NOTEBOOK

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

WINNERS & LOSERS

AMERICA IN FLIGHT

[WINNERS]

VALUJET Troubled carrier returns to the skies with seven planes and $19 one-way fares

PAN AM Once proud international line is reincarnated with domestic flights--for now

DELTA New low-cost Delta Express division begins service to capture slice of rich leisure market

[& LOSERS]

KIWI INTERNATIONAL Filing for bankruptcy, company cuts service by two-thirds and faces renewed competition

AMERICA WEST Flight recalled and 53 passengers kicked off so that California Angels could be flown home

CHICAGO COMMUTERS Downtown Windy City's convenient Meigs Field closed by mayor to make room for new park

HOW TO POSE IN YOUR UNDERWEAR

It's no longer provocative enough, it seems, for underwear models simply to stand around seminaked, looking thin and winsome. A spate of recent ads and fashion spreads suggests that what marketers believe really moves merchandise is the intimation that the underpants are on their way off. And for these models, unlike the little girl in the pioneering Coppertone ads, tan lines are out.

HEALTH REPORT

THE GOOD NEWS

--Along with protecting against heart disease and osteoporosis, ESTROGEN REPLACEMENT THERAPY may ward off another ill: degenerative arthritis. The risk of osteoarthritis of the hip may be cut by nearly half in women who take estrogen for at least 10 years. Once the therapy is stopped, the benefit vanishes.

--The FDA has okayed Accolate, the first of a new class of drugs for ASTHMA. It blocks the activity of certain molecules in the lungs that cause symptoms.

--Just one dose of clomipramine, a drug for obsessive compulsive disorder, may help men overcome PREMATURE EJACULATION. Taken 12 hours before sex, it delays ejaculatory response from about two minutes after vaginal entry to eight. Until now doctors thought it had to be used on a long-term basis to work.

THE BAD NEWS

--Women who take PROZAC during the third trimester of pregnancy may be more likely to give birth prematurely than those who go off the antidepressant earlier. And their newborns may--for a brief time--be jittery or have breathing difficulties.

--Once thought rare, a mutation in a BREAST CANCER gene turns out to occur in 1% of Ashkenazi Jewish women. These findings, combined with data showing that 1% of that population carry a flaw in a different breast cancer gene, means that 1 in 50 Ashkenazi Jewish women may have inherited a risk for the disease.

--Read the label. Preliminary reports may have identified a POTENTIAL CARCINOGEN: methylchloroisothiazolinone, a preservative found in shampoos, conditioners and lotions.

Sources--GOOD NEWS: Archives of Internal Medicine; Food and Drug Administration; Journal of Urology BAD NEWS: New England Journal of Medicine; Nature Genetics; Environmental and Molecular Mutagenesis

AUTHORITARIAN UPDATE

Once they were the strongmen of Central America and the Caribbean. Now they're in exile, in prison--or on the campaign trail:

DANIEL ORTEGA Nicaragua The Sandinista who seized power in 1979 and left office after losing an election in 1990 has traded fiery rhetoric for slick ads. He is now even-odds to win the Oct. 20 presidential election.

MANUEL NORIEGA Panama Sentenced in 1992 to 40 years in prison for racketeering and drug trafficking, he could be paroled in 2002. His three-room cell in Miami's federal prison is known as "the Dictator's Suite."

RAOUL CEDRAS Haiti The general lives with his family and former army chief of staff in a wealthy district of Panama City. He ventures out on weekends to listen to jazz, and says he is writing his memoirs.

JORGE SERRANO Guatemala Granted asylum in Panama City in 1993, the ex-President is trying to build an exclusive housing complex there. Cedras reportedly toured the property, which is said to be financially troubled.

LOCAL HEROES

GABRIEL LANE, 20; GREELEY, COLORADO; high school senior

At 5 ft. 3 in., 215 lbs., he looks like he was born to be a defensive tackle. But Lane, a special-education student with Down syndrome, was told he was too old to play on his high school junior-varsity team. When a court fight failed, pressure from supporters persuaded state officials to allow him to compete. He debuted on the field last week in a 34-16 victory. Says the Homecoming King nominee: "I just wanted to play football, and now I can."

DR. PAUL J. DUGAN, 66; ROSEVILLE, CALIFORNIA; physician

In private family practice for 34 years, Dugan knows firsthand that most people die from cardiac arrest before they reach the hospital. With the help of his wife and four children, he began Start-a-Heart Save-a-Heart, a community prevention-and-education program, in which 42,500 volunteers have become certified in CPR since 1978. "Anyone who can read can learn CPR," says Dugan. "Life is precious, and CPR and prevention save precious lives."

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

REG and MAGGIE GREEN BODEGA BAY, CALIFORNIA Parents of murder victim

Two years ago, during a family vacation, Nicholas Green, asleep in the back seat of a car with his four-year-old sister, Eleanor, was shot by bandits on a highway in Italy. He died two days later, on Oct. 1, three weeks after his seventh birthday. His parents donated his organs, an act that saved seven lives and was met with a huge outpouring of affection in Italy. Today Maggie, 35, and Reg, 67, who publishes a mutual-fund newsletter, travel the country on behalf of donor awareness. Two men are on trial for Nicholas' murder, but the family is celebrating new life. In May, Maggie gave birth to twins, Laura and Martin. Says Reg: "So much has continued to flow from his death. Nicholas is my first thought every morning, but the children have made the house busier and filled with joyous sounds."

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