Interaction between Per- and Polyfluorinated Substances (PFAS) and Acetaminophen in Disease Exacerbation-Focusing on Autism and the Gut-Liver-Brain Axis.

This review presents a new perspective on the exacerbation of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) by per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) through the gut-liver-brain axis. We have summarized evidence reported on the involvement of the gut microbiome and liver inflammation that led to the onset and exacerbation of ASD symptoms. As PFAS are toxicants that particularly target liver, this review has comprehensively explored the possible interaction between PFAS and acetaminophen, another liver toxicant, as the chemicals of interest for future toxicology research. Our hypothesis is that, at acute dosages, acetaminophen has the ability to aggravate the impaired conditions of the PFAS-exposed liver, which would further exacerbate neurological symptoms such as lack of social communication and interest, and repetitive behaviors using mechanisms related to the gut-liver-brain axis. This review discusses their potential interactions in terms of the gut-liver-brain axis and signaling pathways that may contribute to neurological diseases.

Integrated backlight module to provide a collimated and uniform planar light source.

We report a novel integrated backlight module (IBLM), which is composed of a compound optical film (COF) and a light guide plate (LGP) without any microstructure. The COF proposed in the paper comprises functions of a conventional microstructure that adjusts the emergent light and two cross brightness enhancement films (BEF). The four surfaces of the LGP are coated with highly reflective film. The COF can not only adjust the distribution of the output light by varying the density of the microstructure on the COF, but also can collimate the two cross-direction lights into the normal direction. The horizontal and vertical full width at half maxima of angular intensity of the IBLM with the proposed COF for the optimum are of 14 and 24 deg, respectively. The spatial uniformity and total optical efficiency of the IBLM have reached 85% and 77.2%, respectively. The optical efficiency has been increased by 1.3 times and the on-axis luminance has improved by 5.1 times by using a backlight module (BLM) with the COF, in comparison with the conventional edge-lit BLM that we researched [Appl. Opt.55, 1494 (2016)APOPAI0003-693510.1364/AO.55.001494]. Most importantly, the COF only needs to be configured with a relatively low-cost and easily-manufactured LGP; therefore, the BLM with the adopted COF can be further developed for large-sized application.

Fast optimization method based on the diffuser dot density for uniformity of the backlight module.

A fast optimization method based on the diffuser dot density (DDD) for uniformity of the backlight module (BLM) is proposed in the paper. First, the relationship between the efficiency of the light emerging and the DDD is analyzed, and then a simulation model that is employed to acquire a serial of simulating data is constructed. Second, a mathematic method to profit the relationship is adopted, and a polynomial relationship is derived. Finally, an algorithm to adjust the DDD and optimize the uniformity of the BLM based on the DDD is constructed. The simulation results prove that only by three times optimization, the uniformity of the BLM can reach 85.6%, and the experimental result indicates that the algorithm proposed in the paper can improve the uniformity rapidly. The final experimental result is that the uniformity of the third optimization reaches 77.4%, which satisfies the target 75% in the phase of designing the BLM. Compared to the conventional optimization method, the method can speed up the procedure and lower the expense of developing the BLM in fabricating the liquid-crystal display.