In this mini-review, we describe the currently available literature concerning synthesis and applications of layered double hydroxides (LDHs) containing rare earth cations (RE-LDHs), focusing on the catalytic activity of those compounds. The lack of studies of some rare earth elements (REE) and the insufficient knowledge of their catalytic activity in the structure of LDHs indicate the need for further research.

No abstract

The functioning of well-studied key groups of soil microorganisms depends on the microbial ecosystem in which they function in interaction with species belonging to other ecological groups. An analysis of the composition of the soil microbiota, and the possibility of analyzing the number of representatives of specific species, remains an urgent task of soil microbiology. Such analysis could be performed using modern and expensive methods such as metagenomics and mass-spectrometry, but some questions could also be answered using real-time PCR. This well-known approach is rather cheap for massive analysis and is ready to present reproducible results for practical agricultural applications. Understanding the variability of the primary structure of 16S rRNA is key to the reliable identification of bacterial species and provides an opportunity to choose the optimal pathways for their detection by PCR. In this work, analysis of the sequences of 16S rRNA of two species of soil bacteria, Acinetobacter lwoffii and Paenibacillus taichungensis is carried out. The most variable and most conservative areas on the level of species are detected. It was proved that conventional variable and conservative areas of the gene have on average nearly the same level of variability on the intraspecies level.

The article presents the application of the method for determining the quantitative parameters of erythropoiesis to patients with acute leukemia. The objective of the work is an investigation of erythropoiesis cytokinetic parameters under the normal health conditions and during the development of the acute lymphoblastic leukemia and the acute myeloblastic leukemia. It was found that the distribution of reticulocytes shifts towards an increase of immature reticulocyte fraction while the ratio between maturing and immature cells remains unchanged. The method presented can be used in clinical diagnostic and scientific research of bone marrow hematopoietic activity.

This is a 'preproof' accepted article for Clay Minerals. This version may be subject to change during the production process.