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Flood runoff analysis by the storage function models normally requires an estimate of the effective rainfall as an input, which is computed by use of runoff coefficient or filtering of runoff-component separations . The present study proposes a new storage routing model which can accommodate a nonlinear relationship between the storage and discharge as well as loss mechanisms.The model can calculate the total hydrograph from the observed rainfall instead of using the effective rainfall . The loss mechanisms take into account infiltration, evaporation and transpiration from the river basin . An unknown parameter of the loss component is identified at the same time as the other parameters involved in the storage function model. The proposed model has the advantage of the real-time flood forecasting , because the hydrologic data are directly processed.The model developed in this study was applied to more than 70 flood records from the rivers in Hokkaido . The Newton-Raphson method was used to optimize the model parameters in which the sensitivity coefficients were theoretically derived and the technique of the lower triangular Cholesky factorization was employed to search the optimized values as fast as possible. The results clearly show that the proposed model appears to provide better reproduction of the hydrograph than the hyetograph of effective rainfall patterns is used.

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The influence of transfusion of lymphokine-activated T killer cells (T-LAK) on inflammatory responses was examined in dogs after laparotomy. Plasma C-reactive protein (CRP) level, cell numbers of peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBLs) and T lymphocyte subsets (CD3+, CD4+ and CD8+) and mRNA expression levels of cytokines including interleukin (IL)-2, IL-12, IL-4, IL-10 and transforming growth factor (TGF)-β in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were measured in dogs with (T-LAK group) or without (control group) a single T-LAK administration immediately after laparotomy. The plasma CRP level initially increased and then decreased to the normal range at 7 days after laparotomy in the T-LAK group, which was earlier than in the control group. The expression level of IL-10 mRNA showed a marked postoperative increase and was significantly higher than the preoperative level on day 7 (P<0.05), whereas the level in the control group showed no clear change after laparotomy. A significant increase in IL-2 mRNA expression level in the T-LAK group was observed on day 14, which was two weeks earlier than in the control group (P<0.05). These results suggest that T-LAK therapy in dogs after laparotomy leads to earlier resolution of postoperative inflammation by production of an anti-inflammatory cytokine (IL-10) in the early phase of the postoperative period and earlier restoration of cell-mediated immunity related to cytokine production by PBMCs.

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