In the ducts of the pancreas, the flow of digestive enzymes becomes blocked, making a child less and less able to absorb food.
For investors in once-attractive foreign markets, the fear was that those markets may be on even less firm economic footing than the United States', and consequently less able to absorb the decline in lending that comes along with rising interest rates.
In one episode, our heroes solved a murder by discovering the victim had sickle cell anemia and therefore had cells that were less able to absorb oxygen -- hence he would die in a room with less air, while others would remain unaffected.
Also, the markets are less able to absorb changes of investor views.Because of balance sheet concerns and regulatory pressure, banks are less able to take on big inventory positions to buffer flows even when prices look attractive.
If anything, the situation is likely to begin to worsen more rapidly than the survey suggests, at least for small and medium-size firms, Mr. DiPietro said, because smaller firms -- which are less well represented in the Citibank survey -- have experienced slower revenue growth and are thus less able to absorb higher costs.
After that, muscles become resistant to insulin and much less able to absorb glucose.
Kiln-dried lumber is less likely to absorb moisture that could cause the frame to swell, shrink or change shape.
Medicaid, a joint state-federal program of health insurance for the poor, has even less ability to absorb cuts.
Other bank-sector investments still languish at 0.6 times book value, and have less capital to absorb losses.
And it says forests, oceans and soil will become less able to absorb carbon dioxide, which could contribute another 1.2C of warming by the end of the century.
