Python: json.loads returns items prefixing with 'u'
The u- prefix just means that you have a Unicode string. When you really use the string, it won't appear in your data. Don't be thrown by the printed output.
For example, try this:
print mail_accounts[0]["i"]
You won't see a u.
Everything is cool, man. The 'u' is a good thing, it indicates that the string is of type Unicode in python 2.x.
http://docs.python.org/2/howto/unicode.html#the-unicode-type