NOTEBOOK

By JANICE M. HOROWITZ; LINA LOFARO; BELINDA LUSCOMBE; JEFFERY C. RUBIN; ALAIN L. SANDERS; SIDNEY URQUHART

WINNERS & LOSERS

IT'S BACK-TO-SCHOOL TIME

[WINNERS]

BOB CHASE After slagging teachers' union, Dole and Kemp now want to sit down with chief of the N.E.A.

SIDWELL FRIENDS Clinton, then Gore? Eighth-grader Al III joins senior Chelsea at tony D.C. private school

DICK AND JANE Monosyllabic stars of old primers celebrated in new book Growing Up with Dick and Jane

[& LOSERS]

NEWT GINGRICH First a House ethics probe, now an IRS audit of his tax-favored college lecture class

UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA Two more football players suspended on the heels of last year's legal dustups

ECHO BOOMERS School districts across nation face overflowing classes as baby boomers' babies come of age

HEALTH REPORT

THE GOOD NEWS

A simple urine test may soon be available for HEART DISEASE. According to a new study, patients with protein in their urine are much more likely to suffer a heart attack or stroke than those without. Protein shows up when arteries in the kidneys are leaky, suggesting that arterial damage may exist elsewhere in the body--including the heart.

Bone-marrow transplants cured SICKLE CELL ANEMIA in three-quarters of youngsters in a recent study. But the radical procedure will probably be reserved for the worst cases because 10% of the patients died.

Although the prognosis for LUNG CANCER patients remains bleak, research shows that patients treated with both chemotherapy and radiation, instead of radiation alone, can nearly triple their chances of surviving five years or more.

THE BAD NEWS

Some problems refuse to go away. PESTICIDES containing chlorine--now banned but commonly used in the '70s and '80s for termite control--continue to contaminate treated homes. A small study finds that even today the chemical vapors seep through basement walls.

Women who have had a C-SECTION and then try but fail to deliver the next baby vaginally double their risk of suffering rare complications in childbirth. Among them: ruptured uterus and bowel lacerations.

White-coat hypertension--when BLOOD PRESSURE readings spike under the stress of a doctor's visit--may not be as innocent as once thought. Research now suggests that it may lead to cardiovascular abnormalities similar to those caused by persistently elevated readings.

Sources--GOOD NEWS: American Journal of Hypertension;New England Journal of Medicine; Journal of the National Cancer Institute. BAD NEWS: Environmental Science & Technology; New England Journal of Medicine; Lancet

WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO "CHERRIES IN THE SNOW"?

Maybe Chanel started it with its burnt-burgundy Vamp nail polish. Maybe the cosmetics industry finally found a way to co-opt grunge. Whichever, names for cosmetic colors are getting a lot less glamorous. Poppy offers a lipstick called Vanity. Hard Candy has one called Porno and another called Navel. But for names that really scream grotesque, it's tough to beat Urban Decay, whose new fall colors for lips, eyes and nails include Rust, Gash, Gangrene, Vapor and Toxin. Surprisingly, no less a store than Nordstrom's has bought the line, which is selling best in its Mall of America store. Here's what the ghastly set is wearing:

Shattered Roach Frostbite Asphyxia Bruise Plague Mildew

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

MELISSA COLEMAN, 26; SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS; Former POW in Iraq

The first U.S. servicewoman to be taken prisoner of war since World War II, Coleman--then just 20 years old and known by her former name of Rathbun-Nealy--was captured by Iraqi forces on Jan. 31, 1991. Her 33 days as a prisoner were eased by her faith in God: "I always knew that I would be safe." She was unprepared, however, for the crush of reporters covering her release: "Compared with that media circus, it was more peaceful during an air raid in Iraqi prison." Coleman left the Army in 1993. She is married to a fellow ex-soldier, Michael Coleman, a truck driver; they have two daughters, Briana, 4, and Dominique, 3. Coleman is currently trying to interest publishers in a memoir of her ordeal, so far without success. As for Saddam Hussein, she says, "I knew he was going to continue playing that cat-and-mouse game."

29 YEARS AGO IN TIME

The Messengers

The success of Sgt. Pepper forced adults to take the Beatles seriously--maybe too much so: "The Rev. B. Davie Napier, dean of the chapel at Stanford University...is convinced that Sgt. Pepper 'lays bare the stark loneliness and terror of these lonely times,' and he plans to focus on the album in an address to freshmen...Atlanta Psychiatrist Tom Leland says that the Beatles 'are speaking in an existential way about the meaninglessness of actuality.' There is even a womb's-eye view. Chicago Psychiatrist Ner Littner believes that the Beatles' 'strong beat seems to awaken echoes of significant early experiences such as the fetal-uterine serenity that repetitively reverberates to the mother's heartbeat.'" --Sept. 22, 1967

--By Janice M. Horowitz, Lina Lofaro, Belinda Luscombe, Jeffery C. Rubin, Alain L. Sanders and Sidney Urquhart