Following the informed consent process, patients will be appropriately placed in either the study or control group. At the time of surgery (hernia repair, bariatric procedure, or esophageal myotomy), a 30 ml venous blood sample will be drawn and stored for later testing and analysis. The appropriate standard surgical procedure will then be performed as per surgical attending judgment, however, during the operation, a small (approximately 1 cm2) piece of tissue will be excised from each of 3 anatomic sites: 1) the left diaphragmatic crus, 2) the PEL, and 3) the GHL. After removal from the abdomen, these tissue samples will be divided into 2 pieces to be set aside for further testing at a later time.