Is there anyway to change the MYSQL connection string to a persistant connection?

My SQL database is remotely hosted as to the location of the bot... This way I can pull info from the SQL database to display it on the website... Such as who is in game, kos list, supplies list, ect.


The problem is there is a  pretty large delay in loading the bot, running queries.  ect.   Alot of this would be better if the connection was persistant rather than the connection ran each time the bot went to pull info

Which version should be be using at this point?
r48     ?

I'll update to R48.   Wasn't sure if that was a stable copy as you guys were making alot of changes over the last couple days

Thanks