NOTEBOOK

By JANICE M. HOROWITZ; LINA LOFARO; JAMIE MALANOWSKI; EMILY MITCHELL; MEGAN RUTHERFORD; ALAIN L. SANDERS

WINNERS & LOSERS

GROWING PAINS

[WINNERS]

TARA LIPINSKI Teen skater takes record of youngest world champion away from legend Sonja Henie

KOLYA Child-centered saga wins foreign-film Oscar for Czech director and his screenwriter dad

PABLO PICASSO Blockbuster exhibit at the National Gallery of Art will include works he painted at age 11

[& LOSERS]

THE WALT DISNEY CO. Cedes to public gasps; reinstates and expands its "Happy Hearts" discounts for disabled kids

THE N.Y.P.D. Educators and libertarians blast plan to use school yearbook photos to identify suspects

THE FINAL FOUR Only 18.9% of 14,000 tix allotted to "students of participating schools" go to actual students

HEALTH REPORT

THE GOOD NEWS

--An early report from France--where else?--finds more benefits from drinking wine. For reasons that are unclear, enjoying it daily--in moderation--may help stave off ALZHEIMER'S disease.

--In a preliminary study, Israeli researchers successfully used ultrasound to break up BLOOD CLOTS that cause heart attacks. The technique is less invasive than bypass surgery and, unlike clot-busting drugs, does not pose a risk of excessive bleeding.

--When an AIDS PATIENT has stopped responding to today's "cocktail" drug treatments, doctors have had to guess which drug in the mix was no longer effective. A new blood test will enable them to pinpoint exactly which medication the patient is becoming resistant to--and adjust the Rx.

THE BAD NEWS

--Those fortunate enough to survive a BONE-MARROW TRANSPLANT may face another problem later: an extremely high risk of developing a new tumor in the brain, liver or elsewhere. These tumors may be caused by the treatments with high doses of radiation that transplant patients require.

--Despite fortified foods, the rate of IRON DEFICIENCY among Americans has remained the same over two decades. Today 10% of toddlers, adolescent girls and young women don't get enough iron.

--Though the nation's BLOOD SUPPLY is still considered safe, a study shows that nearly 2% of donors don't reveal when they've had unprotected gay male sex, used intravenous drugs or engaged in other behavior that might taint their blood.

Sources--GOOD NEWS: Bordeaux University Hospital; Circulation; Specialty Laboratories BAD NEWS: New England Journal of Medicine; Journal of the American Medical Association (2,3)

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

CUBA GOODING SR., 52; SHERMAN OAKS, CALIFORNIA; singer

Two days after his son and namesake leaped to the stage to collect an Oscar, Cuba Gooding Sr. was in rehearsal for a gig on the Sunset Strip. Lead singer of the '70s group Main Ingredient, Gooding still performs in clubs and theaters. He says that in Harlem, where he was born, "your manhood was proved by your ability to make either the women scream or the men run. I was good at making women scream by singing." After the 1972 Everybody Plays the Fool went gold, Gooding moved his family to California and was a Motown solo artist from 1978 until 1983. He and his wife Shirley were divorced for 15 years--"We were too young to be married," he explains--but they reunited two years ago. "Before Cuba Jr. won," says the proud dad, "it was a great time in my life. Now, this is the only time--nothing else was important except this."