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This article analyzes the modernization campaigns in Egypt in the 1960s and early 1970s. The regulation of the Nile by the Aswan High Dam and the resulting irrigation projects caused the rate of schistosomiasis infestation in the population to rise. The result was a discourse between experts from the global north and Egyptian elites about modernization, development aid, dam building and health care. The fight against schistosomiasis was like a cipher, which combined different power-laden concepts and arguments. This article will decode the cipher and allow a deeper look into the contemporary dimensions of power bound to this subject. The text is conceived around three thematic axes. The first deals with the discursive interplay of modernization, health and development aid in and for Egypt. The second focuses on far-reaching and long-standing arguments within an international expert discourse about these concepts. Finally, the third presents an exemplary case study of West German health and development aid for fighting schistosomiasis in the Egyptian Fayoum oasis.

Advanced applications of ultrasound in neurosurgery have been evaluated in two projects of the Ruhr Center of Excellence for Medical Engineering (KMR), Bochum, Germany. Engineers, neurologists, and neurosurgeons are cooperating within an interdisciplinary project structure, in order to practically approach neurosurgical problems by elaborating novel ultrasound-based technologies. On one hand, procedures have been implemented for an ultrasound-based registration of bone structures, applicable, amongst others, to the high-accuracy navigation of pedicle screws. On the other hand, concepts have been developed regarding a pre- and intraoperative application of ultrasound contrast agents for the detection of cerebral tumors and for the monitoring of surgery. In this article, both projects are discussed on the basis of the results obtained thus far and, furthermore, potentials of these concepts are presented that may complement or extend the scopes of the neurosurgical practice.