PULSE.

Byline: Andy Wang

Here's an easy pill to swallow. It's called the SmartPill, and it's a device slightly bigger than a multivitamin that, when swallowed, records data from your gastrointestinal system.

According to SmartPill CEO David Barthel, one current method of discovering what ails your GI system, called gastric emptying scintigraphy, is a daylong ordeal that requires visiting a hospital, eating meals dosed with radiation and being X-rayed every half-hour.

SmartPill, by comparison, only has to be ingested. A palm-size recording device worn for the next day or two records radio signals from the SmartPill passing through a patient's GI tract, capturing information such as pH, temperature, pressure and total transit time.

A doctor then downloads the information from the recording device to a run-of-the-mill computer, where it can be analyzed. The pill? Flushed down the toilet.

HOTTI GOTTI: Frank Gotti may be the last person you'd expect to write a weight-loss book. But the youngest of the three Gotti boys -- made famous by the reality show ``Growing Up Gotti'' -- has a story to tell, and it's actually a worthwhile read for anyone trying to lose weight and get fit. ``The Gotti Diet: How I Took Control of My Body, Lost 80 Pounds, and Discovered How to Stay Fit Forever'' (ReganBooks; $16.95) is a combination of diet-and-exercise tips, autobiography and food confessional. The book is interspersed with Gotti's own experiences being overweight and his subsequent determination to get fit, despite friends who didn't think he could do it. It includes healthy recipes, tables to chart progress, demonstrations of exercises and a glossary of terms.

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(1) no caption (SmartPill)

(2) no caption (book: ``The Gotti Diet: How I Took Control of My Body, Lost 80 Pounds, and Discovered How to Stay Fit Forever'')