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BACKGROUND: The caregiving scholarship widely acknowledges informal caregivers' contributions to maintaining older adults' health and well-being. However, informal caregivers encounter economic, physical, social, financial and psychological challenges when caring for older adults. The caregiving literature has shown variations in caregiving intensity and motivation between rural and urban informal caregivers of older adults. This situation is likely to result in rural-urban disparities in caregiver burden. However, the literature on predictors of caregiver burden is more focused on demographic, socio-economic, caregiving and health-related factors with very little attention to geographical dynamics. For this reason, the effects of demographic, socio-economic, caregiving, and health-related factors on the variations in caregiver burden between rural and urban informal caregivers of older adults are yet to be known in the sub-Saharan African context, including Ghana. Notably, the impact of geographical location on caregiver burden is mainly missing in the informal caregiving literature in Ghana. Situated within the stress process model, we determine the association between geographical location and caregiver burden among informal caregivers of older adults in Ghana. METHODS: This study employed data from a large cross-sectional survey on informal caregiving, health, and healthcare among caregivers of older adults aged 50 years or above (N = 1,853) in Ghana. We selected the World Health Organization Impact of Caregiving Scale to measure caregiver burden. Generalized multivariable linear regression models were employed to determine the association between geographical location and caregiver burden among informal caregivers of older adults. We reported beta values and standard errors with significance levels of 0.05 or less. RESULTS: The results showed that rural informal caregivers of older adults significantly have a decreased caregiver burden compared to urban informal caregivers (ß = -1.64; SE = 0.41). Also, participants across all the self-rated health categories (poor/very poor: ß = 12.63; SE = 1.65; fair: ß = 9.56; SE = 1.07; good: ß = 11.00; SE = 0.61, very good: ß = 7.03; SE = 0.49) have a significantly increased caregiver burden for the full sample and for both rural (poor/very poor: ß = 13.88; SE = 2.4; fair: ß = 6.11; SE = 1.62; good: ß = 9.97; SE = 0.96, very good: ß = 6.06; SE = 0.71) and urban (poor/very poor: ß = 11.86; SE = 2.25; fair: ß = 12.33; SE = 1.42; good: ß = 11.80; SE = 0.79, very good: ß = 7.90; SE = 0.67) participants. This study further revealed that participants with no financial support needs reported a decreased caregiver burden compared to those with financial support needs for the full sample (ß = -2.92, p-value < 0.01) and for both rural (ß = -3.20; p-value < 0.01) and urban (ß =-2.70; p-value < 0.01) participants. CONCLUSION: The findings from this study underscore geographical location differences in caregiver burden among informal caregivers of older adults in Ghana. Given these findings, the need to consider geographical location variations in providing welfare and health support programs to lessen caregiver burden among informal caregivers of older adults is welcomed. In line with the stress process model, such welfare and health programs should consider background, context, and stressor factors that contribute to variations in caregiver burden between rural and urban informal caregivers of older adults in Ghana and other sub-Saharan African countries.

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The contamination of feed and food by heavy metals represents a significant concern for the health of both animals and humans. This study investigates the impact of geographical location on heavy metal distribution in dairy cattle feeds sourced from Free State and Limpopo, South Africa (SA). A total of 70 feed samples (40 from Free State and 30 from Limpopo) were collected from 2018 to 2019 and analyzed for heavy metals, including cadmium (Cd), arsenic (As), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), lead (Pb), and chromium (Cr), using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Our findings revealed the presence of Cr, Cu, and Zn in the feeds, but at levels below the FAO/WHO permissible limits. Additionally, As, Cd, and Pb concentrations in the feeds were below the Limit of Detections (LODs). Generally, Cr concentrations (0.032-0.454 mg/kg) identified in the Free State samples were lower than those found in Limpopo (0.038-1.459 mg/kg), while the levels of Cu (0.092-4.898 mg/kg) and Zn (0.39-13.871 mg/kg) recorded in the Free State samples were higher than those from Limpopo [(0.126-3.467 mg/kg) and (0.244-13.767 mg/kg), respectively]. According to independent sample t-tests, Cu and Zn levels were substantially higher (p ≤ .05) in Free State feeds compared to Limpopo, while Limpopo feeds exhibited significantly higher (p ≤ .05) Cr concentrations than Free State feeds. Despite the low recorded heavy metal levels, regular monitoring of these elements in cow diets across all SA provinces is essential for ensuring the well-being of animals and humans.

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INTRODUCTION: A neighbourhood's environmental characteristics can positively or negatively influence health and well-being. To date, no studies have examined this concept in the context of Saudi Arabian youth. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the association between a neighbourhood's environmental characteristics and health risk factors among Saudi Arabian youth. METHODS: A total of 335 secondary-school students (175 males, 160 females), aged 15-19 years old, participated. Body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference measurements were taken, and physical activity (steps) was measured via pedometer. The perceived neighbourhood environment was assessed using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire Environment Module (IPAQ-E). RESULTS: Significant differences were found between the youths from urban, rural farm, and rural desert locations in terms of BMI, waist circumference, daily steps, accessibility, infrastructure, social environment, household vehicles, safety, and access to facilities (p < 0.001). Rural desert youths were less active, and males (26.43 + 8.13) and females (24.68 + 5.03) had higher BMIs compared to the youths from other areas. Chi-square analysis revealed a significant difference (χ21 = 12.664, p < 0.001) between the genders as to social-environment perceptions. Males perceived their neighbourhood as a social environment more than was reported by females (68.39% and 50.28%, respectively). Pearson's correlation revealed negative significant relationships between steps and both safety of neighbourhood (r = -0.235, p < 0.001) and crime rate (r = -0.281, p < 0.001). DISCUSSION: Geographical location, cultural attitudes, lack of facilities, and accessibility impact youth physical-activity engagement and weight status; this includes environmental variables such as residential density, neighbourhood safety, household motor vehicles, and social environment. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study examining associations with neighbourhood environments in the youths of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Significant associations and geographical differences were found. More research and policy interventions to address neighbourhoods' environmental characteristics and health risk factors relative to Saudi Arabian youth are warranted.

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Background: Our study aims to comment on all ADPKD variants identified in our health area and explain how they are distributed geographically, to identify new variants, and relate the more frequent variants with their renal phenotype in terms of kidney survival. Materials and Methods: We identified patients suffering from ADPKD in a specialized consultation unit; genealogical trees were constructed from the proband. According to the ultrasound-defined modified Ravine-Pei criteria, relatives classified as at risk were offered participation in the genetic study. Socio-demographic, clinical, and genetic factors related to the impact of the variant on the survival of the kidney and the patient, such as age at RRT beginning and age of death, were recorded. Results: In 37 families, 33 new variants of the PKD1 gene were identified, which probably produce a truncated protein. These variants included 2 large deletions, 19 frameshifts, and 12 stop-codons, all of which had not been previously described in the databases. In 10 families, six new probably pathogenic variants in the PKD2 gene were identified. These included three substitutions; two deletions, one of which was intronic and not associated with any family; and one duplication. A total of 11 missense variants in the PKD1 gene were grouped in 14 families and classified as probably pathogenic. We found that 33 VUS were grouped into 18 families and were not described in the databases, while another 15 were without grouping, and there was only 1 in the PKD2 gene. Some of these variants were present in patients with a different pathogenic variant (described or not), and the variant was probably benign. Renal survival curves were compared to nonsense versus missense variants on the PKD1 gene to check if there were any differences. A group of 328 patients with a nonsense variant was compared with a group of 264 with a missense variant; mean renal survival for truncated variants was lower (53.1 ± 0.46 years versus non-truncated variant 59.1 ± 1.36 years; Log Rank, Breslow, and Tarone Ware, p < 0.05). Conclusions: To learn more about ADPKD, it is necessary to understand genetics. By describing new genetic variants, we are approaching creation of an accurate genetic map of the disease in our country, which could have prognostic and therapeutic implications in the future.

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The impact of digital industrialization on regional pollution control and carbon reduction in China is an area that remains largely unexplored despite being a new driving force in promoting high-quality economic development. This study constructs a combined system synergy model to measure the synergistic governance effect of regional pollution and carbon reduction in China from 2011 to 2020 and then estimates the direct impact and spatial spillover effect using a spatial dual-weight model. Our findings indicate that digital industrialization has a greater impact on regional pollution reduction and carbon reduction as geographical distance decreases, with the spillover effect with close geographical relationships being higher than that of adjacent. Furthermore, the heterogeneity analysis reveals that the added value of digital technology and services has a significantly positive effect, while the spatial spillover effect of the added value of digital infrastructure is significantly negative. Finally, our mechanism judgements prove digital industrialization can impact the level of regional co-governance of pollution and carbon reduction through source prevention, process control, and end-treatment. Our study provides a factual basis for further promoting China's environmental pollution control and carbon reduction behavior and offers a method to use different spatial weights in depth.

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Salvia miltiorrhiza is an important traditional herbal medicine, and its extracts could be used for treating cardiovascular disease. Although these medicinal compounds are functionally similar, their wild relative, S. castanea, produces significantly different concentrations of these compounds. The reason for their differences is still unknown. In a series of soil and plant-based analyses, we explored and compared the rhizosphere microbiome of S. miltiorrhiza and S. castanea. To further investigate the geographical distribution of S. castanea, MaxEnt models were used to predict the future suitable habitat areas of S. castanea in China. Results revealed the distributions and structure of the rhizosphere microbial community of S. miltiorrhiza and S. castanea at different times. In addition, differences in altitude and soil moisture resulting from changes in climate and geographical location are also critical environmental factors in the distribution of S. castanea. The findings of this study increase our understanding of plant adaptation to their geographical environment through secondary metabolites. It also highlights the complex interplay between rhizospheric factors and plant metabolism, which provides the theoretical basis for the cultivation of S. miltiorrhiza and the use of S. castanea resources.

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[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1094034.].

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Because of the drug resistance, medicinal plants are used more frequently than coccidiostats to treat and control coccidiosis. Punica granatum is a powerful antioxidant with a variety of medicinal uses. This study used an in vitro experiment to investigate how different P. granatum from Yemen (Y) and Egypt (E) sources affected oocyst sporulation and served as an anthelminthic effector. In contrast to PGE and mebendazole, PGY (200 mg/mL) has the shortest time to paralyze and death the earthworm Eisenia fetida in this investigation. In addition, the treated worm groups' cuticle thickness and shrinkage in comparison to the control group were assessed and contrasted. Eimeria papillata is used as a model protozoan parasite in anticoccidial assays. This study shows that P. granatum affects oocysts sporulation in a dose-dependent manner, with maximal percentages of 100% (PGY) and 48.60% (PGE) at 96 h for P. granatum concentrations of 200 mg/mL. Inhibition (%) was compared to various detergents, as well as positive and negative controls. According to our research, the P. granatum extract had powerful anthelmintic and anticoccidial properties, with the potency changing according to the environmental conditions of each fruit source. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: Habitat of the plant is useful for production and accumulation of some secondary metabolites in plants which be effective for the therapeutic uses. Different parameters in the environmental ecosystem affecting variation in chemical compositions and biological activity of P. granatum.

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Ruspolia differens Serville (Orthoptera: Tettigonidae) is a highly nutritious and luxurious insect delicacy that is consumed as a food source in many African countries. However, the nutrient profile of R. differens in different geographical regions have received limited research interest. Here, we provide comprehensive evidence of geographical impact on the nutrient profile of R. differens and its potential to meet the recommended dietary intake of the population. Our results demonstrated that proximate composition, fatty acids, amino acids, minerals, vitamins, and flavonoid contents of R. differens collected from five districts in Uganda varied considerably. The crude protein (28-45%), crude fat (41-54%), and energy (582-644 Kj/100 g) contents of R. differens exceed that reported from animal origins. The highest crude protein, crude fat, and carbohydrate contents of R. differens were recorded in Kabale, Masaka, and Kampala, respectively. A total of 37 fatty acids were identified with linoleic acid (omega-6 fatty acid) being the most abundant polyunsaturated fatty acid in R. differens from Kabale, Masaka, and Mbarara. All essential amino acids were recorded in R. differens, particularly histidine with values exceeding the daily requirement for adults. Mineral and vitamin content differed significantly across the five districts. The highest quantity of flavonoids was recorded in R. differens from Hoima (484 mg/100 g). Our findings revealed that R. differens could be considered as functional food ingredients capable of supplying essential macro- and micronutrients that are critical in curbing the rising food insecurity and malnutrition in the regions.

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BACKGROUND: Rhizosphere soil physicochemical, endophytic fungi have an important role in plant growth. A large number of endophytic fungi play an indispensable role in promoting plant growth and development, and they can provide protection for host plants by producing a variety of secondary metabolites to resist and inhibit plant pathogens. Due to the terrain of Gansu province is north-south and longitudinal, different climatic conditions, altitude, terrain and growth environment will affect the growth of Codonopsis pilosula, and the changes in these environmental factors directly affect the quality and yield of C. pilosula in different production areas. However, In C. pilosula, the connection between soil nutrients, spatiotemporal variation and the community structure of endophytic fungi isolated from C. pilosula roots has not been well studied. RESULTS: Seven hundred six strains of endophytic fungi were obtained using tissue isolation and the hyphaend-purification method from C. pilosula roots that picked at all seasons and six districts (Huichuan, HC; Longxi, LX; Zhangxian, ZX; Minxian, MX; Weiyuan, WY; and Lintao, LT) in Gansu Province, China. Fusarium sp. (205 strains, 29.04%), Aspergillus sp. (196 strains, 27.76%), Alternaria sp. (73 strains, 10.34%), Penicillium sp. (58 strains, 8.22%) and Plectosphaerella sp. (56 strains, 7.93%) were the dominant genus. The species composition differed from temporal and spatial distribution (Autumn and Winter were higher than Spring and Summer, MX and LT had the highest similarity, HC and LT had the lowest). physical and chemical of soil like Electroconductibility (EC), Total nitrogen (TN), Catalase (CAT), Urease (URE) and Sucrase (SUC) had significant effects on agronomic traits of C. pilosula (P < 0.05). AK (Spring and Summer), TN (Autumn) and altitude (Winter) are the main driving factors for the change of endophytic fungal community. Moreover, geographic location (such as altitude, latitude and longitude) also has effects on the diversity of endophytic fungi. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggested that soil nutrients and enzyme, seasonal variation and geographical locations have an impact on shaping the community structure of culturable endophytic fungi in the roots of C. pilosula and its root traits. This suggests that climatic conditions may play a driving role in the growth and development of C. pilosula.

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Photodamage is caused by chronic sun exposure and ultraviolet radiation and presents as wrinkles, sagging, and pigmented spots. An increase in the ultraviolet index can increase a person's perceived age by worsening skin photodamage. However, since the ultraviolet index varies considerably between geographical regions, perceived age might vary substantially among them. This review aims to describe the differences in chronological and perceived age in regions of the world with different ultraviolet indexes. A literature search of three databases was conducted for studies analyzing perceived age and its relationship to sun exposure. Ultraviolet indexes from the included studies were retrieved from the National Weather Service and the Tropospheric Emission Monitoring Internet Service. Out of 104 studies, seven fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Overall, 3,352 patients were evaluated for perceived age. All studies found that patients with the highest daily sun exposures had the highest perceived ages for their chronological age ( p < 0.05). People with high sun exposure behaviors living in regions with high ultraviolet indexes will look significantly older than same-aged peers living in lower ultraviolet index regions.

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Introduction: The excessive use of chemical fertilizer causes increasing environmental and food security crisis. Organic fertilizer improves physical and biological activities of soil. Rhizosphere microbiota, which consist of highly diverse microorganisms, play an important role in soil quality. However, there is limited information about the effects of different fertilization conditions on the growth of Qingke plants and composition of the rhizosphere microbiota of the plants. Methods: In this study, we characterized the rhizosphere microbiota of Qingke plants grown in three main Qingke-producing areas (Tibet, Qinghai, and Gansu). In each of the three areas, seven different fertilization conditions (m1-m7, m1: Unfertilized; m2: Farmer Practice; m3: 75% Farmer Practice; m4: 75% Farmer Practice +25% Organic manure; m5: 50% Farmer Practice; m6: 50% Farmer Practice +50% Organic manure; m7: 100% Organic manure) were applied. The growth and yields of the Qingke plants were also compared under the seven fertilization conditions. Results: There were significant differences in alpha diversity indices among the three areas. In each area, differences in fertilization conditions and differences in the growth stages of Qingke plants resulted in differences in the beta diversity of the rhizosphere microbiota. Meanwhile, in each area, fertilization conditions, soil depths, and the growth stages of Qingke plants significantly affected the relative abundance of the top 10 phyla and the top 20 bacterial genera. For most of microbial pairs established through network analysis, the significance of their correlations in each of the microbial co-occurrence networks of the three experimental sites was different. Moreover, in each of the three networks, there were significant differences in relative abundance and genera among most nodes (i.e., the genera Pseudonocardia, Skermanella, Pseudonocardia, Skermanella, Aridibacter, and Illumatobacter). The soil chemical properties (i.e., TN, TP, SOM, AN, AK, CEC, Ca, and K) were positively or negatively correlated with the relative abundance of the top 30 genera derived from the three main Qingke-producing areas (p < 0.05). Fertilization conditions markedly influenced the height of a Qingke plant, the number of spikes in a Qingke plant, the number of kernels in a spike, and the fresh weight of a Qingke plant. Considering the yield, the most effective fertilization conditions for Qingke is combining application 50% chemical fertilizer and 50% organic manure. Conclusion: The results of the present study can provide theoretical basis for practice of reducing the use of chemical fertilizer in agriculture.

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Fiscal decentralization determines government behavior considerably by being a major factor influencing China's carbon emissions. We analyze the impact of fiscal decentralization on carbon emissions on basis of the dataset of 30 Chinese areas for the period 2008 to 2020. We reveal that fiscal decentralization significantly raises carbon emissions, but worsens carbon emission efficiency. The impact of fiscal decentralization on carbon emissions varies significantly by geographical location and economic development level shocks. Local governments increase the expenditure on economic services while reducing the expenditure on basic public services as a result of the fiscal decentralization scheme, which is an important reason why the carbon emission level cannot be effectively improved. As such, it is necessary to keep pace with the times, and build a service-oriented government, and capitalize on the capabilities of local governments in terms of their service duties so as to maximize carbon reduction.

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This study interprets enterprise pollution reduction from the perspective of the financial market. Using data on Chinese industrial enterprises, this paper tests the impacts of bank competition on enterprise pollution emissions. The findings show that bank competition has a significant total effect and technique effect on pollutant reduction. Bank competition reduces pollutant emissions by easing financing constraints, increasing the implementation of internal pollution control, and improving the efficiency of bank credit resource allocation. Further research shows that both bank type and bank branch level could moderate the pollution reduction effects and such effects vary a lot under different environmental regulation intensities. We expand the relevant literature on the economic consequences of banking competition and have certain theoretical and practical reference significance for the future reform of the banking industry.

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With the rapid spread of COVID-19 worldwide, viral genomic data are available in the order of millions of sequences on public databases such as GISAID. This Big Data creates a unique opportunity for analysis toward the research of effective vaccine development for current pandemics, and avoiding or mitigating future pandemics. One piece of information that comes with every such viral sequence is the geographical location where it was collected-the patterns found between viral variants and geographical location surely being an important part of this analysis. One major challenge that researchers face is processing such huge, highly dimensional data to obtain useful insights as quickly as possible. Most of the existing methods face scalability issues when dealing with the magnitude of such data. In this article, we propose an approach that first computes a numerical representation of the spike protein sequence of SARS-CoV-2 using k-mers (substrings) and then uses several machine learning models to classify the sequences based on geographical location. We show that our proposed model significantly outperforms the baselines. We also show the importance of different amino acids in the spike sequences by computing the information gain corresponding to the true class labels.

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Gentiana Genus, a herb mainly distributed in Asia and Europe, has been used to treat the damp heat disease of the liver for over 2000 years in China. Previous studies have shown significant differences in the compositional contents of wild Gentiana Genus samples from different geographical origins. Therefore, the traceable geographic locations of the wild Gentiana Genus samples are essential to ensure practical medicinal value. Over the last few years, the developments in chemometrics have facilitated the analysis of the composition of medicinal herbs via spectroscopy. Notably, FT-IR spectroscopy is widely used because of its benefit of allowing rapid, nondestructive measurements. In this paper, we collected wild Gentiana Genus samples from seven different provinces (222 samples in total). Twenty-one different FT-IR spectral pre-processing methods that were used in our experiments. Meanwhile, we also designed a neural network, Double-Net, to predict the geographical locations of wild Gentiana Genus plants via FT-IR spectroscopy. The experiments showed that the accuracy of the neural network structure Double-Net we designed can reach 100%, and the F1_score can reach 1.0.

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Camel milk is renowned for its nutritional value and its therapeutic properties. It is considered a promising alternative to bovine milk due to its higher nutritional benefits, hypoallergenic characteristics and greater digestibility in the human gastrointestinal system. This study reports camel milk's bacterial and fungal microbiota, and the effect of geographical location and season on its bacterial community. We sequenced the V3-V4 regions of the16S rRNA gene for bacteria and the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) for fungi. A total of 134 samples of dromedary raw camel milk were collected from south, north and middle Kuwait during two seasons. Raw camel milk showed a diversified bacterial community, with 1196 genera belonging to 33 phyla. The four most predominant phyla of bacteria were Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Actinobacteria and Bacteroidota. The core microbiota of raw camel milk, represented by the dominant genera shared by the majority of samples, was constituted by the genera Schlegelella, Paenibacillus, Lactobacillus, unclassified Comamonadaceae, Pediococcus, Moraxella, Acinetobacter, Staphylococcus, Enterococcus, Pseudomonas, Streptococcus, unclassified Micrococcaceae, Rothia, unclassified Sphingomonadaceae, unclassified Neisseriaceae and Sphingomonas. The fungal population was assessed in 14 raw camel milk samples, and comprised 87 genera belonging to 3 phyla. The genera Penicillium, Cladosporium, Candida, Aspergillus, Alternaria and Fusarium, dominated the fungal community. These findings shed light on raw camel milk's core bacterial and fungal microbiome. The geographical location and the season had a significant impact on the diversity and composition of camel milk microbiome.

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In the present work, the influence of geographical location on the fatty acid profiles, antioxidant potential, as well as cytotoxicity of edible dabai fruit fractions (kernel, skin, and pulp) were analyzed. The fatty acid profiles were determined by Gas Chromatography (GC), and the antioxidant activity was quantified with free 2,2-diphenyl-1-picr/ylhdrazyl, while the cytotoxicity was assessed by the brine shrimp lethality test. The results showed that the samples from Sibu, Serian, and Kapit geographical locations had a high content of the saturated fatty acids, ranging from 46.63% to 53.31% in the three fractions. The highest mono-saturated fatty acids (MUFA) content was found in Sibu. Serian and Kapit kernel fractions MUFA, however, ranged from 21.2% to 45.91%. No fatty acid composition was detected in Bentong and Kanowit. The fatty acid composition and DPPH free radical scavenging antioxidant activity of dabai were statistically independent using a multivariate analysis in different localities in Malaysia. The skin fraction had a more appreciable antioxidant potential and toxicity level than the pulp and kernel fractions. The highest antioxidant activity (EC50 198.76 ± 1.06 µg/mL) with an LC50 value of 1387.22 µg/mL was obtained from the Sibu skin fraction. Therefore, the fatty acid composition, antioxidant, as well as cytotoxicity analyses of the extracts from different localities indicated that "geographical location" remarkably influenced fatty acid composition, antioxidant activity, and toxicity.

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The Mediterranean diet has emerged as a comprehensive lifestyle, including specific foods and meal composition and a set of behavioural and social features. Adherence to the Mediterranean diet has been shown to promote health and reduce the prevalence of chronic diseases. The actual implementation of the Mediterranean diet is affected by several sociocultural factors as well as geographical components. Indeed, the geographical location, such as a specific country or different areas in a country and specific latitude and climate, appears to be an important factor that may strongly affect the implementation of the Mediterranean diet or some of its principles as well as the adherence to it. Another dynamic component affecting personal nutritional choices, also regarding adherence to the Mediterranean diet and its principles, is the individual life-long trajectory of food preference and nutrition habits and awareness. In this review, we discuss the current evidence on the impact of geographical location on adherence to the Mediterranean diet.

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When designing and interpreting results from clinical trials evaluating treatments for children on the autism spectrum, a complicating factor is that most children receive a range of concurrent treatments. Thus, it is important to better understand the types and hours of interventions that participants typically receive as part of standard of care, as well as to understand the child, family, and geographic factors that are associated with different patterns of service utilization. In this multi-site study, we interviewed 280 caregivers of 6-to-11-year-old school-aged children on the autism spectrum about the types and amounts of interventions their children received in the prior 6 weeks. Reported interventions were coded as "evidence-based practice" or "other interventions," reflecting the level of empirical support. Results indicated that children received a variety of interventions with varying levels of empirical evidence and a wide range of hours (0 to 79.3 hours/week). Children with higher autism symptom levels, living in particular states, and who identified as non-Hispanic received more evidence-based intervention hours. Higher parental education level related to more hours of other interventions. Children who were younger, had lower cognitive ability, and with higher autism symptom levels received a greater variety of interventions overall. Thus, based on our findings, it would seem prudent when designing clinical trials to take into consideration a variety of factors including autism symptom levels, age, cognitive ability, ethnicity, parent education and geographic location. Future research should continue to investigate the ethnic, racial, and socioeconomic influences on school-aged intervention services.