November 19, 1985

A working group of members of the House Ways and Means Committee, rejecting President Reagan's proposal, voted today to permit taxpayers to deduct all their interest payments on mortgages on second homes. The six-member bipartisan group also rejected another proposal by the President that would limit deductions by real estate investors to the amount of money they actually invest and the amount of mortgages they are personally required to repay. The group's recommendations are likely to be adopted by the full Ways and Means Committee Tuesday and incorporated in the tax legislation it hopes to send to the floor of the House of Representatives for a vote next month. So far the committee has accepted the recommendations of its working groups without change.

EVERY winter the human nose is besieged by germs. This year, through new medical research, the nose is being encouraged to fight back. The counterattacks include experimental vaccines and drugs given by nose drop or aerosol and strategies to bolster the respiratory tract's natural defenses against infection. The inner surfaces of the airways have also become a target for drugs to treat diseases that have little to do with the respiratory system itself. The nasal route is even being tried in delivering insulin to diabetics. The upper respiratory tract is one of the great natural battlegrounds between viruses and the human body because the nose is an important natural gateway. Every day more than 2,500 gallons of air flow through each adult's nose, much more if the person exercises heavily. Riding on that air come all of the viruses, bacteria and other particles that happen to be in the vicinity.

WITH the nation's future supply of research chimpanzees in jeopardy, Federal authorities plan to create a special population of 350 pampered animals that would be exempted from medical duties and enjoy emotionally rich upbringings designed to enhance their reproductive skills. Medical scientists consider chimpanzees, the closest relative to humans in the animal world, to be indispensable for certain experiments, including future tests of vaccines against AIDS. The projected decline in research animals has engendered wide concern. Since the mid-1970's, no imports have been permitted of chimpanzees caught in the wilds of Africa, where the species is threatened. Hundreds of the animals have been bred in captivity. But without new measures, scientists say, the future availability of chimpanzees will be endangered by two trends.

Rescue workers found at least five more people alive in the sea of mud in this ruined town today, including an 18-month-old boy. The development came after reports Sunday that the Government had suspended efforts to find survivors from the mudslides and flooding that struck Armero and 13 other villages and towns after the eruption Wednesday of the Nevado del Ruiz volcano. Today, army officers in Mariquita, not far from Armero, said they had been ordered to continue searching for 50 more hours. The army officers, who have been pessimistic from the start, said they had thought there was little chance of finding anyone else alive in the mud five days after it gushed over the town, propelled by flood waters that cascaded down the sides of the volcano. Had the Government carried out its plans to end the search and declare the whole town a cemetery, as the Minister of Health, Rafael de Zubiria, announced Sunday afternoon, these people would have been left to die.

After Gulf Oil was acquired by Chevron in March 1984, John H. Pronsky, a Gulf general manager of marketing, felt betrayed by his company's leaders. ''How could my management let this happen to me?'' he recalled feeling. ''It was like a death in the family,'' said Mr. Pronsky, who, after working at Gulf for eight and a half years, quit last January and went to work for Schlumberger. Why did he leave? Because his ''psychological contract'' with his employer had been broken. Because of a perceived clash between Gulf's and Chevron's corporate cultures. And because of fears that if he stayed, he would ''go through life at Chevron with a Gulf logo on my head'' and would, therefore, be ''a second-class citizen.'' ''Middle management's trust in the corporation's ability to take care of its employees has been shaken,'' Mr. Pronsky, who is 44 years old, said.