No matter which database you use, it may be more efficient to place multiple queries in a single expression. If you execute queries separately, you must make a call to the database over the network (or at least between processes, if on the same computer), get a connection to it (including auto-rating), send the request, return the resultset and release connection for each request.
Even if you use the connection pool, you still send more requests back and forth than necessary.
So, for example, if you combine the two queries into one, you saved all these additional calls back and forth for the second query. The more requests you combine, the more efficient your application can be.
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