What I mean is something like this (I do not know whether this will work / this is probably not corrrect or not the best way to do it, but maybe it better illustrates what I want to achieve)
        $sql1         = "SET TRANSACTION ISOLATION LEVEL READ UNCOMMITTED";
        $sql2         = "SELECT * FROM sometable";
        $sql3         = "COMMIT";
        $connection = $this->db;
        $connection->query($sql1);
        $data       = $connection->query($sql2);
        $connection->query($sql3);
        $data->setFetchMode(\Phalcon\Db::FETCH_ASSOC);
        $results    = $data->fetchAll();