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Overall health has always been a hot topic of conversation, and inevitably talk of weight issues takes center stage. But even if your goal is not to lose weight, weight loss apps can be a great way for you to maintain your current weight, gain weight, track workouts, log hydration levels, introduce healthier foods into your diet or just monitor your overall health. With so many downloadable weight loss apps available, it can be exasperating to figure out which one is the best one for you.

The best weight loss apps will teach you sustainable healthy eating habits, educate you on portion control and promote balanced meals, says Stefani Sassos, MS, RDN, CSO, CDN, NASM-CPT, Deputy Director of the Good Housekeeping Institute Nutrition Lab. Hydration, sleep, activity, mental health and so much more play into the holistic health equation, arguably far more so than weight. Apps that provide support in those areas in addition to encouraging healthy food choices are ideal.

The registered dietitians at the Good Housekeeping Institute are here to help you navigate this crowded field and find the app that will help you achieve your goals. Please note that weight loss, health and body image are complex subjects before deciding to go on a diet, consider visiting our article that investigates the hazards of diet culture.

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Our registered dietitians took the following factors into consideration when reviewing and choosing these apps: Range of features, ease of use, cost, community and social networking opportunities, dietary preferences, and ability to log fitness, sleep and hydration. We also looked for apps that encouraged mindfulness and relaxation techniques and ones that were rated the highest among users on both Android and iOS.

When selecting the ideal weight loss app, you'll want to consider the following:

Meeting your wellness targets: Not all apps are created equal, so its important to find one that is tailored to your needs and lifestyle. If you travel a lot maybe you may want choose an app that has a large database and contains both local and international brands. If you cook at home, look for an app that welcomes a variety of ways to track such as with photographs or by entering recipes. Apps that provides healthy recipe ideas and substitutions may also be a great choice if you need guidance with meal prep.

Affordability: Most apps offer some sort of free trial, so you can give it a road test before committing to the full month or year subscription. Our experts say its important to carefully compare advantages of both short term and longer term commitments. The great thing about apps is that you can figure out if it's going to work for you after a few tries, so feel free to experiment and test it out for a month or two before you make a major commitment.

Community: If you are motivated by the shared experiences of others, look for an app with larger membership numbers and greater social opportunities, such as Facebook groups. Check out the activity and quality of interactions on the apps social media platforms before committing.

The experts in the Good Housekeeping Institute Nutrition Lab stress that these apps are not regulated and many are not formulated with dietary or medical experts. In addition, these apps require some work on your part, so it depends on how much time and effort you can commit to logging your daily foods. For many people, these systems work well because they hold them accountable for the foods they eat, although research is mixed on the effectiveness of apps. The concept is akin to a financial budget, which works only if you accurately track of your spending. When you are logging everything that you consume, you might be surprised at how many calories you are taking in, and that could encourage you to make different choices. As a bonus, these apps can help to keep you on track with staying properly hydrated and maintaining physical activity. Basically, its up to you to get the most benefit out of these apps.

Take note: For individuals with a history of disordered eating, logging calories could be associated with unhealthy dieting practices. In this instance, the use of weight loss apps should be avoided or monitored closely by a healthcare provider.

Weight loss apps arent for everyone, but they can be a useful tool to help to educate you about your diet and to teach you how to make healthier choices. It is always important to remember that there are many factors that go into successful weight loss including setting a realistic weight range that works for you and that you can maintain without feeling restricted. Genetics, life stage and overall health can also play a role.

Remember that there is no magic pill for weight loss; the goal should always be to improve your overall health and to learn how to make better choices when it comes to food and nutrition.

A well-balanced diet should consist of plenty of nonstarchy vegetables, lean proteins, healthy fats, whole grains, nuts, seeds and fruit. If you can use these apps to help you add more vegetables to your meals and to eliminate sugary foods and beverages while becoming more aware of what you consume, then it's a win.

As a registered dietitian, Amy Fischer has worked with thousands of patients to improve their overall health through a whole foods and nutritious diet. Amy believes that food is to be enjoyed even on a weight loss journey and that while calories count, the focus should be on health, eating and living better and not just losing weight.

Having been through her own weight loss journey and providing nutrition counseling to patients and clients for the past eight years, Stefani Sassos, registered dietitian and Deputy Director of the Good Housekeeping Institute Nutrition Lab, is passionate about sustainable weight management and healthy eating practices. Shes extremely well versed in the current health and wellness app space and leads category testing efforts for Good Housekeeping.

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Continued here:
11 Best Weight Loss Apps of 2022, According to Registered Dietitians - Good Housekeeping

Introduction

Over the last decade, social media has increasingly become a resource for patients seeking information about their health. Studies have shown that the majority of patients are now seeking medical information online,1,2 with patients preferring sites such as Facebook and Twitter.3 These sites have grown to serve as free, attractive, and easy to use apps, with up to 85% of patients using social media to search for health information.4 Physicians and others in the medical field have knowingly increased their presence on these platforms to better educate and disseminate factual medical information, understanding that social media may be the first place that patients turn to for advice and information.57

As with many other fields of medicine, social media research in ophthalmology has primarily focused on sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.811 However, these are not the only social media sites that patients are turning to for medical advice. With over 52 million and growing daily active users, Reddit is a popular social media site that patients are frequently turning to for specific medical advice because of its discussion forum type format.12 Reddit has proven to be a source of valuable patient information in other medical fields, such as dermatology, psychiatry, and radiology.1315 Despite its growing popularity, Reddit has yet to be fully explored within the field of ophthalmology.

Reddit offers a unique patient perspective because unlike other social media sites, its users are largely anonymous. This allows for them to make candid posts and comments in the various, individual communities that Reddit hosts on its site, known as subreddits. Within these subreddits, users are given the opportunity to upvote or downvote posts and comments to increase the visibility of information that the community deems useful. The vast majority of ophthalmology information can be found in two main ophthalmology subreddits, r/EyeTriage and r/Ophthalmology. A previous cross-sectional study analyzed the content of posts made in the r/EyeTriage subreddit, giving some insight into the information that patients are seeking within this community.16

The goal for this study is to investigate the other ophthalmology subreddit, r/Ophthalmology, to determine what topics in ophthalmology are of greatest interest to Reddit users and whether ophthalmic care is being recommended to those seeking advice. This information will allow us to better understand the perspectives and discussion of the ophthalmology patient population on Reddit.

This cross-sectional study analyzed posts and comments on the Reddit subreddit r/Ophthalmology to understand eye-related patient concerns. r/Ophthalmology was created on June 29, 2011 with the goal of answering general questions about eye topics by the public.17 As stated by the moderator, u/arcadeflyer, specific patient questions should be redirected to a different subreddit r/EyeTriage.18 Additionally, every post on the subreddit includes an automatic comment by an automoderator that explicitly states that questions from patients about their personal health will be removed. Despite this, many posts on the subreddit continue to be patient questions, providing a wealth of data for analysis. The subreddit is frequented by a wide variety of ophthalmic professionals, including ophthalmologists, optometrists, and ophthalmic technicians. Every user that makes a post is required to identify their background within the text and every user on the subreddit has the opportunity to self-identify their profession, which appear next to their username when they make posts or comments. Posts on the subreddit include advice, links, questions, topics for discussion, personal stories, and educational resources.

The public and anonymous posts and comments on r/Ophthalmology were accessed using the Python Reddit API Wrapper. This allowed the Python software to access the data structures within the Reddit interface and extract the necessary data. There was no interaction with individuals to retrieve this data and this data can be accessed without a Reddit account. Given the public and anonymous nature of this data, Institutional Review Board approval was not needed.19 Posts and comments from March 18, 2018 to November 9, 2020 were analyzed and those that were deleted or removed on or prior to November 9, 2020 were not included in the analysis.

After the extraction of posts and comments, the data was pre-processed to prepare it for analysis (Figure 1). The automoderator comment was removed from each post and excluded from analysis. Following this, all text within post and comments was analyzed for unique references to ophthalmic conditions from the American Academy of Ophthalmologys (AAOs) Eye Health A-Z through a keyword search and the frequency of each reference was evaluated. To isolate posts and comments for references to different types of medical care, the data was parsed for posts and comments that included ophth, opth, opto, eye doctor, professional, physician, primary care, appointment, medicine, medication, insurance, prescribe, or prescription, similar to previous methodology analyzing medical Reddit data.13 The resulting posts and comments were then evaluated to determine if they mentioned or recommended either ophthalmic care or other medical care. Medical care is defined as medical intervention, treatment, or professional evaluation.

Figure 1 Data processing and analysis flowchart.

Posts were considered to be recommending any type of medical care if (1) it was mentioned only within the comments of a post and not within the title or body of the post itself and (2) at least 1 commenter encouraged the original poster or another commenter to seek care. Posts were considered to be mentioning any type of medical care if (1) it was mentioned within the comments of a post or (2) within the title and/or body of the post itself. Posts that were found to both recommend and mention care were categorized as recommending care. Comments were considered to be recommending any type of medical care if the commenter encouraged the original poster or another commenter of the same post to seek care. Comments were considered to be mentioning any type of care if it was mentioned within the comment. Again, the presence of both a recommendation and mention was categorized as a recommendation of care. Posts and comments that referenced both ophthalmic care and other forms of medical care were considered references to ophthalmic care. Post and comments that did none of the above were also noted. Ophthalmic care was defined as references specifically to ophthalmologists, optometrists, and eye doctors. Counts of posts and comments in these various categories were then analyzed.

Statistical analysis was done in Python using built-in statistical packages for frequency and count analysis (Python Software Foundation. Python Language Reference, version 2.7. Available at http://www.python.org).

A total of 919 posts with 5345 non-automoderator comments were posted between March 18, 2018 and November 9, 2020. While posts that ask patient-specific questions were said to have been removed by the automoderator, almost half (403/919) of the posts available on the subreddit were found to be referencing patient questions. Furthermore, two-thirds (612/919) of the posts involved conversation surrounding medical care either within the post, subsequent comments, or both. Of the 5345 comments analyzed, 1196 were found to reference any type of medical care.

Amongst the 919 posts analyzed from r/Ophthalmology, the majority either mention (49%) or recommend (9.5%) ophthalmic care (Figure 2, Table 1). 7.7% of the posts mention other medical care and a negligible amount (0.4%) go as far as to recommend other medical care. Amongst the 5345 comments, the vast majority (78%) made no reference to medical care (Figure 3, Table 1). Of the 1196 comments that referenced any type of care, 66% mentioned ophthalmic care and 11% recommended ophthalmic care (Figure 3). Other forms of medical care were mentioned in 22% of comments and recommended in 1% of comments.

Table 1 Number of References to Medical Care in Posts and Comments

Figure 2 References to medical care in posts.

Figure 3 References to medical care in comments.

Searching within posts for ophthalmic conditions found in the AAOs Eye Health A-Z list demonstrated 312 unique instances of these keywords. This analysis revealed that posters were most commonly discussing flashes and floaters (48/312). Glaucoma (24/312), retinal detachments (21/312), and headaches (21/312) were also commonly brought up by posters. Almost half (61/125) of the ophthalmic conditions within the Eye Health A-Z list were absent from post discussions in this subreddit. A chart of commonly discussed ophthalmic conditions in posts of this subreddit can be found in Figure 4.

Figure 4 Top 20 ophthalmic conditions mentioned in posts.

Similar analysis within the comments of posts led to the discovery of 586 unique references to ophthalmic conditions. The most common condition within the comments, cataracts (71/586), differed from that discussed within posts. However, glaucoma (52/586) and flashes and floaters (45/586) were found to be common between the two analyses. A chart of commonly discussed ophthalmic conditions in comments of this subreddit can be found in Figure 5. The conditions discussed within the comments were also found to be slightly more diverse than those in the posts, with only 54 of the 125 conditions absent from conversation. Fifty-eight of the conditions were found to be discussed in both the posts and the comments.

Figure 5 Top 20 ophthalmic conditions mentioned in comments.

The r/Ophthalmology subreddit is a popular social media platform for patients to seek and share information about eye concerns. Analysis of the interactions show that close to two-thirds of posts discuss medical concerns despite these posts being strongly discouraged and deleted from the subreddit. The persistence of posts seeking medical advice on this platform suggests that there is a need for increased patient education on ophthalmic conditions. Patients were found to discuss a variety of topics within this group, with conversation in posts and comments largely being dominated by discussion surrounding retinal detachments, cataracts, and glaucoma. As these are common ophthalmic concerns of patients seen in-office, this study highlights topics that could benefit from increased patient education.

While it is clear that patients are looking for medical information within this subreddit, these results also demonstrate that 75% of comments did not mention or recommend users to seek any type of medical care. Of the comments that referenced care, only a minority went as far as to recommend some type of medical care. These findings highlight the discrepancy between the number of users seeking medical advice on this platform and how often they are told to see a professional for their concerns. This can partially be attributed to the growing amount of self-diagnosis that patients partake in, given the amount of health information accessible to them, and medical advice they receive from others on the internet. Patients may be hopeful to receive medically accurate information about their concerns online, however a previous study suggests that ophthalmologists make up a minority of the self-identified users that frequent the other ophthalmology subreddit, r/EyeTriage.16 This can result in a greater reliance on the advice of other Reddit users, increasing the risk of misinformation. In addition, many of the posts and comments mentioning ophthalmic care do so in the context of users wondering or unsure if they should seek this type of care. A study analyzing the r/EyeTriage subreddit also found that patients posting about ophthalmic concerns demonstrated anxiety and worry with patients most commonly seeking diagnoses, highlighting the potential vulnerable state that patients may be in when seeking ophthalmic care information online.16 This suggests that there is room for improvement in educating patients about circumstances in which they should seek ophthalmic care. Ophthalmologists can play a key role in improving patient education about a variety of sight-threatening conditions by understanding what ophthalmic information patients are seeking online as a result of this study. This type of education will improve patient outcomes and better educate those who may be giving advice to others online.

When considering what patients are discussing within posts, the increased frequency of flashes and floaters appearing in conversation suggests that patients are turning to this platform to ask others what they should do when experiencing these symptoms. While one of the most common reasons for acute onset flashes and floaters is a posterior vitreous detachment, patients should be aware that they need to be appropriately evaluated in order to rule out a possible retinal detachment.20,21 Patient education strategies aimed to decrease delayed presentation of certain ophthalmic concerns may be useful tactics for ophthalmologists to use in office. One particular acronym, FLASH, can help patients remember the following symptoms for vision-threatening eye emergencies: flashes and floaters, loss of vision, aching pain, second image, help.22 This education can also help address the other commonly brought up topics in posts, glaucoma and headaches. Patients experiencing acute angle closure glaucoma may often presents with headaches and blurry vision,23 both of which are encompassed by the acronym. This can help patients with these concerns know to seek immediate medical attention as opposed to turning to the advice of those on the internet. It is important to note that patients are not exclusively bringing up acute medical concerns in posts. Posts are also made by those seeking more information about chronic conditions they may have such as glaucoma, astigmatism, dry eye, and uveitis. These results can help guide further patient education both on social media and in the office.

Within comments, users of the r/Ophthalmology subreddit are found to be commonly discussing similar topics to those found in posts. This suggests that the comments may be frequently used for other users to give advice on topics brought up in posts. As there is no qualification necessary for a layperson to give medical advice online, it is important that eye professionals are acutely aware of the discussions taking place. The knowledge of the results of this study can help inform ophthalmologists and optometrists on what education they should focus on disseminating. The benefit of this is twofold: (1) Patients are inherently better educated about eye conditions and can more appropriately assess when to seek medical care and (2) if they are giving advice on the internet, they will be less likely to spread misinformation to others. Methods of patient education can be divided into social media resources and non-social media resources. Outside of social media, ophthalmologists can make use of the variety of patient education resources available through the AAO, including pamphlets, videos, and diagrams.24 Many ophthalmologists also have personalized patient education information sheets that can be included in after-visit summaries. These resources are additionally helpful from a patient perspective because they can include links to reputable resources that patients can rely on to further their own education on particular topics. These types of resources tend to be more static, whereas the wide spectrum of social media platforms can give ophthalmologists creative freedom to decide how to disseminate patient education, including text, photo, and video-based material. While engaging in social media can be time-intensive, it is important for physicians to recognize that up to 80% of their patient population is seeking information about their health online.25 Within the field of ophthalmology, social media has been gaining more momentum and the AAO provides guidelines that may help ophthalmologists use social media to market their practices.26 Extending use of social media to educate patients can help ophthalmologists reach those who may otherwise lack other resources to access health information while also helping to build their practice.25

Reddit as a social media platform for health information offers unique advantages and perspectives. Unlike other social media sites, Reddit allows for patients to easily create accounts that give them anonymity. This has been found to facilitate more supportive and instrumental conversation about medical conditions, especially in situations where stigma may be involved.27 The platform creates a space in which patients do not feel like they are broadcasting their concerns or revealing too much personal information to those that they know, as they would on sites such as Twitter and Facebook.2830 The r/Ophthalmology subreddit may possibly attract more ophthalmologist subscribers than that of r/EyeTriage given that the subreddit more adamantly discourages patient-specific questions. Physicians are well aware of the professional consequences of giving specific medical information on the internet.31 The anonymity provided by Reddit and the rules of the r/Ophthalmology subreddit gives ophthalmologists the freedom to interact within the group without feeling obligated to respond to patient questions, making it more likely that they have a greater presence there than in r/EyeTriage. This makes the subreddit an accessible platform for ophthalmologists to disseminate education materials for patients while getting input from other users of various backgrounds, already found to be effective in other fields of medicine.32,33 This type of engagement with patients and others can help increase overall ophthalmic knowledge in the general population.

This study is not free of limitations, both with Reddit itself as a data source and the study methodology. As this study relies on data directly from the r/Ophthalmology subreddit, it is important to consider that this forum is also frequented by others with an interest in ophthalmology, such as medical students, residents, and other eye professionals. With 56% percent of available posts discussing topics outside of medical advice, conversations would be expected to fall outside of mentioning or recommending any type of medical care, serving as a confounder when attempting to determine whether patients are appropriately being recommended to seek care. Additionally, the subreddit rules make it likely that more posts were made discussing patient-specific questions but were deleted prior to data extraction from the site. Further research into the posts and comments in this subreddit since the time of data extraction may prove valuable in better understanding the conversations about ophthalmology on this social media platform. In evaluating the conditions that patients are discussing on r/Ophthalmology, it is possible that conditions outside of those included in the AAOs Eye Health A-Z list were discussed and not captured in these results. A more exhaustive list of ophthalmic symptoms and diseases may yield greater information about topics of conversation. The pre-processing methodology used to identify posts and comments with references to medical care has been previously described, but may have unintentionally excluded a small number of conversations related to patient questions. Future studies analyzing Reddit data may benefit from a more robust natural language processing approach to thoroughly process this complex data source.

In summary, Reddit data, specifically the r/Ophthalmology subreddit, offers unique insight into the conversations that patients are having about their eye health on social media. Patients were found to ask specific questions about their health on the platform, leading to increased self-diagnosis and spread of medical advice from other Reddit users. Within these patient-specific conversations, ophthalmic care was often mentioned, but there is room for increased patient education in this space to better inform patients about both acute and chronic ophthalmic conditions. Ophthalmologists, and others in the vision community, can use the results of this study to tailor patient education towards commonly discussed ophthalmic conditions found in the r/Ophthalmology subreddit. This approach can help improve patient safety while decreasing the spread of misinformation.

There is no funding to report. The abstract of this paper was presented at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology 2021 as a poster presentation with interim findings. The posters abstract was published in Abstract Issue 2021 in Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science: https://iovs.arvojournals.org/article.aspx?articleid=2773677.

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

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2. Hesse BW, Nelson DE, Kreps GL, et al. Trust and sources of health information: the impact of the internet and its implications for health care providers: findings from the first health information national trends survey. Arch Intern Med. 2005;165(22):26182624. doi:10.1001/archinte.165.22.2618

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4. Marar SD, Al-Madaney MM, Almousawi FH. Health information on social media. Saudi Med J. 2019;40(12):12941298. doi:10.15537/smj.2019.12.24682

5. Wexner SD, Petrucci AM, Brady RR, Ennis-OConnor M, Fitzgerald JE, Mayol J. Social media in colorectal surgery. Colorectal Dis. 2017;19(2):105114. doi:10.1111/codi.13572

6. Scarano Pereira JP, Martinino A, Manicone F, et al. Bariatric surgery on social media: a cross-sectional study. Obes Res Clin Pract. 2022;16(2):158162. doi:10.1016/j.orcp.2022.02.005

7. De Martino I, DApolito R, McLawhorn AS, Fehring KA, Sculco PK, Gasparini G. Social media for patients: benefits and drawbacks. Curr Rev Musculoskelet Med. 2017;10(1):141145. doi:10.1007/s12178-017-9394-7

8. Micieli JA, Tsui E. Ophthalmology on social networking sites: an observational study of Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Clin Ophthalmol. 2015;9:285290. doi:10.2147/OPTH.S79032

9. Clarke C, Smith E, Khan M, Al-Mohtaseb Z. Social media and ophthalmology: perspectives of patients and ophthalmologists. J Med Syst. 2018;42(12):258. doi:10.1007/s10916-018-1079-2

10. Micieli R, Micieli JA. Twitter as a tool for ophthalmologists. Can J Ophthalmol. 2012;47(5):410413. doi:10.1016/j.jcjo.2012.05.005

11. McGregor F, Somner JEA, Bourne RR, Munn-Giddings C, Shah P, Cross V. Social media use by patients with glaucoma: what can we learn? Ophthalmic Physiol Opt. 2014;34(1):4652. doi:10.1111/opo.12093

12. Patel S. Reddit claims 52 million daily users, revealing a key figure for social-media platforms. Wall Street Journal; December 1, 2020. Available from: https://www.wsj.com/articles/reddit-claims-52-million-daily-users-revealing-a-key-figure-for-social-media-platforms-11606822200. Accessed April 4, 2021.

13. Parks R, Newsom EC, Park JH, Lawrence N. Skincare addiction on reddit: dermatology enthusiasts talk skin. Dermatol Surg. 2020;46(10):13721374. doi:10.1097/DSS.0000000000002060

14. Primack BA, Shensa A, Sidani JE, et al. Social media use and perceived social isolation among young adults in the U.S. Am J Prev Med. 2017;53(1). doi:10.1016/j.amepre.2017.01.010

15. Munawar K, Prabhu V. Radiology on Reddit: a content analysis and opportunity for radiologist engagement and education. Curr Probl Diagn Radiol. 2021;50(3):362368. doi:10.1067/j.cpradiol.2021.02.001

16. Mahjoub H, Prabhu AV, Sikder S. What are ophthalmology patients asking online? An analysis of the eye triage subreddit. Clin Ophthalmol. 2020;14:35753582. doi:10.2147/OPTH.S279607

17. r/Ophthalmology. Reddit. Available from: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ophthalmology. Accessed March 28, 2021.

18. u/arcadeflyer. Sticky: new Subreddit, r/ eyetriage, for patient questions. r/Ophthalmology; January 27, 2019. Available from: http://www.reddit.com/r/Ophthalmology/comments/ak7i27/sticky_new_subreddit_reyetriage_for_patient/. Accessed March 28, 2021.

19. Guidance on research using social networking sites. Available from: https://research.cofc.edu/administration/documents/policies-documents/IRB_SNSguidance.pdf. Accessed July 8, 2022.

20. Hollands H, Johnson D, Brox AC, Almeida D, Simel DL, Sharma S. Acute-onset floaters and flashes: Is this patient at risk for retinal detachment? JAMA. 2009;302(20):22432249. doi:10.1001/jama.2009.1714

21. Sharma P, Sridhar J, Mehta S. Flashes and Floaters. Prim Care. 2015;42(3):425435. doi:10.1016/j.pop.2015.05.011

22. Jairath N, Commiskey P, Kaplan A, Paulus YM. FLASH: a novel tool to identify vision-threating eye emergencies. Int J Ophthalmic Res. 2020;6(1):336343.

23. Khazaeni B, Khazaeni L. Acute closed angle glaucoma. In: StatPearls. StatPearls Publishing; 2022. Available from:. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK430857/. Accessed March 13, 2022.

24. Patient education. Available from: https://store.aao.org/patient-education.html. Accessed August 7, 2022.

25. Forgie EME, Lai H, Cao B, Stroulia E, Greenshaw AJ, Goez H. Social media and the transformation of the physician-patient relationship: viewpoint. J Med Internet Res. 2021;23(12):e25230. doi:10.2196/25230

26. Use social media to market your practice. American Academy of Ophthalmology; January 1, 2016. Available from: https://www.aao.org/eyenet/article/use-social-media-to-market-your-practice. Accessed August 7, 2022.

27. Choudhury MD, De S. Mental health discourse on reddit: self-disclosure, social support, and anonymity. In: Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Weblogs and Social Media, ICWSM 2014. Michigan, USA; January 1, 2014:7180.

28. Choudhury M, Gamon M, Counts S, Horvitz E. Predicting depression via social media. 2013.

29. Paul MJ, Dredze M. You are what you tweet: analyzing Twitter for public health. In: Proceedings of the 5th International AAAI Conference on Weblogs and Social Media. Catalonia, Spain; 2011: 8.

30. Newman MW, Lauterbach D, Munson SA, Resnick P, Morris ME. Its not that I dont have problems, im just not putting them on Facebook: challenges and opportunities in using online social networks for health. In: Proceedings of the ACM 2011 Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work. New York, USA: CSCW 11. Association for Computing Machinery; 2011: 341350. doi:10.1145/1958824.1958876.

31. Farnan JM, Snyder Sulmasy L, Worster BK, Chaudhry HJ, Rhyne JA, Arora VM. Online medical professionalism: patient and public relationships: policy statement from the American College of Physicians and the federation of state medical boards. Ann Intern Med. 2013;158(8):620627. doi:10.7326/0003-4819-158-8-201304160-00100

32. Okon E, Rachakonda V, Hong HJ, Callison-Burch C, Lipoff JB. Natural language processing of Reddit data to evaluate dermatology patient experiences and therapeutics. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2020;83(3):803808. doi:10.1016/j.jaad.2019.07.014

33. Latack KR, Yuen F, Wang C, Nguyen BT. Online community queries on hormonal male contraception: an analysis of the Reddit Ask Me Anything experience. Contraception. 2021;104(2):159164. doi:10.1016/j.contraception.2021.02.009

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Ophthalmology Inquiries on Reddit: What Should Physicians Know? | OPTH - Dove Medical Press

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In reporting on falsehoods and exaggerations, we clearly explain why it is untrue and how it may harm Texans. Sometimes, we choose to not write about misinformation because that can help amplify it. Were more likely to debunk falsehoods when they are spread by elected officials or used as a justification for policy decisions. Read more here.

On Aug. 8, a group of Republican candidates asked the Supreme Court to remove 23 Libertarians from the ballot, saying they did not meet eligibility requirements. The Republicans included Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and others in congressional and state legislative races.

State law requires Libertarian candidates to pay filing fees or gather petition signatures, the amount of each depending on the office sought. The Libertarian Party has been challenging that law in federal court, arguing it is unfair because the fees do not go toward their nomination process like they do for Democrats and Republicans.

Republicans also tried and failed to kick a group of Libertarian candidates off the ballot in 2020. In that case, the state Supreme Court said the GOP waited until after the deadline to challenge candidate eligibility. This time, the Republicans filed their challenge before that deadline but apparently still did not satisfy the courts preference to deal with election challenges as soon as the alleged issues arise.

In its opinion Friday, the court suggested the emergency timeframe argued by the GOP is entirely the product of avoidable delay in bringing the matter to the courts.

"The Libertarian Party of Texas is thrilled with this outcome," Whitney Bilyeu, who chairs the Texas Libertarian Party, said in a statement. "As we did last time, we resisted this haphazard attempt by Republicans to limit voter choice and obstruct free and fair elections."

Republicans have long sought to marginalize Libertarians under the thinking that they siphon votes from the GOP. Democrats, meanwhile, see the Green Party as a threat.

Among the 23 races in which the GOP challenged Libertarian candidates this time, few are expected to be close. The most clear exception, though, is the 15th Congressional District, the most competitive congressional race in the state and a top target of Republicans nationwide. Libertarian Ross Lynn Leone will remain on the ballot there against Republican Monica De La Cruz and Democrat Michelle Vallejo.

Patricks race could also be competitive. He won reelection by 5 percentage points in 2018, while the Libertarian candidate then took 2% of the vote.

The full program is now LIVE for the 2022 Texas Tribune Festival, happening Sept. 22-24 in Austin. Explore the schedule of 100+ mind-expanding conversations coming to TribFest, including the inside track on the 2022 elections and the 2023 legislative session, the state of public and higher ed at this stage in the pandemic, why Texas suburbs are booming, why broadband access matters, the legacy of slavery, what really happened in Uvalde and so much more. See the program.

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Republican effort to remove Libertarians from November ballot rejected by Texas Supreme Court - The Texas Tribune

SCOOP: DEPARTURE LOUNGE Quentin Palfrey is planning to end his campaign for attorney general as soon as today, according to three people familiar with his thinking.

Chatter about Palfrey potentially exiting the Democratic primary and endorsing one of his competitors has grown in recent days as new polls showed the former assistant attorney struggling to keep pace with Andrea Campbell and Shannon Liss-Riordan, and with key endorsements breaking for his rivals. He also cut $140,000 of his $231,000 in pre-primary ad buys, according to ad tracker AdImpact. Palfrey did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Palfrey began telegraphing his attorney general campaign over a year ago, when the 2018 Democratic lieutenant governor nominee told the Boston Globe he would run for the states top law enforcement job if Attorney General Maura Healey ran for governor.

He racked up endorsements from Democratic Party activists and progressive groups after formally launching his campaign in February and went on to secure the state partys endorsement at its June convention.

But Palfrey has struggled to grow his campaign beyond party insiders. Hes been outpaced in fundraising by Campbell and trounced by Liss-Riordan, whos now poured at least $4.8 million of her own money into her campaign. And he's trailed in polling while Liss-Riordan is closing the gap with Campbell after blanketing the airwaves since early July.

The path to victory got even narrower this past weekend, when Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and former Boston Acting Mayor Kim Janey endorsed Liss-Riordan. Their late-breaking support effectively recast the primary as a two-woman race between the Brookline labor attorney and Campbell, the former Boston city councilor whos backed by Healey, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, Sen. Ed Markey and other prominent politicians.

Palfrey may endorse one of his rivals to blunt the others rise. Most political watchers would assume Palfrey would endorse Liss-Riordan, who he often teamed up with earlier in the campaign to attack Campbell over super PAC spending and certain policy stances. But theres a chance Palfrey, off-put by the millions of dollars Liss-Riordan has given her campaign to fuel her more than $5 million in advertising, could set aside his differences with Campbell and back her instead.

GOOD TUESDAY MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS. Primary day is a week away! What races are you watching? What mailers are you getting? Share your thoughts: [emailprotected].

TODAY Gov. Charlie Baker and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito attend the Greylock Glen ceremonial groundbreaking at 10 a.m. in Adams, announce Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness grant awards at noon in Williamsburg and visit Valley Venture Mentors at 2 p.m. in Springfield. The GOP governor/LG team of Geoff Diehl and Leah Cole Allen hold a media availability at 1 p.m. at UMass Lowell. LG hopeful and state Rep. Tami Gouveia casts her ballot at 6 p.m. at Acton Town Hall.

Many Dems will breeze through election amid shortage of GOP challengers, by Christian M. Wade, Eagle-Tribune: Dozens of democratic lawmakers are getting a free pass to another two-year term with the Republican Party fielding few challengers in the upcoming elections. Every seat in the 200-member state Legislature is up for grabs in the fall elections, but the majority of incumbents will cruise to another term with few contenders vying to unseat them. Among 18 House races in the North of Boston region, only two Republicans were nominated to run against incumbent Democratic lawmakers. In three wide-open races to fill House seats the newly created 4th Essex in the Merrimack Valley, and 7th and 8th Essex Districts on the North Shore Democrats dominate the field of candidates. There are no Republicans aiming for the seats.

ENDORSEMENT ALERT: State Rep. Chynah Tyler is endorsing Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden at 1:30 p.m. at the Malcolm X mural in Roxbury.

It sounds like I dont want to vote for either of them: Controversy defines Suffolk DAs race, by Danny McDonald and Tiana Woodard, Boston Globe: With little more than a week to go before primary day, voters find themselves contemplating two Suffolk district attorney candidates buffeted by controversy. Thats left many local residents changing their minds about the race; still others greeted the whole firestorm with indifference. Revelations that Boston City Councilor Ricardo Arroyo, a former public defender, was twice investigated though never charged for possible sexual assault as a teenager have rocked city politics. Meanwhile, District Attorney Kevin Hayden continues to face questions and criticism after a Boston Globe investigation exposed a coverup by Transit Police officers that raised questions about how prosecutors handled the case.

Chaos on Boston City Council: Flynn moves to strip Arroyos leadership assignments; Baker and Lara file dueling records requests, by Sean Philip Cotter, Boston Herald: The Boston City Council is tearing itself apart as President Ed Flynn moves to strip embattled councilor Ricardo Arroyos committee leadership assignments a move Arroyo slams as undemocratic and city councilors pursue each other with pointed records requests: Frank Baker against the DA candidate Arroyo and Kendra Lara in turn against Baker.

FROM THE OPINION PAGES: A year after endorsing Andrea Campbell for Boston mayor, the Boston Globe editorial board has endorsed the former city councilor for state attorney general.

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: The Boston Teachers Union, which represents about 10,000 educators, and the Greater Boston Labor Council, which represents about 100,000 workers, have endorsed state Sen. Diana DiZoglio for auditor, adding to her broad union support.

Teamsters Local 25 has endorsed Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll for lieutenant governor.

Sen. Ed Markey has endorsed Sydney Levin-Epstein for Hampden, Hampshire and Worcester state senator, saying in a statement that shell fight to make sure the region gets its fair share of resources and to create good jobs.

State Treasurer Deb Goldberg has endorsed Worcester Mayor Joe Petty for First Worcester state senator, saying in a statement that Petty is a consensus builder who will bring that same work ethic to the State House.

State Rep. Russell Holmes has been endorsed for reelection in the 6th Suffolk District by 1199 SEIU, SEIU Local 509, the Massachusetts AFL-CIO and the Massachusetts & Northern New England Laborers' District Council.

A right-wing agitator who attended Jan. 6 riot is running for the Mass. House, testing state GOPs appetite for extremism, by Emma Platoff, Boston Globe: A little-watched legislative contest on the northeast coast of Massachusetts could be a bellwether for the bitterly divided state GOP, as party leaders consider throwing their support behind Samson Racioppi, a right-wing agitator who led a 2019 Straight Pride Parade in Boston and organized buses to Washington, D.C., for the protest that became the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Massachusetts district attorney races and the progressive prosecutor, by Deborah Becker, WBUR: San Francisco residents recalled progressive District Attorney Chesa Boudin after he was blamed for a rash of brazen thefts across the city. Pennsylvania Republicans are trying to impeach the liberal DA in Philadelphia. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis removed a progressive prosecutor in his state this month. And Suffolk DA Rachael Rollins faced a bitter confirmation fight before she became U.S. Attorney in Massachusetts early this year. Now the conflict has shifted to Massachusetts, where the battle is playing out very differently from one county to the next.

Coppinger touts reforms as he seeks another term, by Christian M. Wade, Eagle-Tribune: When former Lynn Police Chief Kevin Coppinger took over as Essex County's sheriff nearly six years ago, he never expected to play the role of a reformer. But a few years after taking over the helm, the veteran law enforcement officer found himself at the center of a national debate over whether to allow medication assisted treatment in jails and correctional facilities to help blunt the impact of a wave of opioid addiction that had claimed hundreds of thousands of lives. In the Sept. 6 primary Coppinger faces a challenge from Virginia Leigh, a Lynn social worker who argues he hasn't done enough to improve access to substance-abuse treatment and mental health services for inmates.

More: Leigh vows close 'revolving door' at Middleton jail, by Christian M. Wade, Salem News: As a clinical social worker, Virginia Leigh has spent years working with individuals struggling with mental health and substance abuse issues whose lives often become tangled up in the state's complex criminal justice system. Her work has taken her into county jails and state prisons and convinced her that the best way to reduce crime and the number of people serving time is to deal with the root causes of incarceration.

Have a mail ballot sitting at home? Do not trust it to the mail at this point, top Mass. elections official says, by Samantha J. Gross, Boston Globe: Have a mail-in ballot sitting on your kitchen table or tacked up on your refrigerator? Massachusetts Secretary of State William F. Galvin advises that you fill it out and take it to a secure drop box, early voting site, or your local city or town hall before 8 p.m. on Sept. 6 if you want it to be counted for the state primary election.

Report finds regionalization may only be partial solution to challenges posed by low enrollment, less rural school aid, by Chris Larabee, Daily Hampshire Gazette: In Franklin and Hampshire counties, regional school districts including Pioneer, Mohawk Trail and Gateway already draw from a wide pool of towns across a large geographic range. If those schools were to join up with their neighbors, school officials and state Rep. Natalie Blais, D-Sunderland, who co-chaired the Special Commission on Rural School Districts, say serious consideration needs to be taken into whether the pros of regionalization outweigh the cons.

Grid operator, utilities call for energy reserve, by Bruce Mohl, CommonWealth Magazine: The operator of the New England power grid and six of the regions major utilities are calling on state and federal policymakers to develop an energy reserve that can be tapped when energy supply chains are disrupted.

Worcester to begin construction on micro-units for chronically homeless, by Sam Turken, GBH News: Amid a rise in homelessness across Worcester, the citys housing authority will start constructing what officials called the first-in-the-state building of micro-units to house people who have been chronically homeless.

New Hampshire governor denounces tweets by state Libertarian party as horribly insulting, by Emily Sweeney, Boston Globe: The Libertarian Party of New Hampshire has drawn outrage for mocking the Holocaust and the death of Senator John McCain on social media, with New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu calling the Twitter posts horribly insulting. In a recent interview on CNN, Sununu said that should pretty much be the end of the Libertarian Party in New Hampshire.'"

WEEKEND WEDDING Megan Corrigan, an Eric Lesser and Lydia Edwards campaign alum, and Kevin Lownds, deputy chief of the Medicaid Fraud Division at the attorney generals office, were married on Friday at the Gardens at Elm Bank in Wellesley. Garrett Casey, policy director and counsel for state Sen. Cynthia Creem, and Nelson Tamayo, a foreign service officer at the State Department, officiated. SPOTTED: Edwards, former state transportation secretary Fred Salvucci, John Sasso, Nick Mitropoulos, Dewey Square COO John Giesser, former U.S. Ambassador to Portugal Gerry McGowan; Will Poff Webster, Matt Shapanka, Elizabeth Keyes, former Rhode Island state Rep. Aaron Regunberg, Tim Flaherty and Mary-Jo Adams.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the Washington Posts Martine Powers, a Boston Globe/POLITICO alum, and Julia Hoffman.

Want to make an impact? POLITICO Massachusetts has a variety of solutions available for partners looking to reach and activate the most influential people in the Bay State. Have a petition you want signed? A cause youre promoting? Seeking to increase brand awareness among this key audience? Share your message with our influential readers to foster engagement and drive action. Contact Jesse Shapiro to find out how: [emailprotected].

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Palfrey eyes the exits- POLITICO - POLITICO

Meghan Markle has launched her latest attack on the royal family, saying she was happy to leave in part because she lost control of her beloved social media accounts claiming her images were instead given to people who were calling my children the N-word.

The 41-year-old rookie podcaster insisted in a scathing interview with New York Magazines The Cut that she and husband Prince Harry never stood a chance in the UK because just by existing, we were upsetting the dynamic of the hierarchy.

She also admitted that their decision to flee royal life as well as launch legal action against her own estranged father has torn apart both their families.

Harry said to me, I lost my dad in this process. It doesnt have to be the same for them as it was for me, but thats his decision, she said in the profile published Monday.

Despite this cost, Markle told interviewer Allison Davis ahead of her latest royal-bashing, Im, like, so excited to talk.

During the sitdown at her $14.65 million mansion in Californias celeb-packed Montecito, Markles eyes became alight and devilish when she asked, Do you want to know a secret?

Im getting back on Instagram, she said, launching into her biggest gripe about her short-lived time as a senior royal how she had to sacrifice her online life.

Her only Instagram account for a time became @KensingtonRoyal, one shared with Harrys brother, Prince William, and Williams wife, Kate Middleton and one Markle had no control over.

It was a big adjustment a huge adjustment to go from that kind of autonomy to a different life, she complained of losing the 3 million followers she had spent years growing.

Now, instead of posting her own snaps, the historic images were shared with royal watchers around the world via the press.

Theres literally a structure by which if you want to release photos of your child, as a member of the family, you first have to give them to the Royal Rota, she griped of the UK media royal pool, sharing the historic images with royal watchers worldwide.

Why would I give the very people that are calling my children the N-word a photo of my child before I can share it with the people that love my child? she asked.

Her comments did not specify whether she was accusing the press, the public or her new royal handlers of making such racist slurs. However, The Cut stressed that she was notably still ruffled over it.

You tell me how that makes sense and then Ill play that game, she said.

She also blamed the intense scrutiny for the seeds of Megxit, saying it stemmed from a plan to remove the press packs guise of public interest in reporting on them because their lives were taxpayer funded.

If they left the country and made their own money, then maybe all the noise would stop, Meghan said, saying they hoped at first to serve in other parts of the British Commonwealth, such as Canada.

Anything to just because just by existing, we were upsetting the dynamic of the hierarchy. So we go, Okay, fine, lets get out of here. Happy to, she said.

That, for whatever reason, is not something that we were allowed to do, even though several other members of the family do that exact thing, she complained, without citing specific examples.

Finally going back to the UK this summer to help celebrate Queen Elizabeth IIs Platinum Jubilee was surreal and bittersweet, she said, knowing none of it had to be this way.

The former Suits star admitted that she had initially assumed her TV career would help make royal life a breeze.

I was an actress, she said. My entire job was, Tell me where to stand. Tell me what to say. Tell me how to say it. Tell me what to wear, and Ill do it.

Now, she wishes she had seen movies that forewarned of the likely pressures, such as 2004s The Prince & Me, in which Julia Stiles plays a student who falls for a Danish prince, just to clash with his family.

Yeah. That wouldve been really helpful. That wouldve been a very key tutorial to have had in advance of all this, she told the interviewer, who noted she said it not quite sarcastically but with a steel rod in it.

Despite her N-word claim, Markle believes her clash came not from racism but just from her being American.

However, she insisted that being half black had made her brief time in the royal family all the more pivotal, recalling the high praise of a South African cast member of the live-action version of The Lion King at the London premiere in 2019, before she fled.

He looked at me, and hes just like light. He said, I just need you to know: When you married into this family, we rejoiced in the streets the same we did when Mandela was freed from prison,' she claimed.

Markle who has taken digs at the royal family on her new Spotify podcast hinted that there is likely far more to come.

Its interesting, Ive never had to sign anything that restricts me from talking, she said.

I can talk about my whole experience and make a choice not to, she said, saying she has only held back because she is still healing.

I think forgiveness is really important. It takes a lot more energy to not forgive But it takes a lot of effort to forgive. Ive really made an active effort, especially knowing that I can say anything, she said.

However, she would not reveal just how intimate that will get with their upcoming docu-series for Netflix.

While Markle again insisted it is not a reality TV show, she would not elaborate on just how far it will differ from one.

The piece of my life I havent been able to share, that people havent been able to see, is our love story, she said of Harry, with whom she is like salt and pepper because we always move together.

I hope that is the sentiment that people feel when they see any of the content or the projects that we are working on, she said, vaguely.

Whats so funny is Im not trying to be cagey, she said.

When the media has shaped the story around you, its really nice to be able to tell your own story.

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Meghan Markle was 'happy' to leave the royal family, get her social media accounts back - New York Post