Forty-one year old Ben Moorhouse from Halifax will take on the dangerous challenge in gruelling temperatures on August 17 in memory of his daughter Kallipateira who was stillborn at 37 weeks in October 2018.

Ben has already made history on the Greek island when in August 2021 he became the only person to walk around the full perimeter of the island nonstop – a total of 150 miles in 42 hours.

He has set himself a target of £10,000 for two summer extreme challenges with all funds going to Professor Alexander Heazell and his team at the Tommy’s 91ֱ�� Maternal and Fetal Health research to support research and to help save babies’ lives.

In July he completed a 110-mile nonstop walk from Wainhouse Tower in Halifax to Blackpool then onto Saint Mary’s Hospital in 91ֱ��, where Professor Heazell and his team are based.

Ben and his partner Gaynor Thompson launched the Kallipateira Moorhouse Foundation charity to help save babies lives through research and support other parents who have experienced the death of a baby.

Ben said “On Saturday I am proud to be able to take on my next extreme challenge on the beautiful and magical island of Rhodes for my daughter Kallipateira.

“I am ready and prepared to put myself through the mill again on Saturday in the current extreme heat and humidity in Rhodes.

“Thankfully most people who see my extreme challenges will not have had to experience the devastation of holding their dead baby or child.

“I ask for the public’s kindness in please supporting me with a donation no matter how big or small. I am just a normal dad trying my best to make sure my baby girl did not die for nothing.”

Every day in the UK eight babies stillborn on average, many which are preventable. These are beautiful fully developed babies who should be alive.

“As a grieving dad who each day feels the pain of Kallipateira’s devastating death I must now raise more vital funds for Professor Heazell and his team to support research so that other families nationally don’t have to experience the pain that we do every day.”

Professor Alexander Heazell, Director of the Tommy's Stillbirth Research Centre said: “It was great to be able to walk the last 33 miles of Ben’s Walk from Preston to 91ֱ�� with him in July.

“I am always amazed at the depth and strength of his commitment to raise funds in memory of Kallipateira.

“The money Ben has raised previously has funded projects to understand partners needs in pregnancy after loss and to improve understanding of stillbirth risks in women who don’t speak English.

This important work comes from donations, so please support Ben in this second extreme challenge of the summer to support work that saves babies lives and improves care.”

 Dignity Funerals are the headline sponsor of the extreme challenge walk.

Stuart Cox, Head of Public Affairs at Dignity Funerals, who are sponsoring the challenge said: “As a socially responsible business Dignity is delighted to continue our support for the Kallipateira Moorhouse Foundation.

“After Ben initially approached us, we could immediately see the value of the work the Foundation does and his inspiring enthusiasm for fundraising. We all wish him the best of luck with his latest challenges.”

• You can donate to Ben via his just giving
• For more information about the Kallipateira Moorhouse Foundation, visit their

The Screen and Treat with Aspirin to Reduce Pre-eclampsia (STARshiP) study is led by researchers from Saint Mary’s Managed Clinical Service, part of Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT), in collaboration with The University of Manchester and the Nottingham Clinical Trials Unit at the University of Nottingham.

With the study of 200,000 women and their babies, STARshiP represents one of the largest endeavours in pregnancy screening research.

Funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and sponsored by The University of Manchester, the trial aims to transform antenatal care of the condition.

Pre-eclampsia is a condition that affects some pregnant women, usually during the second half of pregnancy (from 20 weeks) or soon after their baby is delivered.

Early signs of pre-eclampsia include having high blood pressure and protein in the urine.

Though the condition occurs in up to 8% of pregnancies, there are currently few ways to predict which patients may be at risk.

With the aim of improving the detection of women at higher risk of developing the condition and offering aspirin as a preventative treatment, the STARshiP study will quantify the benefit of the screening, offered by the researchers at the same time as the early pregnancy scan.

Key features of the STARshiP study include:

• Combined Screening Technique using the Fetal Medicine Foundation Test: The STARshiP study will implement a new screening method for pre-eclampsia which includes additional measurements taken during the first trimester ultrasound scan and a blood test to measure placental hormones.
• Aspirin Treatment to reduce the risk of pre-eclampsia: Pregnant people identified as high-risk through the new screening process will receive aspirin treatment as per the current NHS standard care. Aspirin is a safe, cost-effective treatment which has been shown to reduce the incidence and severity of pre-eclampsia.
• Efficient Trial Design: The STARshiP study is designed in a way that the screening test will be rolled-out across participating maternity hospitals, with all participating hospitals having implemented the screening test by the end of the study. This type of research study is called a ‘stepped wedge clinical trial’ and is an efficient way of conducting a clinical trial, resulting in everyone having the opportunity to try implementing the test during the study.

The STARshiP study will span across 18 maternity hospitals in the North of England and East Midlands regions. At MFT it will be rolled out by Saint Mary’s Managed Clinical Service (MCS), across its three sites: Saint Mary’s Hospital, North 91ֱ�� General Hospital and Wythenshawe Hospital.

Professor Jenny Myers and Dr Lucy Higgins are joint chief investigator of the STARshiP trial.

Professor Myers, Clinical Professor at The University of Manchester and Consultant Obstetrician, Maternal and Fetal Health Research Centre, Saint Mary’s Hospital, said: "The immense promise this trial has in demonstrating the impact of a more effective screening test for pre-eclampsia and reducing the burden of this devastating pregnancy complication is more relevant than ever.”

Dr Higgins, Senior Clinical Lecturer at The University of Manchester and Honorary Consultant Obstetrician, Maternal and Fetal Health Research Centre, Saint Mary’s Hospital, said: "By integrating improved early screening, we aspire to mitigate the risks associated with this condition and improve maternal and fetal outcomes."

Marcus Green, CEO of Action for Pre-eclampsia (APEC) said: “Women need to know if they are at risk of pre-eclampsia both so they can be prepared and to ensure clinicians target the right care to them. This study will hopefully help find one more piece in the pre-eclampsia jigsaw and we will be fully supporting the trial.”

Dr Jane Harvey, a representative from the Patient and Public Involvement Group (PPI) said: "I never thought I was at risk of pre-eclampsia, when it happened it was terrifying. It is absolutely fantastic that this new test could potentially prevent this life-changing disease from affecting the lives of so many families."

Jane Daniels, Professor of Clinical Trials at the Nottingham Clinical Trials Unit at the University of Nottingham, said: “NCTU are excited to be coordinating another large screening study in pregnancy. Although these studies take time, we hope that the results will ensure the best method of identifying at-risk pregnancies, is available for everyone.”

Mothers who experience psychological stress and domestic abuse are more likely to have stillborn babies – but attending more antenatal care appointments than UK guidelines currently dictate can reduce that risk, according to a new study from Tommy’s 91ֱ�� Research Centre at The University of Manchester.

In the UK, 1 in every 250 pregnancies ends in stillbirth - when a baby dies after 24 weeks gestation. This rate is estimated to almost double in the most deprived parts of the nation compared to the most affluent areas but research has struggled to explain the difference as studies aren’t always able to adjust for other risk factors linked to deprivation, such as cigarette smoking, education, housing, ethnicity, migrant status and social stress.

Scientists from Tommy’s Maternal and Fetal Health Research Centre at the University of Manchester studied more than 1,000 births across 41 UK hospitals between 2014 and 2016. They combined information typically used to measure stillbirth risk with an interviewer-led questionnaire about mothers’ behaviour and social characteristics, taking into account other factors like smoking that have muddied the waters in previous research***, to see if and when stillbirth may have been avoidable.

The research team found that women from the most deprived socio-economic group were at almost triple the risk of stillbirth than those at the other end of the scale (2.96x higher risk - 6.09% vs 1.44%). Interestingly, this was a sudden change in the most deprived group rather than a gradual rise across the spectrum. Unemployed mothers were similarly more likely to have stillborn babies (2.85x higher risk - 6.12% vs 1.32%).

High levels of perceived stress were shown to double the risk of stillbirth (3.57% vs 1.17%) independent of other social factors and pregnancy complications that can put pressure on mothers. London mum Louise Joines, 36, gave birth to stillborn son Gabriel in December 2017 after a physically healthy but psychologically stressful pregnancy; she had a busy job as a deputy head teacher and 2 children at home with no support from the baby’s father. Despite asking to see a mental health specialist during the pregnancy, Louise was not referred and wonders now if that help could have saved her baby.

Louise said: “I found out I was expecting Gabriel just as I ended a strained relationship with his dad, so it was a very stressful pregnancy from the start. I told my midwife about my situation but sadly nothing came of it, so that’s a big ‘what if’ – a friend who had mental health care during pregnancy wasn’t allowed to go past 40 weeks, and Gabriel was born at 41 weeks, so perhaps if I’d been given the right support he would be alive today. We need better systems to protect pregnant mothers, and I hope that sharing Gabriel’s legacy will help to prevent other families losing a baby.”

The new study also found links between stillbirth and abusive relationships. Women who declined to answer a question about domestic abuse were over 4x more likely to experience stillbirth (6.70% vs 2.61%) – but those who answered yes did not have a higher risk, possibly because their willingness to disclose this information to researchers meant they’d also done so to other external parties who could then intervene to protect mother and baby.

26-year-old Lucy Wakeling from Worthing gave birth to stillborn daughter Hope in July 2018 after an extremely stressful pregnancy, intensified by emotional abuse from her ex-partner who didn’t want the baby and ended the relationship when she was 7 weeks pregnant. Lucy said: “He was so unpredictable, one minute wanting to be involved and the next threatening to ‘take the baby away as soon as you’ve finished breastfeeding’, saying my bump was small and accusing me of not looking after myself when I’d lost my appetite from stress.

“At 25 weeks pregnant I cut contact with him, until I invited him to the baby’s funeral, where he told me this wouldn’t have happened if I’d just had the abortion he wanted. It’s taken me a really long time to come to terms with such a heart-breaking loss, but the doctors said it shouldn’t happen again – so although I struggle to imagine it, I look forward to the day I can hold my baby, alive and healthy. I want to raise awareness by sharing Hope’s story in case it can help and protect others.”

Researchers noted that increased antenatal care could give strong protection against stillbirth, with 72% lower risk for mothers who went to more appointments than national guidelines dictate. Cardiff mum Sophie Tugwell had check-ups every other day for almost a month after a routine scan showed her baby was very small, and credits this extra care with the safe arrival of her now seven-month-old son. Sophie explained: “If the hospital hadn’t kept such a close eye on us, I might have never had the chance to come home with a baby.”

Currently, the UK’s stillbirth rate is 24th out of 49 high-income countries****, and researchers say the significant variation within and between developed countries suggests more could be done to prevent these babies’ deaths. A Government aim to halve stillbirth rates by 2025 has resulted in promising initiatives like the NHS Care Bundle – but in light of this new study, campaigners are calling for stillbirth prevention strategies to join up maternity care with other support systems in order to protect mothers and babies.

Tommy’s chief executive Jane Brewin commented: “1 in 250 UK pregnancies end in stillbirth, and while attending antenatal appointments can reduce the risk, this research shows that stillbirth is not a problem we can solve with healthcare alone. The complex relationships identified here between stillbirth and social stresses make it clear that the Government’s prevention strategy must extend beyond the NHS to tackle these deeper underlying issues within society.”

91ֱ�� author Prof Alex Heazell, Tommy's Research Centre Director and obstetrics professor at the University of Manchester, added: “We know people are more likely to disclose issues such as stress and domestic abuse to a professional if they have a good relationship with them and believe that person can help. Maternity care providers should be supported and trained to have open conversations, and connect patients with any other services they need, so that we can start to reduce the risks for these women and their babies.”

The new study was published today in the British Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology. For more information about this major ongoing research into stillbirth risk, visit tommys.org.

Doctors are often failing to inform patients about the risk of birth defects to their unborn babies of a commonly used drug to treat epilepsy, according to a literature review by a University of Manchester researcher.

The study by Wejdan Shroukh also reveals that both clinical staff and patients can dangerously misjudge the risk of taking a group of drugs – called Teratogenic Medicines – which are associated with birth defects.

Her study - published in the - examined 55 papers which assessed the prevalence of advice on contraception and pregnancy testing given to women taking teratogenic medicines by doctors in the US and UK.

Seven of the papers investigated sodium valproate use in the UK, a treatment for epilepsy, psychiatric disorders, and migraine.

Of patients taking the drug, between 17-70% received contraceptive counselling, 25% had pregnancy testing during treatment and 18-33% used contraception during treatment.

Sodium valproate is prescribed to about 24% of women aged 50 or younger.

It is associated with a high risk of spina bifida, heart defects and cleft palate as well as malformations of kidneys, urinary tract and cardiovascular system in new-borns.

The PhD researcher also reviewed 7 other studies which evaluated if health professionals and patients were able to correctly estimate risk of different Teratogenic Medicines.

In the studies, doctors and community pharmacists - among others - usually overestimated the risks associated with a number of teratogenic drugs, including the blood thinners warfarin, sodium valproate and the acne drug isotretinoin.

Mrs Shroukh said: “Any baby born with malformations is a tragedy - but if that happens as a result of taking Teratogenic Medicines without full knowledge of the risks- then that surely is as an avoidable tragedy.

“It’s clear from this review that many younger women are not receiving the advice they need if they are to make fully informed choices about these drugs. It is widely accepted that drug information leaflets are not enough when the risks are quite high.

“But it is essential that patients continue to take their medication and should speak to their GP if they have any concerns.”

The Middle East University funded pharmacy researcher added: “This is not about blaming busy doctors and clinicians. It’s about awareness raising and ensuring best practice is followed whenever possible.

“Health professionals need to ensure their patients understand the risks and that means providing patient centred healthcare.

“Healthcare needs to be respectful of, and responsive to, patient preferences, needs and values. Patient’s needs and values must guide clinical decision-making.”

Humans spend a lot of time and energy choosing their partner. A new study by researchers from Stockholm University and 91ֱ�� University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT) shows that choosing your partner continues even after sex – human eggs can “choose” sperm.

“Human eggs release chemicals called chemoattractants that attract sperm to unfertilised eggs. We wanted to know if eggs use these chemical signals to pick which sperm they attract,” said John Fitzpatrick, an Associate Professor at Stockholm University.

The researchers examined how sperm respond to follicular fluid, which surrounds eggs and contains sperm chemoattractants. The researchers wanted to find out if follicular fluids from different females attracted sperm from some males more than others.

Microscopic mate choice

“Follicular fluid from one female was better at attracting sperm from one male, while follicular fluid from another female was better at attracting sperm from a different male,” said Professor Fitzpatrick.

“This shows that interactions between human eggs and sperm depend on the specific identity of the women and men involved.”

The egg does not always agree with the women’s choice of partner. The researchers found that eggs did not always attract more sperm from their partner compared to sperm from another male.

Is this egg or sperm choice? Professor Fitzpatrick explained that sperm have only one job – to fertilise eggs – so it doesn’t make sense for them to be choosy. Eggs on the other hand can benefit by picking high quality or genetically compatible sperm.

“The idea that eggs are choosing sperm is really novel in human fertility,” said , the Scientific Director of the Department of Reproductive Medicine at Saint Marys’ Hospital, which is part of MFT, and the senior author of this study.

The University of Manchester Honorary Professor added: “Research on the way eggs and sperm interact will advance fertility treatments and may eventually help us understand some of the currently ‘unexplained’ causes of infertility in couples.

“I’d like to thank every person who took part in this study and contributed to these findings, which may benefit couples struggling with infertility in future.”

The article Chemical signals from eggs facilitate cryptic female choice in humans is published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Women who have gone through the trauma of having a stillbirth are four times more likely to develop Lupus than women with an uncomplicated livebirth, according to a University of Manchester study.

The researchers found a link between stillbirth and connective tissue disorders though Lupus had by far the strongest association.

Connective tissue disorders are a group of disorders involving the tissue that supports organs and other parts of the body

They also showed that the first signs of Lupus - the presence of antibodies - could appear up to five years after stillbirth without symptoms

And that suggests many women may get pregnant without realising the risks or lose their baby without knowing why.

The team studied more than 100,000 mums to see if those who had lost babies went on to develop , connective tissue disease, or .

They used the Clinical Practice Research Datalink, a world-renowned system that collects anonymised patient data from a network of GP practices across the UK.

They performed statistical regression to calculate the relative risk ratios, and compared stillbirth with livebirths.

The study is published in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and funded by the charities Tommy’s and Sparks through their Lupus In Pregnancy 91ֱ�� (LIPS) partnership.

Lead author was Dr Hannah Kither- a researcher at The University of Manchester and Obstetrician at Royal Bolton NHS Trust.

She said: "Stillbirth leaves both a psychological and a biological legacy; this study shows quite conclusively that these women have an increased risk of developing Lupus.

"We think that either the stillbirth is a result of underlying immunological abnormalities akin to that seen in Lupus or that the stillbirth itself triggers a cascade of immune reactions in the maternal system culminating in CTD in later life.

"The impact of stillbirth is traumatic- and the worries over having complications later on will be doubly hard for these women.

“But we hope the knowledge this research gives them will empower them in future years.”

Professor Alex Heazell, a researcher at the University of Manchester, and Consultant Obstetrician and Director of the Tommy's Stillbirth Research Centre at Saint Mary's Hospital, part of Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT) was also part of the research team.

He said: "When women have a stillbirth they are screened for a range of diseases, but now we know Lupus won't appear until much later - sometimes years later.

“As stillbirth is now a known risk factor for Lupus, GPs should be aware of this when seeing their patients’ investigation results. Women themselves should also be vigilant and look out for symptoms of Lupus which include joint pain, muscle pain and chronic fatigue.

"Around 1 in 240 women in the UK suffer a stillbirth, this affects a lot of women so we feel action is needed."

Tommy’s CEO Jane Brewin commented: “This study gives a strong steer that pregnant women should be tested early on for lupus and other related diseases, so that doctors can keep a close eye on anyone at risk throughout their pregnancy and beyond.

“We know that both lupus and baby loss are more common in BAME communities, but previous investigations of the link between these issues have come from countries that aren’t as diverse as the UK, so this study gives us a really important new insight. That said, it can’t tell us whether connective tissue disorders were the cause or the result of stillbirth – so we need more in-depth research to unpick that relationship, which is why Tommy’s set up the 91ֱ�� LIPS clinic with Sparks.”

The paper " is published in British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology

A new genetic test that could identify the risk of, and therefore help to avoid permanent antibiotic-related hearing loss in newborn babies is being developed in 91ֱ��

Due to an identified genetic predisposition some babies can develop irreversible hearing loss when exposed to gentamicin, an antibiotic used to treat several types of bacterial infections. Approximately 90,000 babies per year in the UK are treated with gentamicin on intensive care units. Antibiotic treatment should to be started within the first hour after admission, but currently there are no suitable tests to identify those at risk of hearing loss within this timeframe.

Rachel Corry’s son was born prematurely at Saint Mary’s Hospital, 91ֱ�� and spent seven months in neonatal intensive care. Rachel said: “When you’re in the position we were in, time is of the essence when it comes to making decisions that will save your child’s life.

“The staff at the hospital saved my son’s life so many times and we’re incredibly grateful. The decision to treat him with gentamicin had to be made quickly in order to do so. Fortunately we know now that he didn’t have the sensitivity to gentamicin that would cause hearing loss. But to have a test that could check for this sensitivity; to help find the right treatment for every baby so they could be treated quickly and easily without occurring detrimental, life-long side effects would be an immense step in reassuring parents who are already coping with so much.”

Researchers hope the new test, which would be performed at the patient’s bedside, could allow genetic results to be available within an hour. This would allow alternative antibiotics to be used, avoiding the potential life-changing adverse reaction to gentamicin.

The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) through its Invention for Innovation (i4i) programme has awarded funding of £900,000 to a North West based consortium to carry this research forward.

The consortium will be led by Bill Newman, Professor of Translational Genomic Medicine at The University of Manchester and Consultant at 91ֱ�� University NHS Foundation Trust. The team includes genedrive plc and partners from Liverpool and 91ֱ�� Neonatal Intensive Care Units and is working closely with parents of children previously treated on intensive care units.

Professor Bill Newman said: “We look forward to working with our colleagues in 91ֱ�� and Liverpool to assess the impact of rapid genetic testing as a method of avoiding irreversible hearing loss in babies treated with antibiotics. Successful implementation would be a first in the integration of a rapid decision making, genetic-based diagnostic in the UK NHS.”

The project will begin in June 2018, with a development phase in year one and a trial of the test implementation phase on neonatal units in 91ֱ�� and Liverpool in year two.

The project builds on work undertaken through the NIHR 91ֱ�� Biomedical Research Centre which has prioritised a programme of work on avoiding hearing loss and using a personalised approach to improving healthcare and funding from Action on Hearing Loss to initially develop the point of care test.

Dr. Ralph Holme, Executive Director of Research at Action on Hearing Loss said: “We are delighted that the NIHR will be funding the development of this diagnostic test that we helped kick start with an Action on Hearing Loss grant. We hope that the hearing of thousands of children will be saved by quickly identifying those who are particularly sensitive to aminoglycoside antibiotics that can damage the sound detecting cells in the cochlea.”

David Budd, Chief Executive Officer of genedrive plc, said: “The application of the Genedrive® test in an emergency healthcare setting is an excellent example of how a rapid, affordable, point-of-need test could impact patients’ treatment and quality of life.”

Obese women are less likely to breastfeed according to a review of 20 research papers by health psychologists and midwives from The University of Manchester.

PhD student and trainee health psychologist Stephanie Lyons from The University of Manchester says women with a Body Mass Index of over 30kg/m² - the medical definition for obesity- are also more likely breastfeed for shorter durations than other women.

The review identified psychological factors which can hold back these women from breastfeeding their babies.

The women tend to have social networks where friends and family members do not breastfed their babies.

The research team also hope measures to encourage women to breastfeed may help tackle rising obesity rates in children as non-breastfeeding mothers are more likely to have obese children.

The research was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council , as part of Stephanie Lyons’ PhD programme.

Factors holding obese women back from breastfeeding included: lack of breastfeed planning, low belief in breastmilk’s nutritional adequacy and sufficiency, poor body image and lack of social knowledge.

The fifth factor highlighted a belief that close friends or family members preferred them not to breastfeed.

The team recommend that clinicians should proactively support medically obese women to breastfeed by providing accurate information and practical advice for latching and positioning.

And women, they add, should be signposted to breastfeeding support groups to receive advice from peers and be in social situations with other breastfeeding mothers.

Stephanie Lyons said: “Breastfeeding is associated with many health benefits for both mother and child and can play a key role in the reduction of long term obesity for mothers and prevention of obesity in children.

“The World Health Organisation recommends all mothers should exclusively breastfeed their infants until they reach six months of age, and continue with complementary breastfeeding until they are at-least two years of age.

“But medically obese women are less likely to breastfeed- and they will be held back by a number of psychological factors.”

She added: “Our results suggest having poor body image and lacking belief in breastmilk’s nutritional adequacy and sufficiency may create barriers to breastfeeding.

“Many of the women with higher BMIs had poorer body image, and lacked belief in their breastmilk’s nutritional adequacy and sufficiency.

“We therefore urge, clinicians and associated professionals to proactively work with women with a BMI of 30kg/m² or more to encourage, educate and support them.”

“The association between psychological factors and breastfeeding behaviour in women with a body mass index (bmi) ≥30kg/m2: a systematic review” is published in