Despite the variability of the innervation of the posterior cricoarytenoid muscle and its strong connection with the interarytenoid nerve, this should not preclude successful reinnervation.

The presence of ganglia associated with the laryngeal nerves is well documented. In man, these ganglia have been less well studied than in other species and, in particular, the cell types within these ganglia are less well characterized. Using a panel of antibodies to a variety of markers found in the paraganglion cells of other species, we were able to show the existence of at least two populations of cells within human laryngeal paraganglia. One population contained chromogranin and tyrosine hydroxylase representing a neurosecretory population possibly secreting dopamine. A second population of choline acetyltransferase positive cells would appear to have a putative parasympathetic function. Further work is needed to characterize these cell populations more fully before it will be possible to assign functions to these cell types but our results are consistent with the postulated functions of these ganglia as chemoreceptors, neurosecretory cells, and regulators of laryngeal mucus secretion.

We have studied 12 laryngeal nerves: six internal branches of the superior laryngeal nerve (ILN) and six recurrent laryngeal nerves (RLN) from three human adult larynges (two males and one female). After dissection of each individual laryngeal nerve using a surgical microscope, the nerves were preserved in 10% formalin, embedded in paraffin wax, serially sectioned transversely at a thickness of 10 microm and stained with hematoxylin and eosin. We found 2-4 ganglia associated with the ILN. At least two ganglia were always present (six out of six cases), the largest one being associated with the branch of the nerve innervating the vestibule and the smallest one associated with the branch innervating the aryepiglottic fold. Other ganglia were found associated with the branches for the glosso-epiglottic fold and vallecula (four out of six cases) and interarytenoid muscle (three out of six cases). The RLN showed from two to six ganglia, all of them located in its anterior terminal division. Two of the ganglia were located in the part of the nerve between the origin of the branches for the interarytenoid and lateral cricoarytenoid muscles (three out of six cases). The remaining ganglia were located close to or at the origin of the muscular branches innervating the intrinsic laryngeal muscles. The cytology of the ganglia reported suggests that they were all autonomic in nature, probably parasympathetic.

We examined the plasmid content of 25 clinical isolates of Salmonella enteritidis, and detected the presence of small plasmids (3-5.3 kb) in 9 of them, alone, or in addition to the large, so-called virulence plasmid. A 5.3-kb plasmid isolated as unique extrachromosomal DNA from a strain responsible for a high-mortality outbreak was characterized by restriction mapping and cloning. The plasmid replicon was localized in a 1.7-kb fragment, that hybridized with three of the small plasmids detected in S. enteritidis, and with another small plasmid from Salmonella typhimurium. A strain of Escherichia coli carrying this plasmid, or a cloned 3.7-kb PvuII restriction fragment, showed a slower growth rate, especially in minimal medium, as well as a noticeable increase in DNA methyltransferase activity.

The liquid fraction from the two-phase extraction process in the olive industry (alperujo), is a waste that contains lignocellulosic organic matter and phenolic compounds, difficult to treat by conventional biological methods. Lignocellulosic enzymes from white-rot fungi can be an interesting solution to break down these recalcitrant compounds and advance the treatment of that waste. In the present work the ability of Phanerochaete chrysosporium to degrade the abovementioned liquid waste (AL) was studied. Experiments were carried out at 26 °C within the optimal pH range 4–6 for 10 days and with and without the addition of glucose, measuring the evolution of COD, BOD5, biodegradability index, reducing sugars, total phenolic compounds, and colour. The results obtained in this study revealed the interest of Phanerochaete chrysosporium for an economical and eco-friendly treatment of alperujo, achieving COD and colour removals around 60%, and 32% of total phenolic compounds degradation, regardless of glucose addition.