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Does an overactive thyroid gland affect mood and judgment? The question has been pertinent ever since President [Barbara Bush] was found to have Graves' disease, a disorder that causes the thyroid to produce excess hormone. Medical experts agree that thyroid disorders can affect mood, but on evidence made public so far, Mr. Bush had only a mild case. An important question is when Mr. Bush's case of Graves' disease began. His doctors now say that his thyroid apparently became overactive in mid-April, about two weeks after his last annual checkup, when he began losing a total of 10 pounds from the thyroid ailment. That was three weeks before he developed an erratic heartbeat, atrial fibrillation, that put Mr. Bush in the hospital for two days earlier this month. Dr. J. Maxwell McKenzie, a thyroid expert who heads the department of medicine at the University of Miami, said, 'You just wonder' when the Graves' disease began 'because I don't know what a routine physical for a President means.'

Three people have died of AIDS after receiving organ transplants from a Virginia man infected with the AIDS virus, setting off a search for nearly 50 others who may have received his tissues and organs. At least one other recipient has become infected. FDA officials believe that all but three of 61 organs and tissues from the infected man, who was killed in 1985, have been implanted or destroyed

The date when the man's tissue was last transplanted to another human is not known, but the last shipment to a hospital was on July 1, 1986, from LifeNet, [Faye Peterson] said. LifeNet officials said that all tissue grafts probably had been used by 1987. Under the plan, LifeNet began notifying all hospitals where it had distributed the man's tissue so that doctors and health officials could check the medical records of the recipients and examine the patients, if necessary. LifeNet declined to cite the hospitals or states involved. BLACK & WHITE Bud Brame of LifeNet Transplant Services holds a bottle of freeze-dried tissue. The firm processed 54 grafts from a donor later found to have AIDS. caption: Scott Bottenfield, left, of LifeNet answers a question at a news conference as colleagues Dr. Richard L. Hurwitz, center, and [Bill Anderson] listen. map caption: Donating life (AP); Credit: The Associated Press

Three people have died of AIDS after receiving organ transplants from a Virginia man infected with the AIDS virus, setting off a search for nearly 50 others who may have received his tissues and organs, federal health officials said yesterday. The search involves patients at 30 medical centers in this country, but the officials said that only a small portion of the patients are at substantial risk of becoming infected. At least one other recipient, an elderly Colorado woman who received a bone graft from the donor, has become infected with the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, which causes AIDS, officials of the Colorado Health Department said. The transmission is the largest of the AIDS virus from an infected donor to recipients of organs and tissues, according to reports from the national Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, which has tracked the viral disease since it was discovered in 1981. Food and Drug Administration officials believe that all but three of the organs and tissues from the infected man, who was killed in 1985, have been implanted or destroyed, said Faye Peterson, a spokeswoman for the federal agency. Peterson said FDA officials have found ''no evidence to suggest that any improper procedures were followed in the recovery or distribution of the donor's tissues and organs.'

A survey of 3,420 orthopedic surgeons, conducted to help learn the risk of AIDS infection between doctors and patients, has found that two were infected with the virus, according to the CDC

Fatigue is a common complaint from patients like [Bush] who are being treated for an overactive thyroid, doctors not connected with Bush's case said in interviews. But they noted that it was not particularly worrisome if it lasted only a few days. Bush's doctors have diagnosed Bush's overactive thyroid gland as Graves' disease and prescribed radioactive iodine. Bush swallowed radioactive iodine last week to shrink the thyroid and stop it from overacting. The gland in the neck makes thyroid hormone, which helps regulate the body's metabolism, and it can affect many organs, including the heart

President Bush said that his doctors had given him a very good report about his thyroid, but earlier a spokesman said the president had been uncharacteristically tired

With the new device, the patient's failing heart remains in place. After the patient recovers from the surgery, doctors hope he will be freely mobile. Unlike previous recipients of artificial heart devices, he will not be tethered to a cumbersome external console. The new device consists of a tube from the left ventricle to a pump in the abdomen just below the diaphragm, the thin muscle that separates the abdomen and the chest cavity. The pump, 4 inches in diameter and 1 1/4 inches thick, sends blood into the aorta, the main artery of the body

For the first time, surgeons have implanted a fully portable mechanical device to help a patient's failing heart pump until a heart donor can be found. The operation was an important step toward the development of a totally implantable artificial heart, researchers said

With the new device, the patient's failing heart remains in place. Doctors hope the patient will be freely mobile after he recovers from the surgery. Unlike previous recipients of artificial heart devices, he will not be tethered to a cumbersome external console. The device is not a full artificial heart like the Jarvik-7, which was powered by an external air compressor