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Background/Aim: Several treatment options have been developed for portal hypertensive gastropathy (PHG); medications and endoscopic management. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of argon plasma coagulation (APC) versus Carvedilol in treatment of a cohort of Egyptian patients with severe PHG. Methods: A total of 130 patients with severe PHG were enrolled; 10 patients were excluded due to death and failure to complete the treatment sessions accordingly, 120 patients were included. Patients were divided into 2 groups: Group A (n = 52) treated with APC; Group B (n = 68) treated with oral Carvedilol. Success was defined as stabilization of hemoglobin (Hb) over 100 g/ dL or Hb increase > 10% from pretreatment level and reduction of blood transfusion requirements over the following 3 months after the start of therapy. Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy was performed to assess the degree and site of PHG. APC was conducted to areas with mucosal ectatic vascular lesions. Results: PHG was mostly fundic (36.35%) in APC group and (36.76%) in Carvedilol group (p = 0.56). Throughout follow-up period, there was significant increase in Hb level, serum iron, and serum ferritin with a significant decrease in total iron-binding capacity (TIBC) in APC group as compared to Carvedilol group (p < 0.001). Additionally, there was gradual increase in the mean Hb, serum iron, and serum ferritin and gradual decrease of TIBC in Carvedilol group. Accordingly, there was an overall improvement of iron deficiency anemia (IDA) in both groups; however, it was significantly better in APC group than in Carvedilol group. No major adverse events were detected in both the groups. Conclusion: APC significantly improves IDA and decreases transfusion requirements in patients with severe PHG as compared to oral Carvedilol with small risk of adverse events. Furthermore, the combination of APC and Carvedilol unless contraindicated could have a synergistic effect in controlling severe PHG.

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Visual cryptography (VC) is a powerful encryption technique which combines perfect secrecy and secret sharing in cryptography with respect to images. VC takes a binary image (the secret) and divides it into two or more pieces known as shares (transparencies). When the shares are superimposed, the secret can be recovered. One of the distinguishing features of VC is that it needs no computational power for decryption. All what VC needs for decryption is the human visual system (the human eye). Two main factors affect the quality of a visual cryptography scheme; the pixel expansion and the contrast. In this papers we propose a new simple non-expansion algorithm for (2,2)-visual secret sharing scheme (VSS). The shares produced by this algorithm and the reconstructed image are not expanded in size, and all have the same size as the original (secret) image. It encodes the original (secret) image a 4-pixel blockwise to 4-pixel blocks in each share.

Background: Despite recent advances in treatment, Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) remains a significant cause of morbidity and premature mortality. 14-3-3η protein was found at higher levels of serum and synovial fluid of patients with arthritis. Aim of work: to assess serum levels of 14-3-3η protein in early rheumatoid arthritis and correlate it with the disease activity and ultrasound findings. Patient and Methods: Thirty naïve patients with early RA were subjected for thorough clinical examination, labratory investigations including 14-3-3η protein and musculoskeletal Ultrasonography of both hands. 20 healthy persons matched for age and sex were selected as the control group. Results: Their mean age was 38.2 ± 10.11years, with mean disease activity (4.4 ± 0.74). Mean ESR, CRP and anti-CCP was (40.0 ± 17.75), (18.6 ± 11.78) and (73.5 ± 81.86) respectively. Serum 14-3-3η protein level for patients was (344.8 ± 121.9) ng\ml while for the control group it was (38.4 ± 15.) ng\ml with a significant statistical difference between both groups (p < 0.05). Serum 14-3-3η protein showed significant positive correlation with RF and Anti-CCP (r = 0.36 and 0.52 respectively) while no significant correlation was found with ESR, CRP, or DA28, (r = 0.04, 0.08 and 0.02 respectively). Also, we didn't find a significant correlation between serum 14-3-3η protein and musculoskeletal ultrasound parameters. Conclusion: The Serum level of 14-3-3η protein may not be associated with structural damage in RA while it may be positively correlated to RF and Anti-CCP in early rheumatoid arthritis.