Cortisol induces a migration of eosinophil leukocytes from the blood to several lymphoid organs, such as the spleen, lymph nodes and thymus, but not to other tissues. This migration explains the cortisol-induced blood eosinopenia, which is much more pronounced in intact than in splenectomized animals.

could coexist. The rarities of the coexistence in the same lesion of a cavernous haemangioma with a malignant melanoma lead us to emphasize on the importance of this case.

To the Editor, The last decades have witnessed an increase in the incidences of skin cancer throughout the world. In Chile, a recent study showed that the mortality rates from malignant melanoma increased by 14% between 1988 and 1998 (1) and the skin cancer incidence rates increased by 101% between 1992 and 2001 in Santiago's hospitals (2). This may be explained by an increased exposure of individuals to UV radiation, mainly due to the hole in the ozone layer and also due to an increase in leisure time and the desire to possess a suntan. In order to reduce the incidence of skin cancer, it is important to educate young people about the danger of excessive sun exposure. The purpose of this study was to analyse the awareness, knowledge and attitudes of Chilean health university students towards sun exposure and sun protection. A total of 265 students (120 males and 145 females), average age 20.1 years, from Santiago, Chile (321S), were recruited for this study. A suitable questionnaire of multichoice questions comprising items examining awareness, knowledge and sun protection measures was constructed. The test was pre tested on a smaller number of students. Some of the questions had more than one answer. The survey was carried out between the months of August and November (winter-spring). The statistical analysis was performed by a w 2 test for heterogeneity. The distribution of Fitzpatrick skin type was: 7.9% skin type I, 41.1% type II, 28.7% type III, 21.1% type IV, 1.1% type V and 0 type VI. In relation to knowledge, a great number of students (99.6%) were aware of the link 'sun-skin cancer'; however, regarding the question on 'suntan and health', only 26.4% declared that a suntan is harmful for health, 87.2% considered it attractive and 22.

Oestrogen induces a migration of eosinophil leukocytes to the uterus where, it is suggested, these cells mediate several responses to hormone stimulation. To investigate the mechanism of the recognition of the uterus by the eosinophils, the present study describes the effect of a blockade of the rat reticulo-endothelial system with colloidal carbon on oestrogen-induced uterine eosinophilia, and other responses to oestrogen stimulation that, it has been suggested, are mediated by eosinophils. In the absence of oestrogen colloidal carbon induced an increase in the number of eosinophils in mesometrium but not in endometrium with myometrium, and a slight oedematous reaction in deep endometrium. Colloidal carbon abolished the oestrogen-induced increase in the number of eosinophils in endometrium with myometrium and drastically decreased the oestrogen-induced increase in uterine wet weight and the endometrial oedematous responses 6 h after the administration of oestrogen. The present results agree with the hypothesis that most uterine water imbibition is mediated by eosinophils and suggest a possible mechanism for the interaction of colloidal carbon with eosinophil migration to the uterus.