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<p><strong>Objective. </strong>The purpose of this paper is to review the current data on the coexistence of non-recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) and vascular variations.</p><p><strong>Methods. </strong>A systematic literature search was conducted on MEDLINE for case reports, original articles and reviews regarding the presence of non-RLN and coexisting vascular variants.</p><p><strong>Results. </strong>From the literature search, 104 cases of non-RLN with confirmed vascular variants were reported. More specifically, 97.7% (n=101) of cases involved a right and 2.3% (n=3) a left non-RLN. The most common concurrent vascular variant reported with a right non-RLN was an aberrant right subclavian artery (97%; n=98). One case report (0.9%) of an intrathyroidal right common carotid artery was noted and 2 cases (1.9%) were associated with normal vascular anatomy. Furthermore, all 3 cases of a left non-RLN were associated with a right aortic arch, while 2 of them were also accompanied with situs inversus.</p><p><strong>Conclusions. </strong>The presence of vascular variations of the great vessels must prompt the surgeon to search for a non-RLN. Intraoperative neuromonitoring increases the detection rate of non-RLN. Further research is required to determine anatomic landmarks for the perioperative identification of a non-RLN, allowing its protection from potential injury.</p>

Leaf springs constitute the most effective suspension way of commercial vehicle axles from the cost and maintainability point of view. Especially in case of front axles, they overtake both the guidance and suspension functions, which consequently designates them as safety components, whose pre-mature failure is explicitly prohibited. The present paper deals with the fatigue performance of downsized parabolic leaf specimens made of the high-strength spring steel 51CrV4 under serial manufacturing conditions. It focuses on the influence of the major manufacturing steps, i.e. the heat treatment and the subsequently applied stress shot peening. The effectiveness of the applied heat treatment on the microstructure transformation and the extent of surface decarburization is determined by means of optical microscopy and corresponding microstructural analyses. Comprehensive series of constant amplitude fatigue tests are executed before and after the applied stress shot peening to quantify its effectiveness on the fatigue performance. The tests cover two characteristic stress ratios of operational significance with the complete range of interest being experimentally investigated. Additionally, surface residual stresses measurements together with micro- and macro-hardness and roughness values before and after stress shot peening are executed to expose the influence of each individual technological effect on the overall fatigue performance.

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