1.  Defensive linemen Ryan Nielsen, Matt Childers, Lonnie Ford and Shamsud-Din Abdul-Shaheed are all exceeding expectations this season.

2.  Defensive partners are expected to be Berg and Rob Blake; Darryl Sydor and Sean O'Donnell; and Denis Tsygurov and Marty McSorley.

3.  Defibrillators, which can do the job in time, are a familiar prop on hospital television dramas, where they are wheeled on-screen _ ponderous and complex machines.

4.  Deregulation and so-called "power sharing," where one utility charges another a fee to transmit energy over a power line, are new to the industry.

5.  Derek Fisher, Rick Fox, Robert Horry, those guys are playing well and that's going to make the difference."

6.  Depleted by injuries, the A's are flailing their way out of contention in a division where reaching .500 would make them a juggernaut.

7.  Desormeaux's Breeders' Cup mounts -- two -- are down from six in 1993 and four in 1992 at Gulfstream Park.

8.  Delegates are overwhelmingly conservative and Reagan Republicans," said Gary Bauer, the conservative commentator and former GOP presidential candidate.

9.  Depression, AIDS, cancer, chronic illnesses, the challenges of parenting a Down syndrome child, are all subjects that fall into a gray area.

10.  Dell said its sales of servers, which are more profitable than PCs, are up more than 50 percent in the quarter.