Lawrence Mondi, Michael Quinn and Alain L. Sanders
</p>
<p>HEALTH REPORT
</p>
<p> The Good News
</p>
<p>-- Researchers may be closer to developing a universal screening
test for cancer. By examining tumors from the lungs, bladder,
head and neck, doctors found characteristic DNA "fingerprints"
that betrayed the presence of malignant cells no matter which
tissue they came from.
</p>
<p>-- Dyslexia has been linked to a gene found on chromosome 6.
If confirmed, the find could lead to early diagnosis so that
remedial training can begin as soon as possible.
</p>
<p>-- An experimental drug called copolymer I has been found to
delay the progression of multiple sclerosis by decreasing the
number of muscle-weakening attacks.
</p>
<p> The Bad News
</p>
<p>-- Although the majority of infants in the U.S. regularly see
a doctor, research indicates that more than half the nation's
babies fail to get all the vaccine shots they need during the
first seven months of life. Many have no protection against
spinal meningitis and whooping cough.
</p>
<p>-- People who turn to surgery to correct their nearsightedness
may not escape having to wear glasses after all. A 10-year study
shows that a third of patients who undergo radial keratotomy,
in which the corneas are resculpted for better vision, gradually
develop farsightedness and may need reading glasses sooner than
they would have without the procedure.
</p>
<p> Sources--GOOD: The Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences; Science; American Neurological Association annual
meeting BAD: Journal of the American Medical Association; The
Archives of Ophthalmology
</p>
<p>LAUREATES OF THE WEEK
</p>
<p> Up to their neck in a hostage crisis, uneasy partners Yitzhak
Rabin and Shimon Peres of Israel and Yasser Arafat of the P.L.O.
shared a Nobel Peace Prize.
</p>
<p>INSIDE WASHINGTON
</p>
<p> Not Exactly the Most Coveted Job in D.C.
</p>
<p> David Wilhelm's interim successor as chairman of the Democratic
National Committee will be Debra DeLee, currently the party's
No. 2 official and already scheduled to be the chief organizer
of the 1996 Democratic Convention. DeLee was drafted from the
National Education Association in order to reduce chaos at the
DNC, where she has fired scores of underlings. It is expected
that she will step down as chair next year--and be replaced
by one honored name or another from the party's 1994 roster
of election losers.
</p>
<p>WINNERS & LOSERS
</p>
<p> Winners
</p>
<p> BILL CLINTON--Cedras departs; Saddam retreats--and Congress is gone too.
</p>
<p> JEFFREY KATZENBERG--Forms new studio. And Eisner thought Euro Disney was bad news.
</p>
<p> MAGELLAN SATELLITE--Well-functioning Venus probe makes NASA look good for a change.
</p>
<p> Losers
</p>
<p> JIMMY CARTER--The Susan Lucci of the Nobel Peace Prize is passed over yet again.
</p>
<p> THE WEEKLY READER--Tobacco-linked kids' tabloid is slammed for smokers' rights piece.
</p>
<p> GLENN SEABORG--Physicist's name is stripped from element 106 (ne seaborgium).
</p>
<p>AND GANDHI NEVER GOT ONE
</p>
<p> The selection of sometime terrorist Yasser Arafat as a co-winner
of this year's Nobel Peace Prize is the latest reminder that
the honor often goes to leaders with less than Gandhi-like resumes.
<table>
<tblhdr><cell>Year<cell>Winner(s)<cell>Reason for prize<cell>Background
<row><cell type=i>1994<cell type=a>Yitzhak Rabin<cell type=a>Israeli PM agreed to peace with Arafat<cell type=a>As Defense Minister, Rabin oversaw a brutal policy to suppress the Palestinian intifadeh, granting soldiers the right to break bones.
<row><cell>1978<cell>Anwar Sadat,<cell>Signing Jimmy Carter's Camp David Accord<cell>In 1973 Sadat launched the October War. Total dead: 16,000
<row><cell><cell>Menachem Begin<cell><cell>As Irgun commander, Begin participated in the 1946 terrorist bombing of the King David Hotel.
<row><cell>1973<cell>Henry Kissinger,<cell>The agreement leading to the withdrawal of American Forces from Southeast Asia<cell>Kissinger and Tho played key roles in the prosecution of the war in Indochina. Total dead between 1965 and 1975: more than 2 million.
<row><cell><cell>Le Duc Tho<cell>(Tho refused his prize)<cell>
<row><cell>1906<cell>T. Roosevelt<cell>Arranging Russian-Japanese peace<cell>As Vice President and President, Roosevelt promoted imperial adventures like the Spanish-American War and the Philippine Insurrection. Total dead: more than 205,000.
</table>
</p>
<p>WOULD YOU WAIT FOR BLOSSOM?
</p>
<p> A look at the length of waiting lists for seats in the studio
audiences of your favorite--and not so favorite--TV shows.
