[Zope] db type conversion question

Is there a way to get zope to automatically keep fields returned from a SQL query as the correct type. Currently. my int fields are converted to string, which I then wind up having to convert back to int for comparisons, etc. I thought I saw some mention of a type dictionary in the db connection string, but I couldn't find any examples. I could have been mistaken, too. Someone please illuminate me. I am using MySQL by the way. --sam