We examined and interviewed 809 randomly selected individuals (56% women and 44% men, mean age 44 years) from 4 Swedish cities; 1.7% had the sun-reactive skin type I, 26.2% type II, 61.3% type III and 10.7% type IV. Some variations in the distribution of skin types were found between the cities. One hundred subjects (12.4%), mostly women (p less than 0.001), had a history of polymorphous light eruption. People with skin type IV had significantly fewer facial skin problems than the rest of the subjects (p less than 0.05). The majority of subjects with atopic eczema, acne vulgaris or seborrheic dermatitis experienced improvement after exposure to sunlight. Individuals with rosacea also experienced improvement more often than impairment from exposure to sunlight. Facial telangiectases occurred in 57% of the subjects, unilaterally in 8.5% of the cases. The occurrence of telangiectases increased with increasing age (p less than 0.001), increasing sunbathing (p less than 0.01) and poor pigmentation ability (p less than 0.05).

OBJECTIVE: Sperms induced IgE production by seminal B cells from patients with atopic eczema via interaction of B cells with galectin-3 on sperms. We studied the effect of viewing a humorous film on IgE production by seminal B cells cultured with sperms. METHODS: Twenty-four male patients with atopic eczema viewed a humorous film (Modern Times, featuring Charlie Chaplin). Just before and immediately after viewing, semen was collected, and seminal B cells and sperms were purified. Seminal B cells were cultured with sperms and IgE production was measured, while expression of galectin-3 on sperms was assessed. RESULTS: After viewing the humorous film, IgE production by B cells cultured with sperms was significantly decreased. Moreover, expression of galectin-3 on sperms was reduced. CONCLUSION: Viewing a humorous film reduced galectin-3 expression on sperms, which in turn decreased IgE production by seminal B cells cultured with sperms. These results indicate that viewing a humorous film may be helpful for the study and treatment of local IgE production and allergy in the reproductive tract.