Genomic amplification of regions on chromosome arm 5p has been observed frequently in small cell lung cancer (SCLC), implying the presence of multiple oncogenes on this arm. Although conventional comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) detects gross chromosomal copy number changes, gene discovery requires a higher-resolution approach in order to identify regions of alteration precisely. To identify candidate genes on this chromosome arm, we developed a high-resolution, 10-clone-per-megabase bacterial artificial chromosome CGH array for 5p and examined a panel of 15 SCLC cell lines. Utilization of this CGH array has allowed the fine-mapping of breakpoints to regions as small as 200 kb in a single experiment. In addition to reporting our observations of aberrations at the well-characterized SKP2 and TERT loci, we describe the identification of microdeletions that have escaped detection by conventional screens and the identification TRIO and ANKH as novel putative oncogenes.

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An analysis of the impact of stakeholder consultation during the conservation decision-making processes is presented. Defining and finding opportunities for stakeholder communication within conservation work is an ethical necessity when working with cultural heritage, but the limits and practice of this necessity are less clear. Case studies are used to explore which aspects of the conservation process stakeholders are most likely to be consulted about, and reviews the impact of their views. It asks whether conservators have a preference in which decisions they are prepared to share with stakeholders across three aspects of conservation: the initial appraisal, treatment and the display or storage. Where consultation relates to treatment, conservators are more likely to fall back on their own technical authority except when those consulted are regarded as fellow professionals. Other categories of stakeholder such as artists, originating communities, and religious groups were found to be more constructively consulted on the understanding of the object and on care related to display and storage. Conservators should be offered more explicit guidance on the ethics of consultation, the aspects of consultation that they should engage with and on the ethical ways to deal with conflict arising from consultation.

This paper examines how conservators engage with uncertainty when creating preventive conservation strategies. It argues that by recognising contexts in which uncertainty will be encountered conservators can develop effective management strategies. A typology of uncertainty explores a range of categories of uncertainty, their experience in preventive conservation and identifies distinct approaches to manage them. Managing uncertainty may include acts of defining its parameters, exposing and resolving through communication or protecting from with contingency. Whatever approach is adopted it must be accepted that uncertainty cannot be avoided. It is important therefore to aim to live well with uncertainty and the paper advocates for preventive conservation applications of strategies recommended in health care for patients with life-threatening illnesses. These strategies include working on things that can be controlled, goal setting, acceptance and factoring in emotions. The ability to identify contexts in which uncertainty is inbuilt should trigger those concerned with preventive conservation to activate strategies developed for managing and living well with uncertainty.

This article challenges a dominant narrative of conservation: that keeping things for longer is better. Approaches common in the heritage sector, such as risk management, support cautious patterns of behaviour that generate unintended consequences that can create further barriers to already excluded groups. Museums control and shape how present-day users engage with each other through their collections, but conservators can become disconnected from this process because of our concern about protecting value for future unspecified users. Conservators cannot opt out of taking sides when faced with cultural inequality, and must either accept or challenge it. Predicating actions for unknown future beneficiaries is neither always necessary nor positive and unless we change our practices and acknowledge past inequalities, users of the future will look a lot like users of today, with the current exclusions as described by the 'decolonise the museum movement' remaining endorsed. Creating a positive goal for conservation by creating connections with and via collections enables conservation to contribute to current participatory museum practices. If conservators re-position their perspective from a commitment to extending the lifetimes of objects to extending the life-experiences generated by them, they can offer a focus in which past inequality rather than future beneficiaries becomes a determining criterion of how long we keep things. By way of a brief overview of relevant theory, the article is intended as a call-to-action for conservators to join debates about cultural rights, oppression and privilege raging in and around the heritage sector.