August 16, 2005

Growing number of hedge fund managers have taken up tactics to wage populist battles against chief executives, taking advantage of regulatory changes and public mood oriented toward rooting out corporate misdeeds; funds are demanding that executives sell off units, pay dividends or take other actions to raise stock prices quickly; one such activist is Carl C Icahn; some of his recent deals noted; another activist Daniel S Loeb, managing member of Third Point, hedge fund manager, who helped convince Star Gas chief executive Irik P Sevin to resign; photo (M)

First article in series, Being a Patient, explores often degrading experience of entering medical system, whether hospital, nursing home or clinic; in surveys, many people who have received medical care say they benefit from expertise of first-rate doctors, but often feel resentful, helpless and dehumanized in process; they cite impersonal nature of care; anthropologists say transformation from citizen to patient can be jarring, and it begins immediately at admission with clerk handing out confusing forms, and newly designated 'patient' required to strip to underwear and don flimsy hospital gown that opens at back; says it continues with nearly total lack of privacy during hospital stay; many patients complain about nurses and doctors who enter room and begin examination or medical procedure without introducing themselves or speaking at all; many patients complain about noise on most hospital floors; photos (L)

Michael Ellison has a dream: to reconstruct a living thing inside a computer, down to every last molecule. It is, he said, ''the ultimate goal in biology to be able to do this.'' It's a dream that Dr. Ellison, a biologist at the University of Alberta, shares with other scientists, who have imagined such an achievement for decades.

Article in series The Hopefuls, on candidates seeking to unseat New York City Mayor Michael R Bloomberg, profiles Democratic City Council Speaker Gifford Miller; he was youngest City Council member in history when he was elected at 26; after decade in office he still looks youthful for veteran councilman; he has led more than dozen overrides of mayoral vetoes, but has also faced criticism over his campaign tactics; question of whether he has, perhaps, been too willing to trim his beliefes to prevailing political wind is one that closely followed his rapid rise; detailed biographical sketch; photos (L)

Gene-altered rice project by Watson, Mo, farmer Jason Garst and backed by private company called Ventria Bioscience with support of Northwest Missouri State University, has run into opposition from environmental groups and even beer giant Anheuser-Busch amid fears about health effects of genetically engineered crops; critics of Ventria's plans are concerned that gene-altered rice could contaminate regular rice crops and pose health risk to consumers, scaring off buyers; debate has certain urgency in Farm Belt because it highlights challenge facing much of region's economy: finding new products that will reduce farmers' reliance on commodity crops; photos (M)