Total body water was measured by ethanol dilution and D2O stable isotope dilution in a group of 20 healthy volunteers (5 females and 15 males), predominantly 23- to 31-year-old students. Both indicator substances were given orally with an ethanol burden of 0.8 g/kg body weight and a D2O burden of 0.1 g/kg body weight after 12-h food and fluid restriction. This first direct comparison of total body water (TBW) from ethanol and D2O dilutions revealed the ethanol compartments to be smaller than those of D2O. The quotient of TBW (ethanol)/TBW (D2O) was 97.7%, which is the order of the quotient TBW (H2(18)O)/TBW (D2O) ( = 97%), well known from the literature and taken to represent relatively exactly the value of TBW overestimation (based on H/D exchange for acid protons) following D2O dilution [36]. Thus the value of TBW (ethanol) is almost identical to that of H2(18)O, which provides direct evidence that ethanol is distributed only in the body water.

Skull identification by electronic photo-composition can, with the help of a video-animation compositor, be further developed beyond the pure superprojection technique into an animated picture difference image. The employment of this combined technique to be recommended on account of the improved possibilities of control to be realized in the congruity of the superprojection composite picture.

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The photographic identification of a skull through the well-known superprojection technique can be modified and decisively improved by the use of a video-tape system. The identification method based on electronic photo composition is methodically simple to use. It offers the examiner the possibility to recognize the relationship between bone and soft part proportions, and the structure of the bone surface and the details of the soft part shape, as a concrete, tangible characteristic of identity to a substantially greater extent. The large number of controllable characteristics inherent in the ihgh degree of individuality of the skull offers not just an either/or "The skull fits"/ "It does not fit" into a photograph, but achieves proof of disproof of identity.