Solar photovoltaics (PV) is already the cheapest form of electricity generation in many countries and market segments. Market prices of PV modules and systems have developed so fast that it is difficult to find reliable up to date public data on real PV capital (CAPEX) and operational expenditures (OPEX) on which to base the levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) calculations. This paper projects the future utility-scale PV LCOE until 2050 in several European countries. It uses the most recent and best available public input data for the PV LCOE calculations and future projections. Utility-scale PV LCOE in 2019 in Europe with 7% nominal weighted average cost of capital (WACC) ranges from 24 €/MWh in Malaga to 42 €/MWh in Helsinki. This is remarkable since the average electricity day-ahead market price in Finland was 47 €/MWh and in Spain 57 €/MWh in 2018. This means that PV is already cheaper than average spot market electricity all over Europe. By 2030, PV LCOE will range from 14 €/MWh in Malaga to 24 €/MWh in Helsinki with 7% nominal WACC. This range will be 9 to 15 €/MWh by 2050, making PV clearly the cheapest form of electricity generation everywhere. Sensitivity analysis shows that apart from location, WACC is the most important input parameter in the calculation of PV LCOE. Increasing nominal WACC from 2 to 10% will double the LCOE.Changes in PV CAPEX and OPEX, learning rates, or market volume growth scenarios have a relatively smaller impact on future PV LCOE.

Serum hCG levels were measured in apparently healthy nonpregnant women and men using a highly sensitive and specific time-resolved immunofluorometric assay. The sensitivity of the assay was 0.03 IU/L. The levels were low in women of fertile age (median, 0.05 IU/L) and in men less than 60 yr of age (median, 0.04 IU/L). In women the median level increased to 1.1 IU/L after the menopause (range, 0.17-4.8 IU/L), and a similar but smaller increase occurred in men after 60 yr of age (median, 0.20 IU/L; range, less than 0.03-2.3). Stimulation with GnRH caused a 2- to 3-fold increase in the hCG level in both men and women. Chronic treatment of postmenopausal women with a combination of estrogen and progestagen lowered their serum hCG levels to about 50% of the pretreatment values. The hCG in serum could be separated from LH by gel chromatography, and the hCG immunoreactivity measured by direct assay of serum corresponded to the immunoreactivity eluted in the hCG fractions after gel chromatography. Thus, the results were not due to cross-reaction with LH. We conclude that serum of nonpregnant women and men contains hCG-like material, whose production is modulated by GnRH and sex steroids.

Green hydrogen will be an essential part of the future 100% sustainable energy and industry system. Up to one‐third of the required solar and wind electricity would eventually be used for water electrolysis to produce hydrogen, increasing the cumulative electrolyzer capacity to about 17 TWel by 2050. The key method applied in this research is a learning curve approach for the key technologies, i.e., solar photovoltaics (PV) and water electrolyzers, and levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH). Sensitivities for the hydrogen demand and various input parameters are considered. Electrolyzer capital expenditure (CAPEX) for a large utility‐scale system is expected to decrease from the current 400 €/kWel to 240 €/kWel by 2030 and to 80 €/kWel by 2050. With the continuing solar PV cost decrease, this will lead to an LCOH decrease from the current 31–81 €/MWhH2,LHV (1.0–2.7 €/kgH2) to 20–54 €/MWhH2,LHV (0.7–1.8 €/kgH2) by 2030 and 10–27 €/MWhH2,LHV (0.3–0.9 €/kgH2) by 2050, depending on the location. The share of PV electricity cost in the LCOH will increase from the current 63% to 74% by 2050.

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After a mean follow-up period of 7.3 years, a recurrence was found in 43 (12.3 per cent) out of 349 consecutive patients undergoing surgical treatment for acquired cholesteatoma. The great majority of residual cholesteatomas detected in the 'second-look' operations arose from the oval window area. Chronic otorrhoea and a reperforation were the most common signs of late recurrences. In eight ears a recurrent cholesteatoma developed from a retraction pocket. The recurrence rate was higher in children than in adults. The type of surgical technique had no significant effect on recurrence rate. Recurrences were more frequent in pre-operatively discharging ears than in dry ears. Some suggestions have been made to improve the results of surgery for cholesteatoma.

Occupational radiation doses in interventional radiology can potentially be high. Therefore, reliable methods to assess the effective dose are needed. In the present work, the relationship between the personal dose equivalent, H(p)(10), the reading of a personal dosimeter and the effective dose of the radiologist were studied using Monte Carlo simulations. In particular, the protection provided by a lead apron was investigated. Emphasis was placed on sensitivity of the results to changes in irradiation conditions. In our simulations a 0.35 mm thick lead apron and thyroid shield reduced the effective dose, on average, by a factor of 27 (the range of these data was 15-41). Without the thyroid shield the average reduction factor was 15 (range 6-22). The reduction sensitively depended on the projection and the X-ray tube voltage. The dosimeter reading, when the dosimeter was worn above the apron and a thyroid shield was used, overestimated the effective dose on average by a factor of 130 (range 44-258) when the dosimeter was located on the breast closest to the primary X-ray beam. Without the thyroid shield the average overestimation was 69 (range 32-127). If the dosimeter was worn under the apron its reading generally underestimated the effective dose (on average by 20% with the thyroid shield). Our study indicates that, even though large variations are present, the often used conversion coefficient from the dosimeter reading above the apron to the effective dose, around 1/30, generally overestimates the effective dose by a factor of two or more.

A retrospective study was performed on the prevalence and etiology of bilateral sensorineural hearing impairment (> 25 dB at 0.5-4 kHz in the better ear) among children born 1974-1987 in a province of eastern Finland. A total of 98 children with hearing impairment were identified, which gave a prevalence of 2.1 per 1000 live births. This prevalence was higher than reported form most of other developed countries but slightly lower than reported from Sweden. A slight decline from the prevalence of 2.3 per 1000 in the 1970s to the prevalence of 1.9 per 1000 in the 1980s was observed. Contrary to several earlier studies, no male predominance was noted, there were even slightly more females than males (52 vs. 46). Etiology of the hearing loss was estimated to be genetic in 41%, congenital nongenetic in 13%, delayed-onset nongenetic in 16% and remained unknown in 30%. On average, children with a congenital disorder had more severe hearing impairment than those with delayed-onset hearing loss, e.g. 31% of the former patients had profound (> 95 dB) hearing loss compared to 6% of the latter. A very gratifying finding was that no case of congenital hearing impairment caused by maternal rubella was identified after 1982, obviously due to general vaccinations. Also, a decline in cases of hearing loss attributed to perinatal and neonatal complications was observed.

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