It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Thursday, April 03, 2025
21ST CENTURY ALCHEMY
Gold battles cancer
Organogold(III) complex accumulates in mitochondria of lung cancer cells
Precious metals are not merely ornaments; they are also important components of pharmaceuticals, like the antitumor drug cisplatin. Recently, the search for alternatives with improved activity has begun to focus on gold. In the journal Angewandte Chemie, a French research team has now published the first study about the speciation and distribution of an organogold(III) complex in cancer cells and reveals how specially designed “organogold” complexes might open exciting avenues for fighting cancer.
Gold has a unique electronic structure giving it exceptional chemical traits that translate into subtle interactions with biological molecules. Yet, to date, we have little information about how gold(III) complexes with antitumor activity behave in a biological environment. Do they change? Are they reduced to gold (I) or metallic gold? Where in the cell do they attack? Researchers led by Benoît Bertrand, Michèle Salmain, Sylvain Bohic, and Jean-Louis Hazemann at Sorbonne Université, the Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, INSERM, and the European Synchrotron Research Facility, have now carried out a comprehensive study on the chemical reactivity and antitumor activity of various gold(III) complexes. They used a combination of different methods based on synchrotron X-ray radiation—very intensive, bundled flashes of light produced in particle accelerators.
Common to all the complexes they examined (cationic biphenyl gold(III) complexes with aryl, alkyl, and diphosphine helper ligands, known as [(C^C)Au(P^P)]+ cations) is a gold atom bonded to two carbon atoms of the first ligand and two phosphorus atoms of the second, clasping like two sets of tongs. The analyses demonstrate that all the complexes examined were stable in both cell-free environments and inside lung cancer cells. They were not reduced and did not release their ligands to form new bonds.
The complexes were demonstrated to be toxic against tumor cells. A “dppe complex” (biphenyl gold(III) complex with 1,2-diphenylphosphinoethane (dppe) ligand) was the most active. The team used a special setup of synchrotron cryo-X-ray nanoanalysis to “map” elements including gold in frozen-hydrated lung cancer cells with nanometer-scale resolution and locate the dppe complex. It was found to accumulate selectively in the mitochondria, the “powerhouses” of the cells. The advantage of this method is that no labeling, which could distort the result, is needed. This gives scientists a unique clarity when examining cells in their near-native state at the nanoscale.
By using X-ray absorption spectroscopic methods, the team obtained important information about the valency, geometry, and oxidation state of the gold atom in the complex. These indicate that the antitumor activity of the gold complexes primarily stems from the native cationic species (the [(C^C)Au(P^P)]+ cations). It probably results from interactions between the whole complex and specific biological molecules, whose function is disrupted. This differentiates these drug candidates from other, differently structured gold complexes, which generally trigger cell death through direct coordination of the gold center with biomolecules. These results establish a relationship between the chemical structure and reactivity of a gold complex, its speciation in the cell, and its cytotoxicity.
(3419 characters)
About the Author
Dr. Benoît Bertrand is a CNRS junior researcher at the Institut Parisien de Chimie Moléculaire at Sorbonne Université. His research interest is the development of new organometallic gold complexes and the study of their anticancer properties with a particular focus on the intracellular reactivity of the complexes.
This study adapted a social-emotional questionnaire, initially designed for primary and secondary students, for college use through planning, action, inspection, and reflection.
Credit: herrea from Openverse Image link: https://openverse.org/image/4b3fc69d-5e5e-4628-b1f2-7a3daeccf5d6?q=college+students+studying&p=7
Social-emotional ability serves as a critical human foundation for sustainable societal development. While researchers have focused on enhancing primary and secondary school students' social-emotional skills, the development of university students' social-emotional ability has been overlooked. This study examines the current state of college students' social-emotional abilities. It identifies that these skills are significantly influenced by various factors, including education level, gender, university type, geographic origin, family background, and teacher–student relationships, which are found to significantly affect college students' social-emotional ability.
In a study published online on January 2, 2025, in the ECNU Review of Education, a research team led by Yingshuang Gao from the Institute of Higher Education at the University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Tao Wang at the Institute of Education, Tsinghua University, explored the adaptation of a social-emotional questionnaire. Originally designed for primary and secondary school students, the questionnaire was modified for use with college students through a process of planning, action, inspection, and reflection. The study involved students from all 31 provinces of China, with a total of 4,720 valid questionnaires collected.
It was found that the social-emotional ability of college students is closely related to their career history. Explaining the basis behind this study, Gao and Wang say “College students at different stages face different tasks and experience different focus events, which will have a significant impact on college students' social emotions.”
After college entrance examinations, college students have generally improved in terms of social-emotional abilities, including tenacity, self-management, growth mentality, and self-efficacy. It is obvious that the main function of the college entrance examination is to select talent, but such selection is accompanied by the improvement of the overall emotional ability of college students, which proves the unity of emotional education and intellectual education. Emotional education and intellectual education are not antagonistic and can promote each other. During the sophomore year, college students' social emotions were at a low ebb. This was because they ended the high-pressure study of the college entrance examination, entered a free university, were faced with new environments, experienced new learning modes and social customs, and needed a short adaptation period. “If the transition is successful, the junior and senior stages can be outstanding. If the transition is not successful, a series of problems can result,” claim Gao and Wang . The fourth stage of college and the third stage of graduate school are the “export” of colleges and universities in general. Regardless of whether one chooses to become employed, enter a higher school, live abroad, or take a civil service examination, a plan in advance is required. Planning requires a clear understanding of oneself, strong self-management, and enhanced social awareness. As a result, social-emotional ability has once again increased, taking the form of a “W”-shaped trend overall.
***
Reference
Titles of original paper: A Portrait of the Social-Emotional Ability of Chinese College Students—"Fragile, Lying Flat" or "Rising Wave, Positive"?
Imagine a world where industrial waste isn’t just reduced, it’s turned into something useful. This kind of circular economy is already in the works for carbon. Now, researchers in energy, environmental & chemical engineering at Washington University in St. Louis have developed a promising pathway to convert harmful nitric oxide, a key component of acid rain, into valuable nitric acid, which is used in everyday applications from fertilizer production to metal processing.
Feng Jiao, the Lauren and Lee Fixel Distinguished Professor in the McKelvey School of Engineering at WashU, and collaborators developed a method to convert nitric oxide (NO) emissions into high-purity, concentrated nitric acid (HNO₃). The new process operates at near-ambient conditions with minimal infrastructure, offering an economically viable solution to industrial nitrogen waste with economic and environmental benefits. The work published April 3, in Nature Catalysis.
“We’ve developed an electrochemical approach to converting NO, a toxic waste gas, into valuable nitric acid,” Jiao said. “Our primary motivation is to address NO waste gases from mining sites, where large amounts of nitric acid are used to dissolve metal ores, leading to significant emissions. Our technology enables on-site NO conversion back into nitric acid for immediate reuse, creating a more sustainable and circular process.”
The innovative electrochemical process uses a low-cost carbon-based catalyst for NO oxidation. When combined with a single-metal oxygen reduction catalyst developed by Gang Wu, professor of energy, environmental & chemical engineering in McKelvey Engineering, the process operates with low energy consumption to convert NO into HNO₃ without the need for chemical additives or extra purification steps.
The electrochemical oxidation system is designed to be “plug and play,” Jiao says, constructed on-site without massive investments in infrastructure or expensive raw materials, such as precious metals. It is flexible and customizable for small- or medium-scale operations, and it works at near room temperature, significantly reducing energy use, cost and environmental impact compared with the most prevalent NO processing method that requires elevated operating temperatures.
The system achieves over 90% faradaic efficiency when using pure NO. Even at lower concentrations of NO, the system retains more than 70% faradaic efficiency, making it adaptable to a variety of industrial waste streams. The direct synthesis of concentrated high-purity HNO3 – up to 32% by weight – from NO and water without electrolyte additives or downstream purification establishes an electrochemical route to valorize NO waste gases, advancing sustainable pollution mitigation and chemical manufacturing.
Beyond mining, Jiao noted that the approach may have broader industrial applications as well as strong commercial potential, which Jiao and his collaborators demonstrated in a detailed techno-economic analysis that showed their process boasts lower energy consumption and reduced costs compared with traditional HNO₃ manufacturing methods. Turning industrial pollutants into valuable chemical products is just good business, as well as being good for the environment, Jiao said.
“The nitric acid output by our system can be directly used in mining applications or other chemical processes,” Jiao said. “We’ve already achieved very impressive efficiency and purity in our output. Going forward, we’ll be working to improve those numbers even further while also scaling up for practical applications. We’re looking at how we can build this technology into a nitrogen circular economy that will open doors to more efficient and sustainable agriculture, manufacturing and many other things.”
###
Xia R, Dronsfield S, Lee A, Crandall BS, Liang J, Hasa B, Redder A, Wu G, Goncalves TJ, Siahrostami S, Jiao F. Electrochemical oxidation of nitric oxide to concentrated nitric acid with carbon-based catalysts at near-ambient conditions. Nature Catalysis, online April 3, 2025. DOI: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41929-025-01315-8
This work was supported by Washington University in St. Louis, the University of Calgary’s Canada First Research Excellence Fund Program and the Global Research Initiative in Sustainable Low Carbon Unconventional Resources. It was also enabled in part by support provided by computational resources at the University of Calgary and Compute Canada
Journal
Nature Catalysis
Article Publication Date
3-Apr-2025
Carbon-neutral marine fuel from wastewater
KIT spin-off ICODOS and partners launch “Mannheim 001,” the first facility for carbon-neutral e-methanol production in sewage plants
Europe’s approximately 80,000 sewage treatment plants offer considerable potential for an innovative, carbon-neutral process for the production of the universal chemical methanol.. ICODOS, a start-up founded at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), and its partners have built an innovative facility at Mannheim’s sewage treatment plant. The facility purifies the biogas produced by the plant and uses green hydrogen to convert it into carbon-neutral fuel for ships. They opened the facility today, March 24, 2025.
According to estimates by the International Maritime Organization, shipping accounts for approximately 3 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. To reduce those emissions, environmentally friendly alternatives to conventional fossil fuels are urgently needed. Today (March 24, 2025) a consortium consisting of the Institute for Micro Process Engineering and the Institute for Automation and Applied Informatics at KIT, the KIT spin-off ICODOS, and the Waste Water Department of the City of Mannheim began operation of a demonstration plant that uses wastewater as a resource for the production of carbon-neutral methanol, a future marine fuel. Dr. Volker Wissing, Germany’s Federal Minister for Digital and Transport, pressed the start button.
“We need to keep all of our technology options open in order to achieve our climate objectives. In addition to electrification and hydrogen propulsion, we need climate-friendly fuels for marine shipping in particular, and Germany should play a leading role in their research and development. That will be a growth market in the future,” Wissing said. “This is also about making our country independent from energy imports. Mannheim 001 shows how economic efficiency and climate action can go hand in hand. This project can serve as an example for many other locations in Germany and Europe.”
“This new facility is a striking demonstration of how research and entrepreneurship can lead to practical solutions for the successful transformation of our economy,” said Professor Thomas Hirth, KIT’s Vice President for Transfer and International Affairs. "The biogas it produces during wastewater treatment is a valuable resource. This is an innovative approach that shows how available resources can be used in a smart and climate-friendly way.”
“As a lighthouse project, Mannheim 001 is further proof that climate action and industrial growth can go hand in hand with new technologies,” said Mannheim’s mayor, Christian Specht, who was also present. “With support from Mannheim’s climate fund and in close cooperation with our waste water department, it’s showing how a start-up from our Mafinex Technology Center can produce green fuel for the shipping industry. That’s another innovation made in Mannheim that we can be proud of.”
Innovative Process Using Biogas
The Mannheim 001 demonstration plant uses a patented process to convert biogas extracted from wastewater into carbon-neutral methanol. In the first stage, the biogas originating in the sewage treatment plant is purified. The CO₂ it contains then reacts with green hydrogen to produce methanol, a versatile raw material that can be used in the chemical industry or as fuel for ships. “With our technology, we can extract a high-quality energy carrier from an existing source,” said Dr. Vidal Vazquez, a co-founder of ICODOS. “Sewage plants could produce several million tonnes of renewable methanol per year in Germany alone.” With its compact and scalable design, the process is ideal for distributed implementation. “Our current project shows the previously untapped potential of sewage plants as a core element of sustainable fuel production,” Vazquez said. ICODOS is already in discussions with other sewage plant operators about building further production systems.
About ICODOS
ICODOS GmbH, a climate-tech start-up based in Mannheim, originated in a KIT research project. It specializes in the sustainable production of fuels and chemicals using renewable sources such as biogas and CO₂ in combination with green electricity. ICODOS’s goal is to use process engineering and modular facilities to make an economically viable contribution to climate change mitigation.
Being “The Research University in the Helmholtz Association”, KIT creates and imparts knowledge for the society and the environment. It is the objective to make significant contributions to the global challenges in the fields of energy, mobility, and information. For this, about 10,000 employees cooperate in a broad range of disciplines in natural sciences, engineering sciences, economics, and the humanities and social sciences. KIT prepares its 22,800 students for responsible tasks in society, industry, and science by offering research-based study programs. Innovation efforts at KIT build a bridge between important scientific findings and their application for the benefit of society, economic prosperity, and the preservation of our natural basis of life. KIT is one of the German universities of excellence.
Exploring sustainable energy solutions through hydrothermal carbonization of sewage sludge
Credit: Asma Leghari, Yao Xiao, Lu Ding, Hammad Sadiq, Abdul Raheem, Guangsuo Yu
In an era where sustainable energy solutions are more critical than ever, a team of researchers from East China University of Science and Technology and Aston University has made significant strides in blending coal with sewage sludge-derived hydrochar (HC) to create a more environmentally friendly energy source. Their study, published on January 15, 2025 in Frontiers of Chemical Science and Engineering, investigates the potential of hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) to transform sewage sludge into a valuable component of coal-water slurry (CWS), offering a promising pathway for waste-to-energy conversion.
Sewage sludge, a byproduct of wastewater treatment, poses significant environmental challenges due to its high volume and complex composition. However, this study demonstrates that through HTC, sewage sludge can be converted into hydrochar, a carbon-rich material that can be effectively blended with coal to enhance the performance of CWS. This innovative approach not only addresses waste management issues but also contributes to the sustainable utilization of coal, one of the world's major energy sources.
The research highlights several groundbreaking findings. Firstly, the study identifies optimal conditions for the preparation of hydrochar from sewage sludge. The results show that hydrochar prepared at 180°C with a 30% ratio in CWS exhibits the best performance in terms of viscosity and ash content. This optimal ratio ensures that the slurry remains stable and fluid, making it suitable for industrial applications.
Moreover, the study explores the gasification reactivity of hydrochar, revealing that a 30% HC ratio in CWS achieves higher reactivity compared to higher ratios. This finding is crucial as it suggests that blending hydrochar with coal can enhance the overall energy efficiency of the slurry. However, increasing the HC ratio to 50% reduces reactivity, indicating a delicate balance between HC content and energy output.
Another notable innovation lies in the detailed characterization of hydrochar. The study employs advanced techniques such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) to analyze the structural changes in sewage sludge during HTC. The results show that HTC significantly alters the surface morphology of sludge, creating a porous structure that enhances water drainage and improves the overall performance of CWS.
The social and environmental implications of this research are profound. By converting sewage sludge into a valuable energy resource, the study offers a sustainable solution to the growing problem of waste management. Additionally, the optimized blending of hydrochar with coal reduces the reliance on traditional fossil fuels, contributing to a more sustainable energy landscape.
Dr. Lu Ding, one of the lead researchers, emphasized the importance of this work: "Our study demonstrates that sewage sludge, often seen as a waste product, can be transformed into a valuable resource through hydrothermal carbonization. This not only addresses environmental concerns but also enhances the efficiency of coal utilization, making it a win-win solution."
Looking ahead, the researchers suggest that further studies should focus on optimizing the HTC process to achieve even higher energy yields and exploring the potential of other waste materials for similar applications. The findings of this study pave the way for more comprehensive research into waste-to-energy conversion, offering hope for a more sustainable and efficient energy future.
In conclusion, this pioneering research not only highlights the potential of sewage sludge-derived hydrochar in enhancing the performance of coal-water slurry but also underscores the importance of innovative solutions in addressing global energy and environmental challenges.
April 2, 2025—An AI tool that analyzes nurses’ data and notes detected when patients in the hospital were deteriorating nearly two days earlier than traditional methods and reduced the risk of death by over 35%, found a year-long clinical trial of more than 60,000 patients led by researchers at Columbia University.
The new AI tool, CONCERN Early Warning System, uses machine learning to analyze nursing documentation patterns to predict when a hospitalized patient is deteriorating before the change is reflected in vital signs, allowing for timely, life-saving interventions.
In the study, CONCERN shortened the average hospital stay by more than half a day and led to a 7.5% decrease in risk of sepsis. Patients monitored by CONCERN were roughly 25% more likely to be transferred to an intensive care unit compared to those who had usual care.
“Nurses are particularly skilled and experienced in detecting when something is wrong with patients under their care,” said Sarah Rossetti, lead author of the study and an associate professor of biomedical informatics and nursing at Columbia University. “When we can combine that expertise with AI, we can produce real-time, actionable insights that save lives.”
The findings were published today in Nature Medicine.
CONCERN Reflects Nurses’ Concerns
Nurses often recognize subtle signs that a patient is deteriorating, such as pallor change or small changes in mental status. But their concerns, noted in a patient’s electronic health record, may not cause immediate intervention, such as transfer to an intensive care unit.
CONCERN analyzes when nurses identify and respond to these small, but meaningful changes, by looking at nurses increased surveillance of patients, including frequency and time of assessments,, in a model that generates hourly, easy-to-read risk scores to support clinical decision-making.
“The CONCERN Early Warning System would not work without the decisions and expert opinions of nurses’ data inputs,” said Rossetti. “By making nurses' expert instincts visible to the entire care team, this technology ensures faster interventions, better outcomes, and ultimately, more lives saved.”
All authors (from Columbia unless noted): Sarah C. Rossetti, Patricia C. Dykes (Brigham and Women’s Hospital), Chris Knaplund, Sandy Cho (Newton-Wellesley Hospital), Jennifer Withall, Graham Lowenthal (Brigham and Women’s Hospital), David Albers, Rachel Y. Lee, Haomiao Jia, Suzanne Bakken, Min-Jeoung Kang (Brigham and Women’s Hospital), Frank Y. Chang (Brigham and Women’s Hospital), Li Zhou (Brigham and Women’s Hospital), David W. Bates (Brigham and Women’s Hospital), Temiloluwa Daramola, Fang Liu (University of Pennsylvania), Jessica Schwartz-Dillard, Mai Tran, Syed Mohtashim Abbas Bokhari, Jennifer Thate (Siena College), and Kenrick D. Cato (University of Pennsylvania).
The study was funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health (NINR 1R01NR016941 and T32NR007969).
Disclosures are noted in the paper.
###
Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC) is a clinical, research, and educational campus located in New York City. Founded in 1928, CUIMC was one of the first academic medical centers established in the United States of America. CUIMC is home to four professional colleges and schools that provide global leadership in scientific research, health and medical education, and patient care including the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, the Mailman School of Public Health, the College of Dental Medicine, the School of Nursing. For more information, please visit cuimc.columbia.edu.
Journal
Nature Medicine
Method of Research
Experimental study
Subject of Research
People
Article Title
Real-time surveillance system for patient deterioration: a pragmatic cluster-randomized 2 controlled trial of the CONCERN Early Warning System
