May 12, 1992

Five years ago George Bush, then the Vice President, and senior members of the Reagan Administration had a bruising private confrontation with Ross Perot over the Texas billionaire's effort to take command of the Government's investigation of American servicemen missing in Southeast Asia. The bitter residue explains some of the tension that exists today between President Bush and Mr. Perot, who is considering an independent run for President this year.

THEORISTS digesting a NASA satellite's intriguing measurements of the faint ripples that emerged from the genesis of the universe say that far from resolving the major mysteries of creation, the discovery emphasizes a need for still deeper probing. Indeed the measurements by the Cosmic Background Explorer satellite seem, if anything, to have heightened disagreements among some theorists as to how the universe acquired the structure it exhibits today.

With Japanese economic growth slowing, Sadahiko Hidaka took a few minutes recently to tally the costs of the downturn on the metal fabrication company he heads. He said he expected his company's sales to drop 20 percent this year from last year's $15 million, because of cutbacks by his customers, which are big manufacturers like auto, shipbuilding and weapons companies.

Had Rosemarie Doherty lapsed into a coma in Arkansas, Iowa, Louisiana, Texas or a long list of other states, her family could have instructed doctors to remove the feeding tube that snakes from her nose to her stomach and the breathing tube that is taped into a hole in her throat. Had she lapsed into a coma in Florida or Washington, D.C., the instructions could even have come from a close family friend.

After decades of using mystique, prestige and cachet to pitch their products, some of the nation's wine makers have lately learned a new word: value. And those who have learned it best are selling more wine even while the industry is in its worst depression since Prohibition. Value, of course, has always been in the eye of the oenophile, but most agree that it applies to a wine, costing $7 to $10 a bottle, that can give customers a taste that usually costs $12 to $16. The strategy behind such wines, which has been time-tested in many other industries, is to push up sales volume by keeping costs low. Making Cutbacks