NOTEBOOK

By JANICE M. HOROWITZ; NADYA LABI; LINA LOFARO; BELINDA LUSCOMBE; EMILY MITCHELL; MEGAN RUTHERFORD; ALAIN L. SANDERS

WINNERS & LOSERS

IMAGE IS EVERYTHING

[WINNERS]

MADELEINE ALBRIGHT She's really in the majors now. So what if she bounced the ball? George Bush hit the dirt too.

WHITE HOUSE EASTER-EGG ROLL Phew! Some broken eggs but no jokes about Chinese egg rolls and unsavory Asian connections.

DIGITAL TV A boon to broadcasters? Maybe. But do we really want to see Dan Rather's pores?

[& LOSERS]

NEWT GINGRICH Tough talk in China, but comes home to a wife who says, If you pay this fine, I'm history.

STRAWBERRIES Biggest scare since Alar--remember that? Kids and berries take it on the arm.

JACK MCMAHON There goes the vote? On old tape, G.O.P. candidate for Philly D.A. counsels striking poor black jurors.

FROM THE ANNALS OF WRETCHED EXCESS

Want a Shake with That?

Fast food isn't exactly one of America's more glamorous cultural symbols, but that hasn't put off bag lady to the rich and famous Kathrine Baumann. New to her menu of ritzy glass-beaded purses, clutched by such celebrities as Liz Taylor, Melanie Griffith and Barbara Walters, is what she calls "the great American meal," a hamburger, fries and a bottle of Coca-Cola. It's hardly a take-out order for the common gal, however. This little set of McTrinkets costs about $6,000, which comes to more than 1,000 "great American meals."

HEALTH REPORT

THE GOOD NEWS

--Go ahead, have the vanilla cone. Women who consume foods rich in calcium--milk, cheese and yogurt--may lower their risk of KIDNEY STONES.

--Worried about coronary disease? Take heart. Doctors may have isolated a new risk factor for HEART DISEASE and stroke that's simple to pick up with a blood test: chronic inflammation of the arteries. Men with high levels of inflammation may have three times the risk of heart attack and double the chance of a stroke.

--A new drug for MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS called Copaxone reduces the frequency of attacks without causing flulike symptoms or many of the other troubling side effects associated with today's interferon-based drugs.

THE BAD NEWS

--The unkindest cut? Contrary to current thinking, CIRCUMCISION may not protect against sexually transmitted disease, though researchers can't explain why. In fact, the incidence of chlamydia may be 25 times as high among circumcised men.

--Pregnant women, steer clear of smoke. Exposure to PASSIVE SMOKE--even small amounts--can significantly increase the odds of giving birth to a baby whose lungs don't function properly. The damage begins in utero when chemicals from cigarette smoke cause less oxygen to go from mother to fetus.

--Do you have HEART PALPITATIONS? If you're a woman, chances are they'll be misdiagnosed as a panic attack rather than a benign but treatable heart-rhythm disorder.

Sources--GOOD NEWS: Annals of Internal Medicine; New England Journal of Medicine; Teva Marion Partners BAD NEWS: Journal of the American Medical Association; Environmental Health Perspectives; Archives of Internal Medicine

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

JIM BOUTON, 58; GREAT BARRINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS; author, baseball player

He has yet to be invited to the Yankees' Old-Timers' Day--all because this onetime fastball pitcher turned knuckleballer threw baseball a curve. His 1970 classic, Ball Four, forever changed the way fans looked at baseball. Bouton had been one of the best. In 1963 he had a record of 21 and 7--and made $10,500. But at the tail end of his career, he wrote a seriously funny book that revealed, among other things, that Mickey Mantle shunned giving autographs to kids and professional ballplayers were not the boy scouts they made themselves out to be. The book became a best seller, but Bouton was condemned by his peers. After retiring in 1970, he became a TV sportscaster and entrepreneur, creating Big League Chew bubble gum. Currently working on two baseball-related screenplays and a musical version of Ball Four, Bouton still pitches in an amateur league.