Vibrational and vibrational-torsional interactions in the 0–600 cm-1 region of the S1 ← S0 spectrum of p-xylene investigated with resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization (REMPI) and zero-kinetic-energy (ZEKE) spectroscopy

We assign the 0–600 cm-1 region of the S1 ← S0 transition in p-xylene using resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization (REMPI) and zero-kinetic-energy (ZEKE) spectroscopy. In the 0–300 cm-1 range, as well as the intense origin band there are a number of torsional and vibration-torsion (vibtor) features. The latter are discussed in more detail in an accompanying paper [Gardner et al. J. Chem. Phys. XXX, xxxxxx (2016)]. Here we focus on the origin and the 300–650 cm-1 region, where vibrational bands and some vibtor activity is observed. From the origin ZEKE spectrum we derive the ionization energy of p-xylene as 68200 ± 5 cm-1. The assignment of the REMPI spectrum is based on the activity observed in the ZEKE spectra coupled with knowledge of the vibrational wavenumbers obtained from quantum chemical calculations. We assign several isolated vibrations, and a complex Fermi resonance that is found to comprise contributions from both vibrations and vibtor levels, and we examine this via a two-dimensional ZEKE (2D-ZEKE) spectrum. A number of the vibrational features in the REMPI and ZEKE spectra of p-xylene that have been reported previously are reassigned and now largely consist of totally-symmetric contributions. We briefly discuss the appearance of non-Franck-Condon allowed transitions. Finally, we find remarkably similar spectral activity to that in the related disubstituted benzenes, para-difluorobenzene and para-fluorotoluene

Mutation Detection in Patients with Retinal Dystrophies Using Targeted Next Generation Sequencing

Retinal dystrophies (RD) constitute a group of blinding diseases that are characterized by clinical variability and pronounced genetic heterogeneity. The different nonsyndromic and syndromic forms of RD can be attributed to mutations in more than 200 genes. Consequently, next generation sequencing (NGS) technologies are among the most promising approaches to identify mutations in RD. We screened a large cohort of patients comprising 89 independent cases and families with various subforms of RD applying different NGS platforms. While mutation screening in 50 cases was performed using a RD gene capture panel, 47 cases were analyzed using whole exome sequencing. One family was analyzed using whole genome sequencing. A detection rate of 61% was achieved including mutations in 34 known and two novel RD genes. A total of 69 distinct mutations were identified, including 39 novel mutations. Notably, genetic findings in several families were not consistent with the initial clinical diagnosis. Clinical reassessment resulted in refinement of the clinical diagnosis in some of these families and confirmed the broad clinical spectrum associated with mutations in RD genes

Sex, embarrassment and cruelty

A review of a new DVD release of Miloš Forman's film "Lásky jedné plavovlásky" (A Blonde in Love, Czechoslovakia, 1965)

Deep-intronic variants in CNGB3 cause achromatopsia by pseudoexon activation

Our comprehensive cohort of 1100 unrelated achromatopsia (ACHM) patients comprises a considerable number of cases (~5%) harboring only a single pathogenic variant in the major ACHM gene CNGB3. We sequenced the entire CNGB3 locus in 33 of these patients to find a second variant which eventually explained the patients’ phenotype. Forty-seven intronic CNGB3 variants were identified in 28 subjects after a filtering step based on frequency and the exclusion of variants found in cis with pathogenic alleles. In a second step, in silico prediction tools were used to filter out those variants with little odds of being deleterious. This left three variants that were analyzed using heterologous splicing assays. Variant c.1663–1205G>A, found in 14 subjects, and variant c.1663-2137C>T, found in two subjects, were indeed shown to exert a splicing defect by causing pseudoexon insertion into the transcript. Subsequent screening of further unsolved CNGB3 subjects identified four additional cases harboring the c.1663–1205G>A variant which makes it the eighth most frequent CNGB3 variant in our cohort. Compound heterozygosity could be validated in ten cases. Our study demonstrates that whole gene sequencing can be a powerful approach to identify the second pathogenic allele in patients apparently harboring only one disease-causing variant. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc