The coexistence of leishmaniasis, Chagas disease, and neoplasia in endemic areas has been extensively documented. The use of common drugs in the treatment of these pathologies invites us to search for new molecules with these characteristics. In this research, we report 16 synthetic chalcone derivatives that were investigated for leishmanicidal and trypanocidal activities as well as for antiproliferative potential on eight human cancers and two nontumor cell lines. The final compounds 8–23 were obtained using the classical base-catalyzed Claisen–Schmidt condensation. The most potent compounds as parasiticidal were found to be 22 and 23, while compounds 18 and 22 showed the best antiproliferative activity and therapeutic index against CCRF-CEM, K562, A549, and U2OS cancer cell lines and non-toxic VERO, BMDM, MRC-5, and BJ cells. In the case of K562 and the corresponding drug-resistant K562-TAX cell lines, the antiproliferative activity has shown a more significant difference for compound 19 having 10.3 times higher activity against the K562-TAX than K562 cell line. Flow cytometry analysis using K562 and A549 cell lines cultured with compounds 18 and 22 confirmed the induction of apoptosis in treated cells after 24 h. Based on the structural analysis, these chalcones represent new compounds potentially useful for Leishmania, Trypanosoma cruzi, and some cancer treatments.

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The presence of mineromedicinal water springs in Ecuador is related to the large number of volcanoes that exist in the country, which have been used since ancient times as medicines by the population. However, it is unknown what bacterial biodiversity is present. Therefore, the objective of these work was to determine the bacterial biodi- versity of the mineromedicinal waters of “Urauco” spa located in Pichincha Provinces of Ecuador. Water samples of a volume of 1 liter were taken at two points in each spa studied. Sampling was done 2 times over a period of two year. To take and transport the samples, the Ecuadorian standards INEN 2 176-98 and INEN 2 169-98 were followed. For the determination of bacterial biodiversity, the techniques of planting, selection and identification of bacteria indicated by Barrow and Feltan (2004) and MacFfadin (2004) were used, complemented with the bio- chemical tests contained in the API (BioMérieux) galleries and Microgen (Microgen corp.). The results indicate a population of heterotrophic bacteria in the spa waters of 3.1 x 102 CFU / mL, with the prevalence of Gram negative bacteria of the Gamma Proteobacteria class. It was possible to isolate and identify 64 colonies of bacteria. The genera of bacteria were Acidovorax, Aeromonas, Bacillus, Brevundimonas, Budvicia, Citrobacter, Corynebacterium, Edwardsiella, Enterococcus, Ewingella, Flavobacterium, Kurthia, Micrococcus, Proteus, Pseudomonas, Psychrobacter, Ralstonia, Staphylococcus, Vibrio and Yokonella. The bacterial biodiversity observed was high, although low in number .

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