The problem:
Artio Joomsef makes multiple calls to the current database, thereby creating loads of unnecessary\"SELECT DATABASE\" queries with every content item.

The Solution
A friend was able to apply a fix is applied to the joomsef.php file located in /components/com_sef/joomsef.php. The fix will prevent the code in this file from repeatedly querying to find out the current database.

I have attached the modified joomsef.php file to this post for those who are interested (remove the .txt extension at the end of the file)