Treatment with the senolytics dasatinib/quercetin reduces SARS-CoV-2-related mortality in mice

The enormous societal impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has been particularly harsh for some social groups, such as the elderly. Recently, it has been suggested that senescent cells could play a central role in pathogenesis by exacerbating the pro-inflammatory immune response against SARS-CoV-2. Therefore, the selective clearance of senescent cells by senolytic drugs may be useful as a therapy to ameliorate the symptoms of COVID-19 in some cases. Using the established COVID-19 murine model K18-hACE2, we demonstrated that a combination of the senolytics dasatinib and quercetin (D/Q) significantly reduced SARS-CoV-2-related mortality, delayed its onset, and reduced the number of other clinical symptoms. The increase in senescent markers that we detected in the lungs in response to SARS-CoV-2 may be related to the post-COVID-19 sequelae described to date. These results place senescent cells as central targets for the treatment of COVID-19, and make D/Q a new and promising therapeutic too

A review of accelerated carbonation technology in the treatment of cement-based materials and sequestration of CO2

Moist calcium silicate minerals are known to readily react with carbon dioxide (CO2). The reaction products can cause rapid hardening and result in the production of monolithic materials. Today, accelerated carbonation is a developing technology, which may have potential for the treatment of wastes and contaminated soils and for the sequestration of CO2, an important greenhouse gas. This paper reviews recent developments in this emerging technology and provides information on the parameters that control the process. The effects of the accelerated carbonation reaction on the solid phase are discussed and future potential applications of this technology are also considered

Accelerated carbonation of municipal solid waste incineration fly ashes

As a result of the EU Landfill Directive, the disposal of municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) fly ash is restricted to only a few landfill sites in the UK. Alternative options for the management of fly ash, such as sintering, vitrification or stabilization/solidification, are either costly or not fully developed. In this paper an accelerated carbonation step is investigated for use with fly ash. The carbonation reaction involving fly ash was found to be optimum at a water/solid ratio of 0.3 under ambient temperature conditions. The study of ash mineralogy showed the disappearance of lime/portlandite/calcium chloride hydroxide and the formation of calcite as carbonation proceeded. The leaching properties of carbonated ash were examined. Release of soluble salts, such as SO4, Cl, was reduced after carbonation, but is still higher than the landfill acceptance limits for hazardous waste. It was also found that carbonation had a significant influence on lead leachability. The lead release from carbonated ash, with the exception of one of the fly ashes studied, was reduced by 2–3 orders of magnitude

Expansion of cohesive gas fluidized binary solid systems

The capability to predict the expansion characteristics of cohesive systems is still limited. A cohesive powder is fluidized by means of a second fluidizable solid and the possibility to describe the system with a model is evaluated. A generalized Richardson and Zaki correlation is tested and the form of the correlation is found to be valid as long as lower values of the exponential index are employed. The experimentation conducted in this work can be extended to substantiate preliminary findings and a research path to develop the work further is proposed

Investigation of accelerated carbonation for the stabilisation of MSW incinerator ashes and the sequestration of CO2

Accelerated carbonation has been used for the treatment of contaminated soils and hazardous wastes, giving reaction products that can cause rapid hardening and the production of granulated or monolithic materials. This technology provides a route to sustainable waste management and it generates a viable remedy to the problems of a decreasing number of landfill sites in the UK, global warming (due to greenhouse gas emissions) and the depletion of natural aggregate resources, such as sand and gravel. The application of accelerated carbonation (termed Accelerated Carbonation Technology or ACT) to sequester CO2 in fresh ashes from municipal solid waste (MSW) incinerator/combined heat and power plants is presented. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the influence of fundamental parameters affecting the diffusivity and reactivity of CO2 (i.e. particle size, the reaction time and the water content) on the extent and quality of carbonation. In addition, the major physical and chemical changes in air pollution control (APC) residues and bottom ashes (BA) after carbonation are evaluated, as are the optimum reaction conditions, and the physical and chemical changes induced by accelerated carbonation are presented and discussed

Supercritical carbonation of calcareous composites: Influence of curing

This paper reports the effect of curing on the susceptibility of cementitious composites to carbonation using supercritical carbon dioxide. Samples made using a compression moulding technique were cured in water before and/or after carbonation and the effect on porosity, microstructure, solid phase assemblage and flexural strength was determined. In terms of development of mechanical strength, no benefit was gained from any period of pre- or post-carbonation curing regime. Yet samples cured prior to carbonation underwent minimal chemical reaction between supercritical carbon dioxide and calcium hydroxide, unhydrated cement or C-S-H. Thus there was no correlation between chemical degree of reaction and strength development. The effects responsible for the marked strength gain in supercritically carbonated samples must involve subtle changes in the microstructure of the C-S-H gel, not simple pore filling by calcium carbonate as is often postulated

Supercritical carbonation of calcareous composites: Influence of mix design

This work combined compression moulding with subsequent super-critical carbonation treatment (100 bar, 60 C, 24 h) to fabricate cement and/or lime based ceramic composites with various aggregates. Composites were examined using mechanical testing, XRD, He pycnometry and thin-section petrography. Composites with lime-only binders were significantly weaker than those with cement-lime binders regardless of the degree of carbonation. Flexural strengths in excess of >10 MPa were routinely achieved in large (>100 mm) specimens. Aggregate type (calcareous vs. siliceous) had a significant effect on the microstructure and properties of the composites. Calcareous aggregates appear to augment the strength enhancement effected during super-critical carbonation by encouraging preferential precipitation of calcite at the binder-aggregate interface