No One Dies Alone: Addressing a Gap in Medical Education.

Medical school curriculum typically consists of didactical experiences with minimal patient interaction for junior students followed by clinical experiences with supplementary didactics for senior students. Due to the focus on understanding basic medical concepts and disease pathophysiology during the first few years of medical school, students have limited exposure to real-life clinical situations that involve complex, difficult concepts such as death and dying. This leaves students ill-prepared to contribute meaningfully to patients' end-of-life (EOL) care that they will inevitably encounter during their clerkship years.

Kidney Pathology of Tropical and Nontropical Infectious Diseases in the Pediatric Population.

Objectives: To review kidney pathology of tropical and nontropical infectious diseases in the pediatric population.

Methods: We review 4 tropical and 2 nontropical infectious diseases that affect the kidneys of children in terms of their direct and indirect pathogenetic mechanism in inducing kidney damage.

Results: We demonstrate clinical manifestations, pathogenesis, kidney pathology, and laboratory diagnostic methods for (1) renal cryptococcosis, which represents involvement of a pure direct pathway; (2) schistosomiasis and dengue fever as examples of dual direct and indirect pathways; and (3) congenital syphilis, visceral leishmaniasis, and Chagas disease, which represent indirect pathways.