<p><em>Sapium macrocarpum</em> (Euphorbiaceae) is a tropical tree located mainly in the southern part of Mexico and in Central America, and it is used in the Mayan traditional medicine for the treatment of several skin diseases. The dichloromethane-MeOH extract of the aerial parts displayed cytotoxic activity against certain cancer cell lines. Lupeol (<strong>1</strong>), lupenone (<strong>2</strong>), sitostenone (<strong>3</strong>), β-sitosterol (<strong>4</strong>), stigmasterol (<strong>5</strong>), sitosteryl β-D-glucopyranoside (<strong>6</strong>) and the rare diterpene tonantzitlolone A (<strong>7</strong>) were characterized from this extract. The structural analysis allowed the ¹H NMR reassignments for H-12α and H-12β, and for H-13α and H-13β of tonantzitlolone A (<strong>7</strong>). The cytotoxic activity of compounds <strong>1-3</strong>, <strong>6</strong> and <strong>7</strong> was evaluated against selected cancer cell lines. Compounds <strong>3</strong>, <strong>6</strong> and <strong>7</strong> displayed clear activity against K562 (leukemia). This is the first report on the chemical constituents of <em>S. macrocarpum</em>, and points out that this species is an additional source of tonantzitlolone A. Compound <strong>7</strong> has only been reported previously from species of the <em>Stillingia</em>, <em>Sebastiania</em> and <em>Sapium genera</em>, which belong to the Hippomaninae subtribe of the family Euphorbiaceae.</p>

En la década de 1950 una serie de arquitectos uruguayos estaban radicados en Ecuador; muchos de ellos ampliamente reconocidos y documentados en el medio local. Ethel Arias, arquitecta uruguaya nacida en 1925 fue parte de un grupo privilegiado de profesionales, nacionales y extranjeros, que ejecutaron edificios emblemáticos en esa época. No obstante, poco se ha documentado de esta profesional quien fue la primera mujer en ejercer la arquitectura en el Ecuador. El estudio involucra breves aspectos biográficos, la contextualización de la década de 1950, una revisión sobre las complejidades de ser mujer en un medio conservador con una profesión masculinizada y su aprendizaje en Ecuador entre lo colonial y lo autóctono. Finalmente se analiza su obra más relevante, la reconstrucción del Palacio de Gobierno, como parte de un discurso sobre la modernidad en Quito, con énfasis en las decisiones técnicas como configuradoras de un espacio que mantiene sus características a pesar de varias intervenciones posteriores.

No abstract

In the age of globalization, architecture (through an identity crisis) is directly connected with the loss of progressive recognition of morphological studies of city and territory, in a gradual replacement with real-time views of phenomena and urban facts. The satellite gaze finally flattens the interpretation ability of living spaces that were the prerogative of the morphological studies.   The actual complexity of cities and territories escapes from the architect's eyes as they increase their technical capability to know details. The season of great renovations and methodological studies that had powered the 1960s, 70s and 80s seems hopelessly distant. Studies on social, economic, and environmental components of the cities and territories (infrastructure, public space, environmental networks) are so proliferated without actually being supported by adequate interpretations of their physical-spatial dynamics. The result: a substantial failure of architectural design to express human habitat visions.   It is imperative a theoretical and practical effort to pick up the threads of an interrupted conversation, and return where these studies have expressed their richest potential: the historical centers, the places with most dense and rich heritage. Historical centers of cities like Quito, Siracusa and Suzhou have settled and stratified the morphological structures of several different settlement patterns. As a result, architecture has demonstrated an ability of description and interpretation. Reflecting on how this goal was reached in these cities (by means much less powerful than the current) settlement will be able to bid the morphological component of urban and regional studies and architecture project as a fundamental tool for understanding the human habitat.