Amiloride-Sensitive Sodium Channels, Physiology and Functional Diversity (Current Topics in Membranes, Volume 47) (Current Topics in Membranes)

Book Description

Sodium reabsorbing epithelia play a major role in whole-body sodium homeostasis. Some examples of sodium regulating tissues include kidney, colon, lung, and sweat ducts. Sodium transport across these membranes is a two-step process: entry through an amiloride-sensitive sodium channel and exit via the ouabain-sensitive sodium/potassium ATPase. The sodium entry channels are the rate-limiting determinant for transport and are regulated by several different hormones. The sodium channels also play a significant role in a number of disease states, like hypertension, edema, drug-induced hyperkalemia, and cystic fibrosis. Amiloride-Sensitive Sodium Channels: Physiology and Functional Diversity provides the first in-depth exchange of ideas concerning these sodium channels, their regulation and involvement in normal and pathophysiological situations.

Key Features
* Summarizes current state of amiloride-sensitive sodium channel field
* Analyzes structure-function of epithelial sodium channels
* Discusses immunolocalization of epithelial sodium channels
* Examines hormonal regulation of sodium channels
* Discusses sodium channels in lymphocytes, kidney, and lung
* Considers mechanosensitivity of sodium channels
* Provides ideas on sodium channels and disease

Amiloride-Sensitive Sodium Channels, Physiology and Functional Diversity (Current Topics in Membranes, Volume 47) (Current Topics in Membranes)

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Amiloride-Sensitive Sodium Channels, Physiology and Functional Diversity (Current Topics in Membranes, Volume 47) (Current Topics in Membranes)
Dale J. Benos
Manufacturer: Academic Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OHHH2I

Amazon.com

"A green hunting cap squeezed the top of the fleshy balloon of a head. The green earflaps, full of large ears and uncut hair and the fine bristles that grew in the ears themselves, stuck out on either side like turn signals indicating two directions at once. Full, pursed lips protruded beneath the bushy black moustache and, at their corners, sank into little folds filled with disapproval and potato chip crumbs."

Meet Ignatius J. Reilly, the hero of John Kennedy Toole's tragicomic tale, A Confederacy of Dunces. This 30-year-old medievalist lives at home with his mother in New Orleans, pens his magnum opus on Big Chief writing pads he keeps hidden under his bed, and relays to anyone who will listen the traumatic experience he once had on a Greyhound Scenicruiser bound for Baton Rouge. ("Speeding along in that bus was like hurtling into the abyss.") But Ignatius's quiet life of tyrannizing his mother and writing his endless comparative history screeches to a halt when he is almost arrested by the overeager Patrolman Mancuso--who mistakes him for a vagrant--and then involved in a car accident with his tipsy mother behind the wheel. One thing leads to another, and before he knows it, Ignatius is out pounding the pavement in search of a job.

Over the next several hundred pages, our hero stumbles from one adventure to the next. His stint as a hotdog vendor is less than successful, and he soon turns his employers at the Levy Pants Company on their heads. Ignatius's path through the working world is populated by marvelous secondary characters: the stripper Darlene and her talented cockatoo; the septuagenarian secretary Miss Trixie, whose desperate attempts to retire are constantly, comically thwarted; gay blade Dorian Greene; sinister Miss Lee, proprietor of the Night of Joy nightclub; and Myrna Minkoff, the girl Ignatius loves to hate. The many subplots that weave through A Confederacy of Dunces are as complicated as anything you'll find in a Dickens novel, and just as beautifully tied together in the end. But it is Ignatius--selfish, domineering, and deluded, tragic and comic and larger than life--who carries the story. He is a modern-day Quixote beset by giants of the modern age. His fragility cracks the shell of comic bluster, revealing a deep streak of melancholy beneath the antic humor. John Kennedy Toole committed suicide in 1969 and never saw the publication of his novel. Ignatius Reilly is what he left behind, a fitting memorial to a talented and tormented life. --Alix Wilber

Book Description

The best-selling, Pulitzer Prize-winning classic hailed by The New York Times Book Review as "a masterwork . . . the novel astonishes with its inventiveness . . . it is nothing less than a grand comic fugue." A Confederacy of Dunces is an American comic masterpiece. John Kennedy Toole's hero, one Ignatius J. Reilly, is "huge, obese, fractious, fastidious, a latter-day Gargantua, a Don Quixote of the French Quarter. His story bursts with wholly original characters, denizens of New Orleans' lower depths, incredibly true-to-life dialogue, and the zaniest series of high and low comic adventures" (Henry Kisor, Chicago Sun-Times).

Customer Reviews:

imho....overated due to the book's backstory.......2007-10-08

I only got two-thirds of the way through this book because, basically, it just kept spinning its wheels. Also, the title character is 99% unsympathetic. He's such a friggin' ego-centric dolt that I simply stopped caring about anything to do with him. Yes, there are very funny parts...but not that many. I really feel this book has been hyped due to the fact that the book didn't get published until twenty years after the author's death (he committed suicide at least partly due to the novel not being published in his lifetime) and that the persistence of his mother in getting it printed really added to the book's mystique...which, obviously, has NOTHING to do with the actual book itself. I feel that the book would have never even been considered for a Pulitzer (which it won in the early '80s) had it been published in the author's lifetime. I actually would give this book two and a half stars, but that option isn't available.

A Confederacy of Dunces.......2007-10-04

This is a wonderful read. You take a fantastic and funny journey with a cast of characters that jump off the pages into the room where you are reading. I recommend this book as a gift, for a book club, for anytime. It is one you will read again and again.

Not as funny as they make it out to be.......2007-10-03

This book, i think, is generally over rated. Don't get me wrong, it is funny and memorable. However it was awarded the Pulitzer posthumously and I feel that it does not rank up there with the best work produced in the last century. It is likely that Toole might have produced such a book had he continued writing though. Perhaps his suicide has granted the book an aura of pathos that has helped it along the path to greatness.
The book tends to make caricatures out of the characters, including Ignatius (who is the only real character in the book). Because the book focuses on the personal scale of things, this defect in itself hurts it the most.
Would I read it again, probably yes, but I would have enjoyed it more had i not expected so much of it.

Hard to get into, but once you do..........2007-10-01

... It is worthwhile. This took me several weeks to become interested in because the main character, Ignatius, is initially unlikable and bizarre. I can see why this book was rejected when the author was alive; it is very unusual and not immediately gratifying. All I can say is read it.

Brilliant!.......2007-09-30

This is probably one of my all-time favorite books for reasons that are far too many. It is EXTREMELY well crafted and possesses an amazing sense of humor and satire; making it a classic. I was amazed to find a book with such brilliant humor and at the same time a very deep philosophy. A Confederacy of Dunces is more than just a laugh; but of course the true meaning of the book is only visible to those who seek--as with any masterpiece. The only downside is that this is the only work that John Kennedy Toole has left behind.

A Confederacy of Dunces (Penguin Modern Classics)

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A Confederacy of Dunces (Penguin Modern Classics)
John Kennedy Toole
Manufacturer: Penguin Books Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0141182865

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Confederacy of Dunces
John Toole
Manufacturer: Penguin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0141023465

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Better off reading it if you can

A Confederacy Of Dunces
John Kennedy Toole
Manufacturer: Blackstone Audiobooks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

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A Confederacy of Dunces (Evergreen Book)

ASIN: 0786183101

Customer Reviews:

Better off reading it if you can.......2005-07-17

I love this book. It has such a potential for great accents in the reading, but I'm baffled by this performance. I grew up in New Orleans, and only a few of the accents sound vaguely authentic. It's really distracting for someone who knows them already, and really misleading for someone that doesn't.

Ken & Thelma: The Story Of A Confederacy Of Dunces

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A modest biography
interesting
Finally, something insightful on Toole's life.
Ken and Thelma a Must Read for Confederacy Enthusiasts
Mainly Thelma's Story But That's Enough

Ken & Thelma: The Story Of A Confederacy Of Dunces
Joel L. Fletcher
Manufacturer: Pelican Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Authors | Arts & Literature | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1589802969

Book Description

John Kennedy Toole's first published novel, "A Confederacy of Dunces," which Walker Percy called a "gargantuan tumultuous human tragi-comedy," became a publishing phenomenon, with almost two million copies in print worldwide in eighteen languages. The book's outrageous protagonist, Ignatius Reilly, is an icon of contemporary American fiction.

Now "Ken and Thelma" sheds new light on the tragic life story of the author, known as "Ken" to his friends. Drawing on his own journals and personal letters, Joel L. Fletcher recreates his friendship with Ken in the early 1960s and his long association with Ken's indomitable mother, Thelma Ducoing Toole, after the book's publication. "Ken and Thelma" features personal photographs, many never before published.

Customer Reviews:

A modest biography.......2007-07-20

If you're reading this, then you are probably familiar with John Kennedy Toole. From this book, you will learn a little bit more about this writer. There are other, more speculative books on this topic; Fletcher stays with the facts as he knew them, and as he was able to discover them. I think this is the best of the Toole bios. This is not a massive book; this reflects the short span of Toole's life.

interesting.......2007-06-05

Very interesting book if you enjoyed Confederacy of Dunces. I especially enjoyed the connection to New Orleans and surrounding area, as in Toole's own book.

Finally, something insightful on Toole's life........2006-11-23

After reading the abysmally amateurish Ignatius Rising, I didn't have much hope for this. However, as a New Orleanian and unabashed Confederacy fan, I was obligated to purchase it.

Boy, am I glad I did. While the book primarily concentrates on the author's relationship with Thelma, there's a plethora of correspondence and anecdotes that give the reader a much better insight into the life of Ken. You won't be sorry.

Ken and Thelma a Must Read for Confederacy Enthusiasts.......2005-12-13

As friend and fellow Louisianan, Joel Fletcher was a natural choice to have written of the story of John Kennedy Toole and Confederacy of Dunces from a unique and personal perspective. The story of the great writer's masterpiece and his mother Thelma's role in the writer's life and death, is a must read for any Confederacy enthusiast. Fletcher, an objective and realistic observer who understands the limits of his relationship to the subject, proves an able story-teller in the great tradition of southern story-tellers where wit and timing are perfectly matched. I recommend this book to any reader of modern American literature.

Mainly Thelma's Story But That's Enough.......2005-09-08

This little book (and it is little in both page count and size, note the dimensions) is quite charming but in some ways disappointing. The author was a friend of John Kennedy Toole but theirs does not seem to have been a friendship close enough to share any real intimacy beyond casual letters and hanging out together at times. The real star of this book is not Toole but his mother, the defiantely eccentric yet amazingly heroic and strong Thelma Toole who became very much a Louisiana legend following the posthumous publication of her son's A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES in 1980 up to her death in 1983. Stopping by Ms. Toole's home to congratulate her on the book's success, the author quickly became something of a surrogate son to Thelma, chaperoning her to events and even to New York for an appearance on NBC's TOMORROW talk show. And as such the book is invaluable in giving of a glimpse on this willful woman who would not let her son's work sit unpublished despite almost a decade of rejection. Although Fletcher seems most concerned about that "other" book's presumptions about Toole's private life, to me it's most appalling point was it's vicious cartoonish take on Thelma who is made a fool on almost every page with no redeeming qualities. Fletcher saw her flaws (and bluntly says he is glad she was not HIS mother) but he also recognized the strength and humanity in her. And some of her crabbing most definately seems justified. One wishes Fletcher could tell us a little more about Toole but it appears JKT was exceptionally remote even among friends.

Although many have long lamented the long, to date unsuccessful, road to get a film made of CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES filmed (and with the recent tragedy of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, a film version seems almost impossible to be produced for untold number of years), I personally am most dissapointed in the seeming lack of interest in the author beyond Louisiana borders despite COD's best-selling status and critical acclaim. The two books on Toole to date where both published in Louisiana, the reviews to both overwhelmingly are also from within the state. Where are the academic volumes on Toole to say nothing of a major biography? If books can be written on authors from two centuries ago, certainly someone could do a major work on this writer despite his early death and bibliography limited to two posthumous works.

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A Confederacy of Dunces
John Kennedy Toole
Manufacturer: Random House Value Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000GLDSP2

A Confederacy of Dunces (Essential.penguin)

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A Confederacy of Dunces (Essential.penguin)
John Kennedy Toole
Manufacturer: Penguin Books Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0140282688

The Punisher Vol. 6: Confederacy of Dunces (Punisher)

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Does not include "The End"
Anyone who doesn't buy this collection should be PUNISHED
Deadly Details
Mostly shock value
The Punisher puts the graphic back in graphic novel

The Punisher Vol. 6: Confederacy of Dunces (Punisher)
Garth Ennis
Manufacturer: Marvel Comics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0785113444

Customer Reviews:

Does not include "The End".......2007-06-23

It's a fantastic book, which includes one of the best Punisher stoy arcs ever (In The Begining), but i thought that i'd let eveyone know that the post apocalyptic one shot The Punisher: The End is not in this book. But you can find it in the book From First To Last if you're trying to read it.

Punisher MAX: From First to Last

Anyone who doesn't buy this collection should be PUNISHED.......2007-06-19

Wow! This book blew my head off - figuratively speaking (No, I am not a criminal, Frank, and in no need of being punished). It is an AWESOME collection of two Punisher tales that forced me to read it in one sitting, neglecting my lunch, dinner, and loved ones. Essentially it combines the first two Marvel Punisher MAX trade paperbacks into one. The first story arc "In the Beginning" is my favorite, but the twist at the end of "Kitchen Irish" is so good that I tend to revise my opinion whenever I re-read this book. In the first few issues we are introduced to new villain Nicky Cavella, a twisted mobster with even more twisted henchmen, Ink and Putsy, to match. After multiple horrid deaths, and the general blood and destruction that is inevitable once you pair the Punisher with writer Garth Ennis, I came to realise that it was actually the stories that sold me on the book, and not the overall gore content and explicit over-the-top scenarios I usually like about Ennis' writing. Frank Castle's final farewell to his old partner Micro is also one of the best scenes in the series, as well as a bloody shootout on the deck of the Intrepid. One of the most gruesome explosions ever to be drawn in comics occur in these pages, and the resultant carnage that follows as the Punisher hunts down those responsible allows the reader to almost identify with the character. This collection is a must for any fan of Ennis, and for those who are hardcore Punisher fans, prepare to be BLOWN AWAY.

Deadly Details.......2007-05-18

Garth Ennis' re-examination of the murder of Frank Castle's family contains chilling new details. The shock and trauma of his family's end really underline Frank Castle's fanatical anti-Mafia jihad.

Lewis LaRosa's art is sketchy and free flowing and works well with the paint quality coloring. The Punisher is so hardcore in wiping out Mafiosi that you almost feel sorry for them.

Interestingly, although it's not explored in detail, there is a small boy who is apparently a relative of some of the Mafia. This child eyewitnesses Castle's killing spree.

It's an interesting inversion of Frank's witnessing of his family's deaths. Now, a child of a Mafiosi sees his loved ones gunned down by Frank's bullets.

Could this be a Mafia version of the Punisher?

The second story arc, "Kitchen Irish", is a nice take on the IRA and the artwork is much more of a realistic style than Larosa's. It's enjoyable but the end is kind of predictable.

Mostly shock value.......2005-12-31

the story is so very shallow, the book is six issues of gore, cussing and as much over the top stuff as ennis can pack in here, ennis is like a kid in a candy store and was bad enough before they took away the censors.

The book is set in a new "max" world where frank is not surrounded by by super heroes and none of the events of his old books exist (otherwise one of the charcters here would be stone cold dead), some might like that but I think the interactions with the old characters brought a lot to the book, but other than one character in the book, none of the ong history of enemies and allies have been around under ennis run, it's a shame since so many of them are just left hanging in limbo, unresolved, and some enemies like Jigsaw are never to be seen again i guess.

With great titles like river of blood or even the ennis classic welcome back frank, i just can't see the need to get this unless your running out of punisher titles.

The Punisher puts the graphic back in graphic novel.......2005-12-28

This Book Was THE most messed up piece of literatiture Ive ever read. If you love blood gore death and The Punisher Buy this book,
However if you know nothing about the inter workings of the human body are sensitive or don't know the mening of irish swear words THIS IS NOT FOR YOU!

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A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES

Manufacturer: Grove Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000GLJEWS

Average customer rating:

wildly funny
A confederacy of dunces

A Confederacy Of Dunces
John Kennedy Toole
Manufacturer: Louisiana State University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0807130087

Book Description

Released by Louisiana State University Press in 1980, A Confederacy of Dunces is nothing short of a publishing phenomenon. Rejected by countless publishers and submitted by the author's mother years after his suicide, the book won the 1981 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Today, there are almost two million copies in print worldwide in eighteen languages. Now, for the first time, John Kennedy Toole's comic masterpiece is available in a large print edition.

Toole's lunatic and sage novel introduces one of the most memorable characters in American literature, Ignatius Reilly, whom Walker Percy dubs "slob extraordinaire, a mad Oliver Hardy, a fat Don Quixote, a perverse Thomas Aquinas rolled into one." Set in New Orleans, A Confederacy of Dunces outswifts Swift, one of whose essays gives the book its title. As its characters burst into life, they leave the region and literature forever changed by their presence—Ignatius and his mother; Miss Trixie, the octogenarian assistant accountant at Levi Pants; inept, wan Patrolman Mancuso; Darlene, the Bourbon Street stripper with a penchant for poultry; Jones the jivecat in spaceage dark glasses.

Included here is the introduction that writer and New Orleans resident Andrei Codrescu composed for the book's twentieth anniversary. Set in oversized type for ease in reading, the large print edition will gratify both first-timers seeking to discover this modern-day classic and longtime afficionados wishing to reread a favorite novel.

Customer Reviews:

wildly funny.......2007-08-28

This is one of the best books I have ever read (multiple times). Once you get the flavor of the New Orleans dialogue, you will laugh through the entire book. I'm just sorry they have not yet made a movie from it. Ignatius is hysterical.

A confederacy of dunces.......2006-11-10

I loved it. The characters are real, yet no one wants to believe such people exist, or that they have these characteristics themselves. Very funny in places.

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