Twitter and Communicating Stigma about Medications to Treat Obesity.

In North America, stigma remains a significant barrier to treating obesity. Many candidates for medical weight management do not seek treatment, possibly related to anticipated and internalized stigma and weight bias. Pharmacologic treatment of obesity remains highly stigmatized, despite advances in drug development and medical weight management programs. People contemplating medical weight management are likely to see information about "diet pills" on social media sites, such as Twitter. However, Twitter has been found to contain false and stigmatizing information. This study examines a sample of 2170 Tweets to better understand the content through the lens of obesity stigma. Tweets were collected over a seven-day period containing general terms such as "diet pills," "weight loss pills," or "fat burner" using the Twitter advanced search option. The analysis revealed that almost 50% of Tweets containing "diet pills" contained stigmatizing language. The most common elements of stigma communication were taking personal blame for obesity and the perils associated with taking medications for weight loss. Further analysis revealed sub-themes such as profiting from social pressures to lose weight, distrust of physicians and the practice of obesity medicine, lack of efficacy of medications, and the use of social media to disseminate stigma. Most Tweets were from personal accounts followed by direct sales of weight loss supplements. The findings have potential implications for medically supervised weight management programs and may drive the need for more evidence-based social media messaging around obesity related healthcare.

Maturity-Onset Diabetes of Young Type 5: Diabetes with Extrapancreatic Features.

OBJECTIVE: This case involves a new-onset diabetes patient diagnosed during pregnancy with the congenital dysplastic right kidney. Case Report. Clinical presentation, biochemical features, imaging in a patient with diabetes diagnosed during pregnancy, and congenital dysplastic right kidney. Discussion. We present a case of a 22-year-old female with the congenital dysplastic right kidney diagnosed with gestational diabetes mellitus after failing a 1-hour oral glucose tolerance test, requiring insulin during pregnancy. Because of the family history of diabetes and morphologic renal abnormalities at young ages on the maternal side of the family, our patient was evaluated for maturity-onset diabetes of adult and was found to have HNF-1ß mutation. CONCLUSION: This case highlights the importance of considering the diagnosis of maturity-onset diabetes of young and particularly MODY-5 in individuals with extrapancreatic features. MODY-5 should also be considered in a patient undergoing renal transplant at young ages with a family history of morphologic renal abnormalities.