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Introduction: Death is a natural phenomenon inherent to the human condition and an inevitable consequence of life. As future professionals, nursing students should face the process of death and recognize their limitations, because emotional aspects can influence the quality of health care, especially in Spanish-speaking countries. This study aimed to quantify the level of fear of death among nursing students in a higher education institution in a region of Colombia. Methods: A quantitative correlational study including 258 university students selected by stratified sampling were administered the Collet-Lester Fear of Death Scale; the results were analyzed for the age, religion, marital status, number of children, and academic level of the respondents. Results: On average, the students were 22.9 years old; 83.3% of them were female, 75.6% were Catholic, 14.1% had at least one child, and 66.7% had experienced bereavement in the family. An association was found between the female gender and the fear of one's own death ( p = .025). Conclusion: These findings differ from those reported in other Latin American countries where higher academic level and clinical experience are related to lower fear of death., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Introduction: Cardiovascular risk factors have been measured under different conditions, there is some missing information related to specific occupations, such as penitentiary staff which due to their characteristics could have an increased cardiovascular risk. Objective: To determine cardiovascular risk factors on military staff from penitentiary institutions in Santander-Colombia. Methods: Cross-sectional study conducted with 182 workers. Anthropometric parameters, blood pressure, serum lipid profile, and glucose levels were measured. Univariate and bivariate analyses were carried out to establish differences between individuals. Results: Anthropometric and biochemical measures showed that 71.3% participants were overweight or obese, 29.4% presented high blood pressure with increased levels of total cholesterol (27.5%), triglycerides (40.7%), glucose (9.3%), and 84.1% presented low levels of HDL cholesterol. Bivariate analysis found a negative correlation between BMI and HDL cholesterol ( p  < .05) and a positive correlation between BMI with triglycerides ( p  < .01), systolic and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) ( p  < .01). Conclusion: The studied military population presented increased levels of cardiovascular risk in comparison with a similar group in age, gender of nonmilitary individuals. However, it is important to carry out comparative studies between military staff in order to determine the prevalence and other risk predicting factors present in this specific population.

In mosquitoes of medical importance, wing shape and size can vary with altitude, an aspect that can influence dispersion and, consequently, their vector capacity. Using geometric morphometry analysis, Aedes aegypti wing size and shape variation of males and females was studied in four altitudes in the second-smallest department in Colombia: 1,200 m (Tebaida), 1,400 m (Armenia), 1,500 m (Calarcá), and 1,700 m (Filandia). Wing shape in males (P < 0.001) and females (P < 0.001) was significantly different through the altitudinal gradient; in turn, wing size in males followed the altitudinal gradient males (R2 = 0.04946, P = 0.0002), females (R2 = 0.0011, P = 0.46). Wing allometry for males (P < 0.001) and females (P < 0.001) was significant. Likewise, the shape and size of the wings of males (P < 0.001) and females (P < 0.001) had significant fluctuating asymmetry. It is concluded that, in a small scale with an altitudinal variation of 500 meters, it is detected that the size and shape of the wings varied in A. aegypti, main vector the agents that cause dengue, chikungunya, and Zika. The fluctuating asymmetry is present in the individuals studied and could be associated with environmental effects caused by vector control campaigns present in some sampling locations., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.