NOTEBOOK

By CHARLOTTE FALTERMAYER, JANICE M. HOROWITZ, LINA LOFARO, BELINDA LUSCOMBE, TYLER MARONEY, JEFFERY C. RUBIN, ALAIN L. SANDERS AND SIDNEY URQUHART

WINNERS & LOSERS

LOVE AND MARRIAGE

[WINNERS]

DEION SANDERS Calls off his divorce just as it was rounding first base; wife and he try to talk it out

JOHN F. KENNEDY JR. Against the odds, he pulls off classy, romantic and very private wedding to Carolyn Bessette

JIM CARREY AND LAUREN HOLLY While tabs try to find J.F.K. Jr.'s nuptial details, they too wed without big media circus

[LOSERS]

HARLAND SANDERS Daughter writes spicy book saying the Colonel made his wife hire his mistress as home help

CHRISTIE BRINKLEY Wedding to Peter Cook buzzed by helicopters, even though it's her fourth trip down the aisle

HAROLD PINTER Writer of Betrayal revealed to have betrayed own spouse with Joan Bakewell, wife of friend

THE 10 MOST GENEROUS ZIP CODES, WHERE RESIDENTS MADE THE MOST DONATIONS OF MORE THAN $200 TO PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES IN 1995

Donations

1 10021 $1,087,050 Upper East Side, New York City 2 37205 $583,598 Nashville, Tennessee 3 37215 $571,643 Nashville, Tennessee 4 10022 $458,075 East Side, New York City 5 20008 $357,725 Washington 6 90210 $334,600 Beverly Hills, California 7 10128 $304,100 Upper East Side, New York City 8 10028 $294,700 Upper East Side, New York City 9 75205 $274,432 Dallas 10 37027 $262,701 Brentwood, Tennessee

Source: Associated Press

HEALTH REPORT

THE GOOD NEWS

--Talk about delayed gratification! Couples who can tough it out for 35 years will finally find themselves as happy as they were as newlyweds. Research indicates that five years after the knot is tied, a downhill slide in MARITAL HAPPINESS sets in. It starts to reverse decades later--once work and parental responsibilities ease up.

--Scientists have powerful evidence that a genetic mutation can confer resistance to the AIDS virus in 1 of 100 whites and can slow the progress of the disease in 1 of 7 patients who are already infected.

--Worried about the PILL? Results of a huge study show that once a woman stops taking it, she bears no increased risk of developing breast cancer later in life.

THE BAD NEWS

--SMOKING can stunt growth of the lungs. A study of teenagers suggests that as few as five cigarettes a day may inhibit the ability of lungs to grow to normal size. The effect appears to be more pronounced in girls than boys.

--Boosting the theory that environmental factors play a role in ALZHEIMER'S disease, researchers report that men of Japanese descent living in Hawaii are twice as likely to develop Alzheimer's as those in Japan. Differences in diet, particularly at an early age, when the brain is still developing, may be one reason.

--A survey finds that employees with CANCER are fired or laid off five times as often as other workers. And if they do hold on to their jobs, they are often stripped of important tasks.

Sources--GOOD NEWS: Social Psychology Quarterly; Science; Contraception BAD NEWS: New England Journal of Medicine; Journal of the American Medical Association; Working Woman

IN AN OCEAN OF CONTROVERSY

Will the next Asian war be fought over a few tiny islands? And might it be between the ethnic Chinese of Hong Kong, Taiwan and China on one side and their ancient enemy Japan on the other? The ownership of the potentially oil-rich islands (called Diaoyu by the Chinese and Senkaku by the Japanese) has ignited a grass-roots movement in capitalist Hong Kong, communist China, and among pro-unification forces in Taiwan. This territoriality has been matched by rightist indignation in Japan, which has not fought a war since 1945 but which sent its coast guard to the islands last week to turn away two groups of Chinese protesters intent on reaching the disputed specks. Last week the Chinese got their first martyr--a Hong Kong activist who drowned after leaping overboard to symbolically claim the waters for China. Beijing, which had encouraged the confrontation to tweak Tokyo, now worries about being swept up by the populist fervor.

LOCAL HEROES

NORMAN HUMMEL, 64; Columbia, New Jersey; mechanic

Hummel went the extra mile--400 of them, in fact--for Sandra and Emerito Hernandez, who were driving to Cleveland, Ohio, to seek treatment for their daughter Desiree, 6, who needs a heart and lung transplant. When their minivan's broken alternator couldn't be fixed in time for their appointment--and they couldn't afford to rent a car--Hummel drove them to Cleveland himself. "Good people are scarce," says Sandra. "He's Superman."

NOEL IRWIN-HENTSCHEL, 44; Los Angeles; Noel Foundation

CEO of a firm that brings overseas visitors to the U.S., Irwin-Hentschel also shows America to the children of South Central L.A., many of whom have never left the economically depressed neighborhood. More than 100 teens have taken free 15-day cross-country bus tours operated by the Noel Foundation; 150 more have gone on shorter trips. "The difference in these kids after 15 days," says Irwin-Hentschel, "is remarkable."

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

DR. CHRISTIAAN BARNARD, 73; Richmond, South Africa Former heart surgeon

On Dec. 3, 1967, Barnard took the heart of a 25-year-old woman, the victim of a road accident, and placed it in the chest of a 55-year-old man to perform the first heart transplant. The recipient died of pneumonia 18 days later, but at the time, Dr. Michael DeBakey, who consulted on Boris Yeltsin's surgery last week, declared it to be "a great achievement." Suffering from arthritis, Barnard retired in 1983. Since then he has written a number of novels. His latest book, The Donor, was just published in England. Barnard spends a lot of time on a 32,000-acre ranch with his third wife, Karin, and their son, Armin. He was intrigued by DeBakey's visit but could not comment on Yeltsin's surgery, saying, "Right now I don't follow the news ... I'm a farmer with cattle and wild game to look after. I wish him luck."

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