The Food and Drug Administration has approved the first artificial pancreas — a cellphone-sized device that automatically takes care of checking a patient’s blood sugar and delivers lifesaving insulin as needed.
The surprise approval Wednesday — it wasn’t expected until next year sometime — means patients with type-1 diabetes will be able to hook up the device and skip the regular finger pricks to constantly check their blood sugar.
Medtronic’s MiniMed 670G system includes a sensor that measures glucose levels under the skin; an insulin pump strapped to the body; and an infusion patch with a catheter that delivers insulin.
The Food and Drug Administration has approved the first artificial pancreas — a cellphone-sized device that automatically takes care of checking a patient’s blood sugar and delivers lifesaving insulin as needed.
The surprise approval Wednesday — it wasn’t expected until next year sometime — means patients with type-1 diabetes will be able to hook up the device and skip the regular finger pricks to constantly check their blood sugar.
Medtronic’s MiniMed 670G system includes a sensor that measures glucose levels under the skin; an insulin pump strapped to the body; and an infusion patch with a catheter that delivers insulin.
Arnold Palmer — the pants-hitching, chain-smoking son of a greenskeeper who helped transform golf from an elite country club pursuit in to a sport for the masses, winning every major honor the game has to offer along the way — died Sunday at age 87.
Alastair Johnson, chief executive of Arnold Palmer Enterprises, told The Golf Channel — which Palmer co-founded, among his many successful business enterprises — that Palmer died Sunday afternoon from complications of heart problems. (The Golf Channel is a unit of the NBC Sports Group.)
“We are deeply saddened by the death of Arnold Palmer, golf’s greatest ambassador, at age 87,” the USGA said Sunday night. Multiple reports said he died in Pittsburgh, near his lifetime home of Latrobe, Pa.
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Honorary starter Arnold Palmer after hitting his ball on the first tee before the first round of The Masters in Augusta, Ga., in April 2013. Matt Slocum / AP
Bill Nunn, a veteran character actor whose credits ranged from the “Spider-Man” movie franchise to the Spike Lee films “Do the Right Thing” and “He Got Game,” has died.
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His wife, Donna, said Nunn died Saturday at his home in Pittsburgh. He was 62 and had been battling cancer.
A longtime Pittsburgh resident and graduate of Morehouse College, Lee’s alma mater, Nunn broke through in movies in the late 1980s, first in Lee’s “School Daze,” then in the Oscar-nominated “Do the Right Thing,” as the ill-fated Radio Raheem, who dies when choked by police during a street brawl in Brooklyn.
Two men are dead in a shooting at a military base in San Antonio, Texas, authorities said.
The attack at Lackland Air Force Base, a part of Joint Base San Antonio, appears to be a murder-suicide, Bexar County Sheriff’s Office spokesman James Keith told MSNBC. The base said in a statement that there were no indications it was related to terrorism.
The gunfire was reported at about 8:40 a.m. local time, and when police and security officers arrived, they found the victims dead in an office in a building known as Forbes Hall, authorities said. Two Glock firearms were found at the scene.
The web of hidden money and offshore shell companies documented in the Panama Papers reveals an alternate financial universe that links a single law firm with a globe-spanning rogue’s gallery of politicians, moguls, criminals and shady agents.
While much attention has focused on links to Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose name doesn’t appear in the documents, the leaked files — reported by The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists — also expose new details about far-flung capers dating back decades.
The cases have little in common other than the involvement of the law firm, Mossack Fonseca. The connections are sometimes tangential, and the firm insists it did nothing illegal.
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The Panama Papers leak details connections between the 1983 Brink’s-Mat gold heist in London to a shell company set up by Mossack Fonseca. PA Wire / via AP
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, the bench’s ideological conservative known for his fiery comments in and out of the courtroom, has died. He was 79.
Scalia was “a brilliant legal mind with a pugnacious style, incisive wit, and colorful opinions,” President Barack Obama said Saturday night. “He will no doubt be remembered as one of the most consequential judges and thinkers to serve on the Supreme Court.”
Scalia was found dead at a Texas ranch on Saturday morning when he did not appear for breakfast, the U.S. Marshals Service in Washington told The Associated Press.
A brutal polar vortex sent temperatures plummeting to “life-threatening” lows across the Midwest and Northeast on Saturday, with millions of Americans warned of frostbite and other dangers.
The coldest air mass of the winter brought the thermometer down to minus 6 degrees overnight in Minneapolis, while New Yorkers were urged to take “extreme precautions” against wind chill.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio urged residents to check on vulnerable friends, relatives and neighbors.
Some call it The Oscars, others The Academy Awards, but host Chris Rock has an even better title.
The 2016 Academy Award nominations, announced Thursday, revealed only white performers were nominated in the acting categories. Sadly, the lack of diversity has been a recurring theme with the show. And the new host couldn’t resist calling it out with a perfect tweet:
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ABC
Something tells us Rock’s jokes are going to have a theme this year.
The harrowing survival epic “The Revenant” leads the Oscar race with 12 nominations, including best picture.
The acclaimed film also scored nods for star Leonardo DiCaprio, director Alejandro González Iñárritu and supporting actor Tom Hardy. Iñárritu nabbed three Oscars last year for “Birdman.”
The high-octane action thriller “Mad Max: Fury Road” followed with 10 nominations, including best picture.
British actor Alan Rickman, a veteran of film and stage known for roles in “Die Hard,” “Love Actually” and the “Harry Potter” films, has died. He was 69.
News of his death was confirmed to NBC News by Rickman’s agent.
“He was surrounded by family and friends,” a statement from his family read, according to Reuters.
Rickman was trained at Britain’s prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and went on to frequently play the bad guy on stage and screen. He earned a Tony nomination for his 1985 performance as scheming French aristocrat Vicomte de Valmont in “Les Liaisons Dangereuses.
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‘Harry Potter’ Actor Alan Rickman Dies of Cancer at Age 69
Film and Writing Festival for Comedy. Showcasing best of comedy short films at the FEEDBACK Film Festival. Plus, showcasing best of comedy novels, short stories, poems, screenplays (TV, short, feature) at the festival performed by professional actors.