Forest humus forms as potential indicators of soil carbon storage in Mediterranean environments

The aim of this work was to investigate the potential of forest humus forms as indicators of soil C storage. To this purpose, Mediterranean forest soils in Southern and Central Italy were examined. Sites differed for elevation, climate, parent material and vegetation conditions, while summer drought was the common ecological factor. A morpho-functional criterion, based on holorganic layers thickness and A horizon properties, was used to classify humus forms, which ranged from Dysmoder to Eumull. Such variability allowed understanding of factors influencing organic matter storage. The relations between carbon stock and humus form were investigated for the topsoil layer (0–20 cm), which was supposed to contain the soil C pools most sensitive to climate change. We found that humus forms can be grouped in statistically different populations, with respect to topsoil C stocks. The use of A horizon structure was the main diagnostic criterion and represented the most effective approach to humus classification in Mediterranean conditions. It appears that humus forms have a clear potential as indicators of organic carbon status in Mediterranean forest soils

Mortality after surgery in Europe: a 7 day cohort study

Background: Clinical outcomes after major surgery are poorly described at the national level. Evidence of heterogeneity between hospitals and health-care systems suggests potential to improve care for patients but this potential remains unconfirmed. The European Surgical Outcomes Study was an international study designed to assess outcomes after non-cardiac surgery in Europe.Methods: We did this 7 day cohort study between April 4 and April 11, 2011. We collected data describing consecutive patients aged 16 years and older undergoing inpatient non-cardiac surgery in 498 hospitals across 28 European nations. Patients were followed up for a maximum of 60 days. The primary endpoint was in-hospital mortality. Secondary outcome measures were duration of hospital stay and admission to critical care. We used χ² and Fisher’s exact tests to compare categorical variables and the t test or the Mann-Whitney U test to compare continuous variables. Significance was set at p<0·05. We constructed multilevel logistic regression models to adjust for the differences in mortality rates between countries.Findings: We included 46 539 patients, of whom 1855 (4%) died before hospital discharge. 3599 (8%) patients were admitted to critical care after surgery with a median length of stay of 1·2 days (IQR 0·9–3·6). 1358 (73%) patients who died were not admitted to critical care at any stage after surgery. Crude mortality rates varied widely between countries (from 1·2% [95% CI 0·0–3·0] for Iceland to 21·5% [16·9–26·2] for Latvia). After adjustment for confounding variables, important differences remained between countries when compared with the UK, the country with the largest dataset (OR range from 0·44 [95% CI 0·19 1·05; p=0·06] for Finland to 6·92 [2·37–20·27; p=0·0004] for Poland).Interpretation: The mortality rate for patients undergoing inpatient non-cardiac surgery was higher than anticipated. Variations in mortality between countries suggest the need for national and international strategies to improve care for this group of patients.Funding: European Society of Intensive Care Medicine, European Society of Anaesthesiology