def row_to_dict(r, keep_relationships = False):
    '''Converts an SQLAlchemy record to a Python dict. We assume that _sa_instance_state exists and is the only value we do not care about.
       If DeclarativeBase is passed then all DeclarativeBase objects (e.g. those created by relationships) are also removed.
    '''
    d = {}
    if not keep_relationships:
        # only returns the table columns
        t = r.__table__
        for c in [c.name for c in list(sqlalchemy_inspect(t).columns)]:
            d[c] = getattr(r, c)
        return d
    else:
        # keeps all objects including those of type DeclarativeBase or InstrumentedList and the _sa_instance_state object
        return copy.deepcopy(r.__dict__)