October 4, 1983

An agreement has been reached to limit the outside income of physicians and dentists on the faculties of medical and dental schools run by New York State, officials said yesterday. The agreement, between the state and the union representing faculty members, is similar to ones in most other states and at many of New York's private medical schools. It is primarily aimed at physicians, state officials said, and stipulates that in most cases they can earn no more than 150 percent of their base faculty salaries in outside income. The accord also requires that the faculty members must pay the cost of nurses, equipment and administrative upkeep if they operate a private practice in a state facility.

New York City's Department of Investigation has begun a review, described as routine, of the background of the Commissioner of Ports and Terminals, including her role with a family- owned marine company that has a record of disputes with environmental agencies. The company, which cleans ships of oil and chemical wastes, is currently under a New Jersey ''notice of prosecution'' charging it with refusal to furnish records upon request and to allow authorities to take test samples, among other violations. It has also been accused of improperly discharging wastes into New York Harbor. The company is challenging the state's right to the information it seeks and says it is seeking to comply with environmental regulations. A spokesman for Mayor Koch said that the Mayor had not been aware of any regulatory actions involving the former company of the Commissioner, Susan Frank, but that ''it will be checked thoroughly by the Department of Investigation.''

With the proposed merger of Republic Steel and the LTV Corporation, heavy layoffs at United States Steel and third-quarter losses predicted for nearly all the major producers, the industry has been even more turbulent than usual in the last few weeks. But there is apparently some good news around the corner. Analysts predict that the industry's limping sectors - structural elements and steel plate - will improve early next year as the anticipated upswing in capital spending materializes. They say this should help revive U.S. Steel and the Bethlehem Steel Corporation, now the industry leaders, and should improve the prospects of LTV Steel, as the merged company will be called if shareholders and the Federal Government approve the agreement.

''This is the first time in the history of the Congress and the executive branch that we have worked out jointly an arms control proposal in which we are truly united.'' - Senator Charles H. Percy, Republican of Illinois. (A1:3.)

A gold trading company, whose chairman killed himself the day before he was scheduled to deliver financial records to investigators, filed for bankruptcy yesterday, reporting that between $55 million and $60 million in precious metals was missing from its vaults. Lawyers for the company, Bullion Reserve of North America, told investigators for the State Attorney General, Robert Abrams, that a fortified repository in Utah that should have contained about $60 million only held $900,000, a spokesman for Mr. Abrams said. The spokesman, David Fishlow, said that counsel for the precious metals company reported that the concern had lent its chairman, members of his family and a number of subsidiaries about $40 million in the last year.