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The doctors say they believe that Mr. Sharon can survive the extensive stroke and cerebral hemorrhage that he suffered Wednesday. But the assumption among Israelis is that Mr. Sharon, 77, will not be able to return to political life. Still, supporters hung a white sheet at the hospital entrance that read, ''[Ariel Sharon], there is more to do, please wake up.'' Ehud Olmert, a close ally of Mr. Sharon who has been elevated from deputy prime minister to acting prime minister, has pledged to follow Mr. Sharon's policies. He has not made any major decisions since Mr. Sharon was hospitalized. Later in the day, doctors administered pain-stimulus tests, and Mr. Sharon slightly moved his right arm and right leg, Dr. [Mor-Yosef] said. The movements ''grew more and more substantial as we reduced the medication,'' the doctor added. Mr. Sharon's blood pressure also rose in response to the tests, which the doctor said was a positive sign

'The Palestinian Authority should avoid making any connection between the health of [Ariel Sharon] and the election date,' he said in a statement published in Palestinian newspapers. 'The election is a national Palestinian issue and it must not be linked to any foreign concerns such as what is happening in Israel with Sharon.' Dr. Jose Cohen, one of the surgeons working on Sharon, told Channel 2 TV on Saturday that there was a 'very high' chance that Sharon would live. But he added: 'To say after such a severe trauma as this that there will be no cognitive problems is simply not to recognize the reality.' Cohen, who was born in Argentina, later told a group of Spanish reporters: 'He will not continue to be prime minister, but maybe he will be able to speak and to understand,' according to remarks printed in the Jerusalem Post. The risks to Sharon, which stem from his immobility since the stroke, include development of life-threatening infections like pneumonia plus urinary tract infections and bed sores. On Saturday, Cohen was quoted as saying, 'We are praying there won't be complications, like catching an infection.' It is standard care to move the arms and legs of stroke patients to prevent muscle atrophy and contractions. Hospital workers also move patients and use special mattresses to prevent bed sores

Dr. [Lee H. Schwamm] has followed Mr. [Ariel Sharon]'s case from news accounts. Although some of Mr. Sharon's treatment has been extraordinary, Dr. Schwamm said, in many ways it resembles that normally provided for ordinary stroke victims. As the coma eases, Mr. Sharon, who is connected to a mechanical ventilator that automatically breathes for him, will be expected to resume breathing on his own. But the doctors must make sure that the natural and mechanical breathing are synchronized and that Mr. Sharon does not become so agitated that he tries to spit out the breathing tube and act in other ways to increase the pressure in the brain to dangerous levels. Israeli doctors have taken aggressive measures that push the edge of medical knowledge in caring for Mr. Sharon. But, Dr. Schwamm said: ''A win here would be that he could speak, understand speech and move his right side purposely, even if he ended up in a wheelchair. Preserving such functions will have justified the efforts that Mr. Sharon's doctors have made trying to save his life, even his brain.''

Dr. Shlomo Mor-Yosef, the director of Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital, said Saturday that [Ariel Sharon]'s blood pressure, heart rate and other 'vital signs were within normal limits.' Sharon is breathing with the aid of a mechanical respirator. Separately, the imprisoned Palestinian politician Marwan Barghouti warned against any move to use Sharon's illness as a reason to postpone Palestinian legislative elections scheduled for Jan. 25. 'The Palestinian Authority should avoid making any connection between the health of Sharon and the election date,' he said in a statement published in Palestinian newspapers. 'The election is a national Palestinian issue, and it must not be linked to any foreign concerns such as what is happening in Israel with Sharon.'

Dr. Shlomo Mor-Yosef, the director of Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital, said Saturday that Mr. [Ariel Sharon]'s blood pressure, heart rate and other ''vital signs were within normal limits.'' Mr. Sharon is breathing with the aid of a mechanical respirator. Later on Saturday, Dr. Jose Cohen, a member of the team monitoring Mr. Sharon, rated his prospects of survival as ''very high,'' Israel's Channel 2 television reported, according to Reuters. ''I am pretty optimistic about it. We are praying there won't be complications, like catching an infection,'' Dr. Cohen was quoted as saying. But he stressed that Mr. Sharon would not be unscathed, saying, ''To say that after a severe impact like this one there would not be cognitive problems is just not acknowledging reality.'' ''The Palestinian Authority should avoid making any connection between the health of Sharon and the election date,'' he said in a statement published in Palestinian newspapers. ''The election is a national Palestinian issue and it must not be linked to any foreign concerns such as what is happening in Israel with Sharon.''

Mr. [Ariel Sharon], 77, has been in a medically induced coma since two operations on Wednesday. Because of the Sabbath there were to be no further health bulletins on Mr. Sharon until Saturday evening, barring major developments. His chief surgeon, Dr. Felix Umansky, told Agence France-Presse that Mr. Sharon ''can still pull through.'' Still, the renewed bleeding was not a good sign, and no one believes Mr. Sharon will return to office. Mr. [Shimon Peres] left Labor after Mr. [Amir Peretz] defeated him for the party leadership, and he joined his old friend Mr. Sharon in his new Kadima Party. But Mr. Peres may feel less comfortable with a party led by the acting prime minister, Ehud Olmert, who is 60

While some experts supported the extraordinary treatments that were used to try to save Mr. [Ariel Sharon]'s life, and others opposed them, all agreed that Mr. Sharon's Israeli doctors were working at the very edges of medicine's lifesaving capacities, with little experience and few studies to guide them. Mr. Sharon's second stroke occurred on the eve of a scheduled procedure to close a hole in the wall separating the upper chambers of his heart. Doctors suspected that the clot that caused his first stroke arose from his legs or elsewhere to pass through the hole and ultimately lodge in an artery in the brain. When doctors examined him on Wednesday night, Mr. Sharon complained of chest pain that could have resulted if part of a clot traveled to his lungs and another piece went through the hole to his brain. Or, if he had suffered a heart attack, a clot within the heart might have broken off to lodge in a brain artery. In either case, the anticoagulant therapy could have converted the clot into a hemorrhagic stroke

Last year a study in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention looked at 7,000 current and former smokers and found a marked reduction in cancer occurrence and mortality in those who exercised regularly and vigorously, even among current smokers. For example, there was a 25 percent reduction in cancer deaths in the 54- to 62-year-old smokers who followed a workout program compared to those who did not exercise. The study is among several that shows exercise has a positive effect even in heavy smokers. The study looked at 43,000 people from the 1970s through 2002 and found that those who smoked very little (one to four cigarettes daily) had poor health outcomes. These light smokers were three times more likely to die of heart disease than nonsmokers; heavy smokers were four times more likely. Light smokers also had significantly higher death rates over the 30 year period -- 1.5 times higher generally -- than those who had never smoked. Going from zero to four cigarettes per day showed by far the greatest correlation in the study between smoking and associated death rates. In fact, it wasn't until cigarette consumption increased to 25 cigarettes per day that the corresponding death rate from all causes reached three times normal. Certainly, a subset of patients has been so devastated by smoking that any exertion may present a strain too great for a severely damaged heart or lungs. Any smokers considering beginning an exercise program must consult with their physicians first. But for most smokers it seems clear that regular exercise initiates a healthy cycle that is likely to improve, and perhaps extend, their lives