Seasonal variation in the incidence of preterm births.

Objectives: To examine the influence of the season of conception, and the season of birth on the incidence of preterm birth (PTB) and neonatal outcomes.

Study Design: This is a single center, retrospective cohort study of singleton births that took place in The Coombe Hospital in Dublin, Ireland, between January 2013 and December 2022. A comprehensive database was analyzed to determine the incidence of PTB per season of conception and season of birth.

Patients' attitudes to bedside teaching after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: Bedside teaching (BST) is a method of structured clinical teaching where the patient is central in education. We had previously explored the patients' perceptions of BST using both a qualitative research study and validation of a questionnaire, both showing strong support by patients for BST once basic rules of respect and confidentiality are followed. With the COVID-19 pandemic, clinical education transitioned to online/virtual learning.

Large scale coherent magnetohydrodynamic oscillations in a sunspot.

Although theoretically predicted, the simultaneous excitation of several resonant modes in sunspots has not been observed. Like any harmonic oscillator, a solar magnetic flux tube can support a variety of resonances, which constitute the natural response of the system to external forcing. Apart from a few single low order eigenmodes in small scale magnetic structures, several simultaneous resonant modes were not found in extremely large sunspots.

Spectropolarimetric fluctuations in a sunspot chromosphere.

The instrumental advances made in this new era of 4 m class solar telescopes with unmatched spectropolarimetric accuracy and sensitivity will enable the study of chromospheric magnetic fields and their dynamics with unprecedented detail. In this regard, spectropolarimetric diagnostics can provide invaluable insight into magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) wave processes. MHD waves and, in particular, Alfvénic fluctuations associated with particular wave modes were recently recognized as important mechanisms not only for the heating of the outer layers of the Sun's atmosphere and the acceleration of the solar wind, but also for the elemental abundance anomaly observed in the corona of the Sun and other Sun-like stars (also known as first ionization potential) effect.

Accurately constraining velocity information from spectral imaging observations using machine learning techniques.

Determining accurate plasma Doppler (line-of-sight) velocities from spectroscopic measurements is a challenging endeavour, especially when weak chromospheric absorption lines are often rapidly evolving and, hence, contain multiple spectral components in their constituent line profiles. Here, we present a novel method that employs machine learning techniques to identify the underlying components present within observed spectral lines, before subsequently constraining the constituent profiles through single or multiple Voigt fits. Our method allows active and quiescent components present in spectra to be identified and isolated for subsequent study.