Syed Areez Haider Gardezi - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Syed Areez Haider Gardezi

Annals of Surgical Oncology, 2017

Background. Sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) is routinely performed for primary cutaneous melano... more Background. Sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) is routinely performed for primary cutaneous melanomas; however, limited data exist for SLNB after locally recurrent (LR) or in-transit (IT) melanoma. Methods. Data from three centers performing SLNB for LR/IT melanoma (1997 to the present) were reviewed, with the aim of assessing (1) success rate; (2) SLNB positivity; and (3) prognostic value of SLNB in this population. Results. The study cohort included 107 patients. Management of the primary melanoma included prior SLNB for 56 patients (52%), of whom 10 (18%) were positive and 12 had complete lymph node dissections (CLNDs). In the present study, SLNB was performed for IT disease (48/107, 45%) or LR melanoma (59/107, 55%). A sentinel lymph node (SLN) was removed in 96% (103/107) of cases. Nodes were not removed for four patients due to lymphoscintigraphy failures (2) or nodes not found during surgery (2). SLNB was positive in 41 patients (40%, 95% confidence interval (CI) 31.5-50.5), of whom 35 (88%) had CLND, with 13 (37%) having positive nonsentinel nodes. Median time to disease progression after LR/IT metastasis

Public agencies, such as agricultural extension have traditionally played a crucial role in trans... more Public agencies, such as agricultural extension have traditionally played a crucial role in transferring and diffusing information on Best Management Practices (BMPs) from research universities and experiment stations to farmers. They have also been instrumental in targeting incentives to facilitate farmers' adoption of BMPs, which is critical to mitigate and prevent environmental pollution driven by agriculture. However, a reduction in these public organizations' budgets and personnel has increasingly challenged their ability of to provide conservation advice. Meanwhile increasing commercialization of farming and farmers' requirements for individually-tailored advice have cleared way for private sector advisors to fill this gap in service delivery. In this context, it is not clear who would represent broader societal interests (e.g. environmental conservation and water quality) as the U.S. government steps back from agricultural advice. This is especially true regarding the provision of conservation advice. Using a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods, this study examines the drivers and constraints to the provision of conservation advice in the state of Michigan. It focuses on the role of different types of knowledge intermediaries across the public-private divide to understand how shifting resources and roles shapes the dissemination of BMPs. It finds that overall private advisors will likely be able to fill the vacuum in service delivery of BMPs caused by a retrenchment in public sector's activities. However, their ability to do so is critically dependent on three main factors: a) private advisors' personal motivations to supply advice on BMPs, b) sustained government support for voluntary compliance programs and c) the development of a market for BMPs. 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor, Prof. Maria Carmen Lemos, whose expertise, understanding, and patience, added considerably to my graduate experience. I appreciate her vast knowledge and skill in areas of environmental governance and social and human dimensions of environment. It was under her tutelage that I developed a focus and became interested in the field of environmental governance. She provided me with direction, technical support and became more of a mentor and friend, than a professor. I would also like to thank Prof. Don Scavia for taking time out from his busy schedule to serve as my external reader and member of my thesis committee. I sincerely acknowledge his suggestions for, and provision of the materials evaluated in this study. Thanks also goes out to Dr. Yun-Jia Lo who provided me with statistical advice at times of critical need. I would also like to thank my friends in the Useful to Usable group, particularly Dr.

BMJ Quality Improvement Reports, 2015

Acute myocardial infarction (ACS) is one of the most common presentations in acute hospital setti... more Acute myocardial infarction (ACS) is one of the most common presentations in acute hospital settings. Troponin (cTn) has emerged as one of the most sensitive biochemical markers for the diagnosis of ACS. However, if used inappropriately and in the absence of true clinical context then it can be elevated in a number of non cardiac conditions and lead to false clinical diagnosis, inappropriate workup, and increased patient stay in hospital. The cost of unnecessary clinical testing is another aspect of the problem. At Royal Gwent Hospital in Newport (one of the busiest district general hospitals in Wales) we retrospectively analysed the nature of troponin requests over a random period of one week, specifically looking for the indications and final diagnostic impact. In many cases it was found that requests were made without any clinical justification. One of the main and probably unavoidable reasons for this was that requests were made from triage before patient was assessed by a clinician. However, steps were taken to clarify common clinical indications for suspected cardiac diagnosis in which troponin was useful. Additionally, the "tick box" practice for inappropriate laboratory investigations was discouraged. A repeat audit was done on similar basic principles and a measurable improvement was identified, with a potential for significant impact in future.

The Journal of reproductive medicine, 2003

Antiemetic medications are commonly used in the postoperative patient. Despite the lack of eviden... more Antiemetic medications are commonly used in the postoperative patient. Despite the lack of evidence-based data, these medications have also been increasingly used in the management of postoperative ileus. This practice is dangerous and increases the risk for morbidity and mortality. A 77-year-old woman underwent an uneventful total abdominal hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy. The patient developed abdominal distention and vomiting, which were managed with antiemetic medication. The patient continued to vomit, developed esophageal rupture (Boerhaave's syndrome) and died of sepsis and multiorgan failure. Despite no scientific evidence for it, the practice of using antiemetic medications and prokinetic agents in the management of postoperative ileus continues. This places the patient at increased risk for completely preventable morbidity, including aspiration, pneumonia, esophageal perforation, prolonged hospital stay and death.

BMJ Quality Improvement Reports, 2014

The Royal College of Physicians states that "handover, particularly of temporary 'on-call' respon... more The Royal College of Physicians states that "handover, particularly of temporary 'on-call' responsibility, has been identified as a point at which errors are likely to occur."[1] Working a weekend on-call covering medical wards is often busy and stressful for all junior doctors. The high volume of routine and unplanned tasks make the situation even worse. In Nevill Hall hospital Abergavenny, we measured the workload on a junior doctor for medical ward cover on weekends by counting the number of times he/she was bleeped for routine tasks. Initial study demonstrated that on average 30-40% of time on a long day shift was spent on jobs which could have been done on the preceding Friday. The ''FRIDAYS'' checklist was introduced for clinical staff (particularly junior doctors) to identify these jobs.

Applied Mechanics and Materials, 2014

Embodied carbon can be defined as the “CO2 emissions produced during the extraction of resources,... more Embodied carbon can be defined as the “CO2 emissions produced during the extraction of resources, transportation, manufacture, assembly, disassembly and end-of-life disposal of a product”. Calculation of the carbon footprint of buildings is important to promote the construction of low-carbon buildings that release significantly less CO2 compared to conventional buildings. However, researchers and practitioners in this area tend to disregard the embodied carbon and pay more attention to the operational carbon when calculating the carbon footprint of buildings. This paper reviews the current state and trend of research on the embodied carbon of buildings with focus on the tools, methods and strategies employed and makes recommendations for future research direction.

Applied Mechanics and Materials, 2014

The construction industry of Malaysia is very dynamic in nature and the adoption of new technolog... more The construction industry of Malaysia is very dynamic in nature and the adoption of new technological advancements and construction methods has been a prime concerns for its key players and stakeholders. However, the adoption of BIM in such a dynamic industry is observed to be limited and its implementation has not been as successful as it should have been. The study focuses on the identification and prioritization the factors challenging the implementation of BIM in Malaysian construction industry. The data has been administrated through designed questionnaire by identifying the factors / barriers, by literature review, for implementation of BIM in construction industry. The prioritization of such factors is expected to help the major stake holders to address the issues according to their priority which will save lot of previous time and financial with smooth implementation of BIM in Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry in future project.

2014 5th International Conference on Intelligent and Advanced Systems (ICIAS), 2014

ABSTRACT Wireless infrared communications (WIR) can be defined as the propagation of light waves ... more ABSTRACT Wireless infrared communications (WIR) can be defined as the propagation of light waves in free space using infrared radiation whose range is 400-700nm.This range corresponds to frequencies of hundreds of terahertz (THz) which is high for higher data rate applications. Wireless infrared is applied for higher data rates applications such as wireless computing, wireless video and wireless multimedia communication applications. Introduced by Gfeller, this field has grown with different link configurations, improved transmitter efficiency, increased receiver responsivity and various multiple access techniques for improved quality. Errors are caused due to background light, which causes degradation overall system performance. Error correction techniques are used to remove the errors caused during transmission. This paper provides a brief account on field theory used for error correction in wireless infrared systems. The results are produced in terms of bit error rate (BER) and signal to noise ratio (SNR) for various bit length to show the ability of encoding and decoding algorithms.

World Journal of Surgery, 2002

The number of times an article is cited in scientific journals reflects its impact on a specific ... more The number of times an article is cited in scientific journals reflects its impact on a specific biomedical field or specialty and reflects the impact of the authors' creativity. Our objective was to identify and analyze the characteristics of the 100 most frequently cited articles published in journals dedicated to general surgery and its close subspecialties. Using the database (1945-1995) of the Science Citation Index of the Institute for Scientific Information, 1500 articles cited 100 times and more were identified and the top 100 articles selected for further analysis. The 100 articles were published between 1931 and 1990, with more than two-thirds of them published after 1960. The mean number of citations per article was 405, (range 278-1013). Altogether, 84 of the articles originated from North America (USA 78, Canada 6) and the UK (12). New York State led the list of U.S. states with 14, and Harvard and Columbia University led the list of institutions with 6 articles each. The 100 articles were published in 10 surgical journals led by the Annals of Surgery (n = 40), followed by Surgery (n = 15), Archives of Surgery (n = 12), Surgery, Gynecology and Obstetrics (n = 11), and British Journal of Surgery (n = 10). A total of 80 of the articles reported clinical experiences, 6 were clinical review articles, and 14 dealt with basic science. Eighteen articles reported a new surgical technique and six a prosthetic device. Gastrointestinal surgery and trauma and critical care led the list of the surgical fields, each with 25 articles, followed by vascular surgery (n = 15). Thirty-four persons authored two or more of the top-cited articles. This list of the top-cited papers identifies seminal contributions and their originators, facilitating the understanding and discourse of modern surgical history and offering surgeons hints about what makes a contribution a "top-cited classic." To produce such a "classic" the surgeon and his or her group must come up with a clinical or nonclinical innovation, observation, or discovery that has a long-standing effect on the way we practice-be it operative or nonoperative. Based on our findings, to be well cited such a contribution should be published in the English language in a high-impact journal. Moreover, it is more likely to resonant loudly if it originates from a North American or British "ivory tower."

Surgical Laparoscopy, Endoscopy & Percutaneous Techniques, 2003

Aortic graft infection is one of the most dreaded surgical complications. In the perioperative pa... more Aortic graft infection is one of the most dreaded surgical complications. In the perioperative patient with fresh aortic prosthesis, this is a particularly complex problem. Opening the bowel changes an operation to a "clean-contaminated" or "contaminated" case. This increases the risk of all infectious complications in the patient. Theoretically, our method of repair reduces the risk of infection by eliminating the duodenotomy. The direct visualization with the endoscope replaces the need to open the potentially contaminated bowel and reduces the risk of bacterial translocation and bacteremia. By not opening the bowel, this keeps the case "clean," and likely reduces the risk of contamination and subsequent infection of the prosthetic graft. As the potential morbidity of aortic graft infection is so devastating, and now that we have the available technology and operative skill, we propose our technique as a potential alternative to possibly reduce the incidence of aortic graft infection.

Surgery, 2002

1. Surgery. 2002 Sep;132(3):537. Profound hypoglycemia after intravasation of cystogram: A previo... more 1. Surgery. 2002 Sep;132(3):537. Profound hypoglycemia after intravasation of cystogram: A previously unreported complication of cystogram. Nguyen ET, Komenaka IK, Gardezi S, Wise L. PMID: 12324777 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]. Publication Types: ...

Journal of Biological Chemistry, 2001

Hereditary vitamin D-resistant rickets (HVDRR) is caused by heterogeneous inactivating mutations ... more Hereditary vitamin D-resistant rickets (HVDRR) is caused by heterogeneous inactivating mutations in the vitamin D receptor (VDR). Treatment of HVDRR patients with high doses of oral calcium and supraphysiologic doses of 1␣,25-dihydroxyvitamin D 3 (1,25D 3) has had limited success. In this study we explored the use of vitamin D analogs as a potential therapy for this disorder. The rationale for the use of vitamin D analogs is that they bind the VDR at different amino acid residues than 1,25D 3 , and their ability to modulate VDR functions differs from that of the natural hormone. In this report, we examined the VDR from three HVDRR patients with mutations in the ligand-binding domain of the VDR (histidine 305 to glutamine, arginine 274 to leucine, and phenylalanine 251 to cysteine) for their responses to two vitamin D analogs, 20-epi-1,25D 3 and 1␤-hydroxymethyl-3-epi-16-ene-26a,27abishomo-25D 3 (JK-1626-2). Our results reveal that vitamin D analogs partially or completely restore the responsiveness of the mutated VDR. Analog treatment seemed to be more successful when the mutation affects the amino acids directly involved in ligand binding rather than amino acids that contribute to a functional VDR interface with dimerization partners or coactivators of transcription.

Taxonomy, Morphology and Bio-Chemical Analysis of Mushrooms of Azad Jammu And Kashmir. Gardezi, S... more Taxonomy, Morphology and Bio-Chemical Analysis of Mushrooms of Azad Jammu And Kashmir. Gardezi, Syed Riaz Ali (2000) Taxonomy, Morphology and Bio-Chemical Analysis of Mushrooms of Azad Jammu And Kashmir. ... ID Code: 4229. Deposited By: Mr. Javed Memon. ...

Digestive Surgery, 2002

Background: The currently prevailing paradigm calls for non-operative management of severe acute ... more Background: The currently prevailing paradigm calls for non-operative management of severe acute pancreatitis for as long as there is no evidence of infection. Our purpose in presenting this anecdotal experience is to propose that there is a subset of patients who may need a laparotomy in the absence of infection in order to decompress a clinically significant abdominal compartment syndrome (ACS), which is associated with the acute pancreatitis. Methods: We present our recent experience with three patients suffering from severe acute pancreatitis. The three developed intra-abdominal hypertension (IAHT) and clinical ACS, which necessitated abdominal decompression and a laparostomy. One patient survived. Conclusions: The notion that patients with severe acute pancreatitis may develop ACS, which necessitate emergency abdominal decompression, has been ignored by current surgical literature. Only increased awareness to the syndrome of IAHT-ACS in acute pancreatitis and transvesical measu...

The Online Journal of …, 2011

Aims–To evaluate the management of patients presenting with non-sustained ventricular tachycardia... more Aims–To evaluate the management of patients presenting with non-sustained ventricular tachycardia (NSVT), and to assess the correlation between performance of coronary angiograms and the implantation of primary prevention implantable cardioverter ...

Annals of Surgical Oncology, 2017

Background. Sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) is routinely performed for primary cutaneous melano... more Background. Sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) is routinely performed for primary cutaneous melanomas; however, limited data exist for SLNB after locally recurrent (LR) or in-transit (IT) melanoma. Methods. Data from three centers performing SLNB for LR/IT melanoma (1997 to the present) were reviewed, with the aim of assessing (1) success rate; (2) SLNB positivity; and (3) prognostic value of SLNB in this population. Results. The study cohort included 107 patients. Management of the primary melanoma included prior SLNB for 56 patients (52%), of whom 10 (18%) were positive and 12 had complete lymph node dissections (CLNDs). In the present study, SLNB was performed for IT disease (48/107, 45%) or LR melanoma (59/107, 55%). A sentinel lymph node (SLN) was removed in 96% (103/107) of cases. Nodes were not removed for four patients due to lymphoscintigraphy failures (2) or nodes not found during surgery (2). SLNB was positive in 41 patients (40%, 95% confidence interval (CI) 31.5-50.5), of whom 35 (88%) had CLND, with 13 (37%) having positive nonsentinel nodes. Median time to disease progression after LR/IT metastasis

Public agencies, such as agricultural extension have traditionally played a crucial role in trans... more Public agencies, such as agricultural extension have traditionally played a crucial role in transferring and diffusing information on Best Management Practices (BMPs) from research universities and experiment stations to farmers. They have also been instrumental in targeting incentives to facilitate farmers' adoption of BMPs, which is critical to mitigate and prevent environmental pollution driven by agriculture. However, a reduction in these public organizations' budgets and personnel has increasingly challenged their ability of to provide conservation advice. Meanwhile increasing commercialization of farming and farmers' requirements for individually-tailored advice have cleared way for private sector advisors to fill this gap in service delivery. In this context, it is not clear who would represent broader societal interests (e.g. environmental conservation and water quality) as the U.S. government steps back from agricultural advice. This is especially true regarding the provision of conservation advice. Using a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods, this study examines the drivers and constraints to the provision of conservation advice in the state of Michigan. It focuses on the role of different types of knowledge intermediaries across the public-private divide to understand how shifting resources and roles shapes the dissemination of BMPs. It finds that overall private advisors will likely be able to fill the vacuum in service delivery of BMPs caused by a retrenchment in public sector's activities. However, their ability to do so is critically dependent on three main factors: a) private advisors' personal motivations to supply advice on BMPs, b) sustained government support for voluntary compliance programs and c) the development of a market for BMPs. 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor, Prof. Maria Carmen Lemos, whose expertise, understanding, and patience, added considerably to my graduate experience. I appreciate her vast knowledge and skill in areas of environmental governance and social and human dimensions of environment. It was under her tutelage that I developed a focus and became interested in the field of environmental governance. She provided me with direction, technical support and became more of a mentor and friend, than a professor. I would also like to thank Prof. Don Scavia for taking time out from his busy schedule to serve as my external reader and member of my thesis committee. I sincerely acknowledge his suggestions for, and provision of the materials evaluated in this study. Thanks also goes out to Dr. Yun-Jia Lo who provided me with statistical advice at times of critical need. I would also like to thank my friends in the Useful to Usable group, particularly Dr.

BMJ Quality Improvement Reports, 2015

Acute myocardial infarction (ACS) is one of the most common presentations in acute hospital setti... more Acute myocardial infarction (ACS) is one of the most common presentations in acute hospital settings. Troponin (cTn) has emerged as one of the most sensitive biochemical markers for the diagnosis of ACS. However, if used inappropriately and in the absence of true clinical context then it can be elevated in a number of non cardiac conditions and lead to false clinical diagnosis, inappropriate workup, and increased patient stay in hospital. The cost of unnecessary clinical testing is another aspect of the problem. At Royal Gwent Hospital in Newport (one of the busiest district general hospitals in Wales) we retrospectively analysed the nature of troponin requests over a random period of one week, specifically looking for the indications and final diagnostic impact. In many cases it was found that requests were made without any clinical justification. One of the main and probably unavoidable reasons for this was that requests were made from triage before patient was assessed by a clinician. However, steps were taken to clarify common clinical indications for suspected cardiac diagnosis in which troponin was useful. Additionally, the "tick box" practice for inappropriate laboratory investigations was discouraged. A repeat audit was done on similar basic principles and a measurable improvement was identified, with a potential for significant impact in future.

The Journal of reproductive medicine, 2003

Antiemetic medications are commonly used in the postoperative patient. Despite the lack of eviden... more Antiemetic medications are commonly used in the postoperative patient. Despite the lack of evidence-based data, these medications have also been increasingly used in the management of postoperative ileus. This practice is dangerous and increases the risk for morbidity and mortality. A 77-year-old woman underwent an uneventful total abdominal hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy. The patient developed abdominal distention and vomiting, which were managed with antiemetic medication. The patient continued to vomit, developed esophageal rupture (Boerhaave's syndrome) and died of sepsis and multiorgan failure. Despite no scientific evidence for it, the practice of using antiemetic medications and prokinetic agents in the management of postoperative ileus continues. This places the patient at increased risk for completely preventable morbidity, including aspiration, pneumonia, esophageal perforation, prolonged hospital stay and death.

BMJ Quality Improvement Reports, 2014

The Royal College of Physicians states that "handover, particularly of temporary 'on-call' respon... more The Royal College of Physicians states that "handover, particularly of temporary 'on-call' responsibility, has been identified as a point at which errors are likely to occur."[1] Working a weekend on-call covering medical wards is often busy and stressful for all junior doctors. The high volume of routine and unplanned tasks make the situation even worse. In Nevill Hall hospital Abergavenny, we measured the workload on a junior doctor for medical ward cover on weekends by counting the number of times he/she was bleeped for routine tasks. Initial study demonstrated that on average 30-40% of time on a long day shift was spent on jobs which could have been done on the preceding Friday. The ''FRIDAYS'' checklist was introduced for clinical staff (particularly junior doctors) to identify these jobs.

Applied Mechanics and Materials, 2014

Embodied carbon can be defined as the “CO2 emissions produced during the extraction of resources,... more Embodied carbon can be defined as the “CO2 emissions produced during the extraction of resources, transportation, manufacture, assembly, disassembly and end-of-life disposal of a product”. Calculation of the carbon footprint of buildings is important to promote the construction of low-carbon buildings that release significantly less CO2 compared to conventional buildings. However, researchers and practitioners in this area tend to disregard the embodied carbon and pay more attention to the operational carbon when calculating the carbon footprint of buildings. This paper reviews the current state and trend of research on the embodied carbon of buildings with focus on the tools, methods and strategies employed and makes recommendations for future research direction.

Applied Mechanics and Materials, 2014

The construction industry of Malaysia is very dynamic in nature and the adoption of new technolog... more The construction industry of Malaysia is very dynamic in nature and the adoption of new technological advancements and construction methods has been a prime concerns for its key players and stakeholders. However, the adoption of BIM in such a dynamic industry is observed to be limited and its implementation has not been as successful as it should have been. The study focuses on the identification and prioritization the factors challenging the implementation of BIM in Malaysian construction industry. The data has been administrated through designed questionnaire by identifying the factors / barriers, by literature review, for implementation of BIM in construction industry. The prioritization of such factors is expected to help the major stake holders to address the issues according to their priority which will save lot of previous time and financial with smooth implementation of BIM in Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry in future project.

2014 5th International Conference on Intelligent and Advanced Systems (ICIAS), 2014

ABSTRACT Wireless infrared communications (WIR) can be defined as the propagation of light waves ... more ABSTRACT Wireless infrared communications (WIR) can be defined as the propagation of light waves in free space using infrared radiation whose range is 400-700nm.This range corresponds to frequencies of hundreds of terahertz (THz) which is high for higher data rate applications. Wireless infrared is applied for higher data rates applications such as wireless computing, wireless video and wireless multimedia communication applications. Introduced by Gfeller, this field has grown with different link configurations, improved transmitter efficiency, increased receiver responsivity and various multiple access techniques for improved quality. Errors are caused due to background light, which causes degradation overall system performance. Error correction techniques are used to remove the errors caused during transmission. This paper provides a brief account on field theory used for error correction in wireless infrared systems. The results are produced in terms of bit error rate (BER) and signal to noise ratio (SNR) for various bit length to show the ability of encoding and decoding algorithms.

World Journal of Surgery, 2002

The number of times an article is cited in scientific journals reflects its impact on a specific ... more The number of times an article is cited in scientific journals reflects its impact on a specific biomedical field or specialty and reflects the impact of the authors' creativity. Our objective was to identify and analyze the characteristics of the 100 most frequently cited articles published in journals dedicated to general surgery and its close subspecialties. Using the database (1945-1995) of the Science Citation Index of the Institute for Scientific Information, 1500 articles cited 100 times and more were identified and the top 100 articles selected for further analysis. The 100 articles were published between 1931 and 1990, with more than two-thirds of them published after 1960. The mean number of citations per article was 405, (range 278-1013). Altogether, 84 of the articles originated from North America (USA 78, Canada 6) and the UK (12). New York State led the list of U.S. states with 14, and Harvard and Columbia University led the list of institutions with 6 articles each. The 100 articles were published in 10 surgical journals led by the Annals of Surgery (n = 40), followed by Surgery (n = 15), Archives of Surgery (n = 12), Surgery, Gynecology and Obstetrics (n = 11), and British Journal of Surgery (n = 10). A total of 80 of the articles reported clinical experiences, 6 were clinical review articles, and 14 dealt with basic science. Eighteen articles reported a new surgical technique and six a prosthetic device. Gastrointestinal surgery and trauma and critical care led the list of the surgical fields, each with 25 articles, followed by vascular surgery (n = 15). Thirty-four persons authored two or more of the top-cited articles. This list of the top-cited papers identifies seminal contributions and their originators, facilitating the understanding and discourse of modern surgical history and offering surgeons hints about what makes a contribution a "top-cited classic." To produce such a "classic" the surgeon and his or her group must come up with a clinical or nonclinical innovation, observation, or discovery that has a long-standing effect on the way we practice-be it operative or nonoperative. Based on our findings, to be well cited such a contribution should be published in the English language in a high-impact journal. Moreover, it is more likely to resonant loudly if it originates from a North American or British "ivory tower."

Surgical Laparoscopy, Endoscopy & Percutaneous Techniques, 2003

Aortic graft infection is one of the most dreaded surgical complications. In the perioperative pa... more Aortic graft infection is one of the most dreaded surgical complications. In the perioperative patient with fresh aortic prosthesis, this is a particularly complex problem. Opening the bowel changes an operation to a "clean-contaminated" or "contaminated" case. This increases the risk of all infectious complications in the patient. Theoretically, our method of repair reduces the risk of infection by eliminating the duodenotomy. The direct visualization with the endoscope replaces the need to open the potentially contaminated bowel and reduces the risk of bacterial translocation and bacteremia. By not opening the bowel, this keeps the case "clean," and likely reduces the risk of contamination and subsequent infection of the prosthetic graft. As the potential morbidity of aortic graft infection is so devastating, and now that we have the available technology and operative skill, we propose our technique as a potential alternative to possibly reduce the incidence of aortic graft infection.

Surgery, 2002

1. Surgery. 2002 Sep;132(3):537. Profound hypoglycemia after intravasation of cystogram: A previo... more 1. Surgery. 2002 Sep;132(3):537. Profound hypoglycemia after intravasation of cystogram: A previously unreported complication of cystogram. Nguyen ET, Komenaka IK, Gardezi S, Wise L. PMID: 12324777 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]. Publication Types: ...

Journal of Biological Chemistry, 2001

Hereditary vitamin D-resistant rickets (HVDRR) is caused by heterogeneous inactivating mutations ... more Hereditary vitamin D-resistant rickets (HVDRR) is caused by heterogeneous inactivating mutations in the vitamin D receptor (VDR). Treatment of HVDRR patients with high doses of oral calcium and supraphysiologic doses of 1␣,25-dihydroxyvitamin D 3 (1,25D 3) has had limited success. In this study we explored the use of vitamin D analogs as a potential therapy for this disorder. The rationale for the use of vitamin D analogs is that they bind the VDR at different amino acid residues than 1,25D 3 , and their ability to modulate VDR functions differs from that of the natural hormone. In this report, we examined the VDR from three HVDRR patients with mutations in the ligand-binding domain of the VDR (histidine 305 to glutamine, arginine 274 to leucine, and phenylalanine 251 to cysteine) for their responses to two vitamin D analogs, 20-epi-1,25D 3 and 1␤-hydroxymethyl-3-epi-16-ene-26a,27abishomo-25D 3 (JK-1626-2). Our results reveal that vitamin D analogs partially or completely restore the responsiveness of the mutated VDR. Analog treatment seemed to be more successful when the mutation affects the amino acids directly involved in ligand binding rather than amino acids that contribute to a functional VDR interface with dimerization partners or coactivators of transcription.

Taxonomy, Morphology and Bio-Chemical Analysis of Mushrooms of Azad Jammu And Kashmir. Gardezi, S... more Taxonomy, Morphology and Bio-Chemical Analysis of Mushrooms of Azad Jammu And Kashmir. Gardezi, Syed Riaz Ali (2000) Taxonomy, Morphology and Bio-Chemical Analysis of Mushrooms of Azad Jammu And Kashmir. ... ID Code: 4229. Deposited By: Mr. Javed Memon. ...

Digestive Surgery, 2002

Background: The currently prevailing paradigm calls for non-operative management of severe acute ... more Background: The currently prevailing paradigm calls for non-operative management of severe acute pancreatitis for as long as there is no evidence of infection. Our purpose in presenting this anecdotal experience is to propose that there is a subset of patients who may need a laparotomy in the absence of infection in order to decompress a clinically significant abdominal compartment syndrome (ACS), which is associated with the acute pancreatitis. Methods: We present our recent experience with three patients suffering from severe acute pancreatitis. The three developed intra-abdominal hypertension (IAHT) and clinical ACS, which necessitated abdominal decompression and a laparostomy. One patient survived. Conclusions: The notion that patients with severe acute pancreatitis may develop ACS, which necessitate emergency abdominal decompression, has been ignored by current surgical literature. Only increased awareness to the syndrome of IAHT-ACS in acute pancreatitis and transvesical measu...

The Online Journal of …, 2011

Aims–To evaluate the management of patients presenting with non-sustained ventricular tachycardia... more Aims–To evaluate the management of patients presenting with non-sustained ventricular tachycardia (NSVT), and to assess the correlation between performance of coronary angiograms and the implantation of primary prevention implantable cardioverter ...