Matcher matcher = REPLACE_PATTERN.matcher(inputCopy);
StringBuffer stringBuffer = new StringBuffer();
while (matcher.find()) {
String leftAsterik = matcher.group(1);
matcher.appendReplacement(stringBuffer, "\\mbox{\\emph{");
String word = matcher.group(2);
matcher.appendReplacement(stringBuffer, escapeString(word));
String rightAsterik = matcher.group(3);
matcher.appendReplacement(stringBuffer, "}}");
}
matcher.appendTail(stringBuffer);