August 1, 2000

Charlotte Hornets and Miami Heat reportedly are close to nine-player trade in which Anthony Mason and Eddie Jones would join Heat in return for P J Brown and Jamal Washburn; photo (M)

Lasik (Laser in-situ keratomileusis) has become a $3-billion-a-year industry and the prize in a turf war being waged by traditional opthalmologists, high-volume centers like Lasik Vision and LaserOne and a third arrangement called co-management, in which a patient's optometrist handles the initial evaluation and postoperative care in exchange for part of the surgeon's fee; an estimated 1.2 Americans will undergo Lasik surgery next year to correct nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism, most of them paying out of their own pockets for a procedure deemed cosmetic by insurance companies; marketing materials from traditional Lasik surgeons often darkly hint that their cheaper competitors might be skimping to make a profit; high-volume operations contend that traditional surgeon's fee of over $5,000 for two eyes is excessive; photos; drawing (L)

Shimon Peres, three-time prime minister of Israel and one of most enduring standard-bearers for Middle East peace, is defeated by Iranian-born Moshe Katsav, relatively obscure figure, in contest in parliament to become Israel's eighth president; despite distinguished career replete with many honors including Nobel Prize, defeat will almost certainly mark him as one of Israel's great losers; he has lost four of five elections for prime minister, as well as leadership battles within Labor Party that relegated him to runner-up status, first behind late Yitzhak Rabin and current Prime Min Ehud Barak; photo (M)

Argentine ants are overwhelming native California ants while forming what scientists believe may be a supercolony stretching from San Diego to north of San Francisco; are are so genetically similar that different colonies do not fight with one another, as they do with fierceness in Argentina, and present a united family front to win territory from native California ants, which are vital to survival of certain plant and lizard species; supercolony also poses unsolved riddle about the evolution of so-called unicolonial insects and even raises possibility of an insect world dominated by invasive unicolonial species; photo (M)

A Start-Up Recruits People To Donate DNA to Science A California start-up, DNA Sciences, is introducing a Web site that will recruit people to donate their DNA to help find genes that cause disease. The company hopes to get 50,000 to 100,000 people to contribute to its ''gene trust'' by appealing to their altruism. The new effort reflects a big change taking place in genetics. Studies to link genes to disease are starting to be conducted on an unprecedented scale. While such studies promise to lead to big medical advances, the collection of genetic data on such a wide scale is also raising ethical and privacy issues. [Page A1.]

DNA Sciences, California start-up company, is introducing Web site to recruit people to donate their DNA to help find genes that cause disease; company, which has DNA double helix discoverer James D Watson as director and Netscape founder James H Clark as investor, hopes to get 50,000 to 100,000 people to contribute to its 'gene trust' by appealing to their altruism; new effort underscores change taking place in genetics; studies to link genes to disease are beginning to be done on unparalleled scale, involving far more people than ever before; photo (M)

Howrey Simon Arnold & White, Washington law firm, is scrapping traditional summer-associate program, with its high pay, perks and light work load, for a 'boot camp' program that requires students to work 12 hours a day for two weeks on mock trial, as well as spend two weeks in regional office; seeks to give young lawyers more accurate picture of life at law firm, move that could cut turnover; photo (M)

Article discusses growing number of amateur classical musicians joining chamber music groups, orchestras and programs at community music schools; photo (M)

Harvey Araton Sports of The Times column on Cincinnati Reds outfielder Ken Griffey Jr and his desire play for team; discusses Griffey's slow start in 2000; photo (M)

Teams of physicists at High Energy Accelerator Research Organization in Japan and at Stanford Linear Accelerator Center in California each succeed in producing millions of B mesons, subatomic particles, along with their antimatter counterparts; precise comparison of decay rates of B's and anti-B's should provide yardstick of the charge-parity violation, a basic asymmetry between matter and antimatter; drawing; photo (L)

Article discusses increasing number of people leaving their careers to become teachers in New York City; NYS Board of Regents has paved way for new program under which people with little or no teaching experience could be trained when it voted to create alternative certification route for teachers; they comment on learning new career; photo (M)

Kenneth Gregorio, arrested with Brian Juliano in Neptune, NJ, for possession and intended sale of drug Ecstasy, commits suicide in his jail cell; investigators and prosecutors privately suggest that suicide might have been response to recent New Jersey state legislation that significantly stiffened penalties for possession, selling or manufacturing of drug (M)