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An Ag-graphene layers-coated H-shaped photonic crystal fiber (PCF) surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor with a U-shaped grooves open structure for refractive index (RI) sensing is proposed and numerically simulated by the finite element method (FEM). The designed sensor could solve the problems of air-holes material coating and analyte filling in PCF. Two big air-holes in the x-axis produce a birefringence phenomenon leading to the confinement loss and sensitivity of x-polarized light being much stronger than y-polarized. Graphene is deposited on the layer of silver in the grooves; its high surface to volume ratio and rich π conjugation make it a suitable dielectric layer for sensing. The effect of structure parameters such as air-holes size, U-shaped grooves depth, thickness of the silver layer and number of graphene layers on the sensing performance of the proposed sensor are numerical simulated. A large analyte RI range from 1.33 to 1.41 is calculated and the highest wavelength sensitivity is 12,600 nm/RIU. In the linear RI sensing region of 1.33 to 1.36; the average wavelength sensitivity we obtained can reach 2770 nm/RIU with a resolution of 3.61 × 10−5 RIU. This work provides a reference for developing a high-sensitivity; multi-parameter measurement sensor potentially useful for water pollution monitoring and biosensing in the future.

Background/Aims: Acute fatty liver of pregnancy (AFLP) is a severe liver failure condition that has limited therapeutic approaches. We aimed to evaluate the efficacy of combining plasma exchange (PE) and plasma perfusion (PP) with conventional therapy for the treatment of AFLP using a retrospective analysis. Methods: Among 22 patients with AFLP, 16 cases were treated with conventional treatment (CT group), while the other 6 cases were treated with PE and PP in addition to conventional therapy (CT+PE+PP group). Treatment efficacy was based primarily on survival and secondarily on liver and kidney functions 2 weeks after treatment. Adverse effects were also assessed at the same time point. Results: In the CT+PE+PP group, 5 (83.3%) patients improved, while 1 (16.7%) patient died of multiple organ dysfunction syndrome. In the CT group, 3 (18.75%) patients improved, while 13 (81.2%) patients died of complications. Liver and kidney functions and survival were significantly improved in the CT+PE+PP group (p < 0.05) compared to the CT group. Conclusions: Timely application of PE and PP in the early phase of AFLP may be a promising treatment to halt or reverse the progression of AFLP.

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