January 14, 2021 - We got mentioned again in the Lipid Matters blog. This time in a kind of different way, but hey, as we often say, free exposure is always welcome.

January 13, 2021 - "It is not so much that I have confidence in scientists being right, but that I have so much in nonscientists being wrong." (Isaac Asimov, American writer and biochemist). Winter 2022 group meeting schedule here.

December 23, 2021 - This confusing year comes to and end in a (how come!) confusing manner. "Legal imperative " should be the key for the next year. Look at the Christmas greeting card from one of our supporting institutions, the lesser one yet the easier to deal with. So closes the blog for this year.

December 10, 2021 - Anything you wanted to know about lipid droplets, arachidonic acid, phospholipase A2, and atherosclerosis, coming soon to your favorite eicosanoid library!

December 3, 2021 - My dear Buenos Aires, when I get to see you again there will be no more sorrow or oblivion... but hopefully a lot of interest on phospholipase A2.

December 1, 2021 - Also from Bill Christie's Lipid blog: "they (IUPAC-IUB) rebuked me for using the generic term 'cholesteryl esters', which I was told should correctly be termed 'cholesterol esters'. 'Cholesteryl' should be applied only when describing individual lipid species, e.g. cholesteryl palmitate, cholesteryl oleate, etc." It is an old entry (Oct 11, 2017), but we were recently questioned about this.

November 26, 2021 - A famous quotation by the Roman poet Terence reads: "I am human, hence nothing human can be alien to me"... which does not mean at all that simply because someone is going through very hard times we have to forgive or forget all the very bad things they did in their life.

November 22, 2021 - Current Quotation #34: "Be selective with your battles; sometimes peace is better than being right" (Anonymous). To which it could be added that life is too short to be fighting against vanity and incompetence.

November 17, 2021 - With respect to the flurry of comments spawned by a paper in Nature reporting how bad palmitic acid is for cancer progression, we echo the comments made by Bill Christie in his reputed Lipid Matters blog, hosted by Lipid Maps: "Arguably, it is not palmitic acid per se that is the problem but a large excess." Somehow this reminds us of that story of the guy who used to eat three times a day every single day at a McDonalds restaurant and, unsuspectedly, ended up becoming obese.

November 16, 2021 - Work by Huang et al. recently published in the Journal of the American Heart Association reports an inverse association between nonesterified cis-7-hexadecenoic acid (16:1n-9) levels in serum and incident stroke. The authors suggest that cis-7-hexadecenoic acid should be investigated as a potential biomarker for incident stroke risk. This is, incidentally (pun intended), fully consistent with our previous work on this fatty acid.

November 9, 2021 - Perhaps because it was published in a 'lesser' journal (that said with all kinds of reservations), we had missed another important paper linking group IIA secreted phospholipase A2 (sPLA2-IIA) levels in serum with the severity of symptoms of COVID-19. Just like the work cited below in the Aug 30 entry, the authors conclude that the value of sPLA2-IIA as a potential therapeutic target warrants serious consideration.

November 6, 2021 - Back from the 12th CIBERDEM meeting, held in Mataró, Barcelona. While not walking through the great avenues as before, we've got to admit it's getting better (better), a little better all the time.

October 29, 2021 - Perhaps not the most appropriate position, but we will follow a diplomatic approach. The goal will be achieved anyway. Blood boils, that is inevitable.

October 28, 2021 - Current Quotation #33: "It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt" (Mark Twain, American writer).

October 15, 2021 - TRPC3 calcium channel activation by intracellular diacylglycerol during lipopolysaccharide-triggered macrophage responses, coming soon to your favorite eicosanoid library!

October 13, 2021 - Ludwig Thudichum and Jordi Folch Pi, half forgotten heroes of lipid neuroscience times that are, unfortunately, well behind our times.

October 8, 2021 - Three considerations for today. First, mass activities must be planned with great anticipation so as to avoid as much as possible coincidence with other events. Second, delegation of responsibilities is not an acceptable option for certain kind of activities. Third, activities that amount to no more than a posturing exercise must be ignored.

October 5, 2021 - Times of bonanza seem to hover over our beloved institution. Problem is that those in charge of distributing the riches have not come to realize that there is also excellence beyond them and their close friends..   

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