NOTEBOOK

By JANICE M. HOROWITZ, NADYA LABI, LINA LOFARO, EMILY MITCHELL AND ALAIN L. SANDERS

WINNERS & LOSERS

COUPS, REAL AND IMAGINED

[WINNERS]

BILL PAXON So he failed to nix Newt. His resignation from the leadership means he can defy in the open

GENERAL H. HUGH SHELTON Squeaky-clean farm boy becomes Top Gun. One for the commandos over the paper pushers

GERRY ADAMS Presto! Sinn Fein leader pulls I.R.A. cease-fire out of his hat

[& LOSERS]

NEWT GINGRICH O.K., he put down the rebellion. But now he knows: even his buddies want to dump him

ROBERT ALLEN The chairman-king killed his heir apparent, but now the AT&T board is looking to kill the king

KENNETH STARR Duh? $30 million to prove Vince Foster killed himself?

YOUR GOVERNMENT AT WORK

PEDALING PHILATELISTS First the Pony Express. Now the U.S. Postal Service Pro Cycling Team. You may wonder why the Postal Service is sponsoring a three-year $5 million bicycle team when your check is still in the mail. Well, cyclists exemplify swiftness, and the Postals, managed by Montgomery Sports of San Francisco, have won more than two dozen races. This month the team is competing in the prestigious Tour de France. "We don't expect to win this race," says spokeswoman Margot Myers, "but we'd love to get all our cyclists across the finish line on the Champs Elysees." Is that a priority delivery?

HEALTH REPORT

THE GOOD NEWS

FLU FIGHT An astounding 99% of kids who received a nasal-spray flu vaccine in a trial remained free of the illness. And no flu shots, no tears. But the earliest the spray will be generally available is the fall of 1999.

GOOD OLD DIURETICS Used for decades, diuretics may work as well at preventing complications of hypertension as newer, more costly drugs. In patients with high blood pressure who have had a heart attack, the medication lowered the risk of heart failure 80%.

AIDS DEATHS DECLINING In the first nine months of 1996, U.S. aids deaths dropped 19% compared with the same period in 1995.

Sources: National Institutes of Health; J.A.M.A.; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

THE BAD NEWS

A CLUE FOR CEREBRAL PALSY Doctors have long known low birth weight increases a baby's odds of developing cerebral palsy. But now research shows that normal-weight babies are also at risk if the mother is harboring an infection during delivery.

BODY BELTS BEGONE! Leather support belts worn by weight lifters may be of little value. Measured electronically, stress on the spine is the same among men who do or don't wear belts.

WHERE THERE'S SMOKE Boys born to moms who smoke during pregnancy are more likely to exhibit aggressive, destructive or other problem behaviors. Nicotine may disrupt fetal brain development.

Sources: J.A.M.A.; Clinical Biomechanics; Archives of General Psychiatry