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J Boivin

Publications and source records attributed to J Boivin.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1997

Is there too much emphasis on psychosocial counseling for infertile patients?

Clinical papers strongly recommend psychosocial counseling for patients attending infertility clinics. These recommendations are at odds with studies showing that very few patients actually take-up such services. The disparity between recommendation and actual use would seem to be due to the lack of distinction between the needs of the few highly distressed patients who feel overwhelmed by their infertility and those of the average infertile couple who experience distress but cope well with it. In the former case, psychosocial counseling is likely to be beneficial, while in the latter case informal sources of help, for example, that provided through documentation, are likely to be sufficient. Unfortunately, the emphasis on psychosocial counseling for highly distressed patients in the area of infertility has left the needs of less distressed patients neglected and the potential usefulness of alternative methods of intervening with these patients unexplored.

Anxiety↗
PubMed1996

Impact of the in-vitro fertilization process on emotional, physical and relational variables.

The purpose of the study was to examine the stress associated with in-vitro fertilization (IVF) concurrently with other physical and relational variables, and to compare these reactions with those reported during a menstrual cycle without treatment. Women (n = 20) completed a daily symptom checklist for one complete menstrual cycle without treatment and one complete IVF cycle. The checklist included items related to stress, optimism, physical discomfort and marital and social relationships. Daily ratings during IVF were compared with those obtained during the no-treatment menstrual cycle. IVF was associated with more stress, optimism and physical discomfort than a menstrual cycle without treatment, and with greater changes to marital and social relationships. The pattern of results shows that the stress associated with IVF is less salient when examined in the context of reactions in other areas of functioning. The findings suggest that the emotional impact of IVF might be less pronounced during the actual treatment process than is generally assumed from studies focusing on the impact of treatment failure. Variables such as optimism and physical discomfort which have previously received less attention in the literature were significantly affected by IVF treatment.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Stress level across stages of in vitro fertilization in subsequently pregnant and nonpregnant women.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the relationship between stress and IVF outcome in women and to compare prospective ratings of IVF stress to retrospective ratings. DESIGN: Women completed daily stress ratings for one complete IVF cycle. Three days after the pregnancy test women completed a questionnaire that asked them to recall the stress of IVF. Based on the results of treatment, women were assigned to the nonpregnant (n = 23) or pregnant (n = 17) group and their daily stress ratings were compared. In addition, prospective and retrospective ratings were compared. RESULTS: The nonpregnant group reported more stress during specific stages of IVF and had a poorer biologic response to treatment than the pregnant group. It also was found that women recalled the stress of the waiting period as greater than their ongoing experience of it as measured by their daily ratings. CONCLUSIONS: The pattern of differences between the nonpregnant and pregnant group on stress and biologic factors indicates that stress is related to IVF outcome. Certain data suggest that negative feedback about the progress of treatment communicated to patients responding poorly to IVF (nonpregnant group) may have increased their stress level. However, the direction of causality between stress and IVF outcome remains speculative. Differences between prospective and retrospective stress ratings may reflect women's attempt to cope with the strain of the waiting period.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Reactions to infertility based on extent of treatment failure.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the relationship between amount of treatment failure and personal and marital distress. DESIGN: In this cross-sectional design, three groups of women (n = 91) with varying amounts of treatment failure experience were compared on measures of general and infertility-related distress and marital and sexual distress. RESULTS: The relationship between treatment failure experience and personal and marital distress was found to be curvilinear. The group that had a moderate amount of treatment failure experienced the most distress whereas the distress level of those without or with a high amount of treatment failure experience was comparable. The results also showed that the relationship between amount of treatment failure and distress was independent of age, years infertile, or years in treatment. CONCLUSION: The findings of this study provide support for infertility theories that suggest that infertility is a process rather than a series of independent emotional events and suggest that the distress women experience during infertility is a necessary part of their evolution toward acceptance of their infertility.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

The effects of female sexual response in coitus on early reproductive processes.

Research has shown that infertility and its medical investigation are stressful for couples and have adverse effects on sexual functioning. The purpose of this study was to examine how female sexual functioning could influence aspects of the reproductive process. This question was examined within the context of the postcoital test (PCT) routinely performed during the infertility investigation. The sample consisted of 85 women with a mean age of 30 years (SD = 3.8 years) and a mean infertile period of 2.5 years (SD = 1.1 years). Prior to the physiological examination, women completed a battery of questionnaires about their sexual functioning during the scheduled encounter engaged in for purposes of the PCT and during other nonscheduled encounters. The results indicated that the PCT contributed to deterioration in female sexual functioning, and in turn, a poor sexual response was associated with poorer physiological results. The implications of sexual behavior influencing physiohormonal reproductive factors are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Effect of hydrogenase and mixed sulfate-reducing bacterial populations on the corrosion of steel.

The importance of hydrogenase activity to corrosion of steel was assessed by using mixed populations of sulfate-reducing bacteria isolated from corroded and noncorroded oil pipelines. Biofilms which developed on the steel studs contained detectable numbers of sulfate-reducing bacteria (10 increasing to 10/0.5 cm). However, the biofilm with active hydrogenase activity (i.e., corrosion pipeline organisms), as measured by a semiquantitative commercial kit, was associated with a significantly higher corrosion rate (7.79 mm/year) relative to noncorrosive biofilm (0.48 mm/year) with 10 sulfate-reducing bacteria per 0.5 cm but no measurable hydrogenase activity. The importance of hydrogenase and the microbial sulfate-reducing bacterial population making up the biofilm are discussed relative to biocorrosion.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1982

[Resection of left ventricular aneurysm for clinical heart failure. Long-term results and prognostic factors (author's transl)].

Between 1970 and 1980, 46 resections of left ventricular aneurysm were carried out in patients with clinical evidence of heart failure but without associated septal perforation or severe mitral regurgitation. Aortocoronary bypass was simultaneously performed in 28% of the cases. The mean post-operative follow-up was 67 months. The early (1 mont) post-operative mortality rate was 15.2%. The actuarial survival rate (taking into account the early post-operative mortality rate) was 52.4% at 5 years and 32.9% at 10 years. Most early and late deaths were of cardiac origin. Among long-term survivors, 48.5% had no post-operative heart failure and 67% had no residual angina pectoris. In a statistical analysis of the factors involved in overall post-operative survival, no significant influence could be found for sex and age (within the limits of the study), risk factors associated with atheroma, duration of the myocardial necrosis responsible for the aneurysm, location of the aneurysm, time taken for the post-infarction heart failure to develop, presence of pre-operative angina on ECG, number of coronary arteries stenosed, extent of the aneurysm as determined by cineventriculography, cardiac index, left ventricular end-systolic pressure and associated aortocoronary bypass. In contrast, a significant prognostic value was demonstrated for the ejection fraction of the contractile area of the left ventricle (p less than 0.02), the maximal cardiac dysfunction observed prior to surgery (P less than 0.02), the presence of pre-operative dysrhythmias (P less than 0.1) and the quality of cardiac performance recovered immediately after the operation (P less than 0.001).

Age Factors↗
PubMed1982

[Long-term results of isolated anterior interventricular bypasses: analysis of the prognostic factors. Apropos of a series of 187 patients operated on between].

A total of 187 patients underwent isolated aorto-left anterior descending artery (LAD) bypass grafting with the internal saphenous vein (ISV) (= 65) and left internal mammary artery (IM) (n = 122). The respective indications of the two techniques were not systematized: the comparison of the main preoperative data of the two groups showed a statistically higher number of risk factors (p less than 0,01), more multivessel coronary lesions (p less than 0,02) and more patients with dyskinetic left ventricles (p less than 0,05) in the ISV bypass group. There were no statistical differences between the two groups in early postoperative mortality (IM: 0,8 p. 100, ISV: 1,5 p. 100), early postoperative infarction (IM: 2,5 p. 100, ISV: 1,5 p. 100), or late postoperative infarction (IM: 3,8 p. 100, ISV: 2,6 p. 100). The survival rates in the two groups were very similar with a global 90 p. 100 survival at 5 years and 78 p. 100 at 9 years. A comparison of the functional result in the two groups did not reveal significant difference: globally, 56 p. 100 of patients had no recurrence of angina 5 years, and 41 p. 100 after 9 years. Age, sex previous infarction, the number of cardiovascular risk factors, the technique used, had no prognostic significance on survival or on the quality of the postoperative functional results, contrary to the quality of left ventriculography and the number of coronary stenoses (83 subjects with isolated LAD disease, 104 subjects with multiple vessel disease). Nevertheless, patients with multiple coronary lesions had their vital prognosis improved (annual mortality less than 3 p. 100) compared to the spontaneous risk by isolated isolated aorto-LAD artery bypass surgery.

Coronary Artery Bypass↗
PubMed1981

[Stenosis of the left main coronary artery. Results of aorto-coronary by-pass in 67 patients (author's transl)].

Between 1970 and 1978 sixty-seven patients with > 50% stenosis of the left main coronary artery underwent aorto-coronary by-pass operation. The mean follow-up period was 54.7 months. Early and late post-operative mortality rates amounted to 3% and 9.2% respectively. Severe global alteration of left cineventriculography was the primary factor of survival (p < 0.01). The actuarial survival rates were 90.3% at 5 years and 84.5% at 9 years. All survivors had control ECGs. Late myocardial necrosis was rare (0.6 per 100 patient-years). 60.3% of the patients remained free from angina. Deterioration of the results mainly occured during the first 2 years but continued at a slower pace beyond the 8th year. Recurrence of angina was significantly less frequent in patients with isolated left main stenosis (p < 0.05) and when local conditions were not unfavourable to derivative surgery (p. < 0.01). On the other hand, the patient's age, sex, type of angina, history of previous infarction, number of risk factors and number of by-passes (the latter excluding possibly incomplete revascularisation) has no influence on the functional prognosis. Thirty-two patients had control, usually routine coronary arteriography 13.7 months on average after surgery. Overall patency was found in 85.9% and abnormal grafts in 16.7% of the cases. The main benefits of aorto-coronary by-pass, therefore, were a reduction in the spontaneous mortality rate of patients with left main coronary disease and a pronounced functional improvement.

Adult↗
PubMed1981

[Early and late term results of triple valve replacements. Use of a tricuspid bioprosthesis].

Triple valve replacement (TVR) is associated with an increased operative and long-term mortality rate. The aim of this study was to reduce operative mortality by effective myocardial protection (coronary perfusion with moderate hypothermia) and to improve long-term results by the optimal choice of valve prosthesis and, in particular, by the systematic use of xenografts for tricuspid valve replacement. Twenty TVR were performed between 1970 and 1977. Björk-Shiley prostheses were used for aortic valve replacement, Starr Edwards 6120 valves for mitral valve replacement and xenografts (7 aortic valve and 13 Hancock xenografts) for tricuspid valve replacement. This series represented 3.2% of the total number of valve replacements carried out during this period. The average postoperative follow-up was 52.6 +/- 15.2 months. Only one patient died in the first postoperative month (early mortality 5%). There were 2 late deaths, one from heart failure and one from accidental causes; the actuarial 5 year survival rate was 87.9%. Seventeen long-term survivors were studied; 6 were functionally improved. Significant (p less than 0.02) but moderate regression of cardiomegaly was observed. Abnormal auscultatory findings in the tricuspid area were found in 64.7% of survivors, and signs of mild right ventricular failure were elicited in 30.4%. There were no early or late complications due to the tricuspid valve xenograft. Thirteen patients had cardiac catheterisation over one year after operation: right atrial and mean pulmonary artery pressures were significantly reduced (p less than 0.001 and p less than 0.01 respectively); there was a moderate increase in cardiac index( p less than 0.001). Late clinical complications were rare, only one regressive cerebral embolism was observed. Triple valve replacement, when necessary, carried a limited early postoperative risk, and satisfactory functional and haemodynamic results may be obtained in the long term.

Aortic Valve↗