HEALTH ISSUE: SHORT CUTS

SHORT CUTS Swingers face a higher risk of sex diseases        Scientists studying swingers - heterosexual couples who swap partners at sex parties - say they have higher rates of sexually transmitted infections (STis) than prostitutes. Dutch researchers publishing their work in the British Medical Journal showed that older swingers - over the age of 45 - are particularly vulnerable and yet are a group largely ignored by health care sevices, with estimates the swinger population could be many millions across the world, the scientists said there was a risk this untreated group could act as an STI "transmission bridge to the entire population." Red wine may help keep Alzheimer's at bay:             A new research has shown that an organic compound found in the drink - resveratrol has the ability to neutralise the toxic effects of proteins linked to Alzheimer's disease. The findings are a step toward understanding the large-scale death of brain cells seen in certain neurodegenerative diseases, "We've shown how resvertrol has very interesting selectivity to target and neutralize a select set of toxic peptide isoforms," Rensselaer Professor Peter M Tessier said.