THE ROLE OF CANDIDA ALBICANS ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF STOMATITIS IN PATIENTS WEARING DENTURES

Denture stomatitis is the most common inflammatory reaction that occurs in people who wear dentures. It is believed that in 60-65% of cases the cause of this inflammation is infections by yeasts from the genus Candida (C.), primarily Candida albicans infection. C.albicans is a part of the normal microflora of the respiratory and digestive tract. This yeast has the ability to adhere to the oral mucosa and to the base of the denture, as well as to form a biofilm. Its virulence is especially supported by the state of weakened resistance of the organism, when C.albicans expresses its pathological effect. This paper presents the pathogenesis of C. albicans-associated denture stomatitis, as well as the most common diagnostic and therapeutic procedures used to diagnose and successful therapy

A functional approach to teaching English tenses to speakers of other languages: the case of teaching English to adults in Serbia

Empirical thesis.Bibliography: pages 70-75.1. Introduction -- 2. Towards a functional approach to describing English tenses -- 3. Towards a functional approach to teaching English tenses to L2 learners -- 4. Empirical study : research methods -- 5. Empirical study : results -- 6. General discussion -- 7. Conclusion -- References -- Appendices.This thesis investigates how a pedagogy based on systemic-functional linguistics (SFL) can benefit teaching English tenses to adults in Serbia. Using a functional tense description within the SFL-based teaching/learning cycle should benefit language learners because it foregrounds the logical architecture of tense selection in English texts. There is a gap in research, however, exploring possible SFL applications in teaching tenses in English as a second/foreign language. Data for this study were collected through surveys with 24 English teachers of adult learners in Serbia, followed by semi-structured interviews with three survey respondents. The findings indicate that, despite the influence of a form-focused grammar pedagogy on their current practices, the participant-teachers believe in the benefits of a text-based approach to teaching grammar through scaffolding. The study also suggests that learners struggle when tense forms reflect more than one temporal relation, arguably due to the Serbian tense system. A functional pedagogy can provide English teachers with pedagogical tools for a text-based approach to teaching tenses, whereas the recursive SFL-based English tense system can enable learners to observe all time references influencing tense choice. One implication of this study is that a functional approach to teaching English tenses should be endorsed by English teachers in Serbia if provided with teacher training. Another implication is that such a pedagogy should assist in overcoming the difficulties arising from the learner’s first language, which encourages the replication of this study involving different language groups.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (118 pages) diagrams, table

A genre-based investigation of Introduction and Method sections of research articles in clinical psychology: a systemic-functional perspective

Theoretical thesis.Bibliography: pages 274-284.Chapter 1. Introduction -- Chapter 2. Theoretical foundations -- Chapter 3. Deconstructing Introductions in clinical psychology RCT reports -- Chapter 4. Deconstructing Methods in clinical psychology RCT reports -- Chapter 5. Conclusion -- References -- Appendices.This thesis investigates language use in high-impact medical journal articles that report on randomised controlled trials within the field of clinical psychology. Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) are considered the gold standard for assessing the effectiveness of treatments. Since the 1990s, there have been growing concerns about the quality of RCT reporting, leading to the creation of The Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) Statement. Although this document provides a medical perspective on the reporting requirements, it does not provide explicit guidelines on language use. Thus, this study aims to examine the linguistic construction of a trial's justification and scientificity in Introduction and Method sections of RCT reports concerned with depressive and anxiety disorders. Following John Swales' Creating-a-Research-Space (CARS) model, the generic structure of research article (RA) Introductions has been widely explored in studies on English for Specific Purposes (ESP). Within the ESP tradition, there has also been an increasing interest into the generic structure of RA Methods, especially with reference to their comprehensiveness and ability to demonstrate scientific rigour and credibility. However, the lack of a functionally-oriented linguistic framework has limited ESP research to predominantly quantitative studies of lexicogrammatical forms. To conduct an in-depth qualitative analysis of genre-sensitive language use, this thesis has adopted a functional approach to genre grounded in systemic functional linguistics (SFL). More precisely, it employed the "Sydney School" perspective on genre and James Martin's modelling of discourse semantics to explore the language patterns that enact the social practices of justifying a trial and demonstrating its scientificity. The findings indicate that RCT Introductions and Methods are structured as research warrants and methodology recounts, respectively. Furthermore, additional genre embedding is used to deepen trial justification or zoom in on different aspects of RCT methodology. At the discourse semantic level, a balance between objectivity and persuasion is achieved through a wide range of implicit appraisal resources. The results of this research carry important theoretical implications for SFL genre theory and ideational discourse semantics. In addition, SFL pedagogical tools such as 'the teaching-learning cycle' and the '3x3 toolkit' can be used to recontextualise the findings with a view to scaffolding literacy in a (post-)tertiary environment -- abstract.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (xxiii, 390 pages) diagrams, table

Immunogenicity and Reactogenicity of the Booster Dose of COVID-19 Vaccines and Related Factors: A Panel Study from the General Population in Serbia

The Republic of Serbia applied the booster dose of the following COVID-19 vaccines: BNT162b2 mRNA (Pfizer-BioNTech), Sinopharm BBIBP-CorV (Vero Cell®), Gam-COVID-Vac (Sputnik V) and ChAdOk1 nCoV-19 (AstraZeneca). We aimed to examine the immunogenicity and reactogenicity of the booster dose and identify factors related to immune response and adverse events. Panel study, conducted during August and September 2021, included 300 persons receiving the booster dose at the Institute of Public Health of Serbia. Blood samples were taken on the day of receiving the booster dose, and after 7 and 28 days. When applying homologous regimen, the average increase in anti-spike immunoglobulin G was 8782.2 (after 7 days), 1213.9 after 28 days, while 9179.5 (after 7 days) and 16,728.1 after 28 days of heterologous regimen. Sinopharm BBIBP-CorV (p < 0.001) and Sputnik V (p < 0.001), age 65 and over (p = 0.001) and currently smoking (p < 0.001) were independently associated with lower levels of anti-spike immunoglobulin G. Female sex (OR = 1.77; 95%CI = 1.01–3.12), previous COVID-19 infection (OR = 3.62; 95%CI = 1.13–11.63) and adverse events after the second dose (OR = 2.66; 95%CI = 1.33–5.32) were independently associated with intense systemic adverse events 7 days after. Booster dose significantly increased antibodies titers, especially 28 days after heterologous regimen, without a significant increase in reactogenicity