study focuses on the observations made on 17 June. Vertical profiles of meteorological parameters and aerosol size distribution were measured during two flights: in the morning and in the afternoon. Airborne observations were combined with ground-based LIDAR, SODAR, microwave and visible radiometer measurements, allowing a detailed description of the atmospheric vertical structure. The analysis was complemented with data from a regional atmospheric model run with horizontal resolutions of 12, 4 and 1 km, respectively; back-trajectories were calculated at these spatial resolutions. The observations show the simultaneous occurrence of dust transport, descent of mid-tropospheric air and sea breeze circulation on 17 June. Local pollution effects on the aerosol distribution, and a possible event of new particles formation were also observed. A large variability in the thermodynamical structure and aerosol distribution in the flight region, extending by approximately 30 km along the coast, was found. Within this complex, environment-relevant differences in the back-trajectories calculated at different spatial resolutions are found, suggesting that the description of several dynamical processes, and in particular the sea breeze circulation, requires high-resolution meteorological analyses. The study also shows that the integration of different observational techniques is needed to describe these complex conditions; in particular, the availability of flights and their timing with respect to the occurring phenomena are crucial. Keywords: aerosol number concentration, airborne measurements, coastal areas, in situ vertical profile, mid-tropospheric air intrusion, high-resolution back-trajectory, ultrafine particles, boundary layer (Published: 12 October 2015) Citation: Tellus B 2015, 67, 27721, http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/tellusb.v67.27721

Wind and solar energy are expected to play a major role in the current decade to help Europe reaching the renewable energy penetration targets fixed by Directive 2009/28/EC. However, it is difficult to predict the actual production profiles of wind and solar energy as they depend heavily on variable meteorological features of solar radiation and wind speed. In an ideal system, wind and solar electricity are both injected in a fast reacting grid instantaneously matching supply and demand. In such a system wind and solar electricity production profiles should complement each other as much as possible in order to minimise the need of storage and additional capacity. In the present paper the complementarity of wind and solar resources is assessed for a test year in Italy. To achieve this goal we employ data at high spatial and temporal resolution data for both solar radiation and wind speed in Italy obtained from running two state of the art models (PVGIS and MINNI). Hourly profiles for solar and wind energy produced are compared in each 4 × 4 km 2 grid cell in Italy for 2005, and hourly, daily and monthly correlation coefficients are computed in order to assess the local complementarity of the two resources. A Monte Carlo approach is also developed to estimate how large-scale wind and solar energy productions could be potentially involved to complement each other in a scenario with up to 100 production sites across Italy. The results show how local complementarity can be very interesting with monthly correlation coefficients reaching values lower than −0.8 in several areas. Large-scale complementarity is also relevant with nation-wide monthly correlation coefficients showing values between −0.65 and −0.6. These model results indicate that in this sample year of 2005, wind and solar energy potential production have shown complementary time behaviour complementary, favourably supporting their integration in the energy system.

This paper presents a comprehensive evaluation of AMS-MINNI modelling system for the year 2005, over Italian peninsula and major islands Sicily and Sardinia, for gas-phase species ozone (O3) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter less than or equal to 10μm (PM10), against surface measurements from the Italian air quality database. Statistical indicators currently used in air quality models performance assessment and recommended by European Union (EU) guidelines were calculated at rural, urban and suburban background air quality monitoring stations, on purpose of understanding the model behaviour in areas not directly affected by anthropogenic pollution sources. Results show that measured O3 concentrations are generally well reproduced by the model, with the best agreement between model and observations at rural stations. Simulated PM10 annual average concentrations are generally lower than those observed but simulated and observed variabilities are comparable at urban and suburban stations. As for NO2, the model underestimates concentrations at all stations but gives similar variability to the observed one. Overall, the values of the statistical indicators comply with the acceptance criteria requested by EU legislation and are similar with those published by previous studies for the three pollutants investigated in this study. Further work will be carried out to evaluate the impact of uncertainties in input data (meteorology, emissions and boundary conditions) and in description of gaseous and aerosol chemical and physical processes on the simulated concentrations. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

This work shows preliminary results for heavy metals concentrations simulated with the atmospheric modelling system (AMS) of the MINNI project. The simulation has been carried out for the year 2005 with a horizontal resolution of 25 km. The simulated concentrations of As, Cd, Ni and Pb have, in general, the highest values in urban and industrial areas and compare well with available measurements. © Owned by the authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2013.

6 páginas, 3 figuras, 1 tabla.-- et al., The asymmetric molecule 4-[trans-2-(pyrid-4-yl-vinyl)] benzoic acid (PVBA) adsorbed on Cu(111) is characterized by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and density functional theory (DFT) to determine the influence of subsurface atomic layers on the adsorption. In contrast to the 6-fold symmetry of the first atomic layer of close-packed surfaces, we find that the arrangement of the isolated molecules follows predominantly a 3-fold symmetry. This reduction in symmetry, where the molecule selects a specific orientation along the −211 axes, reveals the contribution of lower-lying Cu layers to the molecular arrangement. Our calculations rationalize the interaction of the substrate with the molecule in terms of electrostatic screening and local relaxation phenomena.

Electron transport through metal–molecule contacts greatly affects the operation and performance of electronic devices based on organic semiconductors1,2,3,4 and is at the heart of molecular electronics exploiting single-molecule junctions5,6,7,8. Much of our understanding of the charge injection and extraction processes in these systems relies on our knowledge of the potential barrier at the contact. Despite significant experimental and theoretical advances a clear rationale of the contact barrier at the single-molecule level is still missing. Here, we use scanning tunnelling microscopy to probe directly the nanocontact between a single molecule and a metal electrode in unprecedented detail. Our experiments show a significant variation on the submolecular scale. The local barrier modulation across an isolated 4-[trans-2-(pyrid-4-yl-vinyl)] benzoic acid molecule bound to a copper(111) electrode exceeds 1 eV. The giant modulation reflects the interaction between specific molecular groups and the metal and illustrates the critical processes determining the interface potential. Guided by our results, we introduce a new scheme to locally manipulate the potential barrier of the molecular nanocontacts with atomic precision., A.D.V. and G.L. acknowledge funding from EPSRC grant EP/G044864/1 and the ESF-EUROCORES SONS Programme.

The Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolate TS-832035 was responsible for an outbreak that occurred in an Italian hospital between 1999 and 2002. It exhibited a high-level resistance to carbapenems due to the contemporary presence of two independent mechanisms: the production of a carbapenemase, coded by a bla(VIM-1) determinant carried by the chromosomal class 1 integron In70.2 (containing also the aacA4, aphA15, and aadA1 genes in its cassette array), and the lack of the OprD porin. We compared TS-832035 with a strictly related isolate, TS-103, whose resistance to carbapenems was due to the lack of the OprD porin only, as it did not carry In70.2. We evaluated their growth kinetics, in both separate cultures and competition assays, under permissive conditions. These experiments highlighted a significant in vitro fitness cost associated with the integron. On the contrary, none of the resistance determinants other than the bla(VIM-1) seemed to confer a real selective advantage to its host. Comparison of these results with the in vivo behavior, showing that the In70.2-carrying isolates largely prevailed over the In70.2-lacking ones, besides the detection of similar integrons in other Italian clinical isolates, evidenced the need to investigate accurately the causes of their large distribution, as possible soft spots could exist in the ability of their hosts to adapt to the hospital settings.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the in vitro antibiotic susceptibility of respiratory pathogens recently isolated in Italy to commonly used antibiotics including cefditoren. Six clinical microbiological laboratories collected, between January and September 2009, a total of 2,510 respiratory pathogens from subjects with community-acquired respiratory tract infections (CARTI). Ceftditoren, out of all the beta-lactams studied, had the lowest MIC(90 )against 965 strains of Streptococcus pneumoniae examined, followed by cefotaxime and ceftriaxone (2% resistance in penicillin-resistant S. pneumoniae (PRSP)). Against 470 Haemophilus influenzae , independently of their production of beta-lactamases or ampicillin resistance, cefditoren was the oral cephalosporin with the best in vitro activity, comparable to that of the injectable cephalosporins and levofloxacin. Higher MIC(90)s were found for the macrolides (4 - 16 mg/l) and cefaclor (4 - 32 mg/l). As was foreseeable, Streptococcus pyogenes (225 strains) was uniformly sensitive to all the beta-lactam antibiotics, but the elevated MIC(90 )values reduced (75%) susceptibility of this pathogen to macrolides. Beta-lactamase-negative Moraxella catarrhalis (100 strains) had reduced susceptibility only to the macrolides, while the 250 beta-lactamase-producing strains also had reduced susceptibility to cefuroxime. Levofloxacin showed the lowest MIC(50)/MIC(90 )values in the producing strains, whereas cefditoren, cefotaxime and ceftriaxone in the non-producers. As regards the enterobacteriaceae, cefditoren and levofloxacin had the lowest MIC(90)s against Klebsiella pneumoniae. Cefditoren and the third-generation injectable cephalosporins had the lowest MIC(90)s against Escherichia coli (100% susceptibility) while levofloxacin was less active (86% susceptibility).In conclusion, cefditoren's wide spectrum and high intrinsic activity, as well as its capacity to overcome most of the resistance that has become consolidated in some classes of antibiotics widely used as empiric therapy for CARTI, allows us to suggest that cefditoren might be included in the european guidelines as one of the first-choice antibiotics in the treatment of CARTI.

Aims This randomized, multi-centre, double-blind, stratified, two period, cross-over trial was undertaken to assess the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of insulin aspart injected immediately before compared with regular human insulin injected 30 min before a Mediterranean-style meal in 37 (23 M, 14 F) patients with Type 2 diabetes. Methods Insulin aspart or regular human insulin was given subcutaneously (0.15 U/kg) in random sequence, using a double-dummy technique (at one visit: human regular insulin at t = −30 min and placebo at t = 0; at the other visit: placebo at t = −30 min and aspart insulin at t = 0). Serum glucose and insulin concentrations (15 points) were measured after each meal for 240 min. Results Post-prandial glycaemic excursions were 20% lower with insulin aspart (IAsp) compared with regular human insulin (HI) treatment [ratio (Iasp/HI) = 0.80, CI = (0.66–0.98), P = 0.034]. The maximum serum glucose (SG) concentration was similar for the two treatments (P = NS). The (median) time to maximum SG was 25 min shorter for IAsp compared with HI (P = 0.048). Maximum serum insulin concentration was higher after IAsp compared with HI (P = 0.023) as well as the area under the 4-h serum insulin curve (P = 0.006). Furthermore, the time to maximum serum insulin concentration was 27 min shorter after IAsp (P = 0.039), even though IAsp was injected 30 min after HI. No adverse events occurred during the trial. Conclusions In patients with Type 2 diabetes a more favourable insulin profile and a better glycaemic control were found with IAsp injected immediately before compared with HI injected 30 min before a Mediterranean-style meal.