NOTEBOOK

By KATHLEEN ADAMS, CHARLOTTE FALTERMAYER, JANICE M. HOROWITZ, LINA LOFARO, TYLER MARONEY, JODIE MORSE, AINISSA RAMIREZ AND ALAIN L. SANDERS

WINNERS & LOSERS

COMMUNISTS AROUND THE WORLD

[WINNERS]

DO MUOI Vietnam's aging Party Secretary gets new term, proves the Politburo still runs the show

JIANG ZEMIN China's Prez is getting his way with Hong Kong, behaving thuggishly with colony democrats

INDRAJIT GUPTA Longtime lefty appointed head of India's Home Ministry, which once policed the commies

[& LOSERS]

GENNADI ZYUGANOV Sourly concedes election, losing by wide margin to Yeltsin in runoff vote for Russia's presidency

MONGOLIA'S REDS After nearly 75 years in power, toppled in parliamentary election by opposition democrats

FIDEL CASTRO Loses two Olympic boxing favorites after they skip training and defect to the U.S.

THE HEAT IS ON

The National Park Service may not be granted a budget increase, even though this year about 270 million people--a 30% increase from 10 years ago--are expected to visit the 369 federal parks, monuments and recreation areas. While crime is down, visitors should be prepared when visiting...

YOSEMITE, CALIFORNIA The wilderness will be wilder because there will be fewer park rangers. There may be more accidental fires. Garbage will not be collected as often, perhaps attracting more bears to campsites.

YELLOWSTONE, WYOMING With 27 seasonal positions cut, the park will close its Norris campground and two museums for the season. Reduced patrols may also lessen the staff's ability to respond to minor emergencies.

CUMBERLAND ISLAND NATIONAL SEASHORE, GEORGIA Known for its maritime oak forest and bird habitats, the facility does not have the funds to hire summer workers or seasonal custodial personnel. Island ecology programs and tours of the Plum Orchard Mansion will be eliminated. Restroom sanitation may also be compromised.

GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS, TENNESSEE Patrol rangers and seasonal maintenance personnel will be reduced. Two campgrounds and adjoining picnic areas will be closed.

PETERSBURG NATIONAL BATTLEFIELD, VIRGINIA For the first time in 24 years, a fee will be charged for the living-history program. Expect to see more ravens and raccoons around unemptied garbage cans.

Source: National Parks and Conservation Association

THE SENATE: TAKING STOCK

How do politicians invest? A look at Senate financial-disclosure reports reveals a penchant for blue-chip stocks. (AT&T, held by eight Senators, is the favorite.) At right, sample senatorial portfolios. Senators

AT&T 8 GE 7 IBM 6 Ford 5 Intel 5 Merck 5 Columbia/HCA 4 Exxon 4 Hewlett-Packard 4 Johnson & Johnson 4 Pepsico 4 Wal-Mart 4 McDonald's 3

DANIEL COATS (R., Ind.) Heavy on tech stocks including America Online and Micron Technologies

ALFONSE D'AMATO (R., N.Y.) Investments held in a blind trust

DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D., Calif.) Blind trust. Husband's holdings include Scott Paper, and Toys "R" Us

EDWARD KENNEDY (D., Mass.) Blind trust. Also Fidelity Blue Chip Growth Fund

ALAN SIMPSON (R., Wyo.) Stock owned jointly with wife includes Boeing, Chrysler and Dow Chemical

THE ROBOTS AMONG US

While extraterrestrials remain rumors, some sci-fi is less and less fi. Robots used to be staples of futuristic novels, but now they are virtually essential to production lines, scientific research, nuclear safety and antiterrorist swat teams. Below, with their costs, are a few recent models of modern commercial robots:

Robug III $1.3 million Designed as a nuclear-disaster rescuer by scientists in the wake of Chernobyl, it has eight spidery legs and suction-padded feet, allowing it to climb vertically. A human operator controls its movement via a TV screen.

Andros Mark VI-A $70,000 (basic model) This hazardous-duty robot can climb stairs at a 45 [degree] angle and make 180 [degree] turns. It can carry two TV monitors and open fire on targets with a mounted shotgun. Its 17-in.-to-19-in. width allows it to get into tight spots.

RMI-9 $50,000 and up This Canadian-designed "remote mobile investigator" has handled explosive devices, hazardous chemicals and radioactive materials. It is equipped with a semiautomatic shotgun and carries front and rear cameras.

HEALTH REPORT

THE GOOD NEWS

--Can a vitamin reverse the ill effects of smoking? Maybe. Early reports suggest that injections of VITAMIN C seem to repair the damage to the lining of smokers' arteries. Next, researchers plan to study whether vitamin pills have the same effect.

--Research on more than 1,000 women indicates that, unlike old versions of the BIRTH CONTROL PILL, the new ones containing low amounts of estrogen do not appear to increase the risk of stroke in healthy women.

--SMOKING BANS in offices, designed to protect employees from the effects of passive smoke, appear to have another benefit: workers are kicking the habit. Today only 26% of indoor workers smoke; in 1985, 31% lit up.

THE BAD NEWS

--Mammograms detect only 75% of invasive breast cancers in women under 50. That's probably because tumors in younger women grow so rapidly that they can go from undetectably small to large between MAMMOGRAM exams.

--Confirming suspicions, a study finds that surgery to ENLARGE THE PENIS may be too risky. It involves snipping the ligament holding the penis against the pubic bone and sometimes injecting fat cells. A possible result: poor erections and scarring that pulls the penis back, making it look shorter.

--Women who undergo AMNIOCENTESIS early, during the 11th through 14th week of pregnancy, are 11 times more likely to miscarry than those who wait until week 15 or later.

Sources--GOOD NEWS: Circulation; New England Journal of Medicine; National Bureau of Economic Research BAD NEWS: Journal of the American Medical Association; Journal of Urology; Obstetrics and Gynecology

LOCAL HEROS

HOWIE VOGEL, 47; NEW YORK CITY; social worker A self-proclaimed "cultural warrior," he spent 15 years homeless, in and out of mental-health institutions. As the executive director of Double Trouble, he's on the other side of the examining table. Each year the 12-step program aids hundreds of people who are carrying the dual burden of psychiatric illness and narcotics addiction. To Vogel those he counsels are "not just patients but people I actually identify with."

MATTHEW BLANKENSHIP, 45; ELGIN, ILL.; truck driver Driving along Route 50 in his Freightliner, Blankenship watched a family taking refuge in a ditch from a tornado "coming right at us." Slowing his rig, Blankenship saw a panicked boy, Kyle Tate, 9, run into the road directly in the twister's path. The trucker grabbed him and barely got back in his cab before the funnel hit, overturning the 18-wheeler. Somehow he and Kyle were both unhurt. "The kid needed help," he says. "I just got him."

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

HUGH O'BRIAN, 71, LOS ANGELES; Actor/Humanitarian

Although many will remember him most for his six-year run in the 1950s as TV's sharpshooting Wyatt Earp, it is another role that has taken precedence in O'Brian's life. A 1958 visit with Dr. Albert Schweitzer persuaded him to make a contribution toward developing the potential of young people. Two weeks later he founded the Hugh O'Brian Youth Foundation. Each year high schools across the U.S. are asked to nominate a student who exhibits initiative, curiosity and a desire to join 14,000 others at 90 seminars featuring advice from the CEOs of FORTUNE 500 companies. O'Brian, who encourages his kids to look upon all problems as "unsolved opportunities," still gets calls for acting stints but says, "I see my acting career as a means to a meaningful twilight, which has grown bright because I add about 14,000 stars to it each year."

60 YEARS AGO IN TIME

A Legend Is Born

After just half a season in the majors, Joseph Paul DiMaggio stunned pundits (but not fans) by making the All-Star team: "For his first month of play, he batted .400, fielded his position almost perfectly, hit safely in 18 games in a row. In his second month, his batting average slipped to .350 but he became one of three American League baseballers in history who have hit two home runs in one inning for a total of eight bases...He hits with a loose, easy swing, in a style that reminds experts of famed 'Shoeless Joe' Jackson, flicking power into the bat with his wrists at the last possible moment...The clubhouse boy who sorts the Yankees' fan mail estimates DiMaggio's to be as large as Ruth's." --July 13, 1936